Vibration monitoring of the primary piping system during the hot functional tests of the Mülheim-Kärlich PWR

Abstract

During the hot functional tests of the Mülheim-Kärlich plant, which was the first plant of its type, vibration measurements were made on the reactor pressure vessel and its internal parts and on the primary piping system and the main coolant pumps. This paper contains the results of the measurements taken on the pipes and the pumps with an interpretation of these measurements based on an analytical model of the primary system. The main aim of the measurement program is to confirm that the components, which are of new structural design, are adequately dimensioned for the operational vibration loads during the service life of the reactor. In addition, the vibrational modes of the hot lines, the steam generators and the pumps with the adjacent cold lines were determined. These values were compared with the analytically calculated resonance frequencies and eigenforms. A good correspondence was found. In the course of these comparisons, information about the modelling of the supporting structures and the efficiency of the damping elements during normal operation was obtained. The vibration of the main coolant pumps was also continuously monitored. The pump surveillance system for each pump includes two non-contacting displacement sensors for measuring the kinetic shaft orbit, as well as velocity sensors for recording the vibrational velocity of the pump motor housing. During the continuous monitoring, it was checked whether the signal amplitudes remained within the allowable limits. In addition the frequency content of the signals was determined periodically. In this way deviations could be detected immediately and be explained by means of subsequent correlation analysis. Thus amplitude changes resulting from resonance effects were identified.