The effect of materials properties on the reliability of hydraulic turbine runners

Abstract

The failure of hydraulic turbine runners is a rare event. So in order to assess the reliability of these components one cannot rely solely on the number of observed failures in a given population. However, as there is a limited number of degradation mechanisms involved, it is possible to use physically-based reliability models. Such models are often more complicated but are able to account for physical parameters in the degradation process. They can therefore help provide solutions to improve reliability. With such models, the effect of materials properties on runner reliability can be highlighted. This paper presents a brief review of the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram which links the damage tolerance approach, based on fracture mechanics, to the stress or strain-life approaches. Using simplified response spectra based on runner stress measurements, we will show how fatigue reliability is sensitive to materials fatigue properties, namely fatigue crack propagation behaviour and fatigue limit obtained on S-N curves. Furthermore, we will review the influence of the main microstructural features observed in 13%Cr-4%Ni stainless steels commonly used for runner manufacturing. The goal is ultimately to identify the most influential microstructural features and to quantify their effect on fatigue reliability of runners.