Assessment of Conditions for Detecting Corrosion Cracking of Welded Joints by Acoustic Emission Method

The analysis of acoustic emission (AE) signs of the early development of corrosion cracking of a welded joint is carried out on the example of real data of technical diagnostics of a butane heater of a gas fractionation unit obtained using the AE method before and after eliminating the defect. The possibility and conditions of detecting the designated defect were studied using five basic criteria for assessing the degree of hazard of AE sources: amplitude, integral, local dynamic, integral dynamic, and the MONPAC criteria. For all these AE criteria, the values of empirical coefficients that ensure the detection of a defect of this type were determined, and the dynamics of the defect development in the coordinates of the estimated parameters was established. The organizational and technical requirements that increase the likelihood of detecting corrosion damage during AE control are described.