Analyze and redesign a steam conduit of a

steam turbine by Stress and Fracture Analysis

Presented by:
Shahrior Ahmed
Rezaur Rahman
Rahagir Ridwan Anik
Mohammed Abu Saifullah

Why High Pressure Steam?

The volume of steam is 1,600 times
greater than an equal mass of water.
High-pressure steam has a higher
density, so pipes can be smaller.
For steam turbine the pressure of
the steam increases up to 15-20 MPa
to generate and very good amount of
thrust force in turbine blade.

Main Reason of Steam Conduit

Failure
Failure in steam line can be occurred
for different reasons. The main
reason is internal fracture crack
initiation and propagation of a crack.
Failure in selecting material and
design criteria according to fluid
internal pressure is the main reason
for crack and line failure.

Problem Description
A steam turbine power plant, where the
conduit to the turbine blade is made of
ASTM A47. The material properties of
ASTM A47 from the designer of the plant
are found that, Yield strength, S y=
227.5MPa, Outer diameter is
550mm,Wall thickness 40 mm Inner
diameter is 510 mm, Fracture toughness:
160 MPa(mm)1/2 , Price: 1200$ /ton.

 The plant layout shows that the maximum steam

pressure in the conduit is 15 MPa. The steam
quality is highly maintained by checking the
drain water regularly. The boiler inlet water is
processed and also chemically amicable for the
boiler and steam carrying conduits.
A fracture in the conduit found with the flow of
the steam which disturbed the whole electricity
generation system by reducing the steam
pressure while it is going to the high pressure
section of turbine blade.
We need to analyze the problem with the steam
conduit and redesign the conduit more
efficiently.

Design Literature
For the thin-walled assumption to be valid the vessel
must have a wall thickness of no more than about onetenth (often cited as one twentieth) of its radius. The
classic equation for hoop stress created by an internal
pressure on a thin wall cylindrical pressure vessel is:
hoop = PDm /2t for the Hoop Stress
P = is the internal pressure
t = is the wall thickness
r = is the inside radius of the cylinder.
Dm = Mean Diameter (Outside diameter t). Mean
diameter of OD and ID
hoop = is the hoop stress.

 Most flows encountered in engineering

practice are turbulent, and thus it is
important to understand how turbulence
affects wall shear stress. The shear stress,
for a Newtonian fluid, at a surface element
parallel to a flat plate, at the point y, is
given by:

This too small compare to the actual hoop

stress developed in the wall of the conduit.
For this reason the fluid Shear stress in
neglected here.

4.0 Assumptions:
In this project there are some
assumptions. The assumptions are
given below Fluid pressure 15 MPa
The pipe is horizontal and it has a
length of 10 meter.
The pipe is not welded, it is
seamless.
For existing system safety factor 3.

Mechanical design Existing

Conduit
Here our assumed structures
material is Cast iron ASTM A47. It
has following properties: Yield
strength, Sy= 227.5MPa. The nominal
pipe size is 550 mm, Outer diameter
is 550mm,Wall thickness 40 mm and
the inner diameter is 510 mm.
Fracture toughness: 160 MPa(mm)1/2
Price: 1200$ /ton.

Choosing New Material

As the existing system failed to meet the stress criterion
of the conventional design method.
The principal design codes used for piping design are the
ANSI/ASME B31.1 (Code for Power Piping) and ANSI/ASME
B31.3 (code for process piping), ASTM A53 B, ASTM A106
B and API 5L carbon steel pipes are the ones used for
geothermal fields. The Pipe pressure design is assumed
to be 15 MPa and the length of the pipe 10m Pipe Steam
velocity is 40 ms-1. The materials used in geothermal
application are normally A53-B, A106-B and API 5L-B pipe
, with mill tolerance. Commercial available pipes
normally have a mill tolerance of 12.5% and pipe
schedule numbers based in B36.10.

 We have considered the material API

5L-B pipe. Its Yield strength
Sy=241.31MPa,The allowable stress is
SE=103 MPa, Safety Factor SF 2.34.
Specification is chosen according ANSI
B36.10. The nominal pipe size is 304.8
mm, Outer diameter is 323.85mm,Wall
thickness 33.32mmand the inner
diameter is 290.53mm. Price :
800$/ton. Fracture toughness:
Approximately 120 MPa(mm)1/2

Satisfying Design
Criterion
Fracture Mechanics Approach:
Let us assume that there are cracks on the structure.
Here,
Crack length = a,
Critical crack length = ac
fracture toughness= Klc
Intensity factor= Kl
We know that,
Kl=1.12( hoop+p)(a)1/2
& Klc=1.12( hoop+p) (ac)1/2
So, ac= (Klc/(1.12* (hoop)))2/ 3.1416

Stress Mechanics Approach

It is important to follow the stress
analysis during designing a conduit.
The conduit designed should have the
allowable stress resisting capability
greater than the stress developed
during any operation.
According to Maximum Shear Stress
Theory:
hoop= PD/(2t) Sy/SF
Where,
Sy = Yield Stress , SF= Safety Factor

Stress Analysis
For Material ASTM A47 considering same
diameter and wall thickness and safety factor 3 ,
from equation (1) we get,
15*0.51/(2*0.04) 227.5/3
95.62575.83
So, this material does not satisfies MSST.
For material API 5L-B, from equation (1) we get,
15*0.29/(2*0.03332) 241.31/2.34
65.27103.12
So it satisfies MSST.

Fracture Mechanics
Analysis
For material ASTM A47 ,
ac=(160/(1.12*(95.625+15)))2/3.1416
=0.53mm
For material For material API 5L-B,
ac=(120/(1.12*(65.27+15)))2/3.1416=0.57mm
Here API 5L-B can be selected over ASTM A47
as, API 5L-B has bigger critical length.

Cost analysis

Assumed Conduit Length, L= 10 Meter

Now, for material ASTM A47:
volume= 2**(Rout-Rin)*L*t
=2*3.1416*(0.2750.255)*10*0.04=0.050 m3=
0.017657333 ton
Cost= 0.017657333*1200=$21.19 (For
10m of length Conduit)

For material API 5L-B :

volume= 2**(RoutRin)*L*t=2*3.1416*(0.1619250.145265)*10*0.03332
=0.0349m3
= 0.012324819 ton
Total cost is= 0.012324819*800=$9.86. (For
10m of length Conduit)
API 5L-B can be selected over ASTM
A47 as API 5L-B is thinner, low cost and
has higher strength.

Discussion
In the project the existing model is costly and it
also has relatively low yield strength. This
model has higher wall thickness. The new
model has 16.7% less wall thickness than the
existing model. The redesigned models outer
diameter is 41.12% less than the existing
model. The redesigned model is also cost
effective. It requires 53.47% less cost than the
existing pipe. So seeing all the advantages the
redesigned model can be effectively used for
industrial purposes.

Conclusion
Along with Mechanical design
approach fracture mechanics approach
is also an essential part of designing
any structure. If it is done so then any
structure will be economic and safe for
the system.