Entries by Structural Integrity

News & Views, Volume 44 | Metallurgical Lab Featured Damage Mechanism – Long-Term Overheating/Creep (LTOC) in Steam-Cooled Boiler Tubes

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By:  Terry Totemeier Long-term overheating and creep damage are often the damage mechanisms associated with the normal or expected end of life of steam-touched tubes, generally occurring after 100,000 hours or more of service life at elevated temperatures and pressures. Long-term overheating and creep can also occur when the rate or accumulation of creep damage […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Integrated Flow Distributors (IFD)

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By:  Ed Dougherty and Al Jarvis for Bottom Tubesheet Filter/Demineralizers Initial Installation and Performance at Browns Ferry Nuclear StatioThe Browns Ferry Nuclear Station (BFNS) intends to implement an extended power uprate (EPU) at all three units beginning in 2018 for Unit 3 and Unit 1, and in 2019 for Unit 2. EPU implementation will increase […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Strategic Internal Corrosion Monitoring for Gas Pipelines

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By:  Lance Barton and Tom Pickthall (EnhanceCo) REGULATORY OVERVIEW A March 16, 2017, advisory bulletin (Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0131 – “Pipeline Safety: Deactivation of Threats”) gave guidance on the deactivation of pipeline threats, including the threat of internal corrosion.  On April 8, 2016, PHMSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Safety of Gas Transmission […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Dissimilar Metal Welds in Grade 91 Steel

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By:  Terry Totemeier Introduction A dissimilar metal weld (DMW) is created whenever alloys with substantially different chemical compositions are welded together – for example, when a low-alloy steel such as Grade 22 (2¼ Cr-1Mo) is welded to an austenitic stainless steel such as TP304H (18Cr-8Ni).  Many DMWs are commonly present in fossil-fired power plants, examples […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Real-Time Damage Tracking with SI Technology and GP Strategies’ EtaPro

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By:  Matt Freeman Expanding Capabilities in Condition-based Pressure-part Integrity Management Structural Integrity and GP Strategies recently announced an agreement to bring SI’s technology for calculating, tracking, and trending life consumption of piping and boiler components to GP Strategies EtaPRO real-time monitoring platform (Press release here).  SI has a long history with creep and fatigue damage […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Radiation Source Term Assessments

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By:  Jen Jarvis and Al Jarvis Nuclear plant workers accrue most of their radiation exposure during refueling outages, when many plant systems are opened for corrective and preventive maintenance. The total refueling outage radiation exposure can be 100-200 person-Rem at a typical Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), and 30-100 person-Rem at a typical Pressurized Water Reactor […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | The Impact of the ASCE 7-16 Standard on Seismic Design and Certification of Equipment

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By:  Matt Tobolski Things change, that’s just a fact of life. But when it comes to engineering codes and standards, change can be confusing, frustrating and expensive. As it relates to seismic design and certification of equipment, it is beneficial to understand the impact of code changes early to begin incorporating requirements in new equipment […]

News & Views, Volume 43 | In-Line Inspection – An Improvement Over Pressure Testing for Pipeline Integrity Management

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By:  Scott Riccardella, Dilip Dedhia, and Peter Riccardella  Structural Integrity recently performed probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis of a gas transmission pipeline for a major U.S. operator.  The analysis yielded interesting insights in several areas: Pressure Testing versus In-Line Inspection Pressure testing has long been considered the gold standard for assuring pipeline integrity.  By testing […]

News & Views, Volume 43 | Perforation, Scabbing, and Reinforcement Optimization in an Aircraft Impact Analysis (AIA)

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By:  Eric Kjolsing Background A 2016 project utilized a variety of Structural Integrity competencies to analyze a beyond design basis threat at an overseas nuclear power plant.  The client was assessing a plant design and approached Structural Integrity to investigate local perforation and scabbing of a reinforced concrete wall due to hard missile impact.  Perforation […]

News & Views, Volume 43 | Attemperator Damage Prevention A Case Study Using Online Monitoring

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By:  Fred DeGrooth and Ulrich Woerz Attemperators (aka desuperheaters) are used in fossil and combined cycle plants to protect boiler/HRSG components and steam turbines from temperature transients that occur during startup or load changes. The attemperator sprays water droplets into the superheated steam to ensure that the downstream, mixed, steam temperature will not adversely affect […]