CreepImage

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CreepImage demonstration at TWI's R4i showcase more ...

CreepImage at the BINDT 2013 more ...

Paper presented at BSSM Conference available for download more ...

Welcome to CreepImage

Power stations generally operate well beyond their original design life. This has resulted in frequent (at least annual) failures of superheated steam pipes which result in widespread power cuts and massive financial losses for operators, typically costing €120 M per event. The failures often occur without warning and are accompanied by catastrophic human consequences including loss of life and horrific injuries. The project aims to develop an optical non-contact, non-intrusive full-field strain measurement system which is capable of operation under the harsh conditions in a power plant at temperatures up to 600°C. An innovative method will be employed to reduce image degradation due to time varying refractive index gradients due to thermal convection. Data from these measurements will be used to predict the remaining useful life of high temperature components such as steam pipes and headers in order to reduce the probability of failure via measurement rather than calculation