The United Kingdom faces a looming energy gap with around 20 pct of its generating capacity due for closure in the next 10 to 15 years as a result of plant age and new European legislation on environmental protection and safety at work. A number of solutions exist for this problem including the use of new materials so that new plants can operate at higher temperatures, new technologies related to carbon capture and gasification, development of renewable resources, and less obviously the use of accurate models for predicting creep life. This article reviews, with illustrations, some of the more applicable and successful creep prediction methodologies used by academics and industrialists and highlights how these techniques can help alleviate the looming energy gap. The role that these approaches can play in solving the energy gap is highlighted throughout.

 

M. Evans

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013 (INVITED REVIEW PAPER), Vol. 44A Supplement: 1, Pages 109-127, doi: 10.1007/s11661-012-1293-3