Author： Lyon Roger
Publisher： The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing
ISSN： 1354-2575
Source： Insight - Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, Vol.46, Iss.9, 2004-09, pp. : 516-519
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Abstract
The UK power industry is going through a difficult period, trying to balance the demand for electricity with conforming to the new environmental regulations. Because of overcapacity, it is no longer an attractive proposition to build new power stations but instead it makes economic sense to keep older power stations running beyond their design life.The objective of this work was to ascertain whether certain condition monitoring techniques could be applied to complex geometries, novel materials and extreme environments within the power industry; success would enhance safe working conditions and compliment conventional NDT applications.A power station contains a multiplicity of complex materials and geometries; some plant items are subjected to extreme environmental conditions, whilst others rotate at high speed. Of the various condition monitoring methods, thermography and acoustic emission were considered most likely to succeed.An analysis was conducted on conventional materials, such as ferritic steel and aluminium-based claddings, together with new materials, such as glass reinforced polymers. Trials were conducted under normal running conditions: pressure 2000 psi, temperature 500°C; structures were acoustically noisy.The principal findings of this work were that thermography was instantly successful, relying on the difference in temperature between the live steam and the outside surface of the boiler or pipework, whereas acoustic emission struggled with operating conditions and extreme structural noise.On the basis of these findings it is considered that both thermography and acoustic emission are worth further investment and, if successful, would provide major advances in structural integrity assessments.
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