Numerical and Analytical Investigation of Heat Transfer Mechanisms and Flow Phenomena in an IP Steam Turbine Blading During Startup

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Bohn ◽  
Christian Betcher ◽  
Karsten Kusterer ◽  
Kristof Weidtmann
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Convective Heat ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Analytical Investigation ◽  
Computational Effort ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

Abstract As a result of an ever-increasing share of volatile renewable energies on the world wide power generation, conventional power plants face high technical challenges in terms of operational flexibility. Consequently, the number of startups and shutdowns grows, causing high thermal stresses in the thick-walled components and thus reduces lifetime and increases product costs. To fulfill the lifetime requirements, an accurate prediction of the metal temperature distribution inside these components is crucial. The objective of this paper is to understand the predominant basic heat transfer mechanisms during an IP steam turbine startup. Convective heat transport is described by means of HTC's as a function of dimensionless parameters, considering predominant flow structures. Based on steady-state and transient CHT- simulations the HTC's are derived during startup and compared to correlations from the literature. The simulations outline that the local HTC generally increases with increasing axial and circumferential Reynolds' number and is mostly influenced by vortex systems such as passage and horseshoe vortices. The HTC's at the turbine stage surfaces can be modeled with a high accuracy using a linear relation with respect to the total Reynolds' number. The comparison illustrates that the correlations underestimate the convective heat transfer by approx. 40% on average. Results show that special correlation-based approaches from the literature are a particularly efficient procedure to predict the heat transfer within steam turbines. in the design process. Overall, the computational effort can be significantly reduced by applying analytical correlations while maintaining a satisfactory accuracy.

Numerical and Analytical Investigation of Heat Transfer Mechanisms and Flow Phenomena in an IP Steam Turbine Blading During Startup

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Bohn ◽  
Christian Betcher ◽  
Karsten Kusterer ◽  
Kristof Weidtmann
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Convective Heat ◽  
Thermal Design ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

Abstract As a result of an ever-increasing share of volatile renewable energies on the world wide power generation, conventional thermal power plants face high technical challenges in terms of operational flexibility. Consequently, the number of startups and shutdowns grows, causing high thermal stresses in the thick-walled components and thus reduces lifetime and increases product costs. To fulfill the lifetime requirements, an accurate prediction and determination of the metal temperature distribution inside these components is crucial. Therefore, boundary conditions in terms of local fluid temperatures as well as heat transfer coefficients with sufficient accuracy are required. As modern numerical modeling approaches, like 3D-Conjugate-Heat-Transfer (CHT), provide these thermal conditions with a huge calculation expense for multistage turbines, simplified methods are inevitable. Analytical heat transfer correlations are thus the state-of-the-art approach to capture the heat transport phenomena and to optimize and design high efficient startup curves for flexible power market. The objective of this paper is to understand the predominant basic heat transfer mechanisms such as conduction, convection and radiation during a startup of an IP steam turbine stage. Convective heat transport is described by means of heat transfer coefficients as a function of the most relevant dimensionless, aero-thermal operating parameters, considering predominant flow structures. Based on steady-state and transient CHT-simulations the heat transfer coefficients are derived during startup procedure and compared to analytical correlations from the literature, which allow the calculation of the heat exchange for a whole multistage in an economic and time-saving way. The simulations point out that the local convective heat transfer coefficient generally increases with increasing axial and circumferential Reynolds’ number and is mostly influenced by vortex systems such as passage and horseshoe vortices. The heat transfer coefficients at vane, blade, hub and labyrinth-sealing surfaces can be modeled with a high accuracy using a linear relation with respect to the total Reynolds’ number. The comparison illustrates that the analytical correlations underestimate the convective heat transfer by approx. 40% on average. Results show that special correlation-based approaches from the literature are a particularly suitable and efficient procedure to predict the heat transfer within steam turbines in the thermal design process. Overall, the computational effort can be significantly reduced by applying analytical correlations while maintaining a satisfactory accuracy.

Thermal Modeling and Mechanical Integrity Based Design of a Heat Shield on a High Pressure Module Solar Steam Turbine Inner Casing With Focus on Lifetime

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Stein ◽  
Gabriel Marinescu ◽  
Dominik Born ◽  
Michael Lerch
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Fluid Velocity ◽  
Peak Stress ◽  
Heat Shield ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Technical Requirements

As part of the renewable energies and because of their low environmental impact, solar thermal power plants enjoy a wide acceptance in the public. In the past years, several projects have been launched to install plants even with a total power output level beyond 200 MW, which require large size steam turbines. Steam turbines of solar power plants face much more start-ups and shutdowns, compared to typical fossil type baseload machines. In order to provide the required lifetime of steam turbine components, i.e. in high- and intermediate-pressure modules, accurate calculation methods of temperatures and heat transfer coefficients are essential for natural cooling and start-up assessment. Beside rotors, also turbine inner casings face high thermal stresses, especially close to the inlet spiral. At these conditions high thermal stress occurs, which prevents the part to meet the technical requirements. The paper below gives a solution how to avoid this high stress and a calculation method for inner casings. A heat-shield introduced around the inlet spiral separates the active cooling domain of the turbine cavity relative to a narrow domain around the inlet spiral, where the fluid velocity is negligible. A method on how to simplify heat transfer calculations below the heat shield region is investigated and discussed. The results are verified vs. a CFD based sensitivity analysis. Finally a reduction of the peak stress on the configuration with heat-shield is demonstrated relative to the peak stress calculated without heat-shield.

Coordinated Control of Gas and Steam Turbines for Efficient Fast Start-Up of Combined Cycle Power Plants

2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Yoshida ◽  
Kazunori Yamanaka ◽  
Atsushi Yamashita ◽  
Norihiro Iyanaga ◽  
Takuya Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Coordinated Control ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Start Up

In the fast start-up for combined cycle power plants (CCPP), the thermal stresses of the steam turbine rotor are generally controlled by the steam temperatures or flow rates by using gas turbines (GTs), steam turbines, and desuperheaters to avoid exceeding the thermal stress limits. However, this thermal stress sensitivity to steam temperatures and flow rates depends on the start-up sequence due to the relatively large time constants of the heat transfer response in the plant components. In this paper, a coordinated control method of gas turbines and steam turbine is proposed for thermal stress control, which takes into account the large time constants of the heat transfer response. The start-up processes are simulated in order to assess the effect of the coordinated control method. The simulation results of the plant start-ups after several different cool-down times show that the thermal stresses are stably controlled without exceeding the limits. In addition, the steam turbine start-up times are reduced by 22–28% compared with those of the cases where only steam turbine control is applied.

Steam Turbine Hot Standby: Electrical Pre-Heating Solution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kostenko ◽  
D. Veltmann ◽  
S. Hecker
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Heating Process ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Start Up ◽  
New Apparatus ◽  
General Aspects

Abstract Growing renewable energy generation share causes more irregular and more flexible operational regimes of conventional power plants than in the past. It leads to long periods without dispatch for several days or even weeks. As a consequence, the required pre-heating of the steam turbine leads to an extended power plant start-up time [1]. The current steam turbine Hot Standby Mode (HSM) contributes to a more flexible steam turbine operation and is a part of the Flex-Power Services™ portfolio [2]. HSM prevents the turbine components from cooling via heat supply using an electrical Trace Heating System (THS) after shutdowns [3]. The aim of the HSM is to enable faster start-up time after moderate standstills. HSM functionality can be extended to include the pre-heating option after longer standstills. This paper investigates pre-heating of the steam turbine with an electrical THS. At the beginning, it covers general aspects of flexible fossil power plant operation and point out the advantages of HSM. Afterwards the technology of the trace heating system and its application on steam turbines will be explained. In the next step the transient pre-heating process is analyzed and optimized using FEA, CFD and analytic calculations including validation considerations. Therefor a heat transfer correlation for flexible transient operation of the HSM was developed. A typical large steam turbine with an output of up to 300MW was investigated. Finally the results are summarized and an outlook is given. The results of heat transfer and conduction between and within turbine components are used to enable fast start-ups after long standstills or even outages with the benefit of minimal energy consumption. The solution is available for new apparatus as well as for the modernization of existing installations.

Analytical Heat Transfer Correlation for a Multistage Steam Turbine in Warm-Keeping Operation With Air

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Toebben ◽  
Adrian Hellmig ◽  
Piotr Luczynski ◽  
Manfred Wirsum ◽  
Wolfgang F. D. Mohr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Slow Rotation ◽  
Heat Transfer Correlation ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Heat Transfer Correlations

Due to the growing share of volatile renewable power generation, conventional power plants with a high flexibility are required. This leads to high thermal stresses inside the heavy components which reduces the lifetime. To improve the ability for fast start-ups, information about the metal temperature inside the rotor and the casing are crucial. Thus, an efficient calculation approach is required which enables the prediction of the temperature distribution in a whole multistage steam turbine. Considerable improvements of the computing power and numerical simulation tools today allow detailed investigations of the heat transfer and the flow phenomena by conjugate-heat-transfer (CHT) simulations. However, these simulations are still restricted to smaller geometries mostly by the number of elements. This leads to coarser numerical meshes for larger geometries, and thus, to a reduced accuracy. A highly accurate three-dimensional-CHT simulation of a whole multistage steam turbine can only be conducted with huge computational expense. Therefore, a simplified calculation approach is required. Heat transfer correlations are a commonly used tool for the calculation of the heat exchange between fluid and solid. Heat transfer correlations for steam turbines have been developed in a multitude of investigations. However, these investigations were based on design or to some extent on part-load operations with steam as the working fluid. The present paper deals with the theoretical investigation of steam turbine warm-keeping operation with hot air. This operation is totally different from the conventional operation conditions, due to a different working fluid with low mass flow rates and a slow rotation. Based on quasi-steady transient multistage CHT simulations, an analytical heat transfer correlation has been developed, since the commonly known calculation approaches from the literature are not suitable for this case. The presented heat transfer correlations describe the convective heat transfer separately at vane and blade as well as the seal surfaces. The correlations are based on a CHT model of three repetitive steam turbine stages. The simulations show a similar behavior of the Nusselt-number in consecutive stages. Hence, the developed area related heat transfer correlations are independent of the position of the stage. Finally, the correlations are implemented into a solid body finite element model and compared to the fluid-dynamic simulations.

scholarly journals Prediction of the windage heating effect in steam turbine labyrinth seals

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. ETJLRM
Author(s):  
Simon Hecker ◽  
Andreas Penkner ◽  
Jens Pfeiffer ◽  
Stefan Glos ◽  
Christian Musch
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Heating Effect ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Labyrinth Seals ◽  
Cfd Simulations ◽  
Application Range ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Today’s steam turbine power plants are designed for highest steam inlet temperatures up to 620°C to maximize thermal efficiency. This leads to elevated thermal stresses in rotors and casings of the turbines. Hence, temperature distributions of the components have to be predicted with highest accuracy at various load points in the design process to assure reliable operation and long life time. This paper describes the windage heating effect in full labyrinth seals used in steam turbines. An analytical approach is presented, based on CFD simulations, to predict the resulting steam temperatures. A broad application range from very low to highest Reynolds numbers representing different turbine operation conditions from partial to full load is addressed. The effect of varying Reynolds number on the flow friction behaviour is captured by using an analogy to the flow over a flat plate. Additionally, the impact of different labyrinth geometries on the friction coefficient is evaluated with the help of more than 100 CFD simulations. A meta-model is derived from the numerical results. Finally, the analytical windage heating model is validated against measurements. The presented approach is a fast and reliable method to find the best performing labyrinth geometries with lowest windage effects, i.e. lowest steam temperatures.

Investigation of Steam Turbine Warm-Keeping by Use of Air

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Toebben ◽  
Piotr Luczynski ◽  
Manfred Wirsum ◽  
Wolfgang F. D. Mohr ◽  
Klaus Helbig
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Calculation Model ◽  
Heat Radiation ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Fe Model ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Start Up

Abstract The changing energy landscape leads to a rising demand of more flexible power generation. A system for steam turbines warm-keeping provides the ability to shutdown conventional power plants during periods with a high share of renewable power. Simultaneously, these power plants are ready for grid stabilization on demand without an excessive consumption of lifetime during the start-up. One technical solution to keep a steam turbine warm is the use of hot air which is passed through the turbine. In addition, the air supply prevents corrosion during standstill and also enables the pre-warming after maintenance or long outages. This paper investigates the warm-keeping process of an intermediate pressure steam turbine (double shell configuration) through the use of dynamic numerical Finite-Elements (FE) simulations. As a representative test-case, warm-keeping calculations during a weekend shutdown (60h) are conducted to investigate the temperatures, their distribution and gradients within the rotor and the casing. For this purpose an improved numerical calculation model is developed. This detailed 3D FE model (including blades and vanes) uses heat transfer correlations conceived for warm-keeping with low air mass flows in gear mode operation. These analytical correlations take heat radiation, convection and contact heat transfer at the blade roots into account. The thermal boundary conditions at the outer walls of rotor and casing are determined by use of experimental natural cool-down data. The calculation model is finally compared and verified with this data set. The results offer valuable information about the thermal condition of the steam turbine for a subsequent start-up procedure. The warm-keeping operation with air is able to preserve hot start conditions for any time period. Most of the heat is transferred close to the steam inlet of the turbine, which is caused by similar flow directions of air and steam. Thus, temperatures in the last stages and in the casing stay well below material limits. This allows higher temperatures at the first blade groove of the turbine, which are highly loaded during a turbine startup and thus crucial to the lifetime.

A Reduced Order Modeling Methodology for Steam Turbine Clearance Control Design

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emrah Biyik ◽  
Fernando J. D'Amato ◽  
Arun Subramaniyan ◽  
Changjie Sun
Keyword(s):  
Model Reduction ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Large Temperature ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Nonlinear Fem ◽  
Modeling Methodology ◽  
Reduction Techniques

Finite element models (FEMs) are extensively used in the design optimization of utility scale steam turbines. As an example, by simulating multiple startup scenarios of steam power plants, engineers can obtain turbine designs that minimize material utilization, and at the same time, avoid the damaging effects of large thermal stresses or rubs between rotating and stationary parts. Unfortunately, FEMs are computationally expensive and only a limited amount of simulations can be afforded to get the final design. For this reason, numerous model reduction techniques have been developed to reduce the size of the original model without a significant loss of accuracy. When the models are nonlinear, as is the case for steam turbine FEMs, model reduction techniques are relatively scarce and their effectiveness becomes application dependent. Although there is an abundant literature on model reduction for nonlinear systems, many of these techniques become impractical when applied to a realistic industrial problem. This paper focuses on a class of nonlinear FEM characteristic of thermo-elastic problems with large temperature excursions. A brief overview of popular model reduction techniques is presented along with a detailed description of the computational challenges faced when applying them to a realistic problem. The main contribution of this work is a set of modifications to existing methods to increase their computational efficiency. The methodology is demonstrated on a steam turbine model, achieving a model size reduction by four orders of magnitude with only 4% loss of accuracy with respect to the full order FEMs.

Thermo-Structural Analysis of Steam Turbine Start-Up With and Without Integrated Pre-Warming System Using Hot Air

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Łuczyński ◽  
Lukas Pehle ◽  
Manfred Wirsum ◽  
Wolfgang F. D. Mohr ◽  
Jan Vogt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Operating Modes ◽  
Hot Air ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Simulation Strategy ◽  
Transient Thermal

Abstract Motivated by the urgent need for flexibility and start-up capability improvements of conventional power plants in addition to extending their life cycle, General Electric provides its customers with a product to pre-warm steam turbines using hot air. In this paper, the transient thermal and structural analyses of a 19-stage IP steam turbine in various start-up operating modes are discussed in detail. The presented research is based on previous investigations and utilises a hybrid (HFEM - numerical FEM and analytical) approach to efficiently determine the time-dependent temperature distribution in the components of the steam turbine. The simulation strategy of the HFEM model applies various analytical correlations to describe heat transfer in the turbine channel. These are developed by means of extensive unsteady multistage conjugate heat transfer simulations for both start-up turbine operation with steam and pre-warming operation with hot air. Moreover, the complex numerical setup of the HFEM model also considers the thermal contact resistance (TCR) on the surfaces between vane and casing as well as blades and rotor. Prior to the analysis of other turbine start-up operating modes, the typical start-up turbine process is calculated and validated against an experimental data as a benchmark for subsequent analysis. In addition to heat transfer correlations, the simulation of a turbine start-up from cold state uses an innovative analytic pressure model to allow for a consideration of condensation effects during first phase of start-up procedure.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document