Strength and Service Life of a Steam Turbine Stop and Control Valve Body

The stability of operation of steam turbines depends (along with other factors) on the reliable operation of their steam distribution systems, which are based on stop and control valves. This paper considers the strength of the elements of the K-325-23.5 steam turbine valves, in whose bodies, after 30 thousand hours of operation, cracks came to be observed. Previously determined were the nature of gas-dynamic processes in the flow paths of the valves and the temperature state of the valve body in the main stationary modes of operation. To do this, a combined problem of steam flow and thermal conductivity in stop and control valves was solved in a three-dimensional formulation by the finite element method. Different positions of the valve elements were considered taking into account the filter sieve. The assessment of the thermal stress state of the valve body showed that the maximum stresses in different operating modes do not exceed the yield strength. Therefore, the assessment of the creep of the valve body material is important to determine the valve body damage and service life. Modeling the creep of the stop and control valves of the turbine was performed on the basis of three-dimensional models, using the theory of hardening, with the components of unstable and steady creep strains taken into account. The creep was determined at the maximum power of the turbine for all the stationary operating modes. The maximum calculated values of creep strains are concentrated in the valve body branch pipes before the control valves and in the steam inlet chamber, where in practice fatigue defects are observed. However, even for 300 thousand hours of operation of the turbine (with a conditional maximum power) in stationary modes, creep strains do not exceed admissible values. The damage and service life of the valve bodies were assessed by two methods developed at A. Pidhornyi Institute of Mechanical Engineering Problems of the NAS of Ukraine (2011), and I. Polzunov Scientific and Design Association on Research and Design of Power Equipment. (NPO CKTI) – 1986. The results of assessing the damage and the turbine valve body wear from the effects of cyclic loading and creep of the turbine in stationary modes for 40, 200 and 300 thousand hours show that the thermal conditions of the body in the steam inlet chamber are not violated (without taking into account possible body defects after manufacture). The damage in valve body branch pipes after 300 thousand hours of operation exceeds the admissible value, with account taken of the safety margin. At the same time, the damage from creep in stationary operating modes is about 70% of the total damage. The maximum values of damage are observed in the areas of the body where there are defects during the operation of the turbine steam distribution system. The difference between the results of both methods in relation to their average value is ~20%.

Creep and Shrinkage Behaviour of Disintegrated and Non-Disintegrated Cement Mortar

One way to prevent cement from ending up in landfills after its shelf life is to regain its activity and reuse it as a binder. As has been discovered, milling by planetary ball mill is not effective. Grinding by collision is considered a more efficient way to refine brittle material and, in the case of cement, to regain its activity. There has been considerable research regarding the partial replacement of cement using disintegrated cement in mortar or concrete in the past few decades. This article determines and compares the creep and shrinkage properties of cement mortar specimens made from old disintegrated, old non-disintegrated, and new non-disintegrated Portland cement. The tests show that the creep strains for old disintegrated and old non-disintegrated cement mortars are close, within a 2% margin of each other. However, the creep strains for new non-disintegrated cement mortar are 30% lower. Shrinkage for old disintegrated and non-disintegrated cement mortar is 20% lower than for new non-disintegrated cement mortar. The research shows that disintegration is a viable procedure to make old cement suitable for structural application from a long-term property standpoint. Additionally, it increases cement mortar compressive strength by 49% if the cement is disintegrated together with sand.

Long-Term Properties of Different Fiber Reinforcement Effect on Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Composite

Geopolymer composites have been around only for 40 years. Nowadays, they are used in buildings and infrastructures of various kinds. A geopolymer’s main benefit is that it is a green material that is partially made by utilizing waste products. The carbon footprint from geopolymer matrix manufacturing is at least two times less than Portland cement manufacturing. Due to the nature of the geopolymer manufacturing process, there is a high risk of shrinkage that could develop unwanted micro-cracks that could reduce strength and create higher creep strains. Because of this concern, a common strategy to reduce long-term strains of the material, such as shrinkage and creep, is to add fiber reinforcement that would constrain crack development in the material. This article aims to determine how various kinds and amounts of different fiber reinforcement affect fly ash-based geopolymer composites’ creep strains in compression. Specimen mixes were produced with 1% steel fibers, 1% polypropylene fibers, 5% polypropylene fibers, and without fibers (plain geopolymer). For creep and shrinkage testing, cylindrical specimens Ø46 × 190 mm were used. The highest creep resistance was observed in 5% polypropylene fiber specimens, followed by 1% polypropylene fiber, plain, and 1% steel fiber specimens. The highest compressive strength was observed in 1% polypropylene fiber specimens, followed by plain specimens, 1% steel fiber specimens, and 5% polypropylene fiber-reinforced specimens. The only fiber-reinforced geopolymer mix with improved long-term properties was observed with 1% polypropylene fiber inclusion, whereas other fiber-introduced mixes showed significant decreases in long-term properties. The geopolymer composite mix with 1% polypropylene fiber reinforcement showed a reduction in creep strains of 31% compared to the plain geopolymer composite.

Temperature influence on creep of reinforced concrete

abstract: The creep of concrete promotes strains over time in structural members kept under sustained load. It causes the stress decrease on the concrete and the steel stress increase in reinforced concrete members. The moisture content and temperature influence significantly such phenomenon. The creep strains model of the NBR 6118/2014 [1] is, applicable, solely, to those cases of constant stress magnitudes. Reinforced concrete members exhibit variations on the stress magnitudes and, in this way, requires the use of an alternative model for the prediction of the creep strains as the so known the State Model. This report refers itself to temperature influence analysis upon creep strains of reinforced concrete structural members. The results have revealed that temperature speeds up the creep effects and, in this way, the steel yielding caused by the stress increase on the reinforcement bars occurs at earlier ages.

Comparison of Concrete Creep in Compression, Tension, and Bending under Drying Condition

Three types of creep experiments of compression, tension, and bending were implemented to identify quantitative relations among the three types of creep under drying atmospheric conditions. In case of the bending creep experiment, two types of unreinforced concrete beams with similar dimensions were cast for use in the beam creep and shrinkage tests. The variations in the shrinkage strain within the beam depth were measured to evaluate the effect of the shrinkage variations on the bending creep strain. The beam creep strain measured within the beam depth was composed of uniform and skewed parts. The skewed parts of the creep strain were found to be dominant whereas the uniform parts were small enough to be neglected in the bending creep evaluation. This indicated that the compressive bending creep at the top surface was close to the tensile bending creep at the bottom surface. The ratios of tensile and bending creep strains to compressive creep strain were approximately 2.9 and 2.3, respectively, and the ratio of bending creep strain to tensile creep strain was approximately 0.8. Particular attention is laid on the close agreement between tensile and compressive bending creep strains even if the creep in tension is 2.9 times larger than the creep strain in compression.

Modeling interaction between loading-induced and creep strains of rockfill materials using a hardening elastoplastic constitutive model

An elastoplastic constitutive model that takes into account the stress–strain relationship and creep-induced hardening behavior of rockfill materials is proposed in light of previous experimental observations. It is assumed that the mechanical response during loading and the final amounts of creep strains under a constant stress state are independent of the strain rate. The focus of the proposed model is the coupling effect between loading and creep, including the influence of loading history on subsequent creep strains and the influence of creep history on subsequent loading behavior. An extended yield function, which allows flexible control over the shape of yield surfaces, is used not only to distinguish among loading, unloading, and neutral loading, but also to manipulate the creep-induced hardening using a plastic strains–based hardening parameter. A stress-dependent dilatancy equation is used, instead of a plastic potential function, to define the directions of plastic strains during loading. The hardening law is established based on three different types of experimental results. Only routine experiments are required for calibration of model parameters, and the model can be used in a reduced form according to the available test results. The model is verified using typical experimental data and is found to be capable of capturing important behavior of rockfill materials, such as pressure-dependent strength, shear contraction and dilation, and creep-induced stiffening.

Shearography as a tool to measure creep strain in sealing elastomers

In this work, a new application of digital speckle pattern shearing interferometry (shearography) for strain measurement is proposed. This optical technique is implemented to measure strain in elastic materials. Three different sealing elastomers were tested in short-term creep tests in order to assess creep compliance, which is an important mechanical property for viscoelastic materials. The creep tests were carried out applying a constant tensile load to a specimen. An in-plane shearography setup was implemented to measure the creep strains in the polymers. Results of creep strains were compared with that obtained with a commercial equipment of digital image correlation (DIC). Although some limitations were found for shearography, it was possible to verify the adaptability of this technique for strain measurement in elastomers.