TUBE FAILURES IN BOILERS

Boiler Tube Failures is the main cause of forced outages in electric utility steam generating boilers 22 Primary Mechanism of Boiler Tube Failures (In Service) are as under 1. Stress Rupture: Short Term Overheating High Temperature Creep Dissimilar Metal Welds 2. Water-side Corrosion: Caustic Corrosion Hydrogen Embitterment Pitting Stress Corrosion Cracking 3. Fire-side Corrosion: Low Temperature Waterfall Coal Ash Oil Ash

TUBE FAILURES IN BOILERS

4. Fatigue: Vibration Thermal Corrosion 5. Erosion: Fly Ash Falling Slag Soot Blower Coal Particle 6. Lack of Quality Control: Maintenance cleaning damage Chemical Excursion damage Material Defects Welding Defects

Stress Rupture - Short Term Overheating

Steam / Water Cooled Tubes 1. Plugged by Debris or Scales etc. [Link] heat Transfer/Improper Firing [Link] Water / Steam flow due to poor circulation
Corrective Action Prevent Blockage Maintain Drum Level Assure Coolant Flow Reduce Over firing Redesign Tubing to promote flow Relocation of Horizontal/ Inclined Tubes to avoid film boiling

Stress Rupture - Short Term Overheating

Unusual short term overheating failure : Excessive swelling but thick edged fractured surface are formed when the tubes metal temperature exceeds its upper critical temperature and iron in the steel is completely transformed from ferrite to austenite

Stress Rupture - Short Term Overheating

Typical short term overheating failure : Excessive swelling but thin edged fractured surface are formed when the tubes metal temperature exceeds several hundred degree above its normal working temperature but below its upper critical temperature.

Stress Rupture - High Temperature Creep

Blister Type High Temperature Creep Failure. Typical feature of long term, local overheating, creep rupture failure including small fracture opening at the apex of the bulge, creep elongation only in blistered area and little or no wall reduction in non blistered areas

Stress Rupture - High Temperature Creep

Fish Mouth Type High Temperature Creep failure. Typical feature of Long Term general overheating, creep rupture failure include an open mouthed longitudinal split and thick edged fractured surface. Oxide scales on the external and internal surface also indicate high temperature creep failure

LONG TERM OVERHEATING

Overheating, Creep Bulging Incorrect Material

Overheating,

LONG TERM OVERHEATING

Overheating Water Side Deposit Tube Inside Tube

Overheating,

LONG TERM OVERHEATING

High Temperature creep failure in Reheater bends A built-up of deposit in the bottom bend of the reheater caused the overheating of the metal under the deposits and blister type high temperature creep failure resulted

Stress Rupture - Dissimilar Metal Weld

Typical Locations Water-cooled Tubes: At flow disruptions Horizontal / inclined tube High Heat flux zone Flame impingement zone Probable Root Cause Concentration of NaOH from boiler water Feed water system corrosion deposits Condenser leakages Temp. Increase due to internal deposits Corrective Action Control Boiler water Chemistry Reduce Corrosion Product Ingress Chemical Cleaning Reweld Irregular Welds Use T11 type steel or riffled tubes

chemicals

Water Side Corrosion Caustic Corrosion

corrosion beneath the deposit. Once the caustic concentration within a deposit becomes great enough corrosion, the reaction becomes self perpetuating and causes a through wall leak within short period

Caustic Corrosion Gouging Severe localized gouging on heat absorption surface of this SA 210 water wall tube was caused by caustic

Water Side Corrosion Hydrogen Embrittlement

Typical Locations Water-cooled Tubes: At flow disruptions Horizontal / inclined tube High Heat flux zone Flame impingement zone Probable Root Cause Concentration of acidic salt and low pH water chemistry Condenser leakages and ingress of corrosion product Feed Water System Corrosion deposits Chemical cleaning contamination Corrective Action Control Boiler water Chemistry Reduce Corrosion Product Ingress Chemical Cleaning Replace affected tubes

Water Side Corrosion Hydrogen Embrittlement

Hydrogen damage Window Opening and Thick Edged Split Type Failure. Large pieces of window can be blown out of the tubing that has experienced hydrogen damage. A thick edge fracture will occur that will outline the region of hydrogen damage.

Internal Pitting (Localized Corrosion)

Typical Locations Anywhere in Eco, SH, RH, Non-heated portion of WW Eco Inlet Horizontal Tubes

Probable Root Cause Exposure of tube to water with conc. of oxygen. High Feed water oxygen at start-ups and low loads Condensation in bends at shutdowns Corrective Action Control Feed water oxygen levels to <10ppb Nitrogen blankets for steam circuits for short outages (<4 days) Fill tubes with condensate with Hydrazine and ammonia for long shutdowns

Pitting Damage from Localised Corrosion: Localised pitting results when electrochemical galvanic cells are established on the tube surface due to a difference in oxygen content in boiler water nd within a surface deposit or a crevice. Metal loss will occur at sites where oxygen concentration I sbelow that of boiler water since these locations become anode of the cells.

Stress Corrosion Cracking

Typical Locations SH, RH-at regions of : Conc. of chlorides, sulphates or hydroxides stressed in fabrication, service etc. like bends, attachment welds

Probable Root Cause Corrosive Conc. From Drum carryover or attemperator spray. SS tube material sensitized Stresses Corrective Action Replacement Surveillance for carryover Heat treatment of Bends Care during chemical cleaning Use of 347H tube

Stress Corrosion Cracking

Stress Corrosion cracking failure. Stress corrosion cracks (SCC) developed in a ferritic steel reheater tube when a contaminant such as sodium hydroxide concentrated on the steam side of the tube in a bend. Cracks originated on the internal surface and propagated longitudinally along the neutral axis which had residual stresses from bending process. Austenitic Steel tube is also susceptible to SCC, particularly in super heaters.

Vibration fatigue
Typical Locations Welded tie type spacers between vertical WW and steam cooled screen tubes Welded or fixed attachments on horizontal steam cooled tubes Probable Root Cause Gas flow induced vibration Corrective Action Install vibration snubbers between or across tubes Evaluate against Boiler flow conditions.

Vibration fatigue

Tube failure from Vibration fatigue. Gas flow induced vibrations on a horizontal superheater tube resulted in the initiation of crack at the end of a plate type spacer

Failure from fatigue when crack propagated in a circumferential direction from both side of the spacer plate.

Thermal Fatigue
Typical Locations Water splashed bottom ash hopper region Soot blower spray region with condensate Regions like Ecoinlet and Pry SH with rapid fluid temperature changes

Probable Root Cause Multiple cycles of sudden cooling of tube metal by water quenching Corrective Action Tube Replacement Checking soot blower, ash hopper systems Control of Feed water temperature (once thro type)

Thermal Fatigue
Thermal cracks due to quenching of tube surface. Sudden cooling of tube surface causes high tensile stress as material wants to contract but is restricted by the hotter material below the surface.

Multiple cracks originate on the tube surface from thermal shock. The crack propagates through the tube wall with each each quenching incident.

Corrosion Fatigue
Typical Locations Water splashed bottom ash hopper region Regions with differences in thermal expansion rates and directions (cracks originating externally) Corrosion and cyclic stresses (cracks originating internally at weld attachments) Probable Root Cause Thermal expansion stress cycles Stress concentration regions like pits, notches etc. Dissolved oxygen or acidic conditions Corrective Action Redesign of attachments to reduce restraints to thermal expansion Chemical cleaning Restrictions on cyclic operation Heat Treatment and contouring of welds Flexible connection Checking soot blower, ash hopper systems Control of Feed water temperature (once thro type )

Corrosion Fatigue

Corrosion fatigue caused by binding of an interlocking spacer. Strains due to differential thermal expansion of the adjacent tubes eventually resulted in a crack at the fillet weld.

Erosion Soot Blower

Typical Locations Wall blower steam impingement areas First tubes near wall entrance of retractable blowers Near damaged soot blower nozzle Direct path of soot blowers

Probable Root Cause Improper location, operation or malfunction of soot blower Condensed water in media with ash particles Corrective Action Surveillance and maintenance of soot blower system Temporary shielding, spaying etc.

Erosion Soot Blower

Tube failure due to Steam Impingement (Wall Blower)

Coal Particle Erosion

Typical Locations Cyclone type coal burners with introduction of combustion air tangential to tube surface Probable Root Cause Wear protection devices inside the burner not performing Corrective Action Surveillance checks Adjustment of dampers Corrective Action Surveillance checks Adjustment of damper

Dew Point Corrosion

Typical Locations Eco, LTSH at regions of : Metal temp. below acid dew point Flue gas temp. below acid dew point Probable Root Cause More in oil fired

Condensation of sulphuric acid S in oil Va in oil ash

Corrective Action Reduce SO3 by reducing excess air (< 5%) and with fuel additives(MgO based) Raise Gas / Metal temperature

Dew Point Corrosion

Low temperature corrosion

Water Wall Fire-side Corrosion

Severe fire side wall thinning results when corrosive coal constituents destroy the external protective magnetite oxide layer. Incomplete combustion and flame impingement produces a fuel rich corrosive atmosphere adjacent to water wall tubes

Groove cracking associated with water wall fire side corrosion. Circumferential cracks have been observed in supercritical boilers that have also experienced severe fire side wall thinning due to water wall fire side corrosion.

High Temperature Coal Ash Corrosion

Typical Locations SH, RH at : tube surface metal temperature of 590-700 C (Peak at 650C) i.e., radiant zone Slag type corrosive ash deposits adherent to tube Probable Root Cause Corrosive conditions complex alkali iron tri- sulphates molten ash corrosive (corrosion at the rate of >0.025m/hour) Corrective Action Thicker, shielded tubes Thermal spraying Higher grade alloy Blending the coal Lower metal temperature at steam outlets Redesign of tubing circuits

High temperature of coal ash corrosion of SA 213 T11 steel. Molten ash deposits on the tubes external surface that is exposed to the flue gas flow can produce wall thinning, stress rupture cracks result from the higher tube stress. Removal of ash deposit by pickling or sand blasting exposes the shallow grooving attack produced on ferritic steel tubes.

Maintenance Cleaning Damage

Typical Locations Regions requiring hammering, chipping, dynamiting, Grit / vacuum blasting Probable Root Cause Lack of Quality Control during such operations Corrective Action Repair of such Damage Documentation of such Damage Quality Control Training

Chemical Excursion Damage

Typical Locations Regions not completely neutralized after chemical cleaning Inadvertent exposure to chemical cleaning solutions / corrosive chemicals in the Plant
Probable Root Cause

Lack of Quality Control during such operations Malfunction of water chemistry control Corrective Action Replacement Preventive actions Water Quality Audits

Chemical Excursion Damage

General Corrosion attack due to improper chemical cleaning. Severe thinning around the entire internal surface results when acids are not completely neutralized during acid cleaning

Material Defects
Typical Locations Could occur at any location but more likely at high temperature zones because of stress rupture mechanisms Probable Root Cause Making of steel, tube Fabrication of tube Storage Erection of Boiler Replacement of tube Corrective Action Replacement Preventive Actions

Material Defects

Welding Defects
Typical Locations Could occur at any location where tubing is joined Processes used : SMAW, GTAW, Pulsed MAG, Orbital TIG, Induction Pressure Flash Butt Welding Probable Root Cause Excess Penetration Porosity, Inclusions Incomplete Fusion Undercut, Pasty Weld Improper Joint Preparation Incorrect Electrode Inadequate Preheat Copper Cracking Weld debris blockage Graphitisation Corrective Action Replacement Preventive Actions Process Controls

Welding Defects

Ash Erosion
Factors Influencing Ash Erosion The velocity of flue gas The mineral content in ash The change in direction of flue gas The arrangement of pressure parts The temperature of flue gas Bypassing of flue gas Problems with Indian Coal ash Deteoriating heating value of the coal Inconsistent coal properties Presence of extraneous matters in coal High quantum of ash with high percentage of quartz Highly abrasive nature of coal ash Due to low sulphur content extremely high electrical resistivity of

Ash Erosion
Flue Gas Velocity Erosion Rate of erosion increases by power 3 to 5 Power depends on alpha quartz and structure of quartz Determination Of Velocity Pattern Cold air velocity mapping Flow model study Cold Air Velocity Mapping Done in actual boiler Maximum flow maintained Grid method used Vane anemometer used for finding the velocity Identify high velocity points Check for erosion potential etc. Identify reasons

Ash Erosion
Flow Model Study 1:10 model used Dynamic similarity maintained Flow velocity measured at each section High velocity points identified Study with different arrangement possible Flow correction is possible

EROSION METHODS

PROTECTION

CASSETTE BAFFLES GAS BAFFLES STRAIGHT TUBE SHIELDS

Thank You.