ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING - DEFINING A NEW STANDARD OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING FOR PRESSURE VESSELS: PART 1: QUANTITATIVE AND COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF ZONAL LOCATION AND TRIANGULATION METHODS

摘要

For decades now, acoustic emission (AE) testing of pressure vessels has been used in France, Europe and the rest of the world. There are several regulatory rules, codes and standards worldwide, which define the application rules of this method. Since 2004, France has officially adopted a Best Practices Guideline [1] used as a reference for customers and service providers to apply this technology to various pressure vessels. According to the Guideline, like several other European (European standards) or American (ASME) codes, AE testing can be applied based on two techniques (zonal location method and planar source location by triangulation method). However, no comparative study of their performance, thus enabling their assessment, has been carried out. By means of simple simulation calculations, this study highlights the significant differences in performance between these two techniques. The effects of other fundamental parameters, for example, acquisition threshold, are also quantified with respect to AE usage. This study may also be used as a basis for defining a new AE testing standard specifically and quantitatively defining the expected performance of a given configuration. Today, the CETIM may apply this new testing methodology based on significant feedback enabling a greater reproducibility and sensitivity of AE testing.