Acoustic emission and pressure vessel failure

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1973

OSTI ID:4439435

Bentley, P G; Burton, E J; Cowan, A; Dawson, D G; Ingham, T

From 2nd international congress for pressure vessel and piping technology; San Antonio, Texas, USA (1 Oct 1973). See CONF-731003-P2. The development of the UKAEA acoustic emission monitoring system has continued, directed towards its use to prevent pressure vessel failure in materials of general engineering practice. The acoustic facility, SWEL, can locate sources on large vessels to plus or minus 3 inches and has a two-dimensional display, on line, of the emission sources. Measurements have been made of the location of artificial and natural defects in the EBOR vessel, USA. The emission, after the first cycle, from cracks grown by pressure cycling of artificial defects in experimental vessels, 3 inches and 1 inch thick, was shown to be very low. A systematic investigation was made of the acoustic emission from a range of steels and a ranking derived in terms of fracture toughness and tensile strength. The use of acoustic emission as a general inspection tool was surveyed. Its present complexity and cost limits its use to specific, large vessels, especially those in which failure could lead to a high cost from loss of production. In-service monitoring is not considered yet to be practicable and this view has been confirmed from background noise measurements on British GasCooled Reactors. The main present use for the technique is on the validation of pressure vessels with defects in brittle regions during pressurization tests, before operation and during shutdown periods. Doubts have been raised about the signal strengths from flaws in the parent plate of ductile materials. Further tests are required on experimental vessels taken to failure to establish confidence. (auth)

• Research Organization: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Risley, Eng.
• NSA Number: NSA-29-000327
• OSTI ID: 4439435
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING-- PRESSURE VESSELS
*PRESSURE VESSELS-- ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING
DEFECTS
FAILURES
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
INSPECTION
N42400* --Engineering--Materials Testing
STEELS
TENSILE PROPERTIES