Commonwealth Edison Company, headquartered in Chicago,

Multi-stage valve trim retrofits eliminate damaging vibration

RHR system tests, and, in practice, rated flow had to be reduced.

Illinois, is the largest nuclear utility in the United States. Ever since the 1973 commissioning of its two 828MW boiling water reactors at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant, the 14 residual heat removal (RHR) valves and related system piping and other components have suffered severe vibration and damage whenever the system was in required periodic test operation. In addition, this high vibration raised fears of potential fatigue failures in the RHR system piping.
By John R. Arnold (Commonwealth Edison Company, USA), Herbert L. Miller and Robert E. Katz (Control Components Inc., USA)
36A Valve

RHR valve operation

During test operation, the RHR valves and associated piping vibrated excessively due primarily to a high level of cavitation. This cavitation extended several diameters downstream from the valves themselves. This phenomenon has been described as supercavitation in the literature. Vibration measurements were taken in terms of velocity on the RHR valve bonnets and actuators as well as on a nearby Spring Can and elsewhere in the RHR system.
6

o relieve this problem, several fixes were tried with little improvement. Ultimately the original single-stage RHR valve trim was replaced with

2 3

1 4

Spring Can

Velocity is a vibration parameter that is related to both acceleration and displacement.

multi-stage, tortuous path trim. These new trim assemblies were installed into the existing valve bodies, this process is called retrofitting. The damaging vibration problems then ceased.
Flow direction Torus

Velocity is proportional to the acceleration divided by the vibration frequency and is also proportional to the displacement times the vibra-

Original RHR valves

The original RHR valves at Quad Cities Units 1 and 2 were conventional, single seat, globe valves of flow-to-open design (designated 36A and 36B which are of similar component configurations), also designed for throttling operation. Talbe 1 shows the operating conditions specified with two pumps running. Under these low differential pressure conditions, most control valve manufacturers would design a single-stage trim similar to the one originally installed. As discussed later, the excessive vibration caused by this design at Quad Cities dictates that an additional consideration in the design process is required, i.e. the minimization of fluid
Torus

Measurement point Measurement direction

Figure 1. RHR system with vibration measurement location.

velocities to eliminate cavitation. The industry change to perform periodic RHR pump testing required the *use of a pump bypass loop. This loop was necessary, so that the safety-related pumps could be tested under a dynamic simulation. A control valve was needed to achieve the fluid conditions required for this simulation. Control valves (36A and 36B) were installed to achieve the fluid conditions needed for this simulation. Excessive vibration of these valves and piping systems was experienced during these

tion frequency. Vibration velocity is a commonly used measurement parameter because a given velocity I represents relatively constant vibration severity over a wide frequency range. This characteristic makes velocity a useful parameter for comparing pre- and post-retrofit vibration amplitudes. Thus, even if the vibration frequencies change as a result of the retrofit, equivalent velocities will still represent the same vibration severity. Figure 1 shows the locations and orientation of pre- and post-retrofit vibration meas-

Limitorque

Pressure equalizing ring (cavety)

Flow sector

Inlet

Outlet

Figure 2. RHR valve elevation. urements taken on RHR valve 36A, its actukeeping with site

Figure 3. Typical tortuous Drag disk pattern. As Low As Reasonably pass normal system particulates capacity degradation. without

ator and the nearby Spring Can which exhibited the highest system vibration level. Table

Achievable (ALARA) directives.

But after the original

retrofit trim incorporating only disk stacks

2 provides pre-retrofit vibration velocities as measured at the locations indicated in figure

RHR valve retrofit trim

The pressure reducing portion of the new, multi-stage trim is capable of precisely controlling all flows up to 100% of its rating. This trim incorporates a stack of tortuous-path disks similar to figure 3, whose

was installed, a plastic Rad bag inadvertently left in the system severely reduced valve flow during initial RHR system trial operation. Because of a possible repetition of this unlikely event, the valve trim was modified with the cage above the disk stack as shown in figures 4 and 5. Now, should 100% rated flow be impaired, the valves will open further, permitting flow through the cage equal to about 50% of additional rated flow. Figure 5 shows the per 4 10,700 0.675 130/30 0.90/0.03 100 0.69 60 16

1 with both pumps in operation. On the Spring Can previously mentioned, vibrations as high as 2.550"/s(65mm/s) were recorded.

Experience at other Commonwealth Edison power plants demonstrated the feasibility of installing new, multi-stage, pressure-reducing trim into the existing valve bodies (figure 2). This could be accomplished without valve body modification or the need to cut the valves out of the piping. Thus, the decision was made to retrofit the RHR valves at Quad Cities. This retrofitting process using the existing valve body and actuator produced considerable cost reduction and permitted significant time savings over total valve replacement. Among other things, this process obviated much cutting and welding, new weld x-raying, and rigging to move heavy parts. Additionally, in radiologically controlled areas, the simplified work scope further reduced the total exposure, in Flow rate, gpm Flow rate, m /sec
3

built-in, right angle turns create multi-stage pressure reduction. This multi-stage pressure reduction trim arrangement uses velocity as the design criteria. In the original design 1 9000 0.567 140/20 0.97/0.14 120 0.83 100 38 2 9100 0.574 130/5 0.90/0.03 125 0.87 100 38 3 9100 0.574 160/5 1.10/0.03 155 1.07 100 38

cent C v vs per cent stroke characteristic of these retrofitted valves. Note that 100% capacity, C v, is

Pressure in/out, psig Pressure in/out, MPa Flowing Delta P, psi Flowing Delta P, MPa Temperature, O F Temperature, C
O

achieved at only 80% of full stroke; flow at the remaining 20% of stroke occurs through a cage incorporating large holes. This design was necessitated

Table 1. RHR valve operating conditions. with two pumps operating, trim exit velocity was approximately 90ft/s (28m/s) while retrofit trim is as low as 45ft/s (14m/s). By limiting fluid velocity, damaging cavitation was eliminated, and the noise and piping vibration were completely neutralized. These disk stacks are designed to freely

by the safety-related requirement that under all circumstances design flow rate would be achieved. In addition to the incorporation of the cage in this modified trim, the multi-stage disk stack was characterized . Characteriza-

tion is a term used to reflect more than one design of velocity control disk. In this application, characterization was accomplished by

varying the number of right angle turns in the disks to provide higher resistance/lower flow disks for the lower part of the stack and provide lower resistance/higher flow disks above. This helped reduce valve stroke requirements while still meeting velocity requirements. Since the pressure reduction through these RHR valves is relatively low, the number of right angle turns is correspondingly low as well. In many applications right angle turns of up to 30 turns and more can be built into these disks. Each disk in the stack incorporates a pressure equalizing ring (PER) on its inside diameter to assure that equal pressures act radially around the circumference of the plug at any stroke position. This design keeps the plug centered at all loads and prevents plug vibration. All of these trim

(4.5mm/s), or a 93% reduction. Figure 6 demonstrates the dramatic reduction in valve vibration velocity and frequency when the original single-stage trim was replaced with multistage, fluid velocity controlling trim. The pre-retrofit section shows that the single-stage trim had a peak frequency of 230 Hz. Since piping system frequencies are much less than 40 Hz, the vibration source creating the peak was clearly the cavitating fluid. The post-retrofit section shows the dramatic reduction in peak velocity and frequency after the tortuous path trim retrofit. The peak velocity has been reduced by 91% as noted in Tests were also run at 50% flow with one pump operating. The reduction in cavitation and associated vibration levels was as dramatic as the results for two pumps running. Runs made on the 36B system at both flow rates also showed the consistent and large reductions in vibration levels through the use of velocity control trim. Figure 5. 14" valve capacity vs stroke.

tables

2 and 3. However, the peak

vibration now is due to the fluid turbulence acting on the piping system as demonstrated by the peak frequency of about 20 Hz. The vibration attributed to the flow control valve now shows up Figure 4. Characterized disk stack with cage. Location

Lessons learned
Due to space limitations above the torus, these valves were mounted with stems other than vertical (i.e. stems Vibration Velocity "/s mm/s 10.9 10.5 31.0 11.2 11.3 64.8 pointing off in the 4:00 oclock position). The yoke design was critical to

design features hold noise levels below 85 dBA at three feet (lm). 1-36A valve, perpendicular to centre line 2-36A valve, in line with pipe centre line 3-36A valve, vertical* 4-36A actuator, in line with pipe centre 5-36A actuator, perpendicular to pipe centre line 6-Spring Can, perpendicular to pipe centre line Table 2. Pre-retrofit measured vibration. *Rotational around pipe centre line 0.432 0.412 1.220 0.440 0.443 2.550

prevent sagging due to the overhung load from the SMB-3 operators. A roller type of anti-rotation device was designed to preclude problems previously experienced with sliding key/slot type anti-rotation devices utilized on the original

Results
Table 3 details post retrofit
vibration levels and per cent reduction from pre-retrofitting values at the same valve/actuator/Spring Can

locations and orientations as shown in figure

as peaks at 2460 Hz and 1530 Hz. However, the peak velocity of 0.010"/s (0.25mm/s) at

valves. In addition, the mounting configuration presented several additional challenges to installation of the new retrofit components. Several difficulties were experienced in holding the trim and disk in place while installing the bonnet bolting due to mounting position and lack of available overhead rigging points. Tight tolerances

1. At the most severe point of valve vibration, location 3, the vibration velocity of 1.220"/s(31mm/s) has been reduced to 0.105"/s(3mm/s), a 91% reduction. Also,

2460 Hz is an even more significant vibration component reduction; less than one per cent is attributable to the presence of the valve. Thus, the valve contribution to the piping vibration was inconsequential after the retrofit trim had been installed.

at the previously mentioned Spring Can, location 6, vibration velocity has dropped from 2.550"/s (65 mm/s) to 0.175"/s

Figure 6. Valve vibration velocity vs frequency (perpendicular to piping centre line). normally designed between stem and packing follower disappeared when the bonnet did not get installed square to the body due to mounting position and the effect of gravity. The stem and packing follower on one valve (36B) was damaged when the valve was first stroked for testing and had to be removed and repaired. Tolerances had to be opened up between the stem and packing follower to prevent future problems. A tight tolerance graphite bushing was utilized to keep the stem centered in the packing gland. The Flexatalic graphite gasket had to be held in place with super glue in the counterbore to prevent gasket shifting as the other parts were assembled. A yellow plastic Rad bag was sucked into the suction side of the RHR pump as a result of improper FME (foreign material exclusion) practices during this outage and a failure mechanism not anticipated in the 10 CFR 50.59 evaluation was experienced. The bag extruded into the tortuous-path trim and severely reduced the pumps flow capacity. The space above the trim (normally solid) was modified as a result (of this problem) to zebra mussels etc.), the valve can be opened further to allow full rated flow and continued operation, even though vibration About the authors John R. Arnold is Valve Group Lead Engineer at Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Commonwealth Edison Company. Herbert L. Miller (Vice President) and Robert E. Katz (Manager of Retrofits) work at Control Components Inc. 1-36A valve, perpendicular to centre line 2-36A valve, in line with pipe centre line 3-36A valve, vertical* 4-36A actuator, in line with pipe centre 5-36A actuator, perpendicular to pipe centre line 6-Spring Can, perpendicular to pipe centre line *Rotational around pipe centre line Location Vibration "/s 0.199 0.155 0.105 0.226 0.184 0.175 Velocity mm/s 5.1 3.9 2.7 5.7 4.47 4.5 Percent Reduction 54 72 91 49 58 93 Acknowledgement This article has been presented at Power-Gen International 96 and is reprinted with permission. allow 50% over-capacity flow through largediameter holes by allowing the disk to open past full open and pass fluid through the large ports (of the emergency capacity cage). This feature has become a standard part of Quad Citys specification on the purchase of

Conclusions
Through the RHR valve trim retrofit at Quad Cities with multi-stage, tortuous-path, pressure reducing disks and an emergency capacity cage, the damaging vibration previously experience during system test operation has been eliminated. Further, an unlikely repetition of the previously experienced valve blockage by a Rad bag or any other medium has been precluded by the 50% over-capacity cage in the last 20% of valve stroke. Also, previous concerns regarding possible piping fatigue failures within the RHR system as a result of past severe vibration problems have been eliminated.

new control valves. It eliminates a possible failure mechanism and in the case of small metallic objects preventing full valve closure, thus even allowing for some self cleaning. Should the trim start to plug in the future due to FME (such as a plastic bag,

Table 3. Post retrofit measured vibration and percent reduction

reduction capability would be diminished short-term. Thus, adequately planned maintenance (possibly running to the next outage) would be possible, rather than an inoperative system and a plant shutdown.