Acoustic surface waveguides for acoustic emission monitoring of fiber-reinforced plastic structures

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Materials Evaluation; (United States)

OSTI ID:7149246

Chen, H L.R.; He, Y; Superfesky, M ^[1]

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1. West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). Constructed Facilities Center

Acoustic surface waveguides are developed to enhance the transmission of acoustic emission (AE) signals in high attenuating fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) structures. In this paper, the design of the surface waveguide system and the source location technique are described. Experimental results of using a surface waveguide for AE monitoring of a FRP composite pressure pipe are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed waveguide system. A metal wire was selected as a waveguide, and pencil breaks and electronic pulses were used as artificial AE signals. The results indicate that the use of the surface waveguide can significantly increase the AE monitoring range. Also, a high transmission efficiency was experimentally determined for the epoxy joints developed to attach the surface waveguide to the FRP pipe. The proposed surface waveguide appears to be a promising technique for AE monitoring on existing FRP pressure vessels and storage tanks.

• OSTI ID: 7149246
• Journal Information: Materials Evaluation; (United States), Vol. 52:9; ISSN 0025-5327
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING
PIPES
PRESSURE VESSELS
TANKS
ATTENUATION
REINFORCED PLASTICS
STORAGE FACILITIES
ACOUSTIC TESTING
CONTAINERS
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PLASTICS
POLYMERS
REINFORCED MATERIALS
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
TESTING
420500* - Engineering- Materials Testing
420200 - Engineering- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques