Professional Documents
Culture Documents
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 2
Failure of a thermowell
In1995 a thermowell failed in the secondary coolant loop of
the Monju fast breeder reactor in Japan.
The failure closed the plant for 15 years
The thermowell was designed to ASME PTC 19.3 1974
The failure was found to be due to the drag resonance induced
on the thermowell by the liquid sodium coolant
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 3
Stresses on a Thermowell
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 4
Frequency Ratio
X
Vortex shedding causes the
thermowell to vibrate.
If this vortex shedding rate (fs)
Y matches the natural frequency
(fnc ) of the thermowell, resonance
Flow Direction occurs, and dynamic bending
stress on the thermowell greatly
increases
Forces created by the fluid in the Y plane (in-line with flow) are called drag and
forces created in the X plane (transverse to flow) are called lift
The vortex shedding rate for the drag and lift must be calculated. The in-line frequency
(parallel to flow) is 2x the transverse frequency.
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 5
Induced Frequencies
Where the induced frequency meets the natural frequency of the thermowell the amplitude of vibration
increases rapidly
The drag frequency induced is twice that of the lift frequency induced.
As such it meets the natural frequency of the thermowell at half the fluid velocity of the lift induced
frequency
The drag forces are smaller than the lift forces and under certain special conditions may not be significant.
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 6
Resonance “lock in”
Fn
Nominal lock-in
range
Fluid velocity
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 7
Frequency Ratio Limit
The frequency ratio (fs / fnc ) is the ratio between the vortex shedding rate and the
installed natural frequency. In the old standard, the frequency ratio limit was set
to 0.8. This was to avoid the critical resonance caused by the transverse (lift)
forces
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 10
Thermowells; when to perform a calculation
A thermowell can be considered to
be at negligible risk if the following
criteria are met:
Process fluid velocity is less
than 0.64 m/s
Wall thickness is 9.55 mm or
more
Unsupported length is 610 mm
or less
Root and tip diameter are 12.7
mm or more
Maximum allowable stress is
69 Mpa or more
Fatigue endurance limit is 21
Mpa or more
For all other conditions it is advised
that a calculation is performed
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 11
Thermowells; Assumptions and limits
A number of assumptions are made in the
standard:
Surface finish of the thermowell will
be 32 Ra or better
The thermowell is solid drilled
There is no welding on the stem of the
thermowell (other than the attachment
to the flange)
That the flange rating and attachment
are in compliance with established
standards .
That the thermowell is within the
dimension limits given in the standard
(table 4-1-1 and 4-2-1)
That any corrosion or erosion is
allowed for
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 12
Thermowell; the pass criteria
There are four criteria for a All four of the criteria need to be
thermowell to pass evaluation to evaluated and all four need to be
PTC 19.3 TW-2010 passed.
Frequency limit: the resonance
frequency of the thermowell shall be
sufficiently high so that destructive
oscillations are not excited by the
fluid flow
Dynamic stress limit: the maximum
primary dynamic stress shall not
exceed the allowable fatigue stress
limit
Static stress limit: the maximum
steady-state stress on the
thermowell shall not exceed the
allowable stress, determined by the
Von Mises criteria
Hydrostatic pressure limit: the
external pressure shall not exceed
the pressure ratings of the
thermowell tip, shank and flange
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 13
Introduction to ABB’s Wake Frequency
Calculation
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 14
Thermowell Types
STR/THREAD STR/SW STR/FLG STR/VAN STR/WELD
Note:
Ls and bs are only applicable for step-shank thermowells
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 16
Calculation Report
Project and client details from the
Front Page are shown here
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 18
© ABB Group
November 11, 2023 | Slide 19