Effects of Using Hydrogen-Rich Syngas in Industrial Gas Turbines While Maintaining Fuel Flexibility on a Multistage Axial Compressor Design

Author(s):  
Pascal Nucara ◽  
Abdulnaser Sayma

Current gas turbine technology for power generation is generally optimised for natural gas. Recently the use of Low Calorific Value (LCV) fuels gained interest, particularly, Hydrogen rich syngas resulting from coal and solid waste gasification. When LCV fuels are used the performance and behaviour of the engines could significantly change and modifications may be needed. For instance, due to the relatively low heating value of the syngas, higher fuel mass flow rate is required compared to the natural gas combustion case. This leads to a decrease of demand for air from the compressor, which results in increased back pressure, reduction of stall margin and possible compressor instability. In a previous work an exploration of some compressor geometry modifications to allow for high fuel flexibility was conducted on a single axial compressor rotor. The investigation provided insights into the effect of blade shape modifications, such as stagger, lean and sweep on rotor performance. With the same purpose of identifying trends rather than producing optimum design, in this study the analysis is extended to a multistage axial compressor. Two different investigations have been performed, both having, as objective, the shifting of the original mass flow rate towards a lower value while maintaining high performance. In the first study the effect of IGV and stator vanes stagger variations only was considered while in a second approach the re-design of the original machine included modifies to rotor’s stagger angles. In order to understand the change in each single blade performance when modifying the original geometry, the variation of critical parameters such as blade loading and diffusion factor has been here considered in first analysis.

Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Lanxue Ren ◽  
Zhou Zhang ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
Mingcong Luo

Abstract This paper presents a numerical model based on the mass flow rate of seal leakage. This numerical model is considered as a correct method for 3-D numerical simulation. It can be used to simulate the effect of seal leakage at the stator root of a multistage axial compressor. Implementation of the correct method is using a numerical model based on the flux conservation which can control the mass flow rate of seal leakage accurately at the seal cavity of compressor. The mass flow rate of seal leakage is chosen as the key research parameter on the aerodynamic performance effect of the seal engineering application in a multistage axial compressor. Combined with the 3-D numerical simulation methods, an engineering numerical approach is set up in this study. A nine-stage axial compressor is taken as the research object in this paper and its aerodynamic performance is tested for proving the applicability of the numerical model for seal leakage. In the cases of several operating rotation speeds, numerical results of the nine-stage axial compressor performance characteristic curves are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is considered that the numerical approach based on the simplified numerical model in this paper can predict the performance of multistage axial compressor accurately. Then, comparisons are made against different cases of seal leakage mass flow rate for analyzing the impact of seal leakage increasing on the aerodynamic performance of the nine-stage axial compressor. The main point of comparisons is focused on the changes of the overall performance and the flow distribution in the compressor with the seal leakage changing. The results indicate that performance of multistage axial compressor is degenerated faster and faster with seal leakage increasing in all operating working points. An overall decline is appeared in the flow capacity, working capacity, efficiency and surge margin of the compressor. For the impact investigation on the changes of flow distribution, the total pressure loss coefficient, the relative Mach number contours and the movement of streamlines are studied in different seal leakage cases under several operating working points. The result also shows that stators located in front stages of multistage axial compressor are affected more seriously with the increasing mass flow rate of seal leakage. Under the influence of seal leakage, degradation of flow condition in stators located in front stages is more severely than that in back stages, the total pressure loss coefficient and entropy are increased, and the flow separations at the root of stators in front stages are developed faster with seal leakage increasing. So it can be confirmed that relatively larger flow losses in front stages bring significant impact on the decay of aerodynamic performance for a multistage axial compressor.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Zhou Zhang ◽  
Qingsong Hong ◽  
Lanxue Ren

In this paper, a numerical model based on the mass flow rate of seal leakage is presented, and a 3D numerical method of a multistage axial compressor with good engineering practicability is established. Validation consists of modeling a nine-stage axial compressor in all operating rotation speeds and calculating results of the performance characteristic curves in good agreement with test data. Comparisons are made against different cases of seal leakage mass flow rate for analyzing the impact of increasing seal leakage on the aerodynamic performance of the multistage axial compressor. The results indicate that the performance of the nine-stage axial compressor is degenerated faster and faster with seal leakage increasing in all operating working points, and the degeneration of performance of this compressor can be evaluated by the relationships of main performance parameters with the mass flow rate of seal leakage. Comparisons of flow distribution in the compressor for different cases of seal leakage also show that stators located in front stages of the multistage axial compressor are affected more seriously by the increasing seal leakage, and it can be confirmed that relatively larger flow losses in front stages bring significant impact on the decay of aerodynamic performance of a multistage axial compressor.


Author(s):  
Pascal Nucara ◽  
Abdulnaser Sayma

Most of the current industrial gas turbine systems are designed to operate with conventional fossil fuels. Recently, the use of Low Calorific Value (LCV) fuels gained interest, particularly, Hydrogen rich Syngas resulting from coal and solid waste gasification. When LCV fuels are used the performance and behavior of the engines could significantly change and modifications may be needed. For instance, due to the relatively low heating value the fuel mass flow rate will be much higher than natural gas, increasing substantially the mass flow through the turbine. This leads to a decrease of demand for air from the compressor, which results in increased back pressure, reduction of stall margin and possible compressor instability. This paper presents a preliminary study to pave the way to the design of a 300 MW industrial gas turbine’s compressor with the objective of operating efficiently with Hydrogen rich syngas, while maintaining the flexibility for a quick switch to natural gas in the event of gasifier failure or breakdown of feedstock supply. NASA Rotor 37 is used as the test vehicle to provide design concepts because of its simplicity in being a single stage compressor and the availability of experimental data for the CFD model validation. Geometric modifications were performed on the rotor to shift the working line towards an estimated lower air mass flow rate working line. Further modifications were investigated in order to maintain the design point compressor efficiency primarily based on sweep and lean of the blade. Once the new working line geometry was obtained, inlet variable guide vane (IGV) effects were explored to allow the compressor to shift to the original working line without further changes to the blade shape.


Author(s):  
Jinlan Gou ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Can Ma ◽  
Yong Li ◽  
Yuansheng Lin ◽  
...  

Using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) as the working fluid of a closed Brayton cycle gas turbine is widely recognized nowadays, because of its compact layout and high efficiency for modest turbine inlet temperature. It is an attractive option for geothermal, nuclear and solar energy conversion. Compressor is one of the key components for the supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle. With established or developing small power supercritical carbon dioxide test loop, centrifugal compressor with small mass flow rate is mainly investigated and manufactured in the literature; however, nuclear energy conversion contains more power, and axial compressor is preferred to provide SCO2 compression with larger mass flow rate which is less studied in the literature. The performance of the axial supercritical carbon dioxide compressor is investigated in the current work. An axial supercritical carbon dioxide compressor with mass flow rate of 1000kg/s is designed. The thermodynamic region of the carbon dioxide is slightly above the vapor-liquid critical point with inlet total temperature 310K and total pressure 9MPa. Numerical simulation is then conducted to assess this axial compressor with look-up table adopted to handle the nonlinear variation property of supercritical carbon dioxide near the critical point. The results show that the performance of the design point of the designed axial compressor matches the primary target. Small corner separation occurs near the hub, and the flow motion of the tip leakage fluid is similar with the well-studied air compressor. Violent property variation near the critical point creates troubles for convergence near the stall condition, and the stall mechanism predictions are more difficult for the axial supercritical carbon dioxide compressor.


Author(s):  
Byeung Jun Lim ◽  
Tae Choon Park ◽  
Young Seok Kang

In this study, characteristics of stall inception in a single-stage transonic axial compressor with circumferential grooves casing treatment were investigated experimentally. Additionally, the characteristic of increasing irregularity in the pressure inside circumferential grooves as the compressor approaches the stall limit was applied to the stall warning method. Spike-type rotating stall was observed in the single-stage transonic axial compressor with smooth casing. When circumferential grooves were applied, the stall inception was suppressed and the operating point of the compressor moved to lower flow rate than the stall limit. A spike-like disturbance was developed into a rotating stall cell and then the Helmholtz perturbation was overlapped on it at N = 80%. At N = 70 %, the Helmholtz perturbation was observed first and the amplitude of the wave gradually increased as mass flow rate decreased. At N = 60%, spike type stall inceptions were observed intermittently and then developed into continuous rotating stall at lower mass flow rate. Pressure measured at the bottom of circumferential grooves showed that the level of irregularity of pressure increased as flow rate decreased. Based on the characteristic of increasing irregularity of the pressure signals inside the circumferential grooves as stall approaches, an autocorrelation technique was applied to the stall warning. This technique could be used to provide warning against stall and estimate real-time stall margins in compressors with casing treatments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Abderrahmane Chachoua ◽  
Mohamed Kamal Hamidou ◽  
Mohammed Hamel

The design for better performance of the spiral housing volute used commonly in radial and mixed inflow gas turbines is of prime importance as it affects the machine stage at both design and off design conditions. The tongue of the scroll divides the flow into two streams, and represents a severe source of disturbances, in terms of thermodynamic parameter uniformity, maximum kinetic energy, the right angle of attack to the rotor and minimum losses. Besides, the volute suffers an undesirable effect due to the recirculating mass flow rate in near bottom vicinity of the tongue. The present project is an attempt to design a tongue fitted with cylindrical holes traversing normal to the stream wise direction, where on account of the large pressure difference between the top and the bottom sides of the tongue will force the recirculating flow to go through the rotor inlet. This possibility with its limitations has not yet been explored. A numerical simulation is performed which might provide our suitable objectives. To achieve this goal the ANSYS code is used to build the geometry, generate the mesh, and to simulate the flow by solving numerically the averaged Navier Stokes equations. Apparently, the numerical results show evidence of favorable impact in using porous tongue. The realization of a contact between the main and recirculation flow by drilled holes on the tongue surface leads to a flow field uniformity, a reduction in the magnitude of the loss coefficient, and a 20 % reduction in the recirculating mass flow rate.


Author(s):  
K. V. L. Narayana Rao ◽  
N. Ravi Kumar ◽  
G. Ramesha ◽  
M. Devathathan

Can type combustors are robust, with ease of design, manufacturing and testing. They are extensively used in industrial gas turbines and aero engines. This paper is mainly based on the work carried out in designing and testing a can type combustion chamber which is operated using JET-A1 fuel. Based on the design requirements, the combustor is designed, fabricated and tested. The experimental results are analysed and compared with the design requirements. The basic dimensions of the combustor, like casing diameter, liner diameter, liner length and liner hole distribution are estimated through a proprietary developed code. An axial flow air swirler with 8 vanes and vane angle of 45 degree is designed to create a re-circulation zone for stabilizing the flame. The Monarch 4.0 GPH fuel nozzle with a cone angle of 80 degree is used. The igniter used is a high energy igniter with ignition energy of 2J and 60 sparks per minute. The combustor is modelled, meshed and analysed using the commercially available ansys-cfx code. The geometry of the combustor is modified iteratively based on the CFD results to meet the design requirements such as pressure loss and pattern factor. The combustor is fabricated using Ni-75 sheet of 1 mm thickness. A small combustor test facility is established. The combustor rig is tested for 50 Hours. The experimental results showed a blow-out phenomenon while the mass flow rate through the combustor is increased beyond a limit. Further through CFD analysis one of the cause for early blow out is identified to be a high mass flow rate through the swirler. The swirler area is partially blocked and many configurations are analysed. The optimum configuration is selected based on the flame position in the primary zone. The change in swirler area is implemented in the test model and further testing is carried out. The experimental results showed that the blow-out limit of the combustor is increased to a good extent. Hence the effect of swirler flow rate on recirculation zone length and flame blow out is also studied and presented. The experimental results showed that the pressure loss and pattern factor are in agreement with the design requirements.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Taghavi-Zenou ◽  
S. Abbasi ◽  
S. Eslami

ABSTRACTThis paper deals with tip leakage flow structure in subsonic axial compressor rotor blades row under different operating conditions. Analyses are based on flow simulation utilizing computational fluid dynamic technique. Three different circumstances at near stall condition are considered in this respect. Tip leakage flow frequency spectrum was studied through surveying instantaneous static pressure signals imposed on blades surfaces. Results at the highest flow rate, close to the stall condition, showed that the tip vortex flow fluctuates with a frequency close to the blade passing frequency. In addition, pressure signals remained unchanged with time. Moreover, equal pressure fluctuations at different passages guaranteed no peripheral disturbances. Tip leakage flow frequency decreased with reduction of the mass flow rate and its structure was changing with time. Spillage of the tip leakage flow from the blade leading edge occurred without any backflow in the trailing edge region. Consequently, various flow structures were observed within every passage between two adjacent blades. Further decrease in the mass flow rate provided conditions where the spilled flow ahead of the blade leading edge together with trailing edge backflow caused spike stall to occur. This latter phenomenon was accompanied by lower frequencies and higher amplitudes of the pressure signals. Further revolution of the rotor blade row caused the spike stall to eventuate to larger stall cells, which may be led to fully developed rotating stall.


Author(s):  
Chihiro Myoren ◽  
Yasuo Takahashi ◽  
Manabu Yagi ◽  
Takanori Shibata ◽  
Tadaharu Kishibe

An axial compressor was developed for an industrial gas turbine equipped with a water atomization cooling (WAC) system, which is a kind of inlet fogging technique with overspray. The compressor performance was evaluated using a 40MW-class test facility for the advanced humid air turbine system. A prediction method to estimate the effect of WAC was developed for the design of the compressor. The method was based on a streamline curvature (SLC) method implementing a droplet evaporation model. Four test runs with WAC have been conducted since February 2012. The maximum water mass flow rate was 1.2% of the inlet mass flow rate at the 4th test run, while the design value was 2.0%. The results showed that the WAC decreased the inlet and outlet temperatures compared with the DRY (no fogging) case. These decreases changed the matching point of the gas turbine, and increased the mass flow rate and the pressure ratio by 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively. Since prediction results agreed with the results of the test run qualitatively, the compressor performance improvement by WAC was confirmed both experimentally and analytically. The test run with the design water mass flow rate is going to be conducted in the near future.


Author(s):  
Mohsen Ghazikhani ◽  
Nima Manshoori ◽  
Davood Tafazoli

An industrial gas turbine has the characteristic that turbine output decreases on hot summer days when electricity demand peaks. For GE-F5 gas turbines of Mashad Power Plant when ambient temperature increases 1° C, compressor outlet temperature increases 1.13° C and turbine exhaust temperature increases 2.5° C. Also air mass flow rate decreases about 0.6 kg/sec when ambient temperature increases 1° C, so it is revealed that variations are more due to decreasing in the efficiency of compressor and less due to reduction in mass flow rate of air as ambient temperature increases in constant power output. The cycle efficiency of these GE-F5 gas turbines reduces 3 percent with increasing 50° C of ambient temperature, also the fuel consumption increases as ambient temperature increases for constant turbine work. These are also because of reducing in the compressor efficiency in high temperature ambient. Steam injection in gas turbines is a way to prevent a loss in performance of gas turbines caused by high ambient temperature and has been used for many years. VODOLEY system is a steam injection system, which is known as a self-sufficient one in steam production. The amount of water vapor in combustion products will become regenerated in a contact condenser and after passing through a heat recovery boiler is injected in the transition piece after combustion chamber. In this paper the influence of steam injection in Mashad Power Plant GE-F5 gas turbine parameters, applying VODOLEY system, is being observed. Results show that in this turbine, the turbine inlet temperature (T3) decreases in a range of 5 percent to 11 percent depending on ambient temperature, so the operating parameters in a gas turbine cycle equipped with VODOLEY system in 40° C of ambient temperature is the same as simple gas turbine cycle in 10° C of ambient temperature. Results show that the thermal efficiency increases up to 10 percent, but Back-Work ratio increases in a range of 15 percent to 30 percent. Also results show that although VODOLEY system has water treatment cost but by using this system the running cost will reduce up to 27 percent.


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