In this study, the leak detection technique of pressure vessel by using acoustic emission(AE) signal is suggested experimentally. The leak of pressure vessel is located at the welding line due to welding defects. we measured the AE signal using Rl5I sensor, and examined the AE parameters in leak condition. It is investigated that the mean value of AE signal is dependent on leak source location. So the absolute mean value of AE signal is adopted as dominant AE parameter. We proposed leak detection algorithm using AE signal mean value for monitoring the leak source location.