Monitoring and in-service experiments on power plants

Corrosion of metals in the presence of high temperature flue gases and deposits has long been a challenge in boilers, furnaces and industrial process plants. The maximum achievable operation temperature and pressure are usually limited by corrosion. The repair actions due to corrosion failures are often highly expensive. Monitoring gives valuable information of the operational parameters (temperature, pressure, fuel etc.) of the plant and thus allows for proactive control of parameters to possibly extend the life of tubes and pipings. In-service experiments can be also utilised for wider scope in the life assessment. Increasing operational parameters promote the growth rate of nearly all damage mechanisms, e.g. corrosion, creep and aging mechanisms are accelerated to shorten the expected lifetime. Systematic monitoring provides a cost-effective way to improve reliability of critical components, reduces unscheduled breakdowns and increases overall business profitability.