Development of System and Component Life Management Techniques for Optimal Design and Maintenance of Power Plants

开发用于发电厂优化设计和维护的系统和组件寿命管理技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05346
• 负责人: Harvel, Glenn
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=653128
• 关键词: Development; System; Component; Life; Management

Power Plant performance is a function of design, operational environment, and maintenance. Today, the demand for rigorous safety and high efficiency is pushing the envelope of power plants, particularly nuclear plants with the result of significant increases in cost of maintenance. Decision making for new power plants or continued operation of existing power plants is shrouded with uncertainty due to changes in standards. In addition, the existing plants are entering the last 25% of their life and ageing effects are becoming significant and difficult to predict. This affects plant performance by requiring a higher level of inspections, or replacements, many of which turn out to be either ineffective or unnecessary. Hence, there is a strong need for an improved ability to predict effects of plant ageing and the ability to diagnose ageing. *Significant research is conducted international on plant ageing phenomena concentrating mostly on understanding material and chemistry relationships with the environment. This important research leads to a better understanding of failure mechanisms and the ability to predict failure mechanisms. However, there are other impacts of ageing on the plant performance, such as impact on cooling flow or heat transfer which affects safety margins. Thus in some cases, the actual failure condition is not necessarily the life limiting factor for the component or system. On the other hand, many of the models used in design remain significantly conservative for analyzing plant safety. The end result is that it is not truly possible to optimize the overall plant performance due to the large amounts of uncertainty.*The key objective of this research program is to develop life management techniques to be used both in design and in operations and maintenance to increase the overall reliability of the plant. To achieve this long term objective, it is necessary to study the following areas: (1) Improved methods for detecting ageing conditions in plant systems and components, and (2) Perform experiments on simulated aged systems/components to determine impact on thermalhydraulics and safety margins. This work will then allow development of predictive models that combine knowledge of plant design, plant condition, and ageing effects. *For the detection of ageing conditions, our research group already has diagnostic systems such as ultrasonic tomography, capacitance tomography, neutron radiography, and thermography. These techniques will be applied to various combinations of components and environments to develop improved inspection methods. The work will be combined with image processing methods for improved quantitative analysis as this is currently a weakness in the inspection program.*The experimental program will incorporate methods for representing ageing effects. We have developed three techniques to change the surface conditions to simulate mechanical ageing/impact damage, surface deformation using a deformable plastic, and a biological compound for simulating the effects of biofouling. The experiments will measure the impact of the aged condition on coolant flow, three dimensional flow disturbance, and pressure drop. Models for thermalhydraulics as a function of the ageing condition will be developed.*Life management models will be developed for a select set of systems and components. Contacts with OPG will be able to provide some data regarding the conditions of some portions of the plant.*The novelty of this work is that it will involve multiple disciplines involving mechanical and other stresses, interaction with materials and chemistry, and thermalhydraulic behaviour.

发电厂的性能是设计、运行环境和维护的函数。 如今，对严格的安全性和高效率的需求正在推动发电厂，特别是核电厂的发展，其结果是维护成本显著增加。 由于标准的变化，新建电厂或继续运营现有电厂的决策充满了不确定性。 此外，现有的核电站正进入其寿命的最后25%，老化效应变得越来越显著，难以预测。 这会影响工厂的性能，因为需要更高级别的检查或更换，其中许多检查或更换被证明是无效或不必要的。 因此，强烈需要改进的预测植物老化影响的能力和诊断老化的能力。* 国际上对植物老化现象进行了大量研究，主要集中在了解材料和化学与环境的关系。 这项重要的研究导致更好地了解故障机制和预测故障机制的能力。 然而，老化对电厂性能还有其他影响，例如对冷却流或传热的影响，这会影响安全裕度。 因此，在某些情况下，实际故障条件不一定是部件或系统的寿命限制因素。 另一方面，设计中使用的许多模型在分析电厂安全性时仍然非常保守。 最终的结果是，由于大量的不确定性，不可能真正优化整个工厂的性能。该研究计划的主要目标是开发寿命管理技术，用于设计和操作和维护，以提高工厂的整体可靠性。 为了实现这一长期目标，有必要研究以下领域：（1）改进电厂系统和部件老化状况的检测方法，以及（2）对模拟老化系统/部件进行实验，以确定对热工水力学和安全裕度的影响。 这项工作将允许预测模型的开发，结合联合收割机的工厂设计，工厂条件和老化效应的知识。 * 对于老化状况的检测，我们的研究小组已经拥有诊断系统，如超声波断层扫描，电容断层扫描，中子射线照相术和热成像术。 这些技术将应用于各种组件和环境的组合，以开发改进的检查方法。 这项工作将与图像处理方法相结合，以改进定量分析，因为这是目前检查程序中的一个弱点。该实验计划将纳入代表老化效应的方法。 我们已经开发了三种技术来改变表面条件，以模拟机械老化/冲击损伤，表面变形，使用可变形塑料，和一种生物化合物，用于模拟生物污损的影响。 实验将测量老化条件对冷却剂流动、三维流动扰动和压降的影响。 将开发作为老化条件函数的热工水力模型。将为一组选定的系统和组件开发寿命管理模型。 与OPG的联系将能够提供有关工厂某些部分状况的一些数据。这项工作的新奇在于，它将涉及多个学科，包括机械和其他应力，与材料和化学的相互作用，以及热工水力行为。