Sensors for monitoring creep strain in high-pressure steam pipes and other power plant components are subjected to very demanding environmental and operational conditions. It is important that the sensors are of a rugged design and that measurement can be made that only relates to creep movements in power plant components. The E.ON UK auto-reference creep management and control (ARCMAC) optical strain gauges have been designed to have this capability. These optical strain gauges are installed across sections of welded steam pipe and other plant components in locations that provide the best monitoring points to reveal the early onset of failure processes. Reported in this paper are recent developments to improve optical creep strain measurement to achieve a 65 microstrain accuracy level with an error of less than 10%. Also reported are trials of combining optical strain gauges with digital image correlation (DIC) to obtain detailed information of the creep strain distribution around the gauges. The DIC data for known defect geometries have been validated with finite element analysis.
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April 2009
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Optical Strain Measurement Techniques to Assist in Life Monitoring of Power Plant Components Available to Purchase
Andrew Morris,
Andrew Morris
E.ON Engineering,
Technology Centre
, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottingham NG11 0EE, UK
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Chris Maharaj,
Chris Maharaj
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
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Miltiadis Kourmpetis,
Miltiadis Kourmpetis
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
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Ian Dear,
Ian Dear
School of Engineering and Design,
Brunel University
, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK
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Amit Puri,
Amit Puri
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
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John Dear
John Dear
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
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Andrew Morris
E.ON Engineering,
Technology Centre
, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottingham NG11 0EE, UK
Chris Maharaj
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Miltiadis Kourmpetis
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Ian Dear
School of Engineering and Design,
Brunel University
, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK
Amit Puri
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
John Dear
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Imperial College London
, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UKJ. Pressure Vessel Technol. Apr 2009, 131(2): 024502 (8 pages)
Published Online: January 21, 2009
Article history
Received:
September 6, 2007
Revised:
March 28, 2008
Published:
January 21, 2009
Citation
Morris, A., Maharaj, C., Kourmpetis, M., Dear, I., Puri, A., and Dear, J. (January 21, 2009). "Optical Strain Measurement Techniques to Assist in Life Monitoring of Power Plant Components." ASME. J. Pressure Vessel Technol. April 2009; 131(2): 024502. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3062935
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