Online Particle Size Measurement through
Acoustic Emission Detection and Signal Analysis
Yonghui Hua, Xiaobin Huanga, Xiangchen Qiana, Lingjun Gaob, Yong Yana, b
a
School of Control and Computer Engineering
North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, P. R. China
b
School of Engineering and Digital Arts
University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NT, U. K.
Abstract—Accurate determination of particle size distribution
is critical to achieving optimal combustion efficiency and
minimum pollutant emissions in both biomass and coal fired
power plants. This paper presents an instrumentation system for
online continuous measurement of particle size distribution based
on acoustic emission (AE) method. Impulsive AE signals arising
from impacts of particles with a metallic waveguide protruding
into the flow carry information about the particle size. The
relationship between the particle size and the peak AE voltage
has been established through physical modeling of particle
impact. A particle sizing algorithm is developed using peak
detection techniques. Experimental results obtained with glass
beads demonstrate the capability of the system to discriminate
particles of different sizes from the recorded AE signals. The
system has several appealing features such as online
measurement, high sensitivity, simple structure, minimum
invasiveness and low cost, which make it well suited for industrial
applications.
Keywords—particle size measuremet; acoustic emission; Hertz
theory of contact; particle flow
I. INTRODUCTION
Pulverizing coal and biomass into fine powder for
pneumatic conveyance and combustion has become a common
practice in many industries. The particle size of pulverized fuel
is an important physical characteristic that impacts many
aspects of the combustion process, including fuel flow
property, pipe erosion, flame stability, combustion efficiency
and pollutant emissions. Online continuous measurement of
particle size distribution could help realize optimized size
distribution and thereby improved combustion performance,
leading to substantial economic and environmental benefits.
A variety of techniques and instruments have been
developed over the years to measure particle size distribution
of pulverized fuel. The physical principles employed for
particle sizing range from laser light scattering [1], digital
imaging [2], ultrasound attenuation [3] to mechanical vibration
[4]. Measuring particle size distribution on an on-line
continuous basis with existing techniques or commercially
available instruments is difficult due to the hostile
environmental conditions, high implementation and
maintenance costs, or requirements on sensor accuracy,
reliability and durability. Digital imaging is a promising
technique for on-line particle size measurement, but the
978-1-4673-6386-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
contamination of optical components due to fine dust
deposition even coupled with air purging mechanism makes the
technique unsuitable for long-term, routine operation in an
industrial environment. At present, measurements of fuel
fineness are carried out only periodically or when anomalous
operating conditions are detected. The measurements have long
relied on isokinetic sampling and sieving methods which are
both cumbersome and costly. The long time delay between
sampling and analysis also precludes the possibility of real-
time feedback control and optimization. Therefore, it is
desirable to develop a new practical technique for online
particle sizing.
The aim of the present research was to develop an on-line
particle sizing technique using acoustic emission (AE) method.
Impulsive AE signals arising from the impacts of particles with
a metallic waveguide protruding into the solid particle flow
carry information about the particle size. By collecting these
signals with a piezoelectric AE sensor and detecting the peaks
of the impulsive signals, the particle size distribution can be
inferred in an online manner. The AE method enjoys several
advantages that make it well suited for industrial applications:
online measurement, high sensitivity, simple structure,
minimum invasiveness and low cost. There have been some
preliminary studies of the AE method for particle size analysis
[5]-[8]. However, there exist many scientific and technological
issues to be examined and a working instrument operating on
this principle remains to be developed. This paper presents for
the first time the design, implementation and experimental
assessment of a prototype instrument for on-line particle size
measurement. The performance of the developed instrument is
experimentally assessed under laboratory conditions.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Theoretical Model
The impacts of solid particles upon a steel plate generate
transient elastic stress waves that propagate away from the
impact sites. The stress wave signatures are intimately related
to the impulsive forces that the particles impose on the plate.
One of the key parameters affecting the impact force is the size
of the impinging particle. The minute surface displacements
caused by stress waves can be detected by a piezoelectric
transducer, located some distance away from the AE source.
Through physical modeling and sophisticated signal
 Fig. 1. Signal shaping chain.
processing, it is theoretically possible to quantitatively
characterize the particle size distribution from individual or
successive impact events, depending on the concentration of
particles.
The AE signal from the transducer is dependent not only
upon the particle and impact dynamics but also upon the
physics of wave propagation and the instrument’s response to
surface vibrations. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the original motion
at the source is shaped by a chain of distinct processes.
Assuming that the wave propagation medium and the
instrument can be modeled as linear, time invariant systems,
the AE signal can be expressed as [5]
V (t ) = S (t ) * G ( t ) * R ( t ) (1)
where V(t) denotes the measured AE voltage signal, and S(t),
G(t) and R(t) are the acoustic source, wave propagation and
instrument response functions, respectively. The symbol *
represents convolution.
The source function S(t) representing the time history of
the impact force can be determined with Hertz theory of
contact. The formulation of the theory assumes that the impact
is normal and elastic, the particle is spherical and the plate is
perfectly flat. The impulsive force that the particle imparts to
the plate can be approximated by [9]
⎧ f (sin(π t / t c ))3 / 2 for 0 < t < tc
S (t ) = ⎨ max (2)
⎩ 0 otherwise
where tc=4.53(4ρ1π(δ1+δ2)/3)2/5r1v0-1/5 is the time the particle spends
in contact with the plate, and fmax=1.917ρ13/5(δ1+δ2)-2/5r12v06/5 is the
peak compression force. In above equations, δi=(1-μi2)/(πEi),
E and μ are Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio,
respectively, and subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the materials of
the particle and plate, respectively. ρ1, r1 and v0 represent the
mass density, equivalent radius and approach velocity of the
particle, respectively. Given particle velocity and properties of
both materials, the particle size can be theoretically derived
from the source function.
The propagation of stress waves in an isotropic
homogeneous elastic medium is governed by elastodynamic
wave equations [10]. Solutions to these equations can be
formulated using the Green’s functions [10], which describe
the response of the medium to a unit impulsive force applied at
some point. The displacement at the sensor location can be
obtained from the convolution of the Green’s functions with
the source function. Analytical expressions of the Green’s
function exist only for a few simple geometries. Numerical
calculations with finite element or finite difference codes can
be employed for complex geometries and boundary conditions.
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of particle size measurement through
AE sensing.
The recording system of the AE signals consists of a
piezoelectric sensor, cables, amplifiers, filters and an analog-
to-digital converter. Characterization of the recording system
can be performed by treating these components as a single
system. The instrument response function that relates the
displacement input to a digital waveform output can be
determined through an absolute system calibration. Either time-
domain or frequency-domain modeling approach can be
employed to achieve the objective [11].
Once the wave propagation and instrument response
function are determined, their effects are then uncoupled from
the measured AE signals. Deconvolution techniques can be
used to derive the source function, from which quantitative
information about the particle size is extracted. By
understanding the details of the generation, propagation and
detection of the AE signals, the above technique, known as
quantitative AE, can achieve quantitative characterization of
particle size.
However, modeling of the physical process and accurate
calibration of the recording system are challenging tasks. It is
also doubtful that such technique could be utilized in practical
situations, where the particles are irregularly shaped, the
signals are contaminated by noise and the pulses are
overlapped due to simultaneous impacts. For these reasons, an
inferential particle sizing algorithm based on peak detection
techniques has been developed. In what follows, the prototype
instrument and the particle sizing algorithm will be presented.
B. Instrument Design
The measurement of particles in pneumatic conveying
pipelines is implemented by measuring the AE signals
generated by impacts of particles either with a natural bend in
the pipeline wall or with an artificial obstacle introduced into
the flow. In order to isolate structural noises from the pipeline
and obtain a reasonable impact frequency, an intruded
waveguide is employed for both generation and transmission of
the AE signal. At the outer end of the waveguide is attached an
AE sensor, the signal from which is fed to a signal conditioning
and data acquisition system. Fig. 2 shows the sensing
arrangement for on-line particle size measurement.
A prototype instrument for online particle sizing has been
designed and constructed. 3-D drawings of the prototype
sensing head are shown in Fig. 3. The main body of the
instrument is a 100 mm bore spool piece with the sensing head
 Fig. 3. 3-D drawings of the prototype sensing head.
Fig. 4. Schematic of the signal processing system.
sitting on its wall. The waveguide is a stainless steel rod that
extends a distance of 50 mm into the particle flow. The middle
section of the waveguide is cylindrical for sealing with rubber
bushings. The inside section is semi-cylindrical with the flat
surface facing the flow, which enables normal particle impact.
The outside section is also semi-cylindrical but with opposite
direction of the flat surface. The AE sensor has a normal
operating frequency range of 15-70 kHz. Moreover, three arc-
shaped electrostatic electrodes positioned upstream of the
waveguide are used to measure the velocity of particles by
cross-correlating the three signals [12].
The signal from the AE sensor is fed to an amplifier with a
voltage gain of 40 dB and then filtered by a band-pass filter
with a frequency range of 20-100 kHz. An analog-to-digital
converter digitizes the signal at a 1 MHz sampling rate. The
particle sizing algorithm is implemented on a high performance
floating point digital signal processor. The particle sizing
results are transmitted to a desktop PC through a RS232
interface for display and storage. Fig. 4 shows a block diagram
of the signal processing system.
C. Particle Sizing Algorithm
From the theoretical model presented above, the
relationship between the maximum voltage of an AE pulse,
particle velocity and particle size can be expressed as [13]
Vmax = Kr12 v0 6 / 5
where Vmax is the maximum voltage of the AE pulse, r1 is the
equivalent radius of the particle, v0 is the particle velocity and
K is a proportionality constant which can be identified through
calibration. Knowing the particle velocity and K, particle size
can be directly computed from the peak pulse voltage using
equation (3).
Fig. 5. AE signal during two impact events.
Fig. 6. Experimental set-up.
As shown in Fig. 5, the impulsive signal arising from a
particle impact event is followed by a sequence of damped
oscillations. In order to achieve particle sizing, the primary
peak during each impact event should be detected. Here we
propose a search algorithm for peak detection. The procedure
of the peak detection algorithm is as follows:
Step 1. Detection of all possible peak candidates: All the local
maxima between two consecutive local minima are
regarded as peak candidates.
Step 2. Location of the primary peak candidates: For three
consecutive peak candidates, the one located in the
middle and greater than the other two is regarded as
the primary peak candidates.
Step 3. Removal of false peak candidates by thresholding: All
the primary peak candidates smaller than a certain
threshold are deemed as pseudo peaks caused by noise
and should be removed.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Experimental Set-up
(3) Experiments with the prototype particle sizing system were
carried out on a 100 mm bore particle flow test rig. Fig. 6
shows the layout of the test rig. The sensing head was installed
in a vertical section of the polymethyl methacrylate pipeline.
An industrial suction system was connected to the pipeline to
generate a stable air flow. Glass beads with size ranging from
20 to 250 μm were fed into the rig via a feeding hopper. The
particle velocity was varied by adjusting the power of the
 (a) Below 90 μm.
(b) Between 90 and 180 μm.
(c) Above 180 μm.
Fig. 7. AE signals generated by particles in different size ranges.
suction system, while the impact frequency was tuned by
regulating the particle discharge rate of the feeding hopper.
B. Experimental Results
The first experiment was to investigate AE signals
generated by particles of different sizes. For this purpose, the
glass beads were sieved into three size ranges using a
mechanical sieve shaker. The particle velocity before collision
was around 8.0 m/s and the mass flow rate was about 2.0 g/s.
Fig. 7 shows the AE signals generated by particles below 90
μm, between 90 μm and 180 μm and above 180 μm,
respectively. It is apparent that, under the above conditions,
signals from individual impacts could be resolved in time and
larger particles generated higher signal peaks. Therefore, the
theory based on which the particle sizing algorithm was
Fig. 8. Measured mass ratio of particles in different size ranges.
derived could be partially validated. The burst AE signals
generated by small particles were so weak that they were
almost immersed in the background noise, which was mainly
caused by the strong airborne sound from the suction system.
Effective denoising techniques and precision signal
conditioning electronics should be employed in order to extend
the lower limit of the measurable particle size. This is one of
the challenging aspects of the proposed technique for on-line
particle size measurement. Significant further work is required.
To determine a reference particle size distribution of the
off-the-shelf glass beads is not straightforward. For ease of
operation, glass beads in different size ranges were mixed with
known mass ratio. The measured particle size was used to
compute the mass of the particle, and the total mass of particles
within a size range was obtained through simple summation.
The measured mass ratio was compared with the prescribed
mass ratio, which could indicate the effectiveness of the
system. Fig. 8 shows the measured mass ratio for different
particle velocities. The prescribed mass ratio for particles
below 90 μm, between 90 μm and 180 μm and above 180 μm
was 50%:30%:20%. The results suggest that higher particle
velocity leads to increased accuracy of the measurements. At
lower particle velocity, the collision force generated by small
particles can hardly be detected.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented a prototype AE-based instrumentation
system for the online measurement of particle size in gas-solid
two-phase flows. The relationship between the particle size and
the peak AE voltage was theoretically established. A particle
sizing algorithm was developed using peak detection
techniques. Experimental results obtained with glass beads
have verified the possibility of particle size measurement from
burst AE signals generated by individual impact events.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Fundamental Research
Funds for the Central Universities (No. 13QN16 and No.
13QN17), the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology
(No. 2012CB215203) and the Chinese Ministry of Education
(No. B12034).
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