Improving the knowledge on the integrity of welded joints of hydraulic turbine runners via a better estimation of the probability of occurrence (POO) and the probability of detection (POD)

Due to the importance of energy production cost, it is critical to reduce unnecessary or unpredicted halts of power generation equipment. Hydro-Québec as a major power generation company uses models to estimate the service life of turbine runners to avoid the aforementioned halts. For these models, possessing several input parameters, to be accurate, the inputs should be defined with less uncertainty. The characteristics of flaws in the runners are one of the most influential inputs. Since nondestructive testing (NDT) methods are used to characterize these flaws, so it is important that these methods are reliable. This project sheds light on the characteristics of common flaws in the runner joints and also on the reliability of NDT methods used to characterize such flaws. By increasing the accuracy of life estimations, Hydro-Québec will be able to minimize the amount of halts and hence to reduce the power generation costs.

Faculty Supervisor:

Martin Viens

Student:

Hamid Habibzadeh Boukani

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Program:

Accelerate