Combined optical fiber interferometric sensors for the detection of acoustic emission

A type of combined optical fiber interferometric acoustic emission sensor is proposed. The sensor can be independent on the laser source and make light interference by matching the lengths of two arms,so it can be used to monitor the health of large structure. Theoretical analyses indicate that the system can be equivalent to the Michelson interferometer with two optical fiber loop reflectors,and its sensitivity has been remarkably increased because of the decrease of the losses of light energy. PZT is powered by DC regulator to control the operating point of the system,so the system can accurately detect feeble vibration which is generated by ultrasonic waves propagating on the surface of solid. The amplitude and the frequency of feeble vibration signal are obtained by detecting the output light intensity of interferometer and using Fourier transform technique. The results indicate that the system can be used to detect the acoustic emission signals by the frequency characteristics.

Remote structural health monitoring with serially multiplexed fiber optic acoustic emission sensors

Development and testing of a serially multiplexed fiber optic sensor system is described.The sensor differs from conventional fiber optic acoustic systems,as it is capable of sensing AE emissions at several points along the length of a single fiber.Multiplexing provides for single channel detection of cracks and their locations in large structural systems. An algorithm was developed for signal recognition and tagging of the AE waveforms for detection of' crack locations,Labora- tory experiments on plain concrete beams and post-tensioned FRP tendons were pcrlormed to evaluate the crack detection capability of the sensor system.The acoustic emission sensor was able to detect initiation,growth and location of the cracks in concrete as well as in the FRP tendons.The AE system is potentially suitable lot applications involving health monitoring of structures following an earthquake.

BiScO_(3)-BiFeO_(3)-PbTiO_(3)-BaTiO_(3) high-temperature piezoelectric ceramic and its application on high-temperature acoustic emission sensor

Piezoelectric ceramic based high-temperature acoustic emission(AE)sensor is required urgently in the structural health monitoring of high-temperature fields.In this research,a series of 0.45(BiSc_(x)O_(3)-BiFe_(1-x)O_(3))-0.48PbTiO_(3)-0.07BaTiO_(3)(BSc_(x)Fe_(1-x)-PT-BT,n(Sc)/n(Fe)=0.4/0.6-0.6/0.4)ceramics with both high Curie temperature and large piezoelectric constant were presented.The structure and electrical properties of BSc_(x)Fe_(1-x)-PT-BT ceramics as a function of n(Sc)/n(Fe)have been systematically investigated.All the ceramics possess a perovskite structure,and the phase approaches from the rhombohedral toward the tetragonal phase with the decrease of n(Sc)/n(Fe).The BSc_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)-PT-BT and BSc_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)-PT-BT piezoelectric ceramics exhibit good piezoelectricity(d_(33)=250-281 pC/N),high Curie temperature(T_(C)=430-450℃)and excellent temperature stability.These improvements are greatly attributed to the balance between rhombohedral and tetragonal phase near morphotropic phase boundary with dense microstructure of ceramics.AE sensor based BSc_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)-PT-BT piezoelectric ceramic was designed,prepared and tested.The high-temperature stability of AE sensor was characterized through pencil-lead breaking with in situ high-temperature test.The noise of AE sensor is less than 40 dB,and the acoustic signal is up to 90 dB at 200℃.As a result,AE sensors based on BSc_(x)Fe_(1-x)-PT-BT piezoelectric ceramics are expected to be applied into the structural health monitoring of high temperature fields.

Preparation and acoustic properties of high-temperature acoustic emission sensor based on La_(3)Ga_(5)SiO_(14) crystal

With the rapid development of modern industries,the high-temperature piezoelectric sensors that can work in extreme environments are in great demand.In this work,langasite(La_(3)Ga_(5)SiO_(14),LGS),as a high-temperature piezoelectric crystal with stable electro-elastic performance,is used as core element,and air and porous Al_(2)O_(3) are selected as backing layers respectively to prepare two kinds of high-temperature acoustic emission(AE)sensors.The detection sensitivities at 25–500℃ are analyzed by the ball falling test and Hsu–Nielsen experiment.Under the condition of 25–500℃,the received amplitude signals by both sensors are maintained above 90 dB stimulated by the ZrO_(2) ceramic ball dropping.In the Hsu–Nielsen experiment,as the temperature rising from 25℃ to 500℃,the signal amplitude of sensor with air backing layer decays from 447 mV to 365 mV,while the signal amplitude varies from 270 mV to 203 mV for the sensor with porous Al_(2)O_(3) backing layer.Signiffcantly,compared with the bandwidth of the air-backing sensor(37–183 kHz),the sensor with porous Al_(2)O_(3) backing layer broadens bandwidth to 28–273 kHz.These results show that both these AE sensors have strong and stable response ability to AE signals at high-temperature of 500℃.Therefore,piezoelectric AE sensor based on LGS has great potential application in the ffeld of high-temperature structural health monitoring.

Hypervelocity impact induced shock acoustic emission waves for quantitative damage evaluation using in situ miniaturized piezoelectric sensor network

Manmade debris and natural meteoroids, travelling in the Low Earth Orbit at a speed of several kilometers per second, pose a severe safety concern to the spacecraft in service through the HyperVelocity Impact(HVI). To address this issue, an investigation of shock Acoustic Emission(AE) waves induced by HVI to a downscaled two-layer Whipple shielding structure is performed,to realize a quantitative damage evaluation. Firstly a hybrid numerical model integrating smoothparticle hydrodynamics and finite element is built to obtain the wave response. The projectiles, with various impact velocities and directions, are modelled to impact the shielding structure with different thicknesses. Then experimental validation is carried out with built-in miniaturized piezoelectric sensors to in situ sense the HVI-induced AE waves. A quantitative agreement is obtained between numerical and experimental results, demonstrating the correctness of the hybrid model and facilitating the explanation of obtained AE signals in experiment. Based on the understanding of HVI-induced wave components, assessment of the damage severity, i.e., whether the outer shielding layer is perforated or not, is performed using the energy ratio between the regions of ‘‘high frequency" and ‘‘low frequency" in the acquired AE signals. Lastly, the direct-arrival fundamentalsymmetric wave mode is isolated from each sensing signal to be input into an enhanced delay-andsum algorithm, which visualizes HVI spots accurately and instantaneously with different sensor network configuration. All these works demonstrate the potential of quantitative, in situ, and real time HVI monitoring using miniaturized piezoelectric sensor network.

New technique:Detection and location of partial discharge in cast-resin dry-type transformers using a waveguide and a new acoustic emission sensor pair design

The acoustic emission (AE) method could be used to detect and locate partial discharges (PD) in cast-resin dry-type transformers.However,due to the high sound attenuation in the filled epoxy,the signal is prone to interference from external noises and thus,in practice,there is little possibility of detecting PD.In this study,two techniques were developed to alleviate the shortcomings of the AE method.First,a waveguide is installed on the high-voltage (HV) windings,so that the acoustic signals of PD will propagate to the AE sensors that are installed on both terminals of the waveguide.The location of the winding that has PD can then be detected from the difference in arrival time of the acoustic signals.Test results indicate that the waveguide technique is able to enhance the safety of a measurement system and offers the advantages of easy installation and higher flexibility.Second,a specially designed AE sensor pair is used to distinguish whether acoustic signals are generated by PD inside the HV winding or by the corona outside the transformers.Using these two techniques of waveguide and AE sensor pair not only greatly improves sensitivity but also increases the reliability of the measurement system.Practical test results show that the new techniques can be used to locate precisely the PD in HV windings.

Identifying the real fracture hidden in rock microcrack zone by acoustic emission energy

Identifying the real fracture of rock hidden in acoustic emission(AE)source clusters(AE-depicted microcrack zone)remains challenging and crucial.Here we revealed the AE energy(representing dissipated energy)distribution rule in the rock microcrack zone and proposed an AE-energy-based method for identifying the real fracture.(1)A set of fracture experiments were performed on granite using wedgeloading,and the fracture process was detected and recorded by AE.The microcrack zone associated with the energy dissipation was characterized by AE sources and energy distribution,utilizing our selfdeveloped AE analysis program(RockAE).(2)The accumulated AE energy,an index representing energy dissipation,across the AE-depicted microcrack zone followed the normal distribution model(the mean and variance relate to the real fracture path and the microcrack zone width).This result implies that the nucleation and coalescence of massive cracks(i.e.,real fracture generation process)are supposed to follow a normal distribution.(3)Then,we obtained the real fracture extension path by joining the peak positions of the AE energy normal distribution curve at different cross-sections of the microcrack zone.Consequently,we distinguished between the microcrack zone and the concealed real fracture within it.The deviation was validated as slight as 1–3 mm.

Characteristic stress variation and microcrack evolution of granite subjected to uniaxial compression using acoustic emission methods

The size of mineral grain has a significant impact on the initiation and propagation of microcracks within rocks.In this study,fine-,medium-,and coarse-grained granites were used to investigate microcrack evolution and characteristic stress under uniaxial compression using the acoustic emission(AE),digital image correlation(DIC),and nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)measurements.The experimental results show that the characteristic stress of each granite decreased considerably with increasing grain sizes.The inflection points of the b-value occurred earlier with an increase in grain sizes,indicating that the larger grains promote the generation and propagation of microcracks.The distribution characteristics of the average frequency(AF)and the ratio of rise time to amplitude(RA)indicate that the proportion of shear microcracks increases with increasing grain size.The NMR results indicate that the porosity and the proportion of large pores increased with increasing grain size,which may intensify the microcrack evolution.Moreover,analysis of the DIC and AE event rates suggests that the high-displacement regions could serve as a criterion for the degree of microcrack propagation.The study found that granites with larger grains had a higher proportion of high-displacement regions,which can lead to larger-scale cracking or even spalling.These findings are not only beneficial to understand the pattern of microcrack evolution with different grain sizes,but also provide guidance for rock monitoring and instability assessment.

Mechanical anisotropy associated with beddings in shale under Brazilian test conditions:Insights from acoustic emission statistics

A comprehensive understanding of shale’s bedding anisotropy is crucial for shale-related engineering activities,such as hydraulic fracturing,drilling and underground excavation.In this study,seven Brazilian tests were conducted on shale samples at different bedding orientations with respect to the loading direction(0°,45°and 90°)and the disc end face(0°,45°and 90°).An acoustic emission(AE)system was employed to capture the evolution of damage and the temporal-spatial distribution of microcracks under splitting-tensile stress.The results show that the Brazilian tensile strength decreases with increasing bedding inclination with respect to the disc end face,while it increases with the angle between bedding and loading directions.Increasing the bedding inclination with respect to the end face facilitates the reduction in b value and enhances the shale’s resistance to microcrack growth during the loading process.Misalignment between the bedding orientation and the end face suppresses the growth of mixed tensile-shear microcracks,while reducing the bedding angle relative to the loading direction is beneficial for creating mixed tensile-shear and tensile cracks.The observed microscopic failure characteristics are attributed to the competing effects of bedding activation and breakage of shale matrix at different bedding inclinations.The temporal-spatial distribution of microcracks,characterized by AE statistics including the correlation dimension and spatial correlation length,illustrates that the fractal evolution of microcracks is independent of bedding anisotropy,whereas the spatial distribution shows a stronger correlation.The evolution features of correlation dimension and spatial correlation length could be potentially used as precursors for shale splitting failure.These findings may be useful for predicting rock mass instability and analyzing the causes of catastrophic rupture.

Shear band evolution and acoustic emission characteristics of sandstone containing non-persistent flaws

Direct shear tests were conducted on sandstone specimens under different constant normal stresses to study the coalescence of cracks between non-persistent flaws and the shear sliding characteristics of the shear-formed fault.Digital image correlation and acoustic emission(AE)techniques were used to monitor the evolution of shear bands at the rock bridge area and microcracking behaviors.The experimental results revealed that the shear stresses corresponding to the peak and sub-peak in the stressdisplacement curve are significantly affected by the normal stress.Strain localization bands emerged at both the tip of joints and the rock bridge,and their extension and interaction near the peak stress caused a surge in the AE hit rate and a significant decrease in the AE b value.Short and curvilinear strain bands were detected at low normal stress,while high normal stress generally led to more microcracking events and longer coplanar cracks at the rock bridge area.Furthermore,an increase in normal stress resulted in a higher AE count rate and more energetic AE events during friction sliding along the shearformed fault.It was observed that the elastic energy released during the crack coalescence at the prepeak stage was much greater than that released during friction sliding at the post-peak stage.More than 75%of AE events were located in the low-frequency band(0e100 kHz),and this proportion continued to rise with increasing normal stress.Moreover,more AE events of low AF value and high RA value were observed in specimens subjected to high normal stress,indicating that greater normal stress led to more microcracks of shear nature.

Three-dimensional analytical solution of acoustic emission source location for cuboid monitoring network without pre-measured wave velocity

To find analytical solutions of nonlinear systems for locating the acoustic emission/microseismic（AE/MS） source without knowing the wave velocity of structures, the sensor location coordinates were simplified as a cuboid monitoring network. Different locations of sensors on upper and lower surfaces were considered and used to establish nonlinear equations. Based on the proposed functions of time difference of arrivals, the analytical solutions were obtained using five sensors under three networks. The proposed analytical solutions were validated using authentic data of numerical tests and experiments. The results show that located results are consistent with authentic data, and the outstanding characteristics of the new solution are that the solved process is not influenced by the wave velocity knowledge and iterated algorithms.

Enhancing microseismic/acoustic emission source localization accuracy with an outlier-robust kernel density estimation approach

Monitoring sensors in complex engineering environments often record abnormal data,leading to significant positioning errors.To reduce the influence of abnormal arrival times,we introduce an innovative,outlier-robust localization method that integrates kernel density estimation(KDE)with damping linear correction to enhance the precision of microseismic/acoustic emission(MS/AE)source positioning.Our approach systematically addresses abnormal arrival times through a three-step process:initial location by 4-arrival combinations,elimination of outliers based on three-dimensional KDE,and refinement using a linear correction with an adaptive damping factor.We validate our method through lead-breaking experiments,demonstrating over a 23%improvement in positioning accuracy with a maximum error of 9.12 mm(relative error of 15.80%)—outperforming 4 existing methods.Simulations under various system errors,outlier scales,and ratios substantiate our method’s superior performance.Field blasting experiments also confirm the practical applicability,with an average positioning error of 11.71 m(relative error of 7.59%),compared to 23.56,66.09,16.95,and 28.52 m for other methods.This research is significant as it enhances the robustness of MS/AE source localization when confronted with data anomalies.It also provides a practical solution for real-world engineering and safety monitoring applications.

Three-dimensional analytical solution of acoustic emission or microseismic source location under cube monitoring network

To find the analytical solution of the acoustic emission/microseismic(AE/MS) source location coordinates, the sensor location coordinates were optimized and simplified. A cube monitoring network of sensor location was selected, and the AE/MS source localization equations were established. A location method with P-wave velocity by analytical solutions (P-VAS) was obtained with these equations. The virtual location tests show that the relocation results of analytical method are fully consistent with the actual coordinates for events both inside and outside the monitoring network; whereas the location error of traditional time difference method is between 0.01 and 0.03 m for events inside the sensor array, and the location errors are larger, which is up to 1080986 m for events outside the sensor array. The broken pencil location tests were carried out in the cross section of 100 mm×98 mm, 350 mm-length granite rock specimen using five AE sensors. Five AE sources were relocated with the conventional method and the P-VAS method. For the four events outside monitoring network, the positioning accuracy by P-VAS method is higher than that by the traditional method, and the location accuracy of the larger one can be increased by 17.61 mm. The results of both virtual and broken pencil location tests show that the proposed analytical solution is effective to improve the positioning accuracy. It can locate the coordinates of AE/MS source only using simple four arithmetic operations, without determining the fitting initial value and iterative calculation, which can be solved by a conventional calculator or Microsoft Excel.

Multi-Sensor Intelligent System for On-Line and Real-Time Moneitoring Tool Cutting State in FMS

The principle and the constitution of an intelligent system for on-line and real-time montitoring tool cutting state were discussed and a synthetic sensors schedule combined a new type fluid acoustic emission sensor (AE) with motor current sensor was presented. The parallel communication between control system of machine tools, the monitoring intelligent system,and several decision-making systems for identifying tool cutting state was established It can auto - matically select the sensor way ,monitoring mode and identifying method in machining process- ing so as to build a successful and effective intelligent system for on -line and real-time moni- toring cutting tool states in FMS.

Laboratory acoustic emission study for earthquake generation process

Since the similarity in size distribution of earthquakes and acoustic emissions （AE） was found in the 1960s, many laboratory studies have been motivated by the need to provide tools for the prediction of mining failures and natural earthquakes. This paper aims, on the one hand, to draw an outline of laboratory AE studies in the last 50 years, which have addressed seismological problems. Topics include the power laws in which the similarity between AEs and earthquakes is involved and progress that has been made in AE technology and laboratory AE study. On the other hand, this study will highlight some key issues intensively discussed, especially in the last three decades, such as aspects related to the pre-failure damage evolution, fault nucleation and growth in brittle rocks and discuss factors governing these processes.

Mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of thick hard roof sandstone in Shendong coal field

The mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of thick hard roof sandstone were investigated. Samples were taken from the 30.87-m thick sandstone roof in a mine in the Shengdong coal field, China. Firstly, the composition and microscopic characteristics were analyzed by XRD and FE-SEM, respectively. Moreover, the indirect tensile test, uniaxial compression test, three axis compression experiment and AE test are carried out by using RMT-150C mechanics experiment system with DSS-8B AE test system. The experiment results indicate that the main framework particles of sandstone are quartz and feldspar, and mainly quartz. Cements are mainly pyrite, kaolinite, chlorite and zeolite cross needle, clinochlore, and clay minerals. The microstructure of sandstone is very dense, with few pores and high cementation degree. The tensile strength, compressive strength and elastic modulus of sandstone are 4.825, 85.313 MPa, 13.814 GPa, respectively, so the sandstone belongs to hard rock. The AE cumulative counts of sandstone can be divided into three phases： relatively flat growth period, rapid growth period and spurt period. The signal strength of AE waveform can be used as a warning signal. In the tensile fracture zone, the warning value is 0.4 mV, and in the compression shear failure zone, it is 4 mV. The numbers of cumulative counts of AE under different stress conditions have obvious difference. Moreover, the growth of cumulative counts of acoustic emission is more obvious when the stress is more than 60% of the peak stress.

Acoustic emission characterization of microcracking in laboratory-scale hydraulic fracturing tests

Understanding microcracking near coalesced fracture generation is critically important for hydrocarbon and geothermal reservoir characterization as well as damage evaluation in civil engineering structures. Dense and sometimes random microcracking near coalesced fracture formation alters the mechanical properties of the nearby virgin material. Individual microcrack characterization is also significant in quantifying the material changes near the fracture faces （i.e. damage）. Acoustic emission （AE） monitoring and analysis provide unique information regarding the microcracking process temporally, and infor- mation concerning the source characterization of individual microcracks can be extracted. In this context, laboratory hydraulic fracture tests were carried out while monitoring the AEs from several piezoelectric transducers. In-depth post-processing of the AE event data was performed for the purpose of under- standing the individual source mechanisms. Several source characterization techniques including moment tensor inversion, event parametric analysis, and volumetric deformation analysis were adopted. Post-test fracture characterization through coring, slicing and micro-computed tomographic imaging was performed to determine the coalesced fracture location and structure. Distinct differences in fracture characteristics were found spatially in relation to the openhole injection interval. Individual microcrack AE analysis showed substantial energy reduction emanating spatially from the injection interval. It was quantitatively observed that the recorded AE signals provided sufficient information to generalize the damage radiating spatially away from the injection wellbore.

Characteristics of acoustic emission signals in damp cracking coal rocks

A uniaxial load experiment on coal rocks at different stress rates was carried out, based on the characteristics of acoustic emission (AE) signals in cracking coal rocks, decomposition, de-noising and reconstruction for the AE signals through wavelet packet transform for solving the current problems created by the presence of noise in AE signals and the existing problems in AE signal processing. The results show that the various characteristics of AE signals in coal rocks cracking under different situations can be clearly reflected, after the AE signals are de-noised by the wavelet packet. Compared to dry coal rocks, the number of AE occurrences in damp coal rocks was significantly reduced, as well as the average amplitude. The number of AE occurrences in damp and dry coal rocks clearly increased with increases in the loading rate, but the largest amplitude of the AE signals in damp coal rocks has been reduced. There is no clear evidence of change in dry coal rocks.

Study of electromagnetic and acoustic emission in creep experiments of water-containing rock samples

Based on biaxial shear creep tests conducted on rock samples with different water contents, we present the results of our study on the regularities of electromagnetic and acoustic emission during the process of creep experiments in which we have analyzed the contribution of water to the occurrence of electromagnetic radiation. The result shows that in the creep-fracturing course of rock samples, when the water content increases, the initial frequency and amplitude of electromagnetic and acoustic emission also increases, but at a decreasing growth rate caused by loading stress. This can be used as a criterion for the long-term stability of rock masses under conditions of repeated inundation and discharge of water.

PARAMETERS OPTIMIZATION OF CONTINUOUS WAVELET TRANSFORM AND ITS APPLICATION IN ACOUSTIC EMISSION SIGNAL ANALYSIS OF ROLLING BEARING

Morlet wavelet is suitable to extract the impulse components of mechanical fault signals. And thus its continuous wavelet transform （CWT） has been successfully used in the field of fault diagnosis. The principle of scale selection in CWT is discussed. Based on genetic algorithm, an optimization strategy for the waveform parameters of the mother wavelet is proposed with wavelet entropy as the optimization target. Based on the optimized waveform parameters, the wavelet scalogram is used to analyze the simulated acoustic emission （AE） signal and real AE signal of rolling bearing. The results indicate that the proposed method is useful and efficient to improve the quality of CWT.