TIRELESS ACOUSTIC EMISSION MONITORING OF IN SITU DECOMMISSIONING FOR NUCLEAR STRUCTURES

摘要

A reduced-scale test bed has been instrumented with a sensor network used to monitor the curing and early post curing processes of a grout fill to simulate in situ decommissioning for nuclear facilities. A significant number of nuclear facilities across the United States are reaching their design lives. One proposed method in the decommissioning of these sites is in situ decommissioning (ISD). This method consists of filling and thus containing certain portions of the site with a grout fill. Due to the sensitivity of the nuclear sites a method of monitoring the fill is needed. In this work a 10×10×8 ft. cube is instrumented with eight wireless Acoustic Emission (AE) sensors, two pH and temperature sensors, and two relative humidity sensors. The sensor network is designed to detect cracking and environmental changes within the test cube. Data was recorded continuously throughout an initial testing period of 28 days. Preliminary data shows the ability of the sensor network to detect environmental changes during the curing process as well as micro-cracking within the cube following the initial grout set.