scholarly journals Directional Solidification of Land-Based Gas Turbine Buckets

Author(s):  
Lance G. Peterson

Improvements in land-based gas turbine performance require materials capable of operating at increasingly higher temperatures. Innovative approaches to alloy and process improvement, such as directional solidification, can meet the more demanding conditions of new gas turbine designs. This paper outlines GE TBO’s multi-faceted research program for the development of directionally solidified GTD-111 first stage turbine buckets. Included are discussions of the theoretical background, casting program, mechanical tests and machining studies. The GTD-111 directional solidification program successfully met the technological challenges encountered in scaling up directional solidification experience from relatively small aircraft parts. Directionally solidified buckets are in production for several first stage product lines. Improvements in mold technology coupled with experience gained in the on-going research program indicate that more complex parts as well as single crystal parts are now feasible.

Author(s):  
Ph. Kamboukos ◽  
K. Mathioudakis

The features of linear performance diagnostic methods are discussed, in comparison to methods based on full non-linear calculation of performance deviations, for the purpose of condition monitoring and diagnostics. First, the theoretical background of linear methods is overviewed to establish a relationship to the principles used by non-linear methods. Then computational procedures are discussed and compared. The effectiveness of determining component performance deviations by the two types of approaches is examined, on different types of diagnostic situations. A way of establishing criteria to define whether non-linear methods have to be employed is presented. An overall assessment of merits or weaknesses of the two types of methods is attempted, based on the results presented in the paper.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ph. Kamboukos ◽  
K. Mathioudakis

The features of linear performance diagnostic methods are discussed, in comparison to methods based on full nonlinear calculation of performance deviations, for the purpose of condition monitoring and diagnostics. First, the theoretical background of linear methods is reviewed to establish a relationship to the principles used by nonlinear methods. Then computational procedures are discussed and compared. The effectiveness of determining component performance deviations by the two types of approaches is examined, on different types of diagnostic situations. A way of establishing criteria to define whether nonlinear methods have to be employed is presented. An overall assessment of merits or weaknesses of the two types of methods is attempted, based on the results presented in the paper.


Author(s):  
H.J. Zuo ◽  
M.W. Price ◽  
R.D. Griffin ◽  
R.A. Andrews ◽  
G.M. Janowski

The II-VI semiconducting alloys, such as mercury zinc telluride (MZT), have become the materials of choice for numerous infrared detection applications. However, compositional inhomogeneities and crystallographic imperfections adversly affect the performance of MZT infrared detectors. One source of imperfections in MZT is gravity-induced convection during directional solidification. Crystal growth experiments conducted in space should minimize gravity-induced convection and thereby the density of related crystallographic defects. The limited amount of time available during Space Shuttle experiments and the need for a sample of uniform composition requires the elimination of the initial composition transient which occurs in directionally solidified alloys. One method of eluding this initial transient involves directionally solidifying a portion of the sample and then quenching the remainder prior to the space experiment. During the space experiment, the MZT sample is back-melted to exactly the point at which directional solidification was stopped on earth. The directional solidification process then continues.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1107 (1) ◽  
pp. 012025
Author(s):  
A. El-Suleiman ◽  
O.D. Samuel ◽  
S.T. Amosun ◽  
I. Emovon ◽  
F. I. Ashiedu ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Steve Ingistov ◽  
Michael Milos ◽  
Rakesh K. Bhargava

A suitable inlet air filter system is required for a gas turbine, depending on installation site and its environmental conditions, to minimize contaminants entering the compressor section in order to maintain gas turbine performance. This paper describes evolution of inlet air filter systems utilized at the 420 MW Watson Cogeneration Plant consisting of four GE 7EA gas turbines since commissioning of the plant in November 1987. Changes to the inlet air filtration system became necessary due to system limitations, a desire to reduce operational and maintenance costs, and enhance overall plant performance. Based on approximately 2 years of operational data with the latest filtration system combined with other operational experiences of more than 25 years, it is shown that implementation of the high efficiency particulate air filter system provides reduced number of crank washes, gas turbine performance improvement and significant economic benefits compared to the traditional synthetic media type filters. Reasons for improved gas turbine performance and associated economic benefits, observed via actual operational data, with use of the latest filter system are discussed in this paper.


2010 ◽  
Vol 654-656 ◽  
pp. 2523-2526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keun Bong Yoo ◽  
Han Sang Lee

Many investigations about superalloys and coatings have been done in the laboratory, but evaluating the degradation condition of hot section components during service is still important not only for repair and reuse but also for outage prevention. Time dependent degradation for second stage blades of gas turbine was investigated. The degradation analysis for used blades was divided into microstructure changes by position of the blade and mechanical tests of high temperature tensile test. In the microstructure analysis, the rafting and coarsening of γ', MC decomposition and TCP phase formation occurred and progressed with increasing service time, and especially the leading and trailing edge of top layer should be a check points for used blade. High temperature tensile results of 25,000 and 52,000 hrs used blades were also compared with serviced time and position in each blade.


Author(s):  
S. Esakki Muthu ◽  
S. Dileep ◽  
S. Saji Kumar ◽  
D. K. Girish

Life estimation of Directionally Solidified (DS) MARM-247 HPT gas turbine blade used in a turbofan engine of a supersonic aircraft is presented. These blades were drafted into the engine as a replacement for the polycrystal (NIMONIC) blades since a more efficient, reliable and durable material with high strength and temperature resistance was required to further enhance the life of the turbine blade and the efficiency of the power generation process. The supersonic aircraft is having a repeated mission cycle of a fast acceleration from idle, a 1hr cruise at Mach 1.5 and a fast deceleration to idle. The mission cycle which is a repetition of acceleration, cruise and deceleration cycles can produce wide variety of complex loading conditions which can result in HCF, LCF and creep damage of the turbine blade. Empirical equation of the universal slope developed by Manson was used to estimate the damage component due to LCF. The cumulative stresses and strains due to creep as a function of time was determined using Time hardening rule. Creep data for MARM-247 was correlated using LMP to predict the lives to 1% of creep strain at worst possible combination of temperature and stress value. Damage due to creep per mission cycle was determined using Life fraction Rule proposed by Robinson and Taira. The vibration characteristics of the turbine blade were predicted using Modal analysis. Campbell diagram was plotted to ascertain whether any nozzle passing frequency fall within the working range of the blade. Harmonic analysis was carried out to evaluate the magnitude of the alternating stresses resulting from the blade vibrations at resonance during the acceleration and deceleration cycle. HCF life of the turbine blade was assessed using Goodman diagram. The total damage of the turbine blade per mission cycle due to the above loading was assumed as the combination of the individual damage due to fatigue and creep. Time to failure under combined creep and fatigue damage was estimated using linear damage rule. Non linear features of FEA tool ANSYS12.0 was exploited to calculate the stress distribution, creep, plastic and the total strain encountered by the turbine blade as a function of mission cycle time. The loading spectrum associated with the mission cycle which includes the temperature, gas pressure and the speed profiles were obtained from a sophisticated engine ground test facility which was configured to simulate actual engine operating conditions. The proposed method of cyclic life estimation using FEM was validated by performing various component and engine level tests. A good agreement was observed between the calculated and observed blade lives.


Author(s):  
Joachim Kurzke

Precise simulations of gas turbine performance cannot be done without component maps. In the early days of a new project one often has to use scaled maps of similar machines. Alternatively one can calculate the component partload characteristics provided that the many details needed for such an exercise are available. In a later stage often rig tests will be done to get detailed information about the behavior of the compressors respectively turbines. Performance calculation programs usually require the map data in a specific format. To produce this format needs some preprocessing. Measured data cannot be used directly because they show a scatter and they are not evenly distributed over the range of interest. Due to limitations in the test equipment often there is lack of data for very low and very high speed. With the help of a specialized drawing program available on a PC one can easily eliminate the scatter in the data and also inter- and extrapolate additional lines of constant corrected speed. Many graphs showing both the measured data and the lines passing through the data as a function of physically meaningful parameters allow to check whether the result makes sense or not. The extrapolation of compressor maps toward very low speed, as required for the calculation of starting, idle and windmilling performance calculations, is discussed in some detail. Instead of true measured data one can use data read from maps published in open literature. The program is also an excellent tool for checking and extending component maps one has derived from sparse information about a gas turbine to be simulated.


Author(s):  
M. Morini ◽  
M. Pinelli ◽  
P. R. Spina ◽  
M. Venturini

Gas turbine operating state determination consists of the assessment of the modification, due to deterioration and fault, of performance and geometric data characterizing machine components. One of the main effects of deterioration and fault is the modification of compressor and turbine performance maps. Since detailed information about actual modification of component maps is usually unavailable, many authors simulate the effects of deterioration and fault by a simple scaling of the map itself. In this paper, stage-by-stage models of the compressor and the turbine are used in order to assess the actual modification of compressor and turbine performance maps due to blade deterioration. The compressor is modeled by using generalized performance curves of each stage matched by means of a stage-stacking procedure. Each turbine stage is instead modeled as a couple of nozzles, a fixed one (stator) and a moving one (rotor). The results obtained by simulating some of the most common causes of blade deterioration (i.e., compressor fouling, compressor mechanical damage, turbine fouling and turbine erosion, occurring in one or more stages simultaneously) are reported in this paper. Moreover, compressor and turbine maps obtained through a stage-by-stage procedure are compared to the ones obtained by means of map scaling.


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