Databases

In power plant and chemical plant construction, precise structural-mechanical calculations are essential to ensure the safety and reliability of components and structures.
It must be taken into account that materials behave differently under load, especially when factors such as temperature, time or load cycles play a role.
Accurate and reliable material parameters such as moduli of elasticity, yield strengths, tensile strengths and creep/rupture strengths form an essential basis for designers working in power plant and chemical plant construction.

However, there is a great deal of material data available.
For example, the 2024 edition of the database used by LES GmbH contains time and temperature-dependent material data:

• more than 100,000 material characteristics
• for more than 600 materials approved according to DIN and/or EN for apparatus and plant engineering
• for more than 2000 states of delivery and product forms.
  

The number of characteristic values to be used in this material database for calculations in accordance with American regulations is significantly higher.

In contrast to the ASME Code, the material data for European materials is distributed across many stan-dards and directives. For this reason alone, it is advisable to maintain the material data in a central data-base.

However, the use of a central materials database brings further advantages that significantly improve both the efficiency and accuracy of the calculations.

1. Consistency and reliability:
   Standardized and verified material data reduces uncertainties and sources of error.
2. Time saving:
   Engineers do not have to search various sources for suitable material parameters, but have direct access to validated data.
3. Standardization:
   Standardized data formats and defined material properties facilitate integration into calculation software and collaboration in teams.
4. Plausibility check:
   Material databases enable systematic plausibility tests and prevent the use of incorrect or outdated values.
5. Integration in structural mechanics calculations
   The use of material databases in calculation software and simulation programs ensures efficient and error-free modeling.
   Important aspects here are:

• Direct connection to calculation tools:
  Modern software solutions can access the database directly so that material parameters are automatically.
  For example, LES GmbH offers so-called Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL), which customers can integrate directly into their (process engineering) calculation programs so that the influences of time and/or tempera-ture-dependent wall thicknesses can already be taken into account iteratively in the thermal design, thus considerably reducing the processing time by eliminating interfaces.
  
• Adaptation to specific requirements:
  Certain applications, such as high-temperature calculations or long-term loads, require specific material models, which are stored in the database.
• Version control and traceability:
  Every change to the material data is documented, which means that the development and use of the
• data remains transparent.
  
  

Quality assurance through plausibility tests: Reliable material data for precise calculations.

Reliable material data is essential.
Inaccurate or incorrect material parameters can lead to significant deviations in calculations and ultimately to safety-critical wrong decisions.
Various checks should be carried out to ensure that all structural-mechanical analyses are based on solid and reliable data and that the material properties stored in the database are correct:

• Consistency checks:
Comparisons of data sets of similar materials or from different sources.
• Trend analyses:
Checking whether material properties develop in a physically meaningful way as a function of temperature or time.
• Limit checks:
Ensuring that values are within realistic physical limits.
• Comparison with standard values:
Comparison with established material standards and literature values.

If the amount of data is very high, we recommend

1. start with an automatic validation and check the material data for inconsistencies and discrepancies using specially developed algorithms.
   Among other things, statistical methods can be used to detect outliers.
2. Critical data records should then be checked manually using a visual check and, if necessary, compared with external sources.
3. Long-term monitoring:
   Material data should not only be checked once, but revalidated regularly, especially if new experimental or normative findings are available.

LES GmbH, for example, uses the following for maintenance and testing

• of more than 100,000 material characteristics
  + for more than 600 materials approved according to DIN and/or EN for apparatus and plant engineering
• for more than 2000 delivery states and product forms

uses a special program with which, for example, discrepancies in the material characteristics are filtered out.

Advantages of a plausibility check

Comprehensive plausibility tests can ensure that all structural-mechanical calculations are based on solid and reliable data. This leads to:
• Higher accuracy and reliability of calculation results.
• Reduction of error sources and risks.
• Transparency and traceability of the material parameters used.
• Customer confidence in the quality of the calculations.