Failure Analysis of Boiler Tubes in Thermal Power Plants

Boiler tubes in thermal power plants serve as the critical boundary between high-pressure steam and combustion gases. Their failure can precipitate unscheduled shutdowns, safety hazards and significant economic losses. Common degradation mechanisms include waterside and fireside corrosion, flow-accelerated corrosion, thermal fatigue, creep and hydrogen attack. Deposition of magnetite or other scales alters heat transfer characteristics, raising local metal temperatures and accelerating oxidation or sulfidation. Cyclic start-up and shut-down impose low-cycle fatigue stresses, while hotspots and flow maldistribution can cause creep damage in high-temperature regions. Comprehensive failure analysis draws on macro- and micro-fractography, metallurgical inspection, hardness testing, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Computational tools such as computational fluid dynamics and finite-element modelling further elucidate heat flux distributions, stress concentrations and remaining life under combined thinning and overheating. Effective mitigation demands rigorous material selection, stringent water chemistry control, continuous non-destructive monitoring and design optimisation to ensure long-term integrity of boiler tube assemblies worldwide.

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Technical terms

Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC): Localised metal loss caused by dissolution of protective oxide layers in high-velocity water or steam.

Thermal Fatigue: Progressive crack initiation and growth under cyclic thermal stress, common during boiler start-up and shut-down.

Creep: Time-dependent plastic deformation of tube material under constant high temperature and stress.

Low-Cycle Fatigue (LCF): Fatigue failure resulting from relatively few cycles of large strain amplitude, typical in welded water-wall tubes.

Metallography: Microscopic examination of polished and etched metal samples to reveal microstructure and degradation features.

Finite-Element Analysis (FEA): Numerical method for predicting temperature, stress and deformation distributions in complex geometries.

Heat Flux: Rate of thermal energy transfer per unit area, critical in assessing overheating and film-boiling risks.

Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS): Analytical technique coupled with electron microscopy to determine elemental composition of failure products.

References

1. Failure in power plant system related to mitigations and economic analysis; A study case from steam power plant in Suralaya, Indonesia. Results in Engineering (2023).
2. Failure analysis of a rapid quench boiler for ethylene cracker. Heliyon (2024).
3. Analysis of the Causes of the Emergency Shutdown of Natural Gas-Fired Water Peak Boilers at the Large Municipal Combined Heat and Power Plant †. Energies (2023).