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surge tank, into the penstock for units 1 & 2 with a total
Introduction length of 1,397 m and the penstock for units 3 & 4 with a
total length of 1,365 m.
Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Kannagawa Hydropower Tokyo Electric Power Company decided to introduce high
Plant is located in Gunma prefecture, Japan. tensile strength steel (HT100) with a tensile strength of 950
For the first challenge in Japan, high tensile strength steel N/mm2 for the penstocks of its Kannagawa Hydropower
(HT100) with a tensile strength of 950 N/mm2 was adopted Plant to reduce the construction cost. Table 1 shows the
for use in the penstocks of Kannagawa Hydropower Plant to materials used and their weight. The total weight for units 1
reduce the construction cost. To apply HT100 steel for the & 2 penstock was about 5,154 t, of which the quantity of the
penstocks, a performance verification test was conducted in HT100 steel was about 2,331 t. The total weight for units 3 &
advance to make sure that HT100 steel plates and welded 4 penstock will be about 5,150 t, of which the quantity of the
joints have required performance, while the requirements for HT100 steel will be about 1,420 t.
welding procedures were determined. In the actual The construction of the penstock for units 1 & 2 was started
construction, quality control was carried out adequately on in April 2001, with the installation on the site completed in
the basis of the determined requirements for welding July 2004. Currently, the inclined shaft and part of upper and
procedures and other requirements. lower horizontal sections of the penstock for units 3 & 4 are
This paper presents the design and construction of the under construction with the progress rate being about 40% as
penstocks of the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant. In the paper, of May 2009; the installation of the penstock is planned to be
we primarily focus on quality control items specified in completed by April 2010.
consideration of the characteristics of high tensile strength
steel and their results.
1. Overview of Facilities
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
TABLE 1: Materials and weights of steel TABLE 2: Allowable stress and yield point of steels
4)
Steel Penstock for units 1 & 2 Penstock for units 3 & 4 Steel Thickness Allowabl Yield Standard
Thick Weight Ratio Thick Weight Ratio (mm) e stress point
ness (t) of ness (t) of (N/mm2) (N/mm2)
(mm) weight (mm) weight HT100 <75 400 885 Technical
HT100 29-72 2331 45% 27-72 1420 28% Guidline
SHY685 28-38, 28-42, for
312 907
NS-F 621) 6% 621) 18% HT100
2002) 8 2002) 8 SHY685NS- <50 330 685 JIS G
SM570 22-45 1335 26% 22-44 1541 30% F 50-100 320 665 3128
SM490B 20-52, 22-52, 200 315 650
1168 23% 1148 22%
703) 703) SM570 16-40 240 450 JIS G
SM400B ---- ---- 0% 22-26 126 2% 40-75 235 430 3106
Total ---- 5154 100% 5150 100% SM490B 16-40 175 315 JIS G
weight 40-100 160 295 3106
1) 62-mm thick steel is for joining inlet valves. SM400B 16-40 130 235 JIS G
2) 200-mm thick steel is for stiffening the branch II.
3) 70-mm thick steel is for reinforcing the branch I.
40-100 115 215 3106
4) The penstock for units 3 & 4 is now under construction, so the values are
estimated.
2.1 Design for Internal hydraulic pressure 2.2 Design for External hydraulic pressure
In the design of penstocks embedded in rock mass, internal To ensure safety for external hydraulic pressure, penstocks
hydraulic pressure is partially borne by rock mass embedded in rock mass are designed to have a safety factor
surrounding penstocks with the aim of reducing costs of 1.5 or more against the critical buckling pressure
through a reduction in the thickness of steel pipes. calculated using the theoretical formula.
In this design, the ratio of internal pressure borne by rock For inclined shafts of which an adequate drain slope can be
mass is designed according to rock mass properties, such as expected, Tokyo Electric Power Company adopts a design in
the elastic modulus and plastic deformation coefficient. The which drain facilities are installed to reduce external
plate thickness of the penstock is determined so that the hydraulic pressure.
stress acting on the penstock as a result of the consideration Figure 2 shows the design of the drain facilities of the
of the internal pressure borne by rock mass may not exceed Kannagawa Hydropower Plant. The drains consist of both a
the allowable stress of the penstock. In addition, the design is direct drain for draining water from the void between the
established on the safe side so that the stress acting on the penstock and the infilling concrete and an indirect drain for
penstock may not exceed the yield point of the steel material draining seepage water, which comes from the rocks, from
even if rock mass is assumed to bear no internal hydraulic the void between the concrete and the rocks. Even when one
pressure. of the drains becomes ineffective, the other reduces the
Table 2 shows the allowable stress and yield point for the external hydraulic pressure to prescribed level.
steel material used. The groundwater level in the natural ground surrounding the
Joint efficiency is determined for the places of welding and penstocks is assumed to be on the grand level according to
the sampling ratio in the nondestructive inspection, and can investigation. The drain facilities are designed to reduce the
be made 100% by welding in a workshop and inspection over groundwater potential near the penstock in the inclined shaft
the entire welded length. section. For the penstock for units 1 & 2, the design external
Tokyo Electric Power Company compared costs of hydraulic pressure was set at 40% of the hydraulic pressure
nondestructive inspection over the entire welded length with corresponding to the natural ground cover on the basis of the
reducing costs through a reduction in the thickness of steel two-dimensional seepage flow analysis. For the penstock for
pipes assuming a 100% joint efficiency. For the penstocks units 3 & 4, on the other hand, with the aim of reducing plate
used in the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant, a reduction in the thickness, the design external hydraulic pressure was set at
plate thickness was adopted by assuming a 100% joint 30% of the hydraulic pressure corresponding to the natural
efficiency after the inspection of entire longitudinal joint ground cover because a ratio of the measurement value for
lines. the design external hydraulic pressure of the penstock for
units 1 & 2 was very small.
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
①SM400
②SM490
③SM570
④SHY685
⑤HT100
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
3. Procedure of the penstock installation obtained during the construction on the penstock for units 1
& 2 for examples.
Figure 4 shows an overview of the penstock installation of
the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant.
The penstocks were constructed by cutting steel plates,
preparing edges and bending the plates in manufacturer’s
plant. And then, due to transportation limits, these were
constructed by transporting the half-pipe parts to the site,
welding the parts into 3 m-long unit pipes and then into 15
m-long unit pipes in the temporary workshop at the site, and
installing in the inclined shaft and welding the unit pipes.
The installation of steel penstock in the inclined shaft was a
critical path of the construction schedule. Since the adoption
of HT100 steel allowed one to reduce the penstock weight in
the inclined shaft section, the length of an installation unit
pipe was increased from 12 m (four 3-m long unit sections),
the longest in the past, to 15 m (five 3-m long unit sections),
thereby reducing the number of times of installation in the
inclined shaft and hence reducing the time necessary for
installation by 20%.
In the inclined shaft, a construction method that was based on
the installation of two unit pipes taken as one work cycle was
adopted. Consequently installing steel a unit pipe and filling
concrete helped shorten the construction period. The Figure 4: Overview of the penstock installation
installation speed of HT100 steel sections including concrete
filling was 11 days/30 m. The mean installation speed of the
entire inclined shaft was 10 days/30 m.
Place Steel penstock installation procedure Inspection
Regarding the weld processes adopted for the penstocks at
Material making
the site, the SAW(submerged arc welding) method was Steel mill
Material Inspection
adopted for straight pipes and the SMAW(shielded metal arc
welding) method for bend pipes at the temporary workshop, Workshop of Half pipe manufacturing
fabricator Half pipe Inspection
while the method of automatic MAG(metal active gas)
( transportation )
welding from one side of the inner surface was adopted for Receiving&Inspection
the inclined shaft, with the SMAW method adopted for other Unit pipe of 3m fabricating
on-site welding operations. Assembly
Groove Inspection
Longitudinal welding
Visual Inspection
4. Quality Control for the Penstocks Nondestructive Inspection
items, the witness inspection of all articles is predominantly Figure 5: Important inspection items of quality control
used. In the following, the important items and results of for each procedure
quality control are described using the pieces of data
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
4.2 HT100 Steel Plates and Welding Materials be inferior to that at the 1/4-thickness position, the toughness
Table 3 and Figure 6 show the quality control criteria and test was checked at positions of 1/4-thickness and 1/2-thickness
results for HT100 steel plates. Generally tensile strength tests in the actual construction.
are conducted using C-direction of the steel plate. However, Table 4 shows the mechanical properties of HT100 deposited
the preliminary performance verification test revealed that metal and the control standard for the quantity of hydrogen.
the L-direction strength bearing hydraulic pressure tended to The specifications of the deposited metal were characterized
be smaller than the strength in the C-direction in HT100 by tensile strength for which slightly softer nature than the
steel. In the actually executed work, for this reason, the base metal was required in consideration of the balance with
tensile strength test was conducted both in the L- and C- the toughness and weldability and by the requirement for the
directions. Since the impact test also showed that the quantity of hydrogen.
toughness near the middle of the plate thickness tended to
TABLE 3: The quality control criteria and test results for HT100 steel plates
Plate thickness <= 50mm Plate thickness > 50mm
n=41 n=12
Element C P S Ceq PCM C P S Ceq PCM
Maximum 0.11 0.008 0.001 0.572 0.273 0.12 0.006 0.001 0.603 0.311
Minimum 0.09 0.001 0.001 0.533 0.254 0.11 0.002 0.000 0.592 0.288
Maximum 0.14 0.01 0.005 0.59 0.29 0.14 0.01 0.005 0.62 0.33
content
Ceq=C+Mn/6+Si/24+Ni/40+Cr/5+Mo/4+V/14
PCM=C+Si/30+Mn/20+Cu/20+Ni/60+Cr/20+Mo/15+V/10+5B
Figure 6: The quality control criteria and test results for HT100 steel plates
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
TABLE 4: Mechanical properties of HT100 deposited metal completion of welding operation. However, postheating was
and the control standard for the quantity of hydrogen. indispensable for preventing cracks for HT100 when preheat
Welding method SMAW SAW MAG (Reference) temperature was similar to that for SHY685NS-F.; and
HT100
steel plate
c. Use of welding materials for SHY685NS-F in single pass
Yield strength ≧ 785 ≧ 785 ≧ 785 ≧ 885
(N/mm2) welding by SMAW and MAG enabled preheat temperature
Tensile strength 930-1000 930-1000 930-1050 950-1130 for preventing cracks to be lowered. Thus, use of welding
(N/mm2) materials for SHY685NS-F in SMAW and MAG for root
Elongation (%) ≧ 12 ≧ 12 ≧ 12 ≧ 12 pass welding and tack welding was effective for preventing
Charpy impact ≧ 47 ≧ 47 ≧ 47 ≧ 47 cracks.
absorption energy (at –10℃) (at -10℃) (at -10℃) (at -55℃)
(J)
For SM570 and SM490B, a special specification of weld
Ductile fracture ≧ 50 ≧ 50 ≧ 50 ≧ 50
percentage (%) crack sensitivity PCM against weld cracking of not exceeding
Hydrogen content ≦6 ≦3 ≦2 ---- 0.2% was also applied, and preheating was omitted except on
(mL/100g) cold days.
Table 6 shows the track records of heat input control for
4.3 Welding Procedure Control HT100 welded joints. Compared with the control standard of
Table 5 shows the requirements for welding procedures. The 45 kJ/cm, the average heat input in the actual construction is
requirements for welding procedures for HT100 steel were about 34 kJ/cm in the SAW and SMAW methods and about
specified on the basis of the results of the preliminary weld 16 kJ/cm in the automatic MAG method applied in the
cracking test. The results of the weld cracking test showed inclined shaft.
the following findings: In controlling the welding atmosphere, the water vapor
a. In single pass welding, the preheat temperature for pressure was calculated from the results of measurements of
preventing weld cracking was similar or higher in a U-groove the ambient temperature and humidity, and the relationship
weld cracking test than in a y-groove weld cracking test. between the values obtained and the control standard was
Thus both tests should be conducted to determine preheat used in order to limit the time for which the welding
temperature for HT100. materials were left alone. Figure 7 shows the track records of
the control of water vapor pressure at the temporary
b. A multi-layer weld cracking test showed that postheating workshop.
(150°C for 2 hours) was highly effective for preventing
cracks. In SHY685NS-F, postheating could be omitted when
a nondestructive test was conducted at over 48 hours after the
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Conference on High Strength Steels for Hydropower Plants - Takasaki
TABLE 6: The track records of heat input control for HT100 welded joints
Place of welding Welding Number Pass maximum heat input Average heat input (kJ/cm)
method of joints (kJ/cm)
Max. Min. Average Max. Min. Average
Temporary SAW 365 48.4 30.9 39.1 39.8 27.7 32.8
workshop
Temporary SMAW 20 48.4 37.9 45.0 41.1 27.2 36.3
workshop
Field SMAW 87 49.1 26.6 39.9 38.9 19.9 32.0
Inclined shaft MAG 25 37.6 24.6 30.1 18.5 13.1 16.4
Control standard Not exceeding 50 Not exceeding 45
40
pressure(mmHg)
Contorol Standard:25.5mmHg
Water vapor
30
20
10
0
2001/11/1 2002/1/31 2002/5/2 2002/8/2 2002/11/1 2003/1/31 2003/5/3 2003/8/2 2003/11/1 2004/2/1 2004/5/2 2004/8/1
Date
Figure 7: The track records of the control of water vapor pressure at the temporary workshop
4.4 Offset and Angular Distortion of Welded zones 4.5 Nondestructive Inspection
From the viewpoint of preventing brittle fracture, checking The Japanese standards require that welded zones in the main
the shape of welded zones inducing the stress concentration pressure bearing parts of a penstock be put to nondestructive
is one of the most important control items. In the actual inspection after welding operation as needs arise, and that the
construction, quality control was conducted on undercuts, methods of nondestructive inspection be based on the
overlaps, reinforcement weld heights, offsets, angular radiographic test or ultrasonic test as a rule. Table 7 shows
distortions and so forth. Among these, the offset and the examples of the criteria (for lineal flaws) for the radiographic
angular distortion of a longitudinal joint were put to test and ultrasonic test.
quantitative control. Figure 8 shows the track records of
control of offsets and angular distortions of welded zones of (1) Nondestructive test on the penstock for units 1 & 2
HT100. The nondestructive inspection on welded zones of the
6.0
penstock for units 1 & 2 of the Kannagawa Hydropower
Offset ratio for thickness(%)
3.0
a. The main pressure bearing parts should be put to the
radiographic inspection as a rule; and
2.0
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