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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/S86334/01
Title: SUPERGEN 2 - Conventional Power Plant Lifetime Extension Consortium
Principal Investigator: Thomson, Professor R
Other Investigators:
Hyde, Professor TH Pavier, Professor MJ Mellor, Professor PH
Wilcox, Professor G Shipway, Professor PH Drinkwater, Professor B
Flewitt, Professor P Leen, Professor S Wilcox, Professor PD
Smith, Professor D Nicholls, Professor JR Guild, Professor FJ
Becker, Professor A Jones, Dr IA Younes, Dr C
Critchlow, Professor G Oakey, Professor J Truman, Professor CE
Simms, Professor NJ Higginson, Dr R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Alstom Group Chromalloy (Uk)ltd Doosan Power Systems (Mitsui Babcock)
E.ON E&P UK Ltd Howmet Ltd National Physical Laboratory NPL
QinetiQ Rolls-Royce Plc (UK) RWE (Innogy/Npower)
Siemens
Department: Materials
Organisation: Loughborough University
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 July 2004 Ends: 30 June 2008 Value (£): 2,106,187
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Combustion Design of Process systems
Energy - Conventional Materials testing & eng.
Power Sys Man, Prot & Control
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Energy
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The worldwide power generation market and its key drivers are changing radically. The industry is being required to meet increasing demands for sustainable energy under the constraints of lower cost, environmental legislations and reduced investment in new plant. This has led to the requirement to extend the lifetime & improve the performance and flexibility of existing ageing power plant. This consortium has been brought together under the EPSRC SUPERGEN 2 program to address some of the key technical challenges facing the Power Generation & supply industry.The main drivers identified at workshops leading to the submission of the bid which define the research needs are: materials performance; the increasing cost of ageing plant; the loss of UK knowledge base and issues related to fuel & plant flexibility. It was also established that the key challenges to industry which should be addressed by the consortium were: Condition/health monitoring; Degradation of Materials Properties; Developing materials/microstructural models for life time assessment (including repair) and Improved predictive life assessment tools and validation.The proposed research will therefore be carried out in six workpackages which meet the identified needs of the power generation industry. These are: Condition Monitoring; Environmental Degradation and Protection; Microstructural Degradation; Modelling of Mechanical Behaviour; Component Life Prediction and Networking. The ultimate deliverable of the research program to be developed by the consortium will be an 'integrated suite of lifetime extension tools', combining the research outcomes of all the selected technical areas.
Key Findings
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Summary
Date Materialised
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Project URL: http://www.supergenple.net
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.lboro.ac.uk