Acoustic emission from wire ropes during proof load and fatigue testing

The paper describes an experimental investigation into the enhancement of proof and fatigue testing procedures for wire ropes by incorporating data from acoustic transducer signals. During proof load tests on a selection of damaged wire ropes, it is shown that acoustic emission increases significantly after the damage is inflicted, even though ropes continue to pass the proof test. The relationship between acoustic emission signal characteristics and wire breaks is investigated and it is found that the most effective acoustic signal discriminators are energy and amplitude. Finally, the pattern of acoustic emission signals during a fatigue test is studied and a suggestion is made for a filtering technique to improve the recognition of imminent failure. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.