Guide for in-service ultrasonic inspection of boreless turbine rotors and other solid shafts

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:6633001

Nottingham, L D; Sabourin, P F ^[1]

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1. EPRI Nondestructive Evaluation Center, Charlotte, NC (United States)

This report discusses nondestructive examination which is generally considered less essential for solid (unbored) turbine rotors than for bored rotors because the stresses are normally lower without a bore. Occasionally, however, situations do arise in which examination may not only be advisable, but essential to maintain confidence in a rotor's capacity for continued safe operation. Even though a bore is undesirable from a stress standpoint, it is valuable as a surface from which to conduct periodic nondestructive examination of the rotor center material, the region in which the majority of forging and ingot solidification flaws are found and also where the highest bulk rotation stresses occur. Without a bore, ultrasonic examination of this material must be conducted from the outer periphery, a task that is made difficult by the periphery geometry and lack of a continuous, uniform surface from which to conduct the examination. The material beneath the blade attachment areas, in fact, is the most difficult to inspect because of limited access and the most likely for flaw growth due to the higher stresses developed by the wheel and blade loads. Ultrasonic inspection techniques for the examination of difficult-to-inspect areas of a solid rotor are presented, with recommended procedures and reference standards to verify inspection adequacy.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); EPRI Nondestructive Evaluation Center, Charlotte, NC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6633001
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR-101836
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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