Determining the feasibility of identifying creep rupture of stainless steel cladding tubes on-line using acoustic emission technique. Issue 3 (8th June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mahendra Prabhu, N; Gopal, K.A.; Murugan, S.; Haneef, T.K.; Mukhopadhyay, C. K.; Venugopal, S.; Jayakumar, T.
• Is Part Of: International journal of structural integrity. Volume 6:Issue 3(2015)
• Page Start: 410
• Page End: 418
• Publication Date: 2015-06-08
• Subjects: Structural engineering -- Research -- Periodicals; 620.11205
• DOI: 10.1108/IJSI-08-2014-0038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-9864

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</title> <p> – The purpose of this paper is to determine the feasibility of identifying the creep rupture of reactor cladding tubes using acoustic emission technique (AET). </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</title> <p> – The creep rupture tests were carried out by pressuring stainless steel capsules upto 6 MPa at room temperature and then heating continuously in a furnace upto rupture. The acoustic emission (AE) signals generated during the creep rupture tests were recorded using a 150 kHz resonant sensor and analysed using AE Win software. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</title> <p> – When rupture occurs in the pressurized capsule tube representing the cladding tube, AE sensor attached to a waveguide captures the mechanical disturbance from the capsule and these data can be advantageously used to identify the creep rupture event of the cladding tube. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Practical implications</title> <p> – The creep rupture data of fuel clad tube is very important in design and for smooth operation of nuclear reactors without fuel pin failure in reactors. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</title> <p> – AE is an advanced non-destructive evaluation technique. This technique has been successfully applied for on-line monitoring of creep rupture of the reactor cladding tube which otherwise could be detected by thermocouple readings only.</p> </sec> </abstract>