Uncontained Failure of a U.S. Navy Rolls-Royce 250-KS4, Root Cause Investigation and Subsequent Corrective Actions

Author(s):  
John Viercinski ◽  
Matthew Hoffman ◽  
Ivan Pineiro ◽  
Dennis Russom

In 2008, a US Navy DDG-51 Class destroyer experienced an uncontained failure of a Rolls Royce 250-KS4 turbine engine which serves as a starter for the Ship Service Gas Turbine Generator (SSGTG). This paper discusses the events that preceded the failure, the root cause and contributing factors. It also describes multiple corrective actions, including design improvements that have been implemented with the goal of preventing this type of failure in the future.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  

This paper describes about the case study of a very interesting and peculiar blackout conditions (total power failure) arising out of both the Gas Turbine Generators (Two units of GTG, namely GTG-01 & GTG-02) units back to back tripping in a short span of a week’s time. It brings out the various observations noted during that condition and it’s root cause analysis. It also highlights the various possible corrective actions in a short term and long term basis to prevent the reoccurrence of such blackout situations.


Author(s):  
J. A. Saintsbury ◽  
P. Sampath

The impact of potential aviation gas turbine fuels available in the near to midterm, is reviewed with particular reference to the small aviation gas turbine engine. The future course of gas turbine combustion R&D, and the probable need for compromise in fuels and engine technology, is also discussed. Operating experience to date on Pratt & Whitney Aircraft of Canada PT6 engines, with fuels not currently considered of aviation quality, is reported.


Author(s):  
Takeshi Sakida ◽  
Shinya Tanaka ◽  
Takao Mikami ◽  
Masashi Tatsuzawa ◽  
Tomoki Taoka

The CGT301 ceramic gas turbine has been developed under a contract from NEDO as a part of the New Sunshine Program of MITI since 1988 to 1998. The CGT301 is a recuperated, single-shaft ceramic gas turbine. Ceramic parts are used in the hot section of the engine, such as turbine blades, nozzle vanes, combustion liners and so on. As a primary feature of this turbine, the rotors are composed of ceramic blades inserted into metallic disks (“hybrid rotor”) for the future applicability to the large gas turbine. The R & D program consists of three phases, the model metal gas turbine, the primary type ceramic gas turbine and the pilot ceramic gas turbine. The pilot ceramic gas turbine showed etable operation at TIT of 1,350°C. This paper presents the progress in the development of the pilot ceramic gas turbine of CGT301.


Author(s):  
Dennis M. Russom ◽  
William E. Masincup ◽  
John Eghtessad

The Redundant Independent Mechanical Start System (RIMSS) is a gas turbine powered, mechanically coupled start system for the Allison AG9140 Ship Service Gas Turbine Generator Sets (SSGTGs) of the U.S. Navy’s DDG-51 Class ships. The system will be original equipment on DDG-86 and follow. It will also be a candidate for backfit onto earlier DDG-51 Class ships. This paper describes RIMSS and details a very successful phase of the RIMSS program. All U.S. Navy testing was conducted on an Allison AG9140 located at the Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center-Ship Systems Engineering Station, DDG-51 Gas Turbine Ship Land Based Engineering Site (NSWCCD-SSES LBES), Figure 1. The test agenda included 516 SSGTG starts and 75 SSGTG motoring cycles. The primary goal was to validate engine life predictions for the Allison 250-C20B gas turbine engine in the RIMSS application. A secondary goal was to evaluate the overall RIMSS system during an extended period of operation.


Author(s):  
Joseph L. Simonetti ◽  
Joseph H. McMurry

Gross starting characteristics of the Vericor Power Systems ETF40B gas turbine engine utilizing diesel fuel for the Republic of Korea Navy LSF-II application indicate inconsistent starting performance, especially in cold ambient temperatures. There is also evidence that cold starting inconsistencies exist on the US Navy LCAC installation of the ETF40B engine. The inconsistencies include late light-offs, failed starts, excessive exhaust smoke, detonative ignition and excessive commanded fuel flow by the full authority digital engine control (FADEC). The starting anomalies experienced on US Navy LCAC have ultimately resulted in the addition of starting requirements to the production engine acceptance test procedure. A detailed review of historical information regarding the TF40B fuel system characteristics resulted in the basis for establishing revised LFMV calibration values and revised FADEC engine start fuel scheduling. Additionally, this review indicated the need for fuel system flow/pressure measurements in order to establish current characteristics and to help refine component requirements and changes (as appropriate). These measurements are required over the entire engine starting and operating range. Cold ambient temperature start testing was performed to establish the engine start characteristics on JP5/JET A fuels with the existing and revised LFMV calibrations. A revised start schedule was developed that provided a reliable, stable starting characteristic (reliable first attempt starting, reducing smoking on starts, eliminating detonative ignition, minimizing large variations in commanded fuel flow during starting). The fuel system pressures and flows were fully characterized in the start and operating regime and start testing validation was performed on Diesel Fuel.


Author(s):  
Sooyong Kim ◽  
Sungryong Lee ◽  
Jewook Ryu ◽  
V. E. Spitsyn

Gas turbine engine has been applied to the aircraft and ship propulsion with its advantages of compactness and comparatively short starting time. With a significant improvement in gas turbine efficiency with development of super alloy materials and advancement in cooling technologies in the second half of 1990s, its importance as a source of base load as well as peak load power generation has been increasing. However, with increased demand in nuclear power and renewable energy in the 21st century, there seems to be speculations among the power generation industries that gas turbine will take more or less a buffering role supplementing the irregular inflow of electricity to the grid rather than acting as a base load power source. With the shift in the role of gas turbine from base to supplementary, CHP application based on small powered gas turbine utilizing biogas or syngas as its fuel is expected to increase in the future. In this context, this paper describes the development result of 5MW gas turbine engine for CHP application. It can be operated with LNG or syngas of low LHV fuel. Originally, the engine was designed for LNG as its primary fuel, but since the importance of syngas power generation market will be increasing in the future, a complementary work for modification of combustor part has been carried out and has been tested. However, this paper deals with the parts developed with the use of LNG fuel. The test result of emission characteristics meets the standards required in Korea. The development has been made through the cooperation of Doosan Heavy Industry (DHI, Korea) and Zory-Mashproekt (Ukraine).


Author(s):  
Shaun Hatcher ◽  
Tom Batory ◽  
Robert Neff ◽  
Pat Kane

This report is a comprehensive document citing the events pertaining to the qualification of the GE LM2500+ gas turbine engine for US Navy Service. The purpose of this report is to serve as documentation of the entire Qualification process that includes the 500-hour Rating Qualification Test and subsequent teardown inspection, High Impact Shock Testing, and the subsequent 100-hour post shock endurance test and teardown inspection. This report includes an assessment of the overall performance of the engine, General Electric’s capacity to meet specified test requirements, any questions or concerns that may have arisen during testing, and a conclusive statement about the outcome of the tests.


Author(s):  
Eleanor M. Allison ◽  
Edward M. House

Four Textron Lycoming TF40B marine gas turbine engines are used to power the U.S. Navy’s Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle. This is the first hovercraft of this configuration to be put in service for the Navy. Operation and test of the first production craft revealed deficiencies and less than desirable reliability, but confirmed the validity of its design and ability to perform the mission. After intensive efforts to resolve these problems, reliability trends began to improve as a result of corrective actions incorporated. Today, the LCAC fleet has accrued over 50,000 engine operating hours. Presented here are the changes which have been incorporated into the configuration of the TF40B engine to eliminate both engine unique and vehicle related discrepancies revealed through fleet experience. These changes have contributed significantly toward the improvement of the engine’s mean time between removal (MTBR) and mean time between failure (MTBF) rates.


Author(s):  
Dennis M. Russom ◽  
Ivan Pin˜eiro

This paper looks back at the evolution of the Gas Turbine Generator sets (GTGs) in the U.S. Navy’s DDG 51 Class, reviewing lessons learned, successes and areas where work is still required. Topics are discussed in the context of Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) Total Ownership Cost (TOC) and maintainability. It reviews changes that resulted in MTBF increasing by a factor of five and TOC dropping by a factor of four. It also looks to the future, identifying potential areas of further improvement.


Author(s):  
Gerrit Kool ◽  
Jacques van den Elshout ◽  
Eric Vogelaar ◽  
Ron van Gestel ◽  
Andre´ Mom

Maintenance costs of gas turbines are mainly driven by replacement costs of expensive parts. Reconditioning of these parts is considered to decrease the costs significantly, but it is the impression that re-used parts tend to be more involved in part failures. This is sometimes related to microstructural changes in the substrate materials owing to part repair. One hundred and nine (109) unscheduled gas turbine component failure cases have been collected and analyzed to identify causes of failure and contributing factors, and also to provide guidance on corrective measures such as design changes, new repair methods, missing information links and future R&D efforts. It was found that the most frequently reported failure mechanisms are mechanical and thermal fatigue and changes in the microstructure. Fifty percent (50%) of the reported failure cases have a root cause in the original component design and repair design, and consequently permanent solutions can be achieved by design modifications only. The paper concludes with the identification of knowledge gaps.


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