USEFUL LIFE PROGNOSTIC BY CREEP IN BOILER TUBES OF CIENFUEGOS POWER PLANT

Abstract

Introduction:
The investigation was carried out at the "Carlos Manuel de Céspedes" Power Plant in Cienfuegos.
Objective:
To establish a calculation methodology that allows to predict useful life by creep in presence or not of wall thinning phenomenon in boilers’ tubes.
Materials and Methods:
The main materials used in research have been the Standard (ISO/TR 7468, 1981) and the study carried out by (Rivero, 2012). The most representative methods are the documentary review, interviews, specialists and researchers criteria, thickness measurements of the tubes used in the study.
Results and Discussion:
The main research is the creation of a methodology and an algorithm to improve the useful life forecast by creep of boilers’ tubes, taking into account tube thinning presence or absence.
Conclusions:
A methodology was developed to improve the creep life forecast for boilers’ tubes by incorporating wall thinning. For SA-210 A1 steel at a temperature of 500 K, a typical inflection point occurs, the useful life can reach 800 million hours and with SA-213 T91 steel at T = 600 K the life is of the order of 10 times higher, however the influence of weight loss can represent up to 1 billion hours.