Application and development of non-destructive testing techniques for storage tanks and pressure vessels in the last two decades: a bibliometric-based visualization analysis

In order to understand the current status of the application of NDT technology in storage tanks and pressure vessels during the past two decades, this study quantitatively analyzed and visualized the literature in the Web of Science database for the period from January 2004 to July 2024 using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. The hotspots and evolutionary paths of NDT technology applications in storage tanks and pressure vessels were detailed by descriptive statistics, co-occurrence analysis, burst word analysis and co-citation analysis. Meanwhile, the major published journals, highly cited literature and highly cited journals were analyzed in depth. The results show that (1) Chinese scholars have contributed the most papers in this field; (2) a stable collaborative group has been formed in this field; (3) acoustic emission technology is the most popular NDT technology; and (4) the NDT technology is gradually maturing and is widely used in industrial practice.