Air Leak Detection in Pipe by Using AE Technique

Abstract

This paper aims to conduct a study on the feasibility of using an acoustic emission (AE) technique to detect air leaks in pipe simulated by apparatus in which leak holes and positions can be alternated. Two AE sensors were mounted on both ends of the steel pipe to acquire the emissions during the tests. Two types of AE signal including, burst-type and continuous-type, were simulated by pencil lead breaks and by air leaks in a pipe. The acquired signals were gained by pre-amplifiers, and the conditioned signals were collected and processed by a computer. Source location technique was used to calculate the sound propagation velocity in steel pipe by performing pencil lead breaks and this technique can be used to indicate the crack locations. It was found that source location technique can locate the cracks caused by pencil lead breaks with an accuracy of 99.13%. Root mean squared (AErms) was used to correlates with the leak volume and locations. It can be declared that this AE technique can be used to detect air leak in steel pipe and used to indicate the position of leaks efficiently.