CREEP FATIGUE ANALYSIS ON WATER TUBE BOILER

By

ALARADI KHALID GHAZI

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirement for the Degree of Master of Mechanical
Engineering
College of Graduate Studies
Universiti Tenaga Nasional

MAY 2010

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 ABSTRACT

During operation, boiler tubes operate at continually increasing temperatures

due to thermal isolation of scale. The thermal conductivity of the scale is
lower than that of the steal and insulates the tube from cooling by the steam
and raises the tube metal temperature. Tube metal temperature increase
and, so does the rate of internal scale formation, and the cycle continues
progressively becoming higher each year. The effect of this situation will
decrease the time to failure. Furthermore, most coal-fired boiler plants have
been forced to change their mode of operation from constant load to cyclic
load. As consequences it will pose combined problems due to creep damage
and mechanical fatigue. Therefore, estimation made of scale thickness as a
function of time and temperature to predict the remnant life of boiler tubes is
of great importance, and mechanical fatigue analysis should be considerable
incorporated in boiler tube evaluation.
An iterative procedure of estimating scale thickness in boiler tubes using the
empirical formula correlating scale thickness and Larson-Miller parameter
with finite element simulation was described. The iterative procedures used
to determine temperature as a function of time and scale thickness
increases. The finite element simulation is carried out to determine the
average temperature in the tube as scale thickness on the inner surface
growths. Incremental hours are made up to the maximum of 200,000 hours.
Different heat transfer parameters were taken to perform their effect on the
temperature increase and scale formation in the tube metal. Steam
temperature (485 °C, 500 °C, 540 °C and 576 °C) and gas temperatures (800
°C, 900°C, and 1000 °C) are used in this work. Each model has various
steam pressures and mass flow rates. The material of the tubes were used
are seamless ferritic low-alloy steel tube (SA213-T22) and carbon steel (SA
192).
The estimating temperatures of tube metal related with scale growth were
used to perform better estimation of the remnant life of the tube. Remaining
life estimations were presented according to both cumulative creep damage
and mechanical fatigue damage. The tube geometry, mass flow rate and
temperature of the steam, flue gas temperature and the convection
coefficient on the inner surface of the tube influenced the temperature
increase of the tube metal.

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 ACKNOWLEGEMENT

During the course of my thesis work, there were many people who were
instrumental and morally helping me. Without their guidance, help and
patience, I would have never been able to accomplish the work of this thesis.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some of them.

I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor Dr. Judha

Purbolaksono, whose expertise, understanding, and patience, added
considerably to my graduate experience. I would like to thank all teaching
staffs and my class colleagues in mechanical engineering department for the
assistance they provided at all levels of the thesis work.

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis, submitted to Universiti Tenaga

Nasional as fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in
Mechanical Engineering has not been submitted as an exercise for a similar
degree at any other university. I also certify that the work describe here is
entirely my own except for excerpts and summaries whose sources are
appropriately cited in the references.

This thesis may be made available within the university library and
may be photocopied or loaned to other libraries for the purposes of
consultation.

May 29, 2010 Alaradi Khalid Ghazi

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEGEMENT ................................................................................... iii
DECLARATION ............................................................................................. iv
LlST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... vii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................ ix
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS ........................................................................... xii

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION .....................................................................1

1.1 Overview ............................................................................................1
1.2 Objectives ..........................................................................................3
1.3 Methodology ......................................................................................3
1.4 Problem Statement ............................................................................4
1.5 Project’s Organization ........................................................................4

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................5

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................5
2.2 Types of Failure of Boiler Tubes ........................................................5
2.2.1 Scale Formation on the Steam Side ............................................5
2.2.2 Fire-side Wastage .......................................................................9
2.2.3 Short-term Overheating .............................................................11
2.2.4 Long-term Overheating .............................................................11
2.3 Boiler Tubes Material Requirements................................................14
2.4 Larson-Miller Parameters ................................................................15
2.5 Metal Tube Temperature .................................................................17
2.5.1 Heat Transfer Equation on Cylindrical Surface .........................18
2.5.2 Temperature Increase Due to Steam-Side Scale Growth .........20
2.6 Life Assessment Methods ................................................................21
2.7 Summary .........................................................................................25

CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY ..................................................................26

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 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................26
3.2 Finite Element Modeling ..................................................................27
3.2.1 Correlation of Heat Transfer ......................................................28
3.2.2 Iteration Procedure....................................................................30
3.3 Remnant Life Estimation ..................................................................34
3.3.1 Cumulative Creep Damage .......................................................34
3.3.2 Cumulative Mechanical Fatigue Damage ..................................35
3.4 Summary .........................................................................................42

CHAPTER 4 - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..............................................43

4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................43
4.2 Parametric studies ...........................................................................43
4.2.1 Tube geometry and heat transfer parameters. ..........................43
4.2.2 Finite element modeling ............................................................45
4.3 Simulation results ............................................................................50
4.3.1 Scale thickness and temperature estimations ...........................51
4.3.2 Remnant life estimation based on stress-rupture-curve ............57
4.3.3 Cumulative Mechanical Fatigue Damage ..................................63
4.4 Verification with Actual Data ............................................................65
4.5 Discussion .......................................................................................68
4.5.1 Incremental hours .....................................................................68
4.5.2 Tube geometries .......................................................................69
4.5.3 Steam mass flow rate ................................................................73
4.5.4 Steam and flue gas temperatures .............................................73
4.6 Summary .........................................................................................75

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH .......................76

4.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................76
4.8 Future Research ..............................................................................77

LIST OF REFERENCES ...............................................................................79

APPENDICIES. .............................................................................................84

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 LlST OF TABLES

Table ‎2.1 Temperatures at which thermal oxidation becomes excessive [10].

......................................................................................................................14
Table ‎2.2. Maximum tube-metal temperatures permitted by boiler
manufactures. ...............................................................................................15
Table ‎3.1. A and B constant for surface factor ..............................................37
Table 4.1.Tube model geometries ................................................................44
Table 4.2.chemical composition of SA213-T22[47]. ......................................44
Table 4.3.properties of fluid and solid materials. ...........................................44
Table 4.4. models specified according to inlet temperatures of the steam and
flue gas temperatures. ..................................................................................44
Table 4.5. various steam pressures and mass flow rates for each model. ...44
Table 4.6. steps of time used in the simulation. ............................................45
Table 4.7.Properties of the flue gas at different temperatures[48]. ...............48
Table 4.8. Parameters used to determine gas mass velocity G. ...................48
Table 4.9. compositions of glue gas at 15% excess air[46]. .........................48
Table 4.10. The convection coefficients hg on external surface of the boiler
tube. ..............................................................................................................48
Table 4.11.the convection coefficient hs on internal surface of the boiler tube.
......................................................................................................................49
Table 4.12.Remnant life estimation of Model 8 with steam mass flow rate of
3600 (kg/h)....................................................................................................58
Table 4.13.Remnant life estimation of Model 8 with steam mass flow rate of
2600 (kg/h)....................................................................................................59
Table 4.14.Remnant life estimation of Model 8 with steam mass flow rate of
2000 (kg/h)....................................................................................................59
Table 4.15 The remnant life predictions according to cumulative creep and
cumulative mechanical fatigue damage for carbon steel material (SA-192). 64
Table 4.16 The remnant life predictions according to cumulative creep and
cumulative mechanical fatigue damage for material SA213-T22. .................65
Table 4.17. oxide scale thickness and geometry of the as-received tubes. ..66
Table 4.18. Parameters used to determine gas mass velocity G for validation
of actual data. ...............................................................................................66

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Table 4.19. The estimated convection coefficients hs and hg for internal and
external surfaces respectively. ......................................................................66
Table 4.20. Remnant life estimation for Case 1 with the average steam
pressure, p =4.6 MPa ...................................................................................67
Table 4.21. Remnat life estimation for Case 2 with the average steam
pressure, p =4.0 MPa ...................................................................................67
Table 4.22 Steps of time used to estimate the remnant life of model 3. .......69
Table 4.23 Remnant life estimation for tube 1. .............................................70
Table 4.24 Remnant life estimation for tube 2. .............................................71
Table 4.25 Remnant life estimation for tube 3. .............................................71
Table 4.26. Remnant life estimation for tube 2 and 3 with LMP of 40600. ....73

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure ‎2.1. Thermal conductivity of various common boiler steel as function

of temperature [9]. ..........................................................................................6
Figure ‎2.2 Temperature increase as function of scale thickness increase [8]. 7
Figure ‎2.3. Scale thickness as a function of time [8]: a) Typical super heater,
b) Typical reheater. .........................................................................................8
Figure ‎2.4. Normalized representative stress value vs. the ratio of outside
radius [17]. ....................................................................................................10
Figure ‎2.5. Schematic presentation of wastage vs. temperature [8]. ............10
Figure ‎2.6 Failed tube as a result of short-term overheating.........................11
Figure ‎2.7. Different tubes failed as a result of long-term overheating. .........12
Figure ‎2.8. Allowable stress curve for the 2 1 Cr  1Mo steel [19]. ...................12
4

Figure ‎2.9. Larson-Miller master curve for the SA213-T22 material [26]. .....16
Figure ‎2.10. Schematic presentation of temperature profile for a superheater
tube with an oxide layer on the inner surface. ...............................................18
Figure ‎2.11. Steam side scale formation for ferritic steels of 1-3% chromium
correlated withthe LMP [28]. .........................................................................21
Figure ‎3.1. The general description of the adopted methodology. ................26
Figure ‎3.2. Modeling of the boiler tube with scale on the inner surface. .......28
Figure ‎3.3. Inline and staggered arrangements of the bare tubes [45]. ........30
Figure ‎3.4. The iterative procedure to estimate average temperature and
scale thickness in boiler tubes. .....................................................................32
Figure ‎3.5.Maximum and minimum stress due to pressure fluctuation through
the day/night cycle. .......................................................................................36
Figure ‎3.6. Two possible cases for a component life prediction. ...................38
Figure 3.7. Remaining life estimation flow chart ...........................................41
Figure 4.1.Model of tow dimensional axisymmetric boiler. ............................46
Figure 4.2.Triangular elements meshing on tube model. ..............................47
Figure 4.3.Diagram of axisymmetric boiler tube with presence of oxide scale.
......................................................................................................................47
Figure 4.4.Diagram of axisymmetric boiler tube with presence of oxide scale.
......................................................................................................................49

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Figure 4.5.Temperature distribution along x-axis of Model 1 at time of 0
hours. ............................................................................................................50
Figure 4.6.Temperature distribution along x-axis of Model 1 at time of
160,000 hours. ..............................................................................................50
Figure 4.7. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 1. ...........51
Figure 4.8. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 2. ...........52
Figure 4.9. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 3. ...........52
Figure 4.10. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 4. ...........53
Figure 4.11. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 5. ...........53
Figure 4.12. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 6. ...........54
Figure 4.13. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 7. ...........54
Figure 4.14. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 8. ...........55
Figure 4.15. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 9. ...........55
Figure 4.16. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 10. .........56
Figure 4.17. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 11. .........56
Figure 4.18. Estimated scale thickness and average temperatures of the tube
metal as a function of time with different steam flow rate of Model 12. .........57
Figure 4.19. Average temperatures of the tube metal as a function of time
with different steam flow rate of Model 2.......................................................60
Figure 4.20. Estimated cumulative creep damage under an operational
pressure of 4.6 MPa with different steam flow rate of Model 8. ....................61
Figure 4.21. Estimated cumulative creep damage of Model 9 under different
operational pressuers with a steam flow rate of 3600 kg/h. ..........................61
Figure 4.22. Estimated cumlative creep damage of Model 10 with different
LMPs with a steam flow rate of 2600 kg/h an operational internal pressure of
4.6 MPa. .......................................................................................................62

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Figure 4.23. Cumulative creep damage with two different flue gas
temperatures of 800 and 900°C. ...................................................................74
Figure 4.24. Cumulative creep damage with two different steam temperatures
of 540 and 576°C. .........................................................................................75

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 LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

Abbrevations

ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
LMP Larson-Miller Parameter
NOTIS

Symbols

µ Viscosity, Ms / m
∑ΔR Sum of all resistances
∑ΔT Sum of ΔT across individual layers,°R,°C
σref Tresca reference stress
Cp Specific heat, J / Kg.C
Cps Specific heat of the steam
Di Inner diameter of the tube
D Tube diameter
do Outer diameter of the tube
dxi Scale increase = (Xib – Xia)
Fe3O4 magnetite
G Gas mass velocity
ho Convection coefficient of flue gas
Hia Hardness value for the service hours tia
Hib Hardness value for the service hours tib
hs Convection coefficient steam
Kg Flue gas conductivity
Kmetal Thermal conductivityof the tube metal
ks Steam conductivity
kscale Thermal conductivity of the tube scale
L Length of the tube
L/D Ratio of length of the tube and tube diameter
P Larson-Miller Parameter

xii
  Mass flow rate of the steam
mS
Nw Number of tube wide
p Operational pressure
Pr Prandtl number
Q/A Heat flux per unit of area, W / M2, Btu / hr.ft2
r1 Radius of inside surface
r2 Radius of scale / metal interface
r3 Radius of outside surface
Re Reynolds number
ri Inside radius
ro Outside radius
St Transverse pitch
T Temperature
C Constant ( taken to be 20 for SA213-T22)
t time
Tave-i Average of the inner surface and the scale / metal
interface temperature
Tri Time to rupture
tsi Service time
Wg Gas flow
X Scale thickness
Xia Scale thickness for the service hours tia
Xib Scale thickness for the incremental service hours tib

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