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Boiler tubes experience reductions in wall thickness due to erosion and corrosion mechanisms while in use. Due to this localized thinning, the tube becomes susceptible to gross plastic deformation, which eventually causes the tube to rupture. This study presents a non-linear finite element analysis of different geometric configurations of localized boiler tube defects. A defected boiler tube with three variants of the localized thinned area, having different geometrical shapes (flat, n-shape and u-shape) was modeled and subjected to a simulated internal pressure. The effect of the defect geometrical shapes and their dimensions (shape aspect ratios, defect length, width and depth) on the failure of the tube while in use were investigated. From the numerical results, the stress concentration factors (SCF) associated with each defect were obtained, and it was observed that these play a more significant role than the amount of material removal in influencing the failure of the tubes. This relationship between the SCF and the defect geometry characteristics helps to predict which tube with a localized thinning geometry is safe for continued operation or will fail, and hence to categorize the severity of defects to prioritize maintenance spending. The result of this work will serve as a guide to categorize the severity of external boiler tube defects. This is relevant whenever a constrained economic environment does not allow for all boiler tubes with defects to be replaced.

A failure mechanism prevalent with boiler tubes operating in harsh environmental conditions is localized erosion. The consequence of the erosion mechanism is a substantial reduction of the tube thickness, ultimately leading to plastic collapse and consequently rupturing of the tubes. Locating and repairing all the affected tubes within the boiler is time consuming and expensive. It will be worthwhile to rank all the identified flaws so that critical flaws that cannot survive till the next scheduled shutdown are prioritized for repair. Consequently, nonlinear structural analysis was conducted on various boiler tubes that failed by localized erosion. The tubes had a wide range of localized erosion flaws that required a detailed assessment technique. The failure was evaluated numerically using various stress and strain-based failure criteria as well as performing the American Petroleum Institute and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (API-ASME) fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment on the tubes. A projected time to failure ( P_t) for each tube based on the various criteria used in this study was determined. This enabled the ranking of the flawed tubes based on the priority of their repair. The outcome of this study demonstrates the potential for a tool which will enable industry users to prioritise the replacement or repair of critically flawed tubes and avert replacing tubes that are still safe for future operation.

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