Fossil Power Plant Components Failure Analysis Guideline

Product ID:1018749 Date Published:31-Mar-2009 File size:12.83 MB Sector Name:Generation Document Type:Assembled Package FileType:Adobe PDF (.pdf) This product is available at no cost to funding members only. If you are a member, you must Log in to access. Price:$ 4,750 (US Dollars) If you are a non-funding individual or entity and wish to purchase this document, please contact the EPRI Order Center at 1-800313-3774 Option 2 or 650-855-2121. You may also send an e mail to orders@epri.com. Abstract The goal of engineering design is to obviate failures. However, this goal is only partially achievable because of the balance between cost and risk, potential deterioration during service, and the departure of actual operation from design assumptions. Thus, utility engineers are periodically faced with failures that span the gamut of power plant equipment and economic and safety consequences. Reaching a proper conclusion about the failure mechanism and the associated root cause is central to the postfailure decisions regarding permanent repair, temporary repair, replace in-kind, replace with an upgrade, or retire the associated equipment. The goal of this two-volume report is to provide guidance to utility teams that perform the failure analysis, with a focus on metallurgical and mechanical aspects of the failure. This failure analysis guideline provides a roadmap of the sequential steps for the investigation and the laboratory equipment to be used.

Objective

The challenge facing all fossil utilities is to maintain safe and reliable operation while facing a shrinking pool of expertise in the critical technologies. With retirement of fossil plants becoming a rarity, the aging equipment will encounter increasing failure rates unless a concerted effort is made to understand critical failures and react to them appropriately. The understanding of failures usually involves knowledge spread among several engineering disciplines, and the appropriate linkages and integration must be established in a comprehensive solution. The information provided in this failure analysis guideline will be valuable to mechanical, metallurgical, and system engineers at both power plants and central offices in establishing the root cause for a particular failure and in choosing the best options for repair or replacement to either minimize repeat failures or give extended life.

Approach

The primary objective of this project is to provide a comprehensive and detailed document that provides guidance to fossil utilities in either performing their own metallurgical failure analyses for a variety of power plant components or in directing organizations that are responsible for performing such work. The information will be valuable to mechanical, metallurgical, and system engineers at

both the power plant and the central office in establishing the root cause for a particular failure and choosing the best options for repair or replacement to either minimize repeat failures or give extended life. To achieve the goals, a comprehensive outline was developed and refined through successive iterations before project initiation. After the initial document was drafted, a review team of power plant failure analysis experts with over 100 years of combined experience was assembled, and the document was refined with a basic list of do's and don'ts, the inclusion of flowcharts, and the decision to split the guide into a two-volume set. The first volume identifies the instruments, equipment, and procedures that are used to perform failure analyses, as well as the sequential steps to be followed. The second volume provides detailed fossil power plant-specific information, including typical materials of construction, generic damage mechanisms, and characteristic damage for an assortment of key power plant components.

Results

A wealth of generic information exists regarding metallurgical failure analysis. However, the existing information is not specifically tailored for utility engineers, and it has redundant and superfluous information that is destined to confuse nonspecialists. Due to the universal challenges facing utilities in retaining technical expertise in metallurgy, welding, and mechanical design, the need for a readily accessible failure analysis guideline was identified as an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) priority. This failure analysis guideline was developed in response to the utility need. This document has assembled the relevant information in a concise manner and logical order that fulfills the needs of utility engineers to correctly identify failure mechanisms and associated root causes. Whether the failure investigation is performed in-house or is contracted to others, the responsible utility engineers can use this failure analysis guideline to be confident in directing the effort. By following this document, utility engineers will be able to successfully complete the failure analysis and will be equipped to make enlightened decisions during the post-failure period.

Application, Value and Use

Failures in fossil power plant components are common occurrences. The tendency is to treat failures as single events, to treat the problem with immediate actions, and to move on to other challenges. This approach can squander the opportunity to determine the fundamental failure mechanism and the associated root cause. Without gaining such fundamental knowledge, history is destined to repeat itself, as evidenced by repeat failures in the same or similar units. By following this failure analysis guideline, personnel will document an understanding of each failure, which will lead to enlightened decisions and greater future equipment reliability.

EPRI Perspective

If it is true that knowledge is power, then lack of knowledge surely equates to weakness. This failure analysis guideline is one of a series of EPRI documents that seek to gather essential knowledge from disparate sources and distill it into utility-focused documents to broaden the knowledge base of utility personnel in an easy-to-comprehend presentation. Most of the information contained in this failure analysis guideline is well established, but it is scattered in dozens of books and publications, usually only familiar to technical specialists. Although the subject area demands a metallurgical emphasis, engineers from other disciplines will grasp most of the information and be able to put it to practical use. Newer Version Of

1012744-Fossil Power Plant Components Failure Analysis Guideline 1014184-Failure Analysis Guidelines for Power Plant Components

Program 2008 Program 87 Fossil Materials and Repair Keywords

Failure Analysis Failure mechanisms Metallographic examination Metallurgy Optical light microscopy Scanning electron microscopy Report 000000000001018749 Note

For further information about EPRI, call the EPRI Customer Assistance Center at (800) 313-3774 or email askepri@epri.com

Direct URL http://www.epri.com/abstracts/Pages/ProductAbstract.aspx?ProductId=000000000001018749 Email a link to the page