Approaches to reducing boiler tube failures
Boiler tube failures (BTF) accounted for a loss of capacity of fossil fuel plants in the US in 1985 of about 6%, resulting in an annual cost to the utilities industry of more than 5 billion dollars. BTF is the largest single cause of disruption of the availability of power plants and is the focus of a significant research effort by the Coal Combustion Systems Division of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The problem of boiler tube failure arises inevitably from the complexity and stresses in the environment of the fossil fuel plant. A typical boiler in these plants may contain 483 km or more of steel tubing, all of which is subjected to internal attack by impurities in the water or steam and external corrosion by combustion gases and erosion by particular bombardment. In addition, tubes are vulnerable to fatigue from both the vibration of the operating boiler and cyclic changes in temperature. Research has shown, however, that a large number of boiler tube failures in the US are repeat events that could be prevented through improvements in boiler operation and maintenance. Of the 22 BTF mechanisms that have been identified, only two require further research to determine the basic causes. These are corrosion fatigue failures that begin on the water side of waterwall and economizer tubing, and circumferential waterwall cracking that begins on the fire side of supercritical units. Guidelines for investigating and correcting BTF are presented briefly. 3 references.
- OSTI ID:
- 6442948
- Journal Information:
- Mater. Compon. Fossil Energy Appl.; (United States), Journal Name: Mater. Compon. Fossil Energy Appl.; (United States) Vol. 68; ISSN MCFAD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
200104* -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Components
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360103 -- Metals & Alloys-- Mechanical Properties
BOILERS
CRACKS
FAILURES
FATIGUE
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
MATERIALS TESTING
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
POWER PLANTS
TESTING
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TUBES