DAVID N . FRENCH, INC.
, METALLURGISTS
O N E LANCASTER ROAD
FALL 1985 N O R T H B O R O U G H . M A S S A C H U S E T T S 01532
(617)393-3635
A VIEW FROM THE PENTHOUSE: USEFUL INFORMATION FOR THE WORLD OF BOILERS
Figure 1
During normal boiler operations, a cer-
tain amount of tube wastage or wall thinning
will occur. Such wastage may be caused by:
erosion by fly ash, coal particles or soot
blowers, corrosion by fuel ash or oxidation.
In most cases the metal loss cannot be pre-
vented. Guidelines are needed for tube re-
placement, criteria for the extent of wall
thinning that can be accepted without fail-
ures and forced outages.
As an example, Figure 1 displays a cross
section of a waterwall tube with severe metal
loss. The boiler has an operating drum pres-
sure of about 2600 psig and the waterwall
tubes are specified as 2 314" OD x 0.290" MWT,
SA-210 A-1 material. This sample has an
actual wall thickness of 0.093", and contains
no failure! Tube wastage is caused by molten
ash in a wet bottom coal fired boiler. This
example has lost 213 of its specified minimum
wall thickness (MWT) without failure.
An understanding for developing guide-
lines for tube replacement begins with a
simple stress analysis. The circumferential
or hoop stress, S, psi, in a tube of outside
diameter, D, inch; wall thickness, W, inch;
VOL. 11 NO 3
and internal pressure P, psi, is:
D ~ S = -p EQ 1
2W
where DM is the mean diameter and equal to:
D ~ = D - W EQ 2
Substituting EQ 2 in EQ 1 and rearranging to
solve for W, gives:
EQ 3 is close to the ASME Boiler and
Pressure Vessel Code, Section I equation
PG 27.2 for calculating the minimum tube wall
thickness. A small "factor of ignoranceffis
added to EQ 3 to give the Code equation for
for welded construction:
'MIN
All of the symbols have the same meanings as
previously noted except S is the Code allow-
able stress given in Table PG 23.1 of the
B & PV Code, Section I. For waterwalls,
economizers, low temperature superheaters and
reheaters where metal temperature is below
the creep range, the Code allowable stress is
the tensile strength at the operating temp-
erature divided by a safety factor of four (4).
In using EQ PG 27.2 the design pressure, usual-
ly about 10% larger than the operating pressure,
is used for P.
Let us calculate a MWT from EQ PG 27.2
and a wall thickness at which replacement should
be made. Boiler conditions are:
1. Design pressure: 2900 psig
2. Tube OD: 2 314"
3. Metal temperature: 750°F (allowable
stress from Code Table PG 23.1 is
13,000 psi for SA-210 A-1)
= 0.290 inch
Thus our example is 2 314" OD x 0.290" MWT,
SA-210 A-1.
When tube metal wastage occurs from the
 o u t s i d e o f t h e t u b e , b o t h t h e d i a m e t e r and i s 60,000 p s i . B o i l e r t u b e s show c o n s i d e r -
w a l l t h i c k n e s s change. There i s a r e d i s t r i - a b l e thinning before f a i l u r e s occur. I n t h e
b u t i o n o f hoop stress w i t h i n t h e w a l l . S i n c e e x a m p l e g i v e n i n F i g u r e 1, w a l l t h i c k n e s s was
t h e stress t h a t w i l l c a u s e f a i l u r e i s i n t h e r e d u c e d by 2 / 3 . I t seems r e a s o n a b l e t o u s e
t h i n n e s t s e c t i o n a t a n unknown d i a m e t e r , i t a s a f e t y f a c t o r of 23, r a t h e r t h a n 4 , t h e r e -
i s more c o n v e n i e n t t o u s e t h e i n s i d e r a d i u s , fore.
R I , a n d mean r a d i u s R
M*
EQ 1 a n d EQ 2
I n o u r example: ~
I

a r e a l t e r e d t o r e f l e c t t h i s c h a n g e from
diameters t o r a d i i :
P = 2600 p s i g
S = 60,000/2.5 = 24,000 p s i
and: RM = RI + W EQ S o l v i n g EQ 7
2
The i n s i d e r a d i u s R I i s g i v e n by:

S i n c e f a i l u r e s are n o t intended t o occur,
R~
r e m a i n s e s s e n t i a l l y c o n s t a n t as t h e w a l l
t h i c k n e s s a n d o u t s i d e d i a m e t e r are r e d u c e d .
EQ 4 a n d EQ 5 are combined:
EQ 7 i s s o l v e d f o r t h e minimum w a l l t h i c k n e s s
necessary f o r replacement.
I n o r d e r t o c a l c u l a t e W i n EQ 7 , v a l u e s
f o r t h e p r e s s u r e , P, a n d t h e s a f e stress, S ,
m u s t be a s s i g n e d . The Code u s e s d e s i g n p r e s -
s u r e f o r a l l stress r e l a t e d c a l c u l a t i o n s .
However, b o i l e r s a c t u a l l y. o .p e r a t e a t a l o w e r
pressure. Therefore it is appropriate t o use
o p e r a t i n g drum p r e s s u r e , a b o u t 10%l e s s t h a n
d e s i g n p r e s s u r e , f o r P. The Code a l l o w a b l e
stress below t h e c r e e p r a n g e i s t h e t e n s i l e
s t r e n g t h a t a g i v e n t e m p e r a t u r e , d i v i d e d by a
s a f e t y f a c t o r o f 4 . F o r waterwalls and econ-
o m i z e r s a t metal t e m p e r a t u r e s below a b o u t
7 5 0 ° F , t h e a c t u a l t e n s i l e s t r e n g t h a t 750°F
i s c l o s e t o t h e Code s p e c i f i e d minimum t e n -
s i l e s t r e n g t h a t room t e m p e r a t u r e . F o r
SA-210 A-1, t h i s s p e c i f i e d minimum s t r e n g t h
The w a l l t h i c k n e s s when r e p l a c e m e n t i s n e c e s -
s a r y i s 43% o f t h e o r i g i n a l s p e c i f i e d minimum
t h i c k n e s s . No f a i l u r e o c c u r r e d i n t h e s a m p l e
shown i n F i g u r e 1 a t 1 / 3 o f t h e o r i g i n a l w a l l .
Thus f o r b o i l e r t u b e s o p e r a t i n g below
t h e c r e e p r a n g e i t is q u i t e s a f e t o a l l o w
t u b e w a s t a g e t o r e d u c e t h e w a l l t o a b o u t 40%
of t h e o r i g i n a l .
The n e x t time you h a v e a b o i l e r t u b e
f a i l u r e due t o e r o s i o n o r c o r r o s i o n induced
w a l l t h i n n i n g , c a l c u l a t e t h e stress a t
f a i l u r e f r o m EQ 4. I ' d b e i n t e r e s t e d i n
knowing t h e c o n d i t i o n s when t h e t u b e s r u p -
t u r e d . P l e a s e f i l l i n t h e c h a r t below and
send it t o me.
ORIGINAL DIMENSIONS, OD & WALL:
MATERIAL :
DRUM PRESSURE:
AGE OR OPERATING HOURS AT FAILURE:
FINAL DIMENSIONS, OD & WALL:
LOCATION :
BOILER FUEL:
CAUSE OF WALL THINNING:

OTHERS WHO MAY WISH TO RECEIVE OUR NEWSLETTER:

COMPANY :

ADDRESS :

1 TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION: