UTILITY BOILER CONDITION ASSESSMENT by WILLIAM A. KITCHEN Vice-President Engineering and Development JEFFREY S. HUNTER Manager Mechnical Design Engineering and JAMES P, KING ‘Manager Boller Evaluation RILEY STOKER CORPORATION WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS Presented at ‘The First International Power Technology Conference Chicago, tinois ‘October 31 - November 2, 1989 RST 83 Babcock Power Inc. Babcock Power Inc. 5 Neponset Street P.O. Box 15040 Worcester, MA 01615-0040 www.babcockpower.com,Utility Boiler Condition Assessment by William A. Kitchen Vice President Engineering and Development and Jeffrey S. Hunter Manager Mechanical Design Engineering and James P. King Manager Boiler Evaluation Riley Stoker Corporation Worcester, Massachusetts INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND During the decade of the 1980s, life extension pro- grams in many different forms, have been im- plemented and utilized by utility owners as a means Of assessing the present physical condition of fossil fired boilers and their auxiliary equipment, The results from such programs have provided the ‘owner with an estimate of the life expended to date of critical pressure components, together with a prioritized list of recommendations addressing near and long term maintenance, repair modification, replacement and monitoring items necessary for continued reliable operation of the unit in an ex- tended time period. The owners intended future mode of operation has been factored into these assessments. In the absence of any meaningful planned near term extensive building of new generating capa ty, the Electric Utility Industry will have to continue to implement boiler and plant condition assessment projects as a means of at least maintaining present capacity in a marketplace of growing demand. The experience gained from the many successful ongo- ing and completed programs performed over the past eight years will be invaluable as we approach the decade of the 1990s. This experience is sup- plemented by the many advances made and developed during this period, especially in fiberoptic and video probe inspection equipment, on-line diagnostic monitoring systems, nondestructive testing methods and equipment, and computerized anaytical modeling techniques. Many of these in- spection, montoring and analytical methods and tools have been developed as part of the many ongo- ing Electric Power Research Institute programs, ‘Although the term “Life Extension” has been receiving all the attention in the Utility Power I dustry in recent years, Riley Stoker has been in- volved in the individual activities that make up @ Life Extension Program for many years. In the lave 1970's, Riley initiated a Boiler Availability Improve- ment (BAIP) Program. Riley has had a continuing ‘Team Inspection Service (TIS) Program in place for the past twelve years, with over one hundred thirty (130) on-site detailed inspecions performed for both Riley and other manufacturer's boilers. In addition, Riley has extensive experience with in-house metal- lurgical analysis of boiler components, tubes, etc., with over twenty five hundred (2500) reports issued to date. Riley has performed many on-site boiler performance tests, and in-house engineering studies including remaining life estimations, for a revised mode of boiler operation. ‘The Riley Stoker boiler condition assessment pro- gram was formulated and introduced in 1985, and is described in Reference I. This paper presents an update on the Riley program for boiler condition assessment, with special emphasis on typical pressure part failure or problem areas, and en- ‘ancements and upgrades relative to the mechanical design, materials and performance of boiler and fuel burning components © Riley Stoker Corporation 1989CONDITION ASSESSMENT PROGRAM ‘The Riley boiler and equipment assessment program is comprised of the following key elements: * Pre-Inspection Planning * Review of Documentation * Inspection ‘+ Nondestructive Testing * Destructive Testing & Metallurgy * Performance Testing and Evaluation © Expended Life Analysis * Reporting Fora given project all, or a portion of these work tasks, are petformed. For original Riley equipment, the OEM experience in boiler design, drawings, records and field service files is invaluable to a con- dition assessment program. Pre-Inspection Planning Pre-inspection planning is a most important feature for a successful condition assessment program. Part of the planning typically includes an on-site ‘meeting, where all parties can review the prepara- tion activities required for the inspection and testing work tasks, The preparation activities include, the ‘opening of all boiler and equipment access doors, scaffolding, lighting, and power at the proper loca tions, access into headers and spray stations for in- ternal inspection, preparation of tube and header surfaces for ultrasonic and replication testing, and removal and replacement of tube or core/boat samples for metallurgical evaluation. Review of Documentation During the inspection the Riley Team will review operational, maintenance, outage, failure analysis and previous testing documents and records as a ‘means of establishing a history of the boiler. This review is supplemented by interviews with plant maintenance, operational and engineering person- nel. This historical information is invaluable in identifying problem locations, and for providing in- puts for the expended life calculations. Inspection A detailed visual inspection is performed for all regions of the boiler and fuel burning equipment. Measurements and photographs are taken as ap- propriate, and observations and findings recorded for such items as structural damage, interferences, misalignment, corrosion, erosion, pluggage, swell- ing, bowing and sagging of structures and com- ponents. The visual inspection includes boiler pressure parts, the setting, structure, air and flue sas systems and fuel systems. Outside diameter and circumferential measurements are taken at several locations along high temperature superheater and reheat outlet headers as a check on creep swelling, Internal fiberoptic or video probe inspections are performed for the high temperature S.H./R.H. ‘outlet headers, the lower hopper headers and the economizer inlet header, and superheater/reheat spray assemblies. These inspections are done as a check on internal deposits, corrosion and cracking. ‘Ala spray station, the spray nozzle is dye check- ed for external cracking, and the spray liner, in- cluding seam weld, and attachment rings and welds are inspected for internal scale, deposits, pitting, cracking, corrosion and erosion. ‘The internal component inspections are record- ed on video tape, which provides @ permanent record for the client's and Riley's files. The state of the art in current available fiberoptic and video chip equipment has increased dramatically in recent years, This equipment includes scan-zoom borescopes, and flexible fiberoptic and video pro- bes, up to’100 feet in length, with sophisticated monitoring and recording capabilities for freeze frame, image enhancement and measuring capabilites. Nondestructive Testing A variety of nondestructive testing tasks can be utilized as part of a comprehensive condition assess- ment program, They are summarized as follows: Ultrasonics: Ultrasonic testing is utilized for a variety of tasks. They include @ boiler tube thickness survey, including the capability of measuring internal oxide scale. Ultrasonic shear wave techniques are utilized to locate and measure laminations in component walls, and for locating and measuring internally thinned tube regions caused by hydrogen embritte- ment and caustic gouging. Finally, ultrasonic tip diffraction methods are used to locate and measure internal header, and external tube nipple cracking Magnetic Particle and Liquid Dye Penetrant Testing: ‘These nondestructive examination methods are utilized to determine the presence of any indications for cracking on the external surfaces of pressure components, and also internally, as accessible Magnetic particle testing can be performed on a