=e Acoustic emission and ultrasonic tests simplify gas tube inspections. Testing tubes the sound way 1 Children swinging on a tree branch or walking over a wood plank will scamper to firm ground if they hear a cracking, sound. They learn early that a loud crack i 8 warning the ‘wood is about to break. Most stressed materials, in fact, emit sounds that warn of inapending failure, Uhough nol all are audible, The Linde Div oof Union Carbide Corp. uses this principe to retest compressed 288 trailer tubes with electronic listening devices (Figure 1) The technology. developed by Linde and performed by Union Carbide subsidiary AMKO Service Co,, Dover, OH, is celled acoustic emission (AE) testing. The US Dept. of Trans portation (DOT) requites the use of hydrostatic (volumetric expansion) testing for the five-year recertification testing. of compressed yas trailer tubes, However, AE provides better pro: tection and can cost thousands of dollars less, DOT exemptic The DOT has given Linde permission to use AE, rather than bydrotestng, forall five-year testing of ils own large-diameter inch diameter). DOT is approve AE testing for other firms. The 1 and economic advantages could make it preferred method of retesting tube trailers. 1 feel more comfortable with our Meet since we've switched tubes (typically 34 feet long with a ‘expected to eventual smrethod's tech to AE testing than I ever did with hydeotesting,” says Phil Beland, senior technical supervisor of Linde’s Specialty Gases Meet. “All you get Irom a hydrates is elastic expansion, perma nent expansion and total expansion,” says Beland. idemtify even the most severe racks. “The AF method maps the location of any flaws in a cylin der” hee sins. “After we find one, we use ultrasonic testing (UP) to determine its size and depth, With AE, we Found flaws, that were not otherwise detectable.” = TT pee ———— et a4 Figure 1. A ypical Linde tube Water. QUALITY Agr 1986 Ultrasonic testing differs from AE testing in that with AE testing, sounds coming from the tube itself are listened for. nal is pulsed into the tube AE testing can be compared to a dactor listening to a heart with a stethoscope. If he hears something he doesn like, more testing is called for. In te ease of tubes designed to transport guses, UT is the Follow up test. ‘Once flaws ate found they're recorded so any changes can be tracked over time, “This will give us a far more aecurate pic ture of what is going on inside our cylinders," Beland notes. Before a tube trailer can be hydrotested, the fleet owner must typically purge whatever gas it normally carries, then drive to one of six hydrotest facilities in the US. There itis en apart so th test pressures may cause permanent deformations that shorten tube life. Alter testing, the trailer and tubes are repainted, reassembled and driven back home. The entie process usually [puts u tube Irsiler out of business forfour to six weeks tubes ean be tested one by one. High hydro- nplified testing AE tests are simpler (Figure 2). They are done at the cus tomer’s loading facility with mobile electronic equipment. AM lubes are simultaneously tested on the trailer while heing filled ‘with the products they normally carry, There's no disassembly ‘oF contamination from hydrostatic tes! water. Up to a tral cers can be texted in a day AE's simplified logisties ate one traction. “Tn the past.” says Beland, “we've had to schedule (railers used in the North- east as far west as Amarillo, TX, That could run in the vicinity ‘of $3,000, since the labor, fuel and other operating costs are about $1.10 per mile.” AE testers, on the other hand, are mobile, AMKO's Testing Div., managed by Andrew Lee, sends its AE truck and mobile test Uni to sites within 2,000 miles of its Dover headquarters, and can fly test eams and equipment beyond that radius. Less downtime The big payot? in AE testing comes from reducing trailer downtime to almost nothing. Beland figured the hydrotest pro ‘cess put a trailer out of commission for fous to six weeks. AE testing, on the other hand, is done while the trailer is being filed, If flaws are found, documenting their size by ultcasonie testing (UT) usually adds no m trailers ordinary fill time, By red AE and UT, fleet owners no longer have lo operate without part of their Meet, lease replacements or increase Net size to make up for a certain percentage of trailers always out of than three or four hours to.& WB out-of service time with The savings ean be considerable. As Beland notes, one-fifth ‘of Linde’s Specialty Gas trailers are tested every yeur as part ‘of the mormal five-year test eyele, Assuming a six-week tururaton — Fics time], Peak “aritac| Typical acoustic ‘emission signal Energy rea unde the wave fom oni A ope) krone Tiveshoss i apa it Soon | emi | Seine Deaton | 2 oes | © Locaon ning (latve te ot ‘ral a is sencors). ‘Figure 3 Atypical AE “ingerprint™ provides a wealth ofinformation, if trailers would be out of service each month, With large-diame: ter tube trailers costing $80,000 10 $130,000, he figures he Would have to spend between $120,000 and $198,000 (the cost ff one and one-half trailers) just to ke capaci around with hydrotesting, Beland figures one and on ip his fleet at rated Science and art ‘The theory behind acoustic emission testing is simple: flaws in struetural materials produce sounds under stress. When sub- jected to pressure, these llaws deepen and release acoustic ‘energy. The energy travels through the tube wall as an elastic stress wave and eventually attenuates (fades) away. The trick is to capture the information in that wave and understand what it means. The first step is science, the second art Waveform data are detected by two acoustic sensors, which act like very sensitive stethoscopes, attached to opposite ends of the tube. As the stress wave travels under i corded as a voltage output. I's then Acoustics Corp. “Spartan” 24-channel acoustic emission com- puter and displayed on a monitor (Figure 3) Flaws are found hy measuring the relative arrival time of « stress wave at each sensor. A mathematical relationship is then used to convert arrival time to an actual position of the source nalyzed by a Physical Figure 4 (botow) WAE finds a law fa tube, the urasone |Getecior shown here) is passed over the imperfection 19 de ormine ts positon length and depth, slong the tube wall, Ultrasonie testing is then done to measure flaw sive The “rt” is more complex. While each wave has & unique “Fingerprint” composed of its counts, amplitude, rise time, du ration, energy und relative time of arrival atthe two sensor, its form changes as it travels along the eylinder wal Fingerprints and false clues This fingerprint provides clues about the nature of is source A growing crack, for example, prexiuces a short rise time and uration relative to iis amplitude, But slong with the finger prints come some false clues, such as background rubbing and flow noise Rubbing occurs when eylinders come in contact with other ‘eylinders, holé-down straps, truck supports, bulkheads und tie rods. Flow noise, caused by gas flowing through manifolds and valves attached to the cylinder, produces continuous back ground noise that is usually well below the AE. system threshold, Understa We ca climinare most backs nding the different types of background noise helps set up the test parameters in the instruments that can ound noise,” says Lee, Equally impor tant in eliminating background noise is the knowledge and judgment of the people doing the testing, “Some background noise will still get through,” Lee says, “but by examining all the data, you can see that Something isnt rubbing or flowing. That’ the art.” ‘Once an AE event is identified, its postion is mapped along the length ofthe cylinder wall, Shear wave ultrasonic testing is ‘then used to pinpoint its location on the tube wall and evaluate its size (Figure 4), Ultrasonic pulses are beamed into the cylinder wall at an tangle. Since UT shear waves cannot travel through fids oF air, they bounce back and forth hetween the inner and outer Surface ofthe (ube until they attenuate ar are reflected back by flaw The testing of Linde’s large-diameter compressed gus tubes constitutes the first time AE technology has been applied in this area. As a result of this work, Linde expects to.use the data, ‘base buill up by AMKO to propose additional changes for DOT testing of high- and low-pressure tubes, . (QUALITY / Ape 1986