Erosion in Nuclear Piping Systems lapse.

The collapse of the bubbles causes high local pressures and

very high local water jet velocities. If the collapsing bubbles are
close enough to a solid surface, damage to that surface will result.
Harold M. Crockett The collapse of the numerous bubbles generates noise and vi-
EPRI, bration. Most often, cavitation causes most of its damage with
vibration 共e.g., cracked welds, broken instrument lines, and loos-
1300 West W. T. Harris Boulevard, ened flanges兲. The erosion caused by cavitation also generates
Charlotte, NC 28262 particles that will contaminate the process fluid
e-mail: [email protected] Cavitation has caused leaks and thinning in power piping and
damage to valve internals. It has also been linked to spurious
Jeffrey S. Horowitz reactor trips and to increased valve maintenance. Finally, the use
Consultant of an unsuitable valve 共i.e., one that cavitates兲 may result in vi-
3331 Avenida Sierra, bration of the valve internals. These vibrations contribute to the
Escondido, CA 92029 noise generated and also cause loosening of parts and mechanical
fatigue of valve components or attached piping.
e-mail: [email protected] Cavitation occurs in such diverse situations as hydroelectric
turbines, ship propellers, and pump internals. However, only cavi-
tation in valves and piping components is discussed in this brief.
Various mechanisms degrade components and power piping in Also note that cavitation has been extensively studied for many
nuclear power plants. The mechanism with the greatest conse- years and there is a very large body of literature dealing with
quence has been flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC). FAC has various aspects of the issue including a number of well-known
caused ruptures and leaks and has led to numerous piping re- textbooks on the subject. Although there is still disagreement
placements. United States utilities use a combination of EPRI about the precise nature of the damage mechanism, cavitation is
guidance, software, and aggressive inspection programs to deal well enough understood that it can be dealt with by competent
with FAC. However, current technology does not detail guidance design practices.
for erosive forms of attack including, cavitation erosion, flashing For power plant systems, cavitation most often occurs in con-
erosion, droplet impingement, and solid particle erosion. These trol valves 共i.e., high-pressure drop valves兲 and downstream of
forms of degradation have caused shutdowns, and leaks have be- orifices in liquid-filled systems.
come a maintenance issue. This brief will present a description of For convenience, cavitation is often divided into a number of
erosive damage mechanisms found in nuclear power plants. regimes to describe the extent of the cavitation process that oc-
关DOI: 10.1115/1.4000509兴 curs. It should be noted that different investigators use slightly or
completely different definitions for generally similar terms.
There are several empirical methods available to predict the
1 Introduction cavitation regime as a function of flow rate, fluid properties, and
Most nuclear power plants have inspection programs in place to geometry for most common situations. For example, Ref. 关3兴 was
control flow-accelerated corrosion 共FAC兲. FAC is a well-known the basis for the cavitation model used in the CHECWORKS™ cool-
phenomenon that has been extensively documented 关1兴. FAC is a ing water application. A detailed discussion of these methods is
corrosion process caused by the dissolution of the normally pro- beyond the scope of this brief.
tective oxide layer. FAC usually occurs in piping and components According to Ozol 关4兴, most cavitation problems in nuclear
of the extraction steam, heater drains, and feedwater systems. In plants are caused by either:
fact, FAC is the predominant degradation mechanism in these sys- • valves improperly sized for a given application or
tems. Notable examples of the consequences of FAC were the • improper operation 共most often throttling兲 of properly sized
failures at Surry Unit 2 in 1986 and in Mihama Unit 3 in 2004. valves
In addition to FAC, various erosion mechanisms also affect • improper types of valves being used to control flow 共e.g.,
these systems. These mechanisms have increased maintenance ac- butterfly valves兲
tivities and have caused leaks, piping failures, loss of condenser
vacuum, and reactor trips. This brief will provide an overview of Damage caused by cavitation is normally rapid and localized.
the erosive mechanisms normally encountered. The damaged surface is usually very rough and irregular.
2 Mechanisms Considered 2.2 Flashing Erosion. Flashing occurs when a high-pressure
liquid flows through a valve or an orifice to a region of greatly
Four erosive mechanisms have been found to cause degradation
reduced pressure. If the pressure drops below the vapor pressure,
in nuclear piping 关2兴. These mechanisms will be introduced.
some of the liquid will be spontaneously converted to steam. The
2.1 Cavitation. Cavitation damage may occur when there is a downstream velocity will be greatly increased due to a much
flowing liquid stream that experiences a drop in pressure followed lower average density of the two-phase mixture. The impact of the
by a pressure recovery. Such a pressure drop 共i.e., the difference high-velocity liquid on piping or components creates flashing
between the upstream pressure and the downstream pressure兲 can damage.
occur in valve internals where the flow has to accelerate through a When flashing occurs, the flow is choked. This is the maximum
small area. As the fluid moves through the restricted area, the fluid possible flow is passing through the restriction at the given up-
velocity increases and the pressure decreases, as shown by the stream pressure. This regime is also known as supercavitation.
momentum equation 共i.e., Bernoulli’s theorem兲. If the local pres- The only way to increase the flow is to increase the upstream
sure passes below the vapor pressure at the liquid temperature, pressure. When this state is reached, the sound velocity in the
then small bubbles are formed. When the downstream pressure two-phase mixture has been reached. This is exactly analogous to
rises above the vapor pressure, these bubbles 共or cavities兲 col- sonic velocity in a gas passing through a convergent nozzle. Note,
however, that in the case of two-phase mixtures, the sonic velocity
of the mixture is only a small fraction of the sound speeds in
Contributed by the Pressure Vessel and Piping Division of ASME for publication
in the JOURNAL OF PRESSURE VESSEL TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received November 30,
either of the pure liquid and the pure vapor phases.
2007; final manuscript received August 21, 2009; published online January 29, 2010. In addition to erosion, flashing will result in unstable chaotic
Assoc. Editor: Noel O’Dowd. conditions in the downstream pipe. Such conditions may cause

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology Copyright © 2010 by ASME APRIL 2010, Vol. 132 / 024501-1

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 harmful vibrations to occur. radomes. Because of the necessity for having these materials
It should be noted that in cavitation, the downstream pressure is transparent either to light or radio waves, nonmetallics have been
normally above the local vapor pressure so that the bubbles col- used, thus, this experience is not of direct interest to the power
lapse. In flashing situations, the pressure is below the local vapor industry.
pressure so that the bubbles do not collapse and are transported Unfortunately, there is only a small amount of literature directly
downstream. Also there are ways of preventing cavitation from related to experience with LIE in power piping. The most relevant
occurring 共e.g., changing the design of the control valve兲, but if literature deals with the steam turbine experience, but as noted
the downstream pressure is below the vapor pressure of the in- above, most of the experimental work involved high alloy steels.
coming stream, then flashing will occur.
Flashing normally occurs downstream of valves or orifices in 2.4 Solid Particle Erosion. In contrast to the three mecha-
liquid lines that are going to the condenser or possibly down- nisms described above, solid particle erosion 共SPE兲 is damage
stream of control valves in cascading drains. Other possible loca- caused by particles transported by the fluid stream rather than by
tions would include downstream of leaking valves located be- liquid water or collapsing bubbles. While the exact damage
tween system pressure and the condenser. mechanism of SPE is not fully understood, if hard large particles
There is considerably less technical literature covering flashing are present at sufficiently high velocities, damage will occur. In
than cavitation 关2兴. Although there is some information available contrast to liquid impingement erosion, the necessary velocities
from valve manufacturers, the subject of flashing erosion, particu- for SPE are quite low. Kosel 关6兴 quoted this velocity as being
larly in the downstream piping, is rarely mentioned. 1 m/s 共3.3 ft/s兲 for ductile materials.
Damage due to flashing can be found in and downstream of Surfaces damaged by SPE have a very variable morphology.
pressure-reducing valves. The form of the damage is usually re- Kosel 关6兴 stated that
ferred to as “smooth” or “polished” 关2兴.
As a practical matter, flashing erosion is dealt with by valve Manifestations of SPE in service usually include thinning of
manufacturers by installing erosion-resistant materials for valves components, a macroscopic scooping appearance following
expected to be in severe service that may include flashing down- the gas/particle flow field, surface roughening 共ranging from
stream of the most restricted part of the valve. Unfortunately, polishing to severe roughening, depending on particle size
usually flashing erosion in piping is not considered until a leak or and velocity兲, lack of the directional grooving characteristics
a pipe rupture occurs. of abrasion, and in some but not all cases, the formation of
2.3 Liquid Impingement Erosion. Liquid impingement ero- ripple patterns on metals.
sion 共LIE兲 or droplet impingement is caused by the impact of Solid particle erosion has been studied for years as harmful
high-velocity droplets or liquid jets. Normally, LIE occurs when a effects have been experienced in a large number of engineering
two-phase stream experiences a high-pressure drop 共e.g., across situations, including
an orifice on a line to the condenser兲. When this occurs, there is an
acceleration of both phases with the liquid velocity increasing to • steam turbines
the point that if the liquid strikes a metallic surface, damage to the • helicopter rotors
surface will result. Droplet speeds greater than about 100 m/s • gas turbines
共⬃330 ft/ s兲 have been shown to damage carbon steel items. The • pipelines and valves transporting particulate material
main distinction between flashing and LIE is that in flashing the • fluidized bed boilers
fluid is low quality 共mostly liquid with some steam兲, and with • rocket motor nozzles
LIE, the fluid is high quality 共mostly steam with some liquid兲. In
contrast to flashing damage, surfaces damaged by LIE are nor- Of particular concern to the power generation industry is the
mally very rough and irregular. damage SPE causes in steam turbines. McCloskey et al. 关5兴 dis-
There are two main practical situations in which LIE has been cussed steam turbine concerns for fossil turbines. In this case, the
studied extensively because of problems experienced. These are particles have been found to be corrosion products from the up-
the erosion of steam turbine internals and the erosion of high- stream heat exchanger surfaces that have exfoliated and been
velocity airplane components 共particularly canopies兲 by rain 关2兴. transported downstream.
Erosion in steam turbines has been studied since the 1920s. The SPE has been found in several areas of nuclear plants particu-
materials of principal interest are high alloy steels and more exotic larly in the steam generator blowdown system of pressurized wa-
materials. Most of the steam turbine erosion problems have been ter reactors 共PWRs兲 and in raw water systems. SPE has been
solved through redesign and improved materials, although prob- found to cause leaks, as well as damage valve internals.
lems may appear when new turbine designs are employed. A good In understanding SPE, one fact must be understood: SPE and
treatment of erosion in steam turbines is found in Ref. 关5兴. liquid impingement erosion, though seemingly alike, are very dif-
Although conceptually LIE downstream of a valve and LIE in a ferent. Heymann 关7兴 stated
steam turbine would seem similar, there is a significant difference.
In a turbine, as work is extracted from the steam, the pressure
decreases until it reaches a point where droplets nucleate and are It might easily be assumed that solid particle erosion would
carried downstream. Some of these droplets will impact and be- have many similarities to liquid impingement erosion, since
come attached to nonrotating portions of the turbine, especially both involve the impact of small, discrete bodies. This is not
the low-pressure stationary blades. Some of this water is then the case, however, because the damage mechanisms, the ef-
re-entrained and flows downstream. Extensive research has dem- fects of impact variables, and the response of materials are
onstrated that the very small droplets in the stream do not cause all quite different.
the damage to the low-pressure turbine blades. Rather it is the Although SPE has been studied extensively over the past 50
re-entrained, larger drops that cause the bulk of the damage. In the years, there are still areas of technical controversy remaining 关8兴.
flow downstream of a valve or orifice, there probably is not a This is not surprising, as there are a large number of variables. For
similar mechanism to separate and re-entrain the flow. convenience, these variables have been divided into three broad
Erosion in airplane components in rain became an issue in the categories 关2兴 as
1940s as the speed of aircraft 共particularly military aircraft兲 ex-
ceeded about 550 km/h 共350 miles/h兲. At this speed, a heavy rain • impingement variables including particle velocity, angle of
damaged even metallic forward facing components. incidence, particle concentration, and particle rotational
Particular problem areas included windshields, canopies, and speed

024501-2 / Vol. 132, APRIL 2010 Transactions of the ASME

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 • particle variables including particle shape, size, hardness, “Flow-Accelerated Corrosion in Power Plants,” EPRI, Palo Alto, CA, EPRI
and friability 共i.e., the ease of fracture兲 Report No. TR-106611-R1.
关2兴 2004, “Recommendations for Controlling Cavitation, Flashing, Liquid Droplet
• material variables—all material properties including, hard- Impingement, and Solid Particle Erosion in Nuclear Power Plant Piping Sys-
ness, work hardening behavior, and microstructure tems,” EPRI, Palo Alto, CA, Report No. 1011231.
关3兴 Wilby Associates, 1993, “A Method to Predict Cavitation and the Extent of
3 Conclusion Damage in Power Plant Piping,” Dec., EPRI Report Nos. TR-103198-T1 and
TR-103198-T2.
This technical brief has summarized the erosive mechanisms 关4兴 Ozol, J., 1987, “Experiences With Control Valve Cavitation Problems and
that have been found in nuclear power plants. EPRI is conducting Their Solutions,” EPRI Power Plant Valves Symposium, Kansas City, MO,
research in this area to improve the safety and reliability of Aug. 25–26, EPRI Paper No. CS/NP-5878-SR.
nuclear power plants. 关5兴 McCloskey, T. H., Dooley, R. B., and McNaughton, W. P., 1999, “Turbine
Steam Path Damage: Theory and Practice—Volume 2: Damage Mechanisms,”
Acknowledgment EPRI, Palo Alto, CA, EPRI Report No. TR-108943-V2.
关6兴 Kosel, T. H., 1992, “Solid Particle Erosion,” ASM Handbook: Friction, Lubri-
The authors acknowledge the members of the CHECWORKS™ cation, and Wear Technology, Vol. 18, ASM International, Metals Park, OH.
Users Group who have contributed to EPRI’s efforts in this area. 关7兴 Heymann, F., 1992, “Liquid Impingement Erosion,” ASM Handbook: Friction,
Lubrication, and Wear Technology, Vol. 18, ASM International, Metals Park,
OH.
References 关8兴 Mills, D., 1991, “Pipeline Wear,” Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and
关1兴 Chexal, B., Horowitz, J., Dooley, B., Millett, P., Wood, C., Jones, R., Boucha- Design, J. J. McKettta and W. A. Cunningham, eds., Marcel Dekker, New
court, M., Remy, F., Nordmann, F., Saint Paul, P., and Kastner, W., 1998, York.

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology APRIL 2010, Vol. 132 / 024501-3

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