VALUE OF IN-PROCESS MONITORING OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION DURING PARTIAL PRESSURIZATION OF PRESSURE VESSELS.

This paper describes the conceptual framework and the corresponding research stages of a project destined to develop a non-destructive procedure for the evaluation of filament-wound pressure vessels. In general, the establishment of a non-destructive technique is a two-phase process consisting of a systematic identification of the fundamental failure modes, fracture mechanisms and of the relevant defects, followed by correlating a particular non-destructive output with a specific defect or mechanism. The procedure chosen for investigation in the present study is based on detecting specific acoustic emission data generated during a series of partial pressurization cycles, and interpreting the data in terms of specific material damage.