Machine condition and dynamic diagnostics via acoustic emission

As a result of separate developments, acoustic emission (AE) is now being increasingly used as a means of monitoring the mechanical health of industrial machinery. In this role an AE sensor is responsive to the transient release of energy from impacts and microscopic events associated with rubbing. These energy release mechanisms give rise to broadband elastic waves ranging from DC strain through vibration frequencies to those at ultrasonic frequencies most frequently referred to as AE. This paper compares AE and vibration monitoring, and discusses typical ways in which AE is applied to condition monitoring