Automated Structural Health Monitoring System of Beresovskaya GRES

Abstract

Berezovskaya GRES (BGRES), located in the Sharypovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, is the most powerful coal-fired power station in the Krasnoyarsk Region (3 power units of 800 MW each). The power plant has been operating as part of the Unified Energy System of Siberia since 1987, generating 4.6% of its capacity.

On February 1, 2016, an accidental fire occurred in the boiler room of power unit No. 3, which caused the large-scale destruction of load-bearing structures and technological equipment. The operation of the power unit was interrupted for carrying out repair and restoration work of unique complexity.

For the first time in Russia, an extensive monitoring program was implemented for continuous structural stress and displacement observations to ensure the safety of the personnel involved in the debris removal and dismantlement of hazardous structural elements.

The paper provides general information on design and organizational solutions for implementing the BGRES automated structural health monitoring system. Detailed information on the system's hardware, software, principal architecture, and topology is given. The instrumentation and the monitoring technique are described.

The study focused on the numerical model's validation results based on real-world data. An engineering technique for estimating the horizontal displacement of cantilever structures based on in-place clinometric observations is proposed. Actual structural members' non-destructive testing results are presented, which helped determine the optimal scheme for automated measurements.