Investigation of Steam Desuperheater Waterhammer

Steam supplied to an underground piping distribution network from a fossil fired boiler is desuperheated using water injection valves. Waterhammers occurred in the system, failing a valve on two separate occasions. Operations personnel also experience excessive high-level alarms at drain stations local to the valves. An investigation was conducted to determine the root cause of the valve failures and the cause of the excessive water in the steam system. Mitigating design changes were also proposed to solve these problems. Available analytical methods were shown to be effective in predicting waterhammer occurrence and magnitude. These methods can be used to evaluate the potential for waterhammer in similar systems with potential steam/water interaction.