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Description / Abstract:
This report includes a study of various nondestructive
evaluation (NDE) techniques for composite overwrapped pressure
vessels intended for gaseous hydrogen infrastructure applications.
The majority of the study focuses on Model Acoustic Emissions (MAE)
techniques. Testing was performed on various composite tank designs
including small high pressure plastic-lined fullywrapped composite
pressure vessels designed for portable, stationary or vehicular
storage and large steel-lined hoop-wrapped pressure vessels
designed for bulk transport and stationary storage.MAE testing was
performed by Digital Wave Corp. on vessels provided by Lincoln
Composites and TransCanada.
MAE testing of Lincoln Composites plastic-lined fully-wrapped
10,000 psi composite pressure vessels was performed at the Lincoln
facilities in April 2007. Tank damage was simulated through drilled
holes, membrane cuts and a drop test, and subsequent proof and
burst testing was performed while monitoring with MAE techniques.
The manufacturing consistency was confirmed by MAE. Generally, it
was observed that the vessels failed at damage sites. Drilled holes
all the way through the composite resulted in lowest burst
pressure, followed by impact from 6-ft. drop onto concrete, and
finally the cut fibers. MAE picked up the newly introduced damage
very well on first pressurization after damage occurred. Emission
did not completely stabilize, indicating that the damage did
continue to grow during the pressure holds. At the higher
sensitivity setting, MAE Frictional Emission (FRAE) was picked up
on every cycle after damage. Location of damage was very clear
acoustically using MAE techniques.
MAE testing of six TransCanada large steel-lined hoop-wrapped
composite pressure vessels was performed in October 2007. The test
program included cyclic testing, pressure/autofrettage and burst
testing while monitoring using MAE techniques. During cycle testing
crack growth was detected in the metallic head to shell welds at
both ends of the vessel. The number of cycles sustained before
fatigue failure due to this cracking exceeded the required 10,000
cycles. This was determined from the acoustical signal produced by
a leak source. During the pressure (autofrettage) tests, the
cumulative events versus time curves showed a characteristic "roll
over" during pressure load holds in the AE test in all cases. There
were few or no events during the load holds and very few events
during the AE test. This is consistent with fracture mechanics
reasoning since the AE test pressure is so much lower than the
autofrettage pressure. It was observed that autofrettage cycles at
1.5 x operating pressure instrumented for AE detection would bound
an AE cycle at 1.1 x operating pressure. This conclusion is in
agreement with previous experience on various other pressure
vessels.
A study and laboratory testing of MAE sensor arrays constructed
of piezoelectric material, polyvinylidene film (PVDF), was
performed by Digital Wave Corp. in February 2008. This study looked
at two ways to enhance the sensitivity of the PVDF film
transducers, 1) sensor stacking and analog summation of the sensor
outputs, and 2) digital summation of the sensor outputs. It was
observed that stacked sensors increased sensitivity of detection,
there was no phase distortion due to stacking and reducing sensor
size can reduce aperture affects and increase bandwidth. A phased
array configuration for modal acoustic emission (MAE) can determine
direction of source and possibly distance. Phasing of signals for
source location is possible and aids in mode identification and
source location, which is very sensitive to variations in arrival
time differences. Sensor placement is also extremely important, and
the sensitivity to array geometry must be studied.
This report also includes additional discussion of other
relevant NDE and analysis techniques including a study of composite
tank hydrostatic test requirements, a finite element analysis (FEA)
and fracture mechanics analysis on composite reinforced pressure
vessels predicting failures observed during testing and indicated
using AE techniques, and a discussion of photon induced positron
annihilation (PIPA) which is a potential NDE process that can
assess material damage at the nearmolecular level.