A soft sensor for oxide scales on the steam side of superheater tubes of utility boiler under uneven circumferential loading is proposed for the first time. First finite volume method is employed to simulate oxide scales growth temperature on the steam side of superheater tube. Then appropriate time and spatial intervals are selected to calculate oxide scales thickness along the circumferential direction. On the basis of the oxide scale thickness, the stress of oxide scales is calculated by the finite element method. At last, the oxide scale thickness and stress sensors are established on support vector machine (SMV) optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) with time and circumferential angles as inputs and oxide scale thickness and stress as outputs. Temperature and stress calculation methods are validated by the operation data and experimental data, respectively. The soft sensor is applied to the superheater tubes of some power plant. Results show that the soft sensor can give enough accurate results for oxide scale thickness and stress in reasonable time. The forecasting model provides a convenient way for the research of the oxide scale failure.

Oxide scales have negative effects on the security and economy of supercritical and ultra-supercritical units.The finite volume method was exploited to simulate oxide scales growth temperature on the inside of superheater tube,then the appropriate time and spatial intervals were selected to calculate oxide scales thickness along the circumferential direction with the correspond growth temperature.At last,the stress response of the oxides was simulated with finite element method.The simulated temperature is closed to the analytical temperature, confirming that the simulation results are credible.The results show that the growth temperature rises fast at the beginning and drops in the circumferential direction,which changes rapidly at the 90°. Oxide scales thickness is thinner and thinner in the circumferential direction and changes fast at approximately 90°.Though the magnitude of circumferential stress and axial stress is different, but the trend same.The simulation results can provides a theoretical basis for the failure research of the oxide scales.