Development of a Constitutive Backstress Model for the Prediction of Creep and Stress Relaxation in Gas Turbine Materials

Author(s):  
Andrew Moffat ◽  
Richard Green ◽  
Calum Ferguson ◽  
Brent Scaletta

Abstract There is a drive towards a broader range of fuels in industrial gas turbines, with higher levels of sulphur and potentially hydrogen. Due to these harsher environments, there is also a drive for corrosion resistant alloys and coatings. A number of key corrosion resistant superalloys, which are being employed to cope with these evolving conditions, exhibit primary creep. It is therefore imperative that fundamental material models, such as those for creep deformation, are developed to ensure they can accurately predict the material response to evolving operating conditions. The requirements for a creep model are complex. The model must be able to: predict forward creep deformation in regions dominated by primary loads (such as pressure); predict stress relaxation in regions dominated by secondary loads (such as differential thermal expansion); predict the effects of different creep hardening mechanisms. It is also clear that there is an interaction between fatigue and creep. With flexible operation, this interaction can be significant and should be catered for in lifing methods. A model that has the potential to account for the effect of plasticity on creep, and creep on plasticity is therefore desirable. In previous work the authors presented the concept for a backstress model to predict creep strain rates in superalloys. This model was fitted to a limited dataset at a single temperature. The approach was validated using simple creep-dwell tests at the same temperature. This paper expands on the previous work in several ways: 1) The creep model has been fitted over a wide range of temperatures. Including the effect of temperature in complex creep models presents a number of difficulties in model fitting and these are explored. 2) The model was fitted to constant load (forward creep) and constant strain (stress relaxation) tests since any creep model should be able to predict both forms of creep deformation. However, these are often considered separately due to the difficulty of fitting models to two different datasets. 3) The creep deformation model was validated on stress change tests to ensure the creep deformation response can cope with changes in response variables. 4) The approach was validated using creep-fatigue tests to show that the creep deformation model, in addition to our established fatigue models, can predict damage in materials under complex loading.

Author(s):  
A. J. Moffat ◽  
J. P. Douglas ◽  
M. White ◽  
M. W. Spindler ◽  
C. Austin ◽  
...  

In this paper a creep deformation model has been developed for Type 321 stainless steel which has been based on a modified version of the creep model that is used in the French fast reactor design code RCC-MR. The model has been evaluated using: 1) constant load creep data covering the temperature range from 550°C to 650°C and 2) constant displacement, stress relaxation data obtained from creep-fatigue tests at 650°C. Samples in the heat-treatment conditions of solution-treated, aged, and simulated ‘heat affected zone’ have been assessed. The standard RCC-MR model was fitted to the constant load data and provided good predictions of forward creep. However, when this model was used to predict stress relaxation it was observed that the model significantly over predicted creep strain rates and therefore the level of stress drop during each cycle. During constant load tests the stress remains relatively constant (noting that true stress does increase a small amount prior to rupture). However, in relaxation tests the stress varies significantly over the dwell. Due to the poor predictions of stress relaxation it was hypothesised that the fitted model did not capture the stress dependence of creep appropriately. The RCC-MR model was therefore modified to include a primary and secondary threshold stress term that is a function of the accumulated creep strain. This work indicates that the RCC-MR model, modified to include threshold stresses, can be used to provide good predictions of both forward creep and stress relaxation in Type 321 stainless steel. Further work is required to validate this model on stress relaxation data at additional temperatures and lower start of dwell stresses.


Author(s):  
S. Eshati ◽  
M. F. Abdul Ghafir ◽  
P. Laskaridis ◽  
Y. G. Li

This paper investigates the relationship between design parameters and creep life consumption of stationary gas turbines using a physics based life model. A representative thermodynamic performance model is used to simulate engine performance. The output from the performance model is used as an input to the physics based model. The model consists of blade sizing model which sizes the HPT blade using the constant nozzle method, mechanical stress model which performs the stress analysis, thermal model which performs thermal analysis by considering the radial distribution of gas temperature, and creep model which using the Larson-miller parameter to calculate the lowest blade creep life. The effect of different parameters including radial temperature distortion factor (RTDF), material properties, cooling effectiveness and turbine entry temperatures (TET) is investigated. The results show that different design parameter combined with a change in operating conditions can significantly affect the creep life of the HPT blade and the location along the span of the blade where the failure could occur. Using lower RTDF the lowest creep life is located at the lower section of the span, whereas at higher RTDF the lowest creep life is located at the upper side of the span. It also shows that at different cooling effectiveness and TET for both materials the lowest blade creep life is located between the mid and the tip of the span. The physics based model was found to be simple and useful tool to investigate the impact of the above parameters on creep life.


2018 ◽  
Vol 777 ◽  
pp. 238-244
Author(s):  
Serene Sow Mun Lock ◽  
Kok Keong Lau ◽  
Irene Sow Mei Lock ◽  
Azmi Mohd Shariff ◽  
Yin Fong Yeong ◽  
...  

Oxygen (O2) enriched air combustion via adaption of polymeric membranes has been proposed to be a feasible alternative to increase combustion proficiency while minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Nonetheless, majority of techno-economic assessment on the O2 enriched combustion evolving membrane separation process are confined to assumption of constant membrane permeance. In reality, it is well known that membrane permeance is highly dependent upon the temperature and pressure to which it is operated. Therefore, in this work, an empirical model, which includes the effect of temperature and pressure to permeance, has been evaluated based on own experimental work using polysulfone membrane. The empirical model has been further validated with published experimental results. It is found that the model is able to provide an excellent characterization of the membrane permeance across a wide range of operating conditions for both pure and binary gas with determination coefficient of minimally 0.99.


Author(s):  
Smith Salifu ◽  
Dawood A. Desai ◽  
Schalk Kok

The creep response and stress relaxation of X20 CrMoV12-1 steam piping under diverse operating conditions were simulated using finite element analysis (FEA) code, Abaqus alongside fe-safe/Turbolife software. In the study, steady-state creep and creep analysis characterized by 24 hours daily cycle consisting of a total of 6 hours peak, 4 hours transient and 14 hours off-peak period was considered. Modified hyperbolic sine creep model used in the analysis was implemented in Abaqus via a special creep user-subroutine to compute the stress relaxation and creep behaviour, while the useful service life and creep damage was estimated using fe-safe/Turbolife. The optimum creep strain, stress, damage, and worst life were found at the intrados of the piping, with the steady-state analysis having a higher useful creep life and slower creep damage accumulation. Furthermore, slower stress relaxation with faster damage accumulation was observed in the analysis involving cycles. Finally, a good agreement was obtained between the analytical calculated and simulated rates of the piping.


Author(s):  
R. Friso ◽  
N. Casari ◽  
M. Pinelli ◽  
A. Suman ◽  
F. Montomoli

Abstract Gas turbines (GT) are often forced to operate in harsh environmental conditions. Therefore, the presence of particles in their flow-path is expected. With this regard, deposition is a problem that severely affects gas turbine operation. Components’ lifetime and performance can dramatically vary as a consequence of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the operating conditions of the machine can vary in a wide range, and they cannot be treated as deterministic. Their stochastic variations greatly affect the forecasting of life and performance of the components. In this work, the main parameters considered affected by the uncertainty are the circumferential hot core location and the turbulence level at the inlet of the domain. A stochastic analysis is used to predict the degradation of a high-pressure-turbine (HPT) nozzle due to particulate ingestion. The GT’s component analyzed as a reference is the HPT nozzle of the Energy-Efficient Engine (E3). The uncertainty quantification technique used is the probabilistic collocation method (PCM). This work shows the impact of the operating conditions uncertainties on the performance and lifetime reduction due to deposition. Sobol indices are used to identify the most important parameter and its contribution to life. The present analysis enables to build confidence intervals on the deposit profile and on the residual creep-life of the vane.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cozzi ◽  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Savino Depalo ◽  
Pio Astrua ◽  
...  

Abstract The overall fraction of the power produced by renewable sources in the energy market has significantly increased in recent years. The power output of most of these clean sources is intrinsically variable. At present day and most likely in the upcoming future, due to the lack of inexpensive and reliable large energy storage systems, conventional power plants burning fossil fuels will still be part of the energy horizon. In particular, power generators able to promptly support the grid stability, such as gas turbines, will retain a strategic role. This new energy scenario is pushing gas turbine producers to improve the flexibility of their turbomachines, increasing the need for reliable numerical tools adopted to design and validate the new products also in operating conditions far from the nominal one. Especially when dealing with axial compressors, i.e. machines experiencing intense adverse pressure gradients, complex flow structures and severe secondary flows, CFD modelling of offdesign operation can be a real challenge. In this work, a state-of-the art CFD framework for RANS analysis of axial compressors is presented. The various aspects involved in the whole setup are discussed, including boundary conditions, meshing strategies, mixing planes modelling, tip clearance treatment, shroud leakages and turbulence modelling. Some experiences about the choice of these aspects are provided, derived from a long-date practice on this kind of turbomachines. Numerical results are reported for different full-scale compressors of the Ansaldo Energia fleet, covering a wide range of operating conditions. Furthermore, details about the capability of the setup to predict compressor performance and surge-margin have been added to the work. In particular, the setup surge-margin prediction has been evaluated in an operating condition in which the turbomachine experiences experimental stall. Finally, thanks to several on-field data available at different corrected speeds for operating conditions ranging from minimum to full load, a comprehensive validation of the presented numerical framework is also included in the paper.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oguzhan Murat ◽  
Budimir Rosic ◽  
Koichi Tanimoto ◽  
Ryo Egami

Abstract Due to increase in the power generation from renewable sources, steam and gas turbines will be required to adapt for more flexible operations with frequent start-ups and shut-downs to provide load levelling capacity. During shut-down regimes, mixed convection takes place with natural convection dominance depending on the operating conditions in turbine cavities. Buoyant flows inside the turbine that are responsible for non-uniform cooling leading to thermal stresses and compromise clearances directly limits the operational flexibility. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools are required to predict the flow field during these regimes since direct measurements are extremely difficult to conduct due to the harsh operating conditions. Natural convection with the presence of cross-flow -mixed convection has not been extensively studied to provide detailed measurements. Since the literature lacks of research on such flows with real engine representative operating conditions for CFD validation, the confidence in numerical predictions is rather inadequate. This paper presents a novel experimental facility that has been designed and commissioned to perform very accurate unsteady temperature and flow field measurements in a simplified turbine casing geometry. The facility is capable of reproducing a wide range of Richardson, Grashof and Reynolds numbers which are representative of engine realistic operating conditions. In addition, high fidelity, wall resolved LES with dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid scale model has been performed. The flow field as well as heat transfer characteristics have been accurately captured with LES. Lastly, inadequacy of RANS for mixed type of flows has been highlighted.


Author(s):  
Marek Dzida ◽  
Krzysztof Kosowski

In bibliography we can find many methods of determining pressure drop in the combustion chambers of gas turbines, but there is only very few data of experimental results. This article presents the experimental investigations of pressure drop in the combustion chamber over a wide range of part-load performances (from minimal power up to take-off power). Our research was carried out on an aircraft gas turbine of small output. The experimental results have proved that relative pressure drop changes with respect to fuel flow over the whole range of operating conditions. The results were then compared with theoretical methods.


Author(s):  
M. S. N. Murthy ◽  
Subhash Kumar ◽  
Sheshadri Sreedhara

Abstract A gas turbine engine (GT) is very complex to design and manufacture considering the power density it offers. Development of a GT is also iterative, expensive and involves a long lead time. The components of a GT, viz compressor, combustor and turbine are strongly dependent on each other for the overall performance characteristics of the GT. The range of compressor operation is dependent on the functional and safe limits of surging and choking. The turbine operating speeds are required to be matched with that of compressor for wide range of operating conditions. Due to this constrain, design for optimum possible performance is often sacrificed. Further, once catered for a design point, gas turbines offer low part load efficiencies at conditions away from design point. As a more efficient option, a GT is practically achievable in a split configuration, where the compressor and turbine rotate on different shafts independently. The compressor is driven by a variable speed electric motor. The power developed in the combustor using the compressed air from the compressor and fuel, drives the turbine. The turbine provides mechanical shaft power through a gear box if required. A drive taken from the shaft rotates an electricity generator, which provides power for the compressor’s variable speed electric motor through a power bank. Despite introducing, two additional power conversions compared to a conventional GT, this split configuration named as ‘Part Electric Gas Turbine’, has a potential for new applications and to achieve overall better efficiencies from a GT considering the poor part load characteristics of a conventional GT.


Author(s):  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Luca Innocenti ◽  
Mirko Micio

Reliable design of secondary air system is one of the main tasks for the safety, unfailing and performance of gas turbine engines. To meet the increasing demands of gas turbines design, improved tools in prediction of the secondary air system behavior over a wide range of operating conditions are needed. A real gas turbine secondary air system includes several components, therefore its analysis is not carried out through a complete CFD approach. Usually, that predictions are performed using codes, based on simplified approach which allows to evaluate the flow characteristics in each branch of the air system requiring very poor computational resources and few calculation time. Generally the available simplified commercial packages allow to correctly solve only some of the components of a real air system and often the elements with a more complex flow structure cannot be studied; among such elements, the analysis of rotating cavities is very hard. This paper deals with a design-tool developed at the University of Florence for the simulation of rotating cavities. This simplified in-house code solves the governing equations for steady one-dimensional axysimmetric flow using experimental correlations both to incorporate flow phenomena caused by multidimensional effects, like heat transfer and flow field losses, and to evaluate the circumferential component of velocity. Although this calculation approach does not enable a correct modeling of the turbulent flow within a wheel space cavity, the authors tried to create an accurate model taking into account the effects of inner and outer flow extraction, rotor and stator drag, leakages, injection momentum and, finally, the shroud/rim seal effects on cavity ingestion. The simplified calculation tool was designed to simulate the flow in a rotating cavity with radial outflow both with a Batchelor and/or Stewartson flow structures. A primary 1D-code testing campaign is available in the literature [1]. In the present paper the authors develop, using CFD tools, reliable correlations for both stator and rotor friction coefficients and provide a full 1D-code validation comparing, due to lack of experimental data, the in house design-code predictions with those evaluated by CFD.


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