• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.77-85
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• 2020

In this study, we proposed a method to replace the solid finite element model of the boiler membrane wall for coal-fired power plants using an equivalent shell model. The application of a bending load to the membrane wall creates greater displacement at both ends of the central portion when compared with the middle when an isotropic elastic constant is used in the shell model. This is inconsistent with the results of the solid model where the central portion is uniformly deformed. Here, we presented a method to determine the orthotropic elastic constants of the shell model in terms of bending stiffness and vibration characteristics to solve this problem. Our analysis of the orthotropic shell model showed that the error ratio was 0.9% for the maximum displacement due to the bending load, 0.3% for the first natural frequency, and 2.5% for the second natural frequency when compared with the solid model. In conclusion, a complicated boiler membrane wall composed of a large number of pipes and fins can be replaced with a simple shell model that shows equivalent bending stiffness and vibration characteristics using our proposed method.