A new monitoring system for piping systems in fossil fired power plants

A CEC-funded project has been performed to tackle the problem of producing an advanced Life Monitoring System (LMS) which would calculate the creep and fatigue damage experienced by high temperature pipework components. Four areas were identified where existing Life Monitoring System technology could be improved:

1. 1. the inclusion of creep relaxation

2. 2. the inclusion of external loads on components

3. 3. a more accurate method of calculating thermal stresses due to temperature transients

4. 4. the inclusion of high cycle fatigue terms.

The creep relaxation problem was solved using stress reduction factors in an analytical in-elastic stress calculation. The stress reduction factors were produced for a number of common geometries and materials by means of non-linear finite element analysis. External loads were catered for by producing influence coefficients from in-elastic analysis of the particular piping system and using them to calculate bending moments at critical positions on the pipework from load and displacement measurements made at the convenient points at the pipework. The thermal stress problem was solved by producing a completely new solution based on Green's Function and Fast Fourier transforms. This allowed the thermal stress in a complex component to be calculated from simple non-intrusive thermocouple measurements made on the outside of the component. The high-cycle fatigue problem was dealt with precalculating the fatigue damage associated with standard transients and adding this damage to cumulative total when a transient occurred.

The site testing provided good practical experience and showed up problems which would not otherwise have been detected.     

An adaptive tracking problem for a family of retarded time-delay plants

Most of the existing switching control techniques are developed specifically for finite-dimensional linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. In many practical applications, however, it is essential to take time delay into consideration in the modelling as the control system can be highly sensitive to delay. In this paper, a multi-model switching control algorithm is proposed for retarded time-delay systems. It is assumed that the plant is represented by a family of known multi-input multi-output, observable, LTI models with multiple delays in the states, and that corresponding to each model in the known family, there exists a high-performance finite-dimensional LTI controller. In addition, it is supposed that a bound on the magnitude of the external inputs and disturbances is available. It is then shown that the proposed switching controller can stabilize the uncertain system, and that under some mild conditions, output tracking can be achieved in the given problem setting. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping nonnative plants using hyperspectral imagery

Nonnative plant species are causing enormous ecological and environmental impacts from local to global scale. Remote sensing images have had mixed success in providing spatial information on land cover characteristics to land managers that increase effective management of invasions into native habitats. However, there has been limited evaluation of the use of hyperspectral data and processing techniques for mapping specific invasive species based on their spectral characteristics. This research evaluated three different methods of processing hyperspectral imagery: minimum noise fraction (MNF), continuum removal, and band ratio indices for mapping iceplant (Carpobrotus edulis) and jubata grass (Cortaderia jubata) in California's coastal habitat. Validation with field sampling data showed high mapping accuracies for all methods for identifying presence or absence of iceplant (97%), with the MNF procedure producing the highest accuracy (55%) when the classes were divided into four different densities of iceplant.     

油库油料计量操作中存在的问题及其解决办法

介绍了油库油料计量中，在油品高度、油品温度和油品密度测量中存在的问题及应遵循的操作规范和注意事项。     

水浴法加温液氧泵

1　故障现象一次 ,我们用KL -1 5型制氧制氮车开机制氮 ,给一只容积为 40升、最高工作压力为1 4 7MPa的气瓶灌充氮气 ,当气瓶充气压力升高到一定值时不再上升。反复开泵 ,压力基本不变。液氧泵停止时 ,出口压力无明显下降。经分析判断导致气瓶压力升高到一定值时不再上升的原因是由于液氧泵被冻结所致。2　排除方法首先关闭液氧泵。拧开制冷机氢气放气阀 ,使压力下降到 1 0MPa。开大放气阀 ,使二级压力保持在 0 3 5MPa左右。调整正流空气调节阀 ,调节好中部温度。关闭液氮进液氧泵阀和气氮出液氧泵阀。戴棉布手套 ,拆开液氮进口接头、…     

黄河天桥水电站工程建设及泥沙处理主要经验

天桥水电站是黄河中游北干上的第一座高泥沙、低水头、大流量的径流式试验电站。它成功的施工与运营经验不仅对在黄河中游北干上开发梯级水电站，而且对中小型径流式水电站的施工都具有重要的借鉴作用。这篇文章总结了两期截流工程、基坑排水、固结灌浆、帷幕灌浆方面的施工经验。在诸如厂房位置的选择以及它的布置，泥沙、冰凌、洪水以及拦污方面的工程设计与运营的宝贵经验，使得水库长期保持高的有效库容和良好的运营状态。特剐是防止进水口淤积和水轮机的磨蚀方面的七条措施是非常有价值的。     

国产核电厂蒸汽发生器下封头接管区模拟装置承受循环载荷能力的试验

国产核电厂蒸汽发生器下封头群孔接管区具有应力分布复杂、焊接施工条件差的特点。为考核其承受循环载荷的能力，设计制造了与实物相似的模拟试验装置，根据核电厂运行寿命期内的载荷特点，确定了模拟试验装置的试验载荷与试验循环数。循环加载试验的结果表明，蒸汽发生器下封头群孔接管区承受循环载荷的能力在寿命期内是符合要求的。     

地方热电联产企业发展对策的探讨

介绍了泰州热电企业的运行情况，分析了各热电厂在技术改造、扩大热用户和强化内部考核管理方面的措施，探讨了地方热电企业应采取的对策和发展思路。     

The determinants of cost efficiency of hydroelectric generating plants: A random frontier approach

This paper analyses the technical efficiency in the hydroelectric generating plants of a main Portuguese electricity enterprise EDP (Electricity of Portugal) between 1994 and 2004, investigating the role played by increase in competition and regulation. A random cost frontier method is adopted. A translog frontier model is used and the maximum likelihood estimation technique is employed to estimate the empirical model. We estimate the efficiency scores and decompose the exogenous variables into homogeneous and heterogeneous. It is concluded that production and capacity are heterogeneous, signifying that the hydroelectric generating plants are very distinct and therefore any energy policy should take into account this heterogeneity. It is also concluded that competition, rather than regulation, plays the key role in increasing hydroelectric plant efficiency.     

A review of the effects of water transfers in the La Grande Hydroelectric Complex (Québec,Canada)

Construction of the La Grande Complex in Eastern Canada called for complete or partial diversion of six rivers, the mean annual discharge of which varied from 60 to 1600 m³ s^?1, and the transfer of water from two adjoining watersheds (1586m³ s^?1) into La Grande Rivière. Three of these rivers with reduced flow, Eastmain (from 700 to 95m³ s^?1), Opinaca (from 260 to 35m³ s^?1), and Caniapiscau (from 1708 to 960m³ s^?1) and the waterways with increased flows, Boyd-Sakami (from 1 to 811m³ s^?1) and La Grande Rivière (from 1760 to 3400m³ s^?1) were intensively monitored from 1978 to 1988, while the others were surveyed sporadically. Very few modifications were observed, compared to previous conditions, in banks stability, water quality, and aquatic fauna of the affected rivers: those which appeared can be explained by the water level fluctuations, the water quality of the tributaries of the residual drainage basin, and/or by the direct influence of the reservoirs. In James Bay, the areal extent of the Eastmain River and La Grand Rivière plumes varied with discharge in an exponential relation, mostly under ice cover; resources from the coastal environment had not yet undergone any major changes. Because of the very small population dwelling in the area, less than 3000 inhabitants, modifications in the hydrological regime of these rivers did cause relatively few impacts, the main being greater banks instability in specific locations, reduction of the thickness and ice cover on La Grande Rivière, enhancement of navigation constraints on Eastmain River, and higher mercury levels in fish related to operation of the reservoirs.