Operation reliability of bent elbows of steam pipelines

Abstract

The nmnber of potentially dangerous equipment that has completed its established operational time, but is still being used, is permanently increasing. Therefore there is a problem of its' further operations. A decision to continue to operate power-generating plants, when the initial resource of the equipment's working time is ended, and its further operation without considerable expenditures on repair and the diagnostic of a metal state is possible only with the help of long-term research of metal in power-generating plants. Only a complex of research techniques can estimate the real state of a construction. In the article problems connected with the definition of operation reliability of steam pipeline elbows are investigated. Different areas of an elbow were researched. Results of a microstructure analysis, and mechanical characteristics (time history) research of an elbow metal are presented. Also results of calculation of an elbow on low - cyclic thermal fatigue are presented.