Prediction of service life of components and structures of hydro power plants during the design, prototyping and service period

Abstract

During the rehabilitation of turbine and hydromechanical equipment at hydro power plant 'Djerdap 1' results of tests and researches carried out in order to analyze the condition of vital components and structures during service led to the conclusion that the components and structures could be made only if parameters of fracture mechanics were applied during the design and prototyping phase, because by doing so the occurrence of fatigue fracture and/or degradation of parent material and welded joints due to variable loading, corrosion, erosion and cavitation would be prevented, therefore the integrity of material would be maintained. Experimental determination of the fatigue crack propagation rate as an important property of development of the fatigue process during the action of the variable load, from the initial to the critical length, enables the prediction of the stable crack propagation period, or in other words of the service life of vital components and structures of turbine and hydromechanical equipment. Taking into account the fact that cracks are most severe of all defects, the results obtained for cracks could safely be applied for other types of defects which often occur in welded joints. This paper contains the methodological approaches for the assessment of integrity and evaluation of service life of components and structures of turbine and hydromechanical equipment during the design, prototyping and service period based on history of fatigue loading and application of fracture mechanics parameters.