A study on acoustic emission technology for tank bottom corrosion inspection

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report an investigation into acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of the corrosion situation of the bottom of a large storage tank.Design methodology approach - Guard sensors were applied in on-line AE inspection of a tank bottom, and the AE signal characteristics of the corrosion areas of tank bottom were analyzed. The AE test results were compared with those from an internal tank internal test.Findings - It was observed that guard sensors could shield effectively a large proportion of the extraneous noise signals inside the tank. The characteristics of AE signals from different types of corrosion were significantly different. A comparison of AE test results and tank internal inspection data showed a good agreement.Originality value - Characteristic AE signals from different types of corrosion were obtained for the first time, which assisted in the identification of the tank bottom corrosion situation.