Measurement and Simulation of the Propagation of Impulsive Acoustic Emission Sources in Pipes

Abolle-Okoyeagu, Judith; Fatukasi, Samuel; Reuben, Bob

Abstract

Acoustic Emission (AE) testing is a non-destructive evaluation technique that has gained significant attention in pipeline monitoring. Pencil-lead breaks (PLBs) are commonly used in reproducing and characterising sensors used in AE applications and have emerged as a valuable tool for calibration processes. This technique involves breaking a pencil lead by pressing it on the surface of the test structure and applying a bending moment at a given angle on a surface. The applied force produces a local deformation on the test surface, which is released when the lead breaks. The fracture in these PLBs is assumed to be a step unload; however, this is not the case. In this work, a series of PLB source experiments complemented with parallel numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the actual unload rate by correlating the relationship between AE speed, frequency, and power from PLBs. This was achieved by varying the simulation unload rates recorded over a duration of 2 s on a steel pipe and comparing to the experiment. Analysis of the investigated results from the experimental and numerical models suggests that although the AE line structure of a PLB can be reproduced by simulation for short times only (1 µs), the actual unload rate for PLBs is in the region of 10–8 s. It is concluded that FEA has the potential to help in the recovery of the temporal structure from real AE structures. The establishment of this model will provide a theoretical basis for future studies on the monitoring of non-impulsive AE sources such as impact on pipelines using finite element analysis.

Citation

ABOLLE-OKOYEAGU, C.J., FATUKASI, S. and REUBEN, B. 2024. Measurement and simulation of the propagation of impulsive acoustic emission sources in pipes. Acoustics [online], 6(3), pages 620-637. To be made available from: https://doi.org/10.3390/acoustics6030034

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 30, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 2, 2024
• Journal: Acoustics
• Electronic ISSN: 2624-599X
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 620-637
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/acoustics6030034
• Keywords: Acoustic emission; Finite element analysis; Source identification; Solid cylinder; Steel pipe
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2403005