Acoustic-Emission Testing of Vertical Steel Tanks in Hard-To-Reach Areas of the Far North

Abstract

The long-term safe operation of vertical steel storage tanks (VSSTs) for petroleum products in remote regions of the Far North implies objective timely detection of various types of emerging and existing defects with further provision for the monitoring of their development. The poor infrastructure and climatic features of the northern regions, as well as the time and material resources spent on preparing the standard scope of VSST testing adversely affect the performance and quality of its implementation. Therefore, taking these circumstances into account, a different approach is needed to inspect VSSTs operating in the hard-to-reach regions of the Far North. Taking the peculiarities of operating VSSTs at low temperatures in the Far North into account and based on the analysis of emergencies and accidents resulting from the degradation of VSST metal structures, the sources of damage are identified, the main problems of detecting planar flaws leading to catastrophic failures of VSSTs are shown, and a modified method is proposed for the local loading of bearing VSST members when conducting their acoustic-emission (AE) testing.