CREEP-FATIGUE DAMAGE EVALUATION OF MODIFIED GRADE 91 HEADERS USING DAMAGE COUPLED UNIFIED VISCOPLASTIC MODEL

A case study for life prediction of Grade 91 heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) superheater outlet header of typical combined cycle power plants (CCPP) is presented in this paper. The effect of high cycling and fast startup along with elevated design temperature and pressure on the creep life is studied. A consistent material model based on MPC Omega is used to evaluate the creep damage of HRSG header components. In addition, a robust unified constitutive model (UCM) based on continuum damage.mechanics (CDM) (see [1]) is used for creep-fatigue damage evaluation of the header components. The performance of the UCM is compared against creep and damage focused models in predicting the life of HRSG header components subjected to steady operation condition with low cycle fatigue scenario.