Customer’s need :

keeping safely a power plant in operation with aging penstocks & hoops (pressure of about 80 bar) by detecting any hoop failure in real time

Customer’s benefits:

After two and a half years of monitoring, the acoustic emission system has proved its efficiency and allowed EDF to continue to produce hydroelectricity whilst still guaranteeing the safety of its facility.

Cetim’s answer:

Development of a system based on acoustic emission. Wave propagation tests were first performed on site in order to determine the most suitable sensors and optimize their quantity. Then, on-site simulations of hoop failures allow  to check the efficiency  for the detection of flaws.

Delivered results:

The  monitoring system ( 20 sensors distributed on the two penstocks, which are 200 m long each ) locates the emitted signal with an accuracy of approximately
2.5 m.
On-duty technicians are immediately informed where the penstock has to be inspected