Experienced engineers and metallurgists will evaluate the information gained in each of these tasks to predict the remaining life of critical power turbine components. The accuracy of this prediction will vary with the quality of the data. The first step is to thoroughly understand the environment that the turbine is operating in. Key variables that affect the power turbine life will be evaluated. This data will be used as input to thermal and stress analyses when evaluating potential failure modes such as low cycle fatigue and high temperature creep-rupture.
Certified technicians perform all inspections.
The client will be appraised of all findings. At this point in the process, judgements are made regarding the continued use of the component. The next step in the Remaining Life Assessment is to determine the actual stress and temperature environment the components are operating in. This entails performing a finite element analysis of the appropriate components to evaluate both transient temperatures and stresses. Typical Finite Element Stress Analysis Results Material Destructive Testing Textbook material data is sometimes available for use in a life analysis, but because of wide variability in the data, the results will be more conservative than if we can use data derived from the client's equipment.