Acoustic emission monitoring during hydrotesting of a mounded LPG storage vessel of petrochemical industry

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Mukhopadhyay, C.K.^{a; *} | Haneef, T.K.^a | Jayakumar, T.^a | Devaraj, R.^a | Bar, H.N.^b | Metya, A.K.^b | Murthy, G.V.S.^b | Parida, N.^b

Affiliations: [a] Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603102, Tamil Nadu, India | [b] Materials Science and Technology Division, National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur-831007, India

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: C.K. Mukhopadhyay. Tel.: +91 44 27480232; Fax: +91 44 27480356; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: One mounded LPG storage vessel of petrochemical plant got suddenly exposed to cryogenic nitrogen and developed cracks in the shell plate adjacent to the bottom nozzle and was subsequently repair welded. The structural integrity of the repair weld region was assessed by NDT examinations. The integrity of the repaired weld region was confirmed by conducting hydrotest. Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring during the hydrotest was also carried out. The acoustic emission signals generated during the hydrotest indicated that the signals were due to structural noise and microyielding of the vessel material. During the repressurizing cycle of the hydrotest, negligible AE signals were generated and this confirmed the structural integrity of the repair welded region of the vessel monitored by acoustic emission technique (AET).

Keywords: Acoustic emission, hydrotest, mounded LPG storage vessel, non destructive testing, petrochemical industry

DOI: 10.3233/SFC-160194

Journal: Strength, Fracture and Complexity, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 251-264, 2015