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: Acoustic emission -- 316L stainless steel -- Clad tube -- Creep -- Creep rupture -- Effective stress; Structural engineering -- Research -- Periodicals; 620.11205
• DOI: 10.1108/IJSI-08-2014-0038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-9864

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to determine the feasibility of identifying the creep rupture of reactor cladding tubes using acoustic emission technique (AET). Design/methodology/approach: – 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. Findings: – 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. Practical implications: – 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. Originality/value: – 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.