Abstract: A multilayer wrapped urea reactor is tested and evaluated using acoustic emission (AE) technology. The AE event source locations are re-examined by the phased array imaging method. Experimental results show that the acoustic emission technique can effectively detect heavy weld active flaws and the accurate size and location of flaws can be measured by the ultrasonic phased array technique. Nondestructive evaluation of multilayer wrapped pressure vessels will be attained through utilization of acoustic emission combined with the ultrasonic phased array method.

Key words: urea reactor, acoustic emission, phased array, heavy weld , multilayer wrap