Investigation of Sound Inducing Fluid Dynamics at Pipe Leak and It's Influence on Acoustic Emission Signals

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the sound inducing fluid dynamic behaviour of a pipe section with a leak for two different leak configurations and the influence of fluid dynamic changes on acoustic emission (AE) signal features. It is found that turbulence and cavitation occur at the leak vicinity under high pressure. The intensity of these fluid dynamic changes is strongly related to the severity of the leakage. The AE responses to these occurrences are symptomatic to the leak severity. Interestingly, the cavitation is responsible for increasing AE RMS value, indicating severity of the damage.