PRESENTATION ON BOILER

RLA

Welcome

Presented By
T . Mohan
Sr. Manager/R&M(Engg.)
 Organisation For RLA in BHEL
Head Engg-FB

FES R&M(Engg.) & SAS

Other Supporting Agencies

R&M/Engg, FES(SR & Indl Blrs)

FES(WR) & SAS

WRI, Plant Lab, NDTL,
R&M/Engg SAS R&D,
Technical Offer Cor. R&D / Hyderabad,
scope of Submission, Piping Center/Chennai
work, Report FES Order receipt,
preparation Report to
and Customer/Boiler
Clarification inspectorate
RLA- A Predictive tool for Better unit
Availability
 Boiler tube failure
 Boiler Tube Failures - main cause of forced
outages in electric utility steam generating
boilers

 Single tube Failure in a 500 MW  Rs. 6 to 7

Crores (replacement power charges for 3-4
days to repair) besides affecting Plant Morale.
 Present scenario

• Pressure part failures due to Material degradation due to corrosion, erosion

and oxidation.

• Ageing of boilers consequent to creep / fatigue stresses in pressure parts of

boiler.

• Deterioration in Coal quality with Lower Calorific value and Higher ash
content Resulting In

Reduced Availability Boiler and its Auxiliaries.

Erosion of Pressure parts, Gas Ducts, AH, ID system.

• Reduced load Operation & Poor Availability leading to Low PLF of units
Boiler Tube Failures (22 Primary
Mechanisms)
Stress Rupture Fatigue
 Short Term Overheating  Vibration
 High Temperature Creep  Thermal
 Dissimilar Metal Welds  Corrosion
Water-side Corrosion Erosion
 Caustic Corrosion  Fly Ash
 Hydrogen Damage  Falling Slag
 Pitting  Soot Blower
 Stress Corrosion Cracking  Coal Particle
Fire-side Corrosion Lack of Quality Control
 Low Temperature  Maintenancecleaning
 Waterwall -  damage
 Coal Ash -   Chemical excursion damage
 Oil Ash  Material Defects
 Welding Defects
 - indicates that such problems have not been reported in India
 Amendment in Regulation 391 A of
IBR,1950

• Utility or Industrial Boilers operating at a

temperature of 400 Deg.C of above in the
creep range.

• To be non-destructively tested after

1,00,000 hours of operation for
Assessment of Remnant Life.
Amendment in Regulation 391
A of IBR,1950
• All boilers which completes 1Lakh hours of
life are to be tested for Remnant life
• If results are acceptable DOB will issue a
certificate for
> extending the life for further period of 10
years
> or a less period as recommended by
RLA organization
 RLA in Life Extension Program

LEP

Non-pressure Parts Pressure Parts

Condition Assessment PET RLA

R&M Proposal
 OUR FOCUS

Reduced Forced outages to improve

Availability and Reliability of Boiler

And to ensure safety.

AVAILABILITY & RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENTS

 Even at lesser loads targeted PLF can be achieved if

the Unit Availability is increased

 Can be achieved by
 Reducing Pr. parts failures
 Minimising Air ingress into the system
 Increasing the availability of Auxiliaries
 RLA Study Aims At
 Evaluation of present condition of pressure
parts & piping.
 Avoiding premature pressure parts failures
and associated unforeseen outages.
 Identification of problem areas.
 Analysis of root cause of problems.
 Estimation of balance life of pressure parts.
 Providing technically sound and viable
proposal for implementation.
 RLA of What?
RLA:
• Pressure parts
– Highly varying duty
• Varying Load, Cyclic Load
• Temperature Excursions
• Fuel Quality Variations
– Carried out extensively
CA:
• Structural parts
– Limited study
– Need based
– Visual examination gives good clue
• Non pressure parts
– Mostly maintenance oriented
– Can be assessed easily
 Steam Generating Unit

PRESSURE PARTS

HIGH TEMP (>400 C) HIGH THICKNESS LOW TEMP (<400 C) HIGH THICKNESS
SH HEADERS, DeSH ECONOMISER HEADERS
MS, HRH & PRDS PIPINGS DRUM, WW & SCW HEADERS
LTSH & RH O/L HEADERS CRH PIPING, LTSH I/L HEADER

HIGH TEMP (>400 C) LOW THICKNESS LOW TEMP (<400 C) LOW THICKNESS
SH, RH, LTSH UPPER BANK COILS WEAR PRONE COMPONENTS
WW PANELS
LTSH LOWER BANK, ECONOMISER COILS
Stages of Residual Life Assessment
RLA STUDY

Pre-Site Study Phase Site Study Post-Site Study Phase

Tender Review/ Review of Operational History Laboratory Analysis

Review of requirements based -
on available information Replica Evaluation
Tube Sample Analysis

Discussions with Utility Scheduling of Activities Review & Finalisation

of Recommendations

Scope Finalisation Preparatory Works Report Preparation &

Submission

Submission of Offer Study & Preliminary proposals for improvement

Report Submission
 Review of Past Data
• Plant operation
– Number of start-ups & shut downs
– Operating conditions
– Operating practice
– Total running hours
• Maintenance and repair
– Failures and repairs
– Previous inspection report
– Details of modifications
 SCOPE OF RLA AS PER IBR 391A, TABLE-1
Component Visual UT MPI LPI/ Replica Sampli Deposit OD and Fibreoptic Har others
DPT tion ng Analysis thicknes inspection dne
s ss
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)
Drum(Steam) Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Water drum Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Low temperature header Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Attemperator header Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Swell measurement
High temperature Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No No
Economisertubes
Low temperature Economiser Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No No
tubes
Convection Superheater coils Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Primary Superheater Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes Non-destructive oxide
coils thickness inspection

Prefinal Superheater coils Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes

Final superheater coils Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes

Reheater coils Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes
High tempature headers Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Final Superheater header Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Swell measurement
Reheater header Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes swell measurement
Main steam piping Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes
Platen Superheater header Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Primary Superheater header Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Economiser header Yes No No Yes No No No Yes No No
Anxiliaries Yes No No No No No No Yes No No
Boiler Bank tubes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No
Water wall Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No No
Furnace water walls Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No No
 Typical Tests Done for RLA
• High temperature headers & piping
– Visual inspection
– Ultrasonic, dye-penetrant tests
– Replication
– Other inspections like
• Dimensional Measurement
• Internal inspection
• In-situ hardness
 Typical Tests Done for RLA
• Superheater & Reheater tubes
– OD & Thickness
– Dye penetrant inspection
– Steam side oxide scale thickness
– Tube sample analysis
• Attemperators
– Ultrasonic, dye penetrant tests
– Replication, hardness
– Fiberscopy
 Typical Tests Done for RLA
• Drums & downcomers
– Ultrasonic, dye-penetrant tests
– MPI (Wet fluorescent & Dry)
– ID & Thickness measurement
– Drum deposit analysis
• Furnace & convection pass tubes
– OD & Thickness
– Tube samples
– Deposit analysis (Internal & External)
 Typical Tests Done for Piping
• Visual Inspection
• Replication, In-situ Hardness
• OD & thickness
• Hangers & Supports Inspection
• Stress analys is to identify the most stressed points
• General guidelines for selecting inspection points
– High turbulence or velocity zones
– Condensation points
– Dead ends & high stressed points
– Areas immediately downstream of chemical injection
points
– All supports
 Waterwall Tubes
• Tubes samples from high heat flux zone
– Detailed dimensional measurements
– Metallurgical analysis
– Presence of internal deposits covering
• Deposit content
• Constituents of deposit
• Solvent selection if cleaning is necessary
– Presence of external and internal corrosion
– Micro structure analysis (hydrogen damage)
 Field Testing
• Visual inspection
– Erosion, corrosion
– Swelling, scaling
– Deposits, misalignments
– Supports, pipe hangers etc
• Dimensional checks
– Thickness
– Outside diameter
 Field Testing
• Non destructive examination
– Penetrant testing including fluorescent type
– Magnetic particle inspection (Wet fluorescent &
Dry)
– Ultrasonic
– In-situ hardness checks
 Field Testing
• SH/RH for oxide scales- IOT measurement
• In-situ metallographic examination
• Fiberscopic inspection
• Tube sampling - WW internal deposits
• WW H2 embrittlement
 Laboratory Testing
• Microscopic examination (Light Microscopy &
SEM)
• Deposit analysis ( Internal & External)
• Accelerated creep rupture testing
• Other mechanical & metallurgical tests
 Microstructural Evaluation By
Replication
• Sampling Thick Walled Components Is Not
Possible
– Non-destructive Technique Adopted For
Evaluation Is Replication.
• To examine spheroidisation and cavitation
level
 Replica Technique
• The material surface preparation by grinding,
polishing and etching
• The plasticised replica is applied firmly to the
surface
• After curing, the replica can be removed and
gold sputtered & the topographical image of
the micro structure is examined
Replication
Gold Sputtered Replica
Creep Cavity Level Classification System
Proposed by Wedel & Neubauer
 LIFE PREDICTION
 METALLOGRAPHIC METHOD

 SAMPLE TUBE ANALYSIS

 CREEP RUPTURE

 OXIDE SCALE BASED METHODS

Recommendations Format (Typical)
• Residual life / inspection intervals of
components
• Parts needing replacements
• Parts needing repairs
• Chemical cleaning advice & procedure
• Modifications required for life extension
Recommendations Format (Typical)
• Advice on water regimes
• Improvements in operational methods
• Future plans of tests
• Retrofits / improvements in control &
instrumentation
• Any other specific observations
 RLAs carried out by BHEL
• Total Studies Carried Out - 289
• BHEL Boilers - 199
• Non- BHEL Boilers - 90
• In India - 278
• Abroad - 011
 FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Internal oxide scale in RH Tubes
Crack in the separating chamber plate
welding joint
Bulging of RH header stub
Very high gap between the WW screen
header and II pass roof
125 mm Bow in the MSL
Crack in the HRH line branch pipe
welding
Foreign materials in the bottom ring
header
Un size iron pieces in PLSH inlet
header
 RLA a decision making tool
RLA is an advanced scientific tool to
identify the root cause of problems and
to suggest suitable corrective measures
for better unit availability and reliability
by taking decision viz.
• Run
• Repair
• Replace
Any Questions Please
Thank You