Customer needs

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 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 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