Damage Evaluation of Cement-Pipe Materials by Acoustic Emission

Abstract

As a detail inspection of damage of pipe materials in service, elastic waves in fracture process are usually detected and then material damage is estimated. The acoustic emission (AE) method is useful method for detection of elastic waves. In this study, asbestos-cement pipe samples are examined based on fracturing behavior under unconfined compression with AE. AE behavior of pipe materials under compression is dependent on the degree of damage, and could be approximated, applying the AE rate process analysis and the Weibull analysis. A relation between AE rate and Weibull parameter is correlated. By calculating C value from AE rate process analysis based on this relation, the material damage of pipe samples is successfully estimated.