Use of acoustic emission method for detection of two-phase flow in service open type water pipeline

Abstract

Damage evaluation of a pipeline system is normally used by non-destructive testing method (i. e. elastic wave method). For effective maintenance and management of pipeline system, it is necessary to evaluate not only the degree of damage but also the water- flow conditions (i.e. gas-liquid flow). In this study, acoustic emission (AE) method was applied to be detecting a gas-liquid flow in service open type water pipeline system. Two experiments were conducted: laboratory model tests and in service open type pipeline monitoring. The results show that a gas-liquid flow conditions could be quantitatively evaluated by using AE parameters, such as AE generation behavior, average frequency and AE energy. Thus, AE monitoring is effective for qualifying the water flow conditions in an open type pipeline system. © RILEM 2013.