Results of pressure locking and thermal binding tests of gate valves

Abstract

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, is funding the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in performing research investigating the performance of gate valves subjected to pressure locking and thermal binding conditions. Pressure locking and thermal binding are phenomena that make a closed gate valve difficult to open. Pressure locking can occur when operating sequences or temperature changes cause the pressure of the fluid in the bonnet (and, in most gate valves, between the discs) to be higher than the pressure on the upstream and downstream sides of the disc assembly. Thermal binding can occur when thermal expansion/contraction effects cause the disc to be squeezed between the valve body seats. If the loads associated with pressure locking or thermal binding are very high, the actuator might not have the capacity to open the valve. The authors tested a flexible-wedge gate valve and a double-disc gate valve under pressure locking and thermal binding conditions. The results show that these valves are susceptible to pressure locking; however, they are not significantly affected by thermal binding. For the flexible-wedge gate valve, pressure locking loads (in terms of stem thrust) were higher than corresponding hydrostatic opening loads by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5. For the parallel disc gate valve, pressure locking loads were higher by a factor of 2.05 to 2.4. The results also show that seat leakage affects the bonnet pressurization rate when the valve is subjected to thermally induced pressure locking conditions.