Increasing the durability of heat and power equipment elements on the basis of simulation of different thickness of pipe walls during bending

The article discusses a method for increasing the durability of metal pipe elements of heat and power equipment based on a practical and effective model for the formation of pipe wall thickness variation during the bending process. Offered by stereometric graphic-analytical modeling of the magnitude of thinning and thickness variation of the pipe wall in the process of bending based on the continuity equation. At the same time, a physical model of bending was constructed and an equation was obtained for a simplified calculation of the thinning value. Based on the comparison of the calculation results with the literature sources, the adequacy of the obtained model to the experimental results was confirmed. The decisive influence of the allowance on the increase in the durability of the boiler tubular elements is shown. The assessment of the increase in the resource of pipe bends, carried out according to the well-known Larson-Miller model, indicates the possibility of increasing the durability according to the proposed model by a factor of three, while providing a reasonable allowance for the initial thickness of the bent part of the pipe wall.