Diagnostics of detector tube impacting with wavelet techniques

A neutron noise based method is proposed for the detection of impacting of detector tubes in BWRs. The basic idea relies on the assumption that non-stationary transients (e.g. fuel box vibrations) may be induced at impacting. Such short-lived transients are difficult to detect by spectral analysis methods. However, their presence in the detector signal can be detected by wavelet analysis. A simple wavelet technique, the so-called Haar transform, is suggested for the detection of impacting. Tests of the proposed method have been performed with success on both simulated data with controlled impacting as well as with real measurement data. The simulation model as well as the results of the wavelet analysis are reported in this paper. The source codes written in MATLAB(R) are available at a public ftp site. The necessary information to reproduce the simulation results is also reported. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.