Monitoring cement sheath integrity using acoustic emissions

摘要

A system is provided that can include an acoustic emission sensor. The acoustic emission sensor can be positionable for detecting an acoustic emission from a cement sheath in a wellbore. The acoustic emission sensor can be operable to transmit a sensor signal associated with the acoustic emission. The system can also include a processing device in communication with the acoustic emission sensor. The system can further include a memory device in which instructions executable by the processing device are stored for causing the processing device to: receive the sensor signal; determine a characteristic associated with the sensor signal; and determine a structural integrity of the cement sheath based on the characteristic associated with the sensor signal.