Lifetime Assessments of an Old Westinghouse-Design Steam Chest

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sazzadur Rahman ◽  
Waheed Abbasi ◽  
Thomas W. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cyclic Stress ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Reliable Operation ◽  
Steady State Operation ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Transient Events

Fossil steam turbines were designed for approximately thirty years of reliable operation based on a normal duty cycle. During operation, highly stressed components of steam turbine power plants undergo a change in material properties due to cyclic stress and exposure to different temperatures. Among all the components of a steam turbine, the steam chest is affected the most as it experiences a wide variation of stresses and loads during transient events and steady-state operation. These factors can strongly influence the metallurgical condition and overall reliable life of steam chests. In this paper, Siemens’ overall approach for lifetime assessments will be discussed with a real life example on a 40 year old Westinghouse-design steam chest. The methodology and the findings from the assessment are also discussed.

Fault diagnosis method of peak-load-regulation steam turbine based on improved PCA-HKNN artificial neural network

2021 ◽  
pp. 1748006X2110105
Author(s):  
Yifan Wu ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Deren Sheng ◽  
Jianhong Chen ◽  
Zitao Yu
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Fault Diagnosis ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Peak Load ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Peak Shaving ◽  
Diagnosis Method ◽  
Load Regulation

Clean energy is now developing rapidly, especially in the United States, China, the Britain and the European Union. To ensure the stability of power production and consumption, and to give higher priority to clean energy, it is essential for large power plants to implement peak shaving operation, which means that even the 1000 MW steam turbines in large plants will undertake peak shaving tasks for a long period of time. However, with the peak load regulation, the steam turbines operating in low capacity may be much more likely to cause faults. In this paper, aiming at peak load shaving, a fault diagnosis method of steam turbine vibration has been presented. The major models, namely hierarchy-KNN model on the basis of improved principal component analysis (Improved PCA-HKNN) has been discussed in detail. Additionally, a new fault diagnosis method has been proposed. By applying the PCA improved by information entropy, the vibration and thermal original data are decomposed and classified into a finite number of characteristic parameters and factor matrices. For the peak shaving power plants, the peak load shaving state involving their methods of operation and results of vibration would be elaborated further. Combined with the data and the operation state, the HKNN model is established to carry out the fault diagnosis. Finally, the efficiency and reliability of the improved PCA-HKNN model is discussed. It’s indicated that compared with the traditional method, especially handling the large data, this model enhances the convergence speed and the anti-interference ability of the neural network, reduces the training time and diagnosis time by more than 50%, improving the reliability of the diagnosis from 76% to 97%.

Repowering and Retrofitting

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Pickard
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Planning Stage ◽  
Reheat Steam ◽  
Plant Optimization

At the start of this new century, environmental regulations and free-market economics are becoming the key drivers for the electricity generating industry. Advances in Gas Turbine (GT) technology, allied with integration and refinement of Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and Steam Turbine (ST) plant, have made Combined Cycle installations the most efficient of the new power station types. This potential can also be realized, to equal effect, by adding GT’s and HRSG’s to existing conventional steam power plants in a so-called ‘repowering’ process. This paper presents the economical and environmental considerations of retrofitting the steam turbine within repowering schemes. Changing the thermal cycle parameters of the plant, for example by deletion of the feed heating steambleeds or by modified live and reheat steam conditions to suit the combined cycle process, can result in off-design operation of the existing steam turbine. Retrofitting the steam turbine to match the combined cycle unit can significantly increase the overall cycle efficiency compared to repowering without the ST upgrade. The paper illustrates that repowering, including ST retrofitting, when considered as a whole at the project planning stage, has the potential for greater gain by allowing proper plant optimization. Much of the repowering in the past has been carried out without due regard to the benefits of re-matching the steam turbine. Retrospective ST upgrade of such cases can still give benefit to the plant owner, especially when it is realized that most repowering to date has retained an unmodified steam turbine (that first went into operation some decades before). The old equipment will have suffered deterioration due to aging and the steam path will be to an archaic design of poor efficiency. Retrofitting older generation plant with modern leading-edge steam-path technology has the potential for realizing those substantial advances made over the last 20 to 30 years. Some examples, given in the paper, of successfully retrofitted steam turbines applied in repowered plants will show, by specific solution, the optimization of the economics and benefit to the environment of the converted plant as a whole.

Efficient Multi-Objective Optimization of Labyrinth Seal Leakage in Steam Turbines Based on Hybrid Surrogate Models

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Cremanns ◽  
Dirk Roos ◽  
Simon Hecker ◽  
Peter Dumstorff ◽  
Henning Almstedt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Surrogate Model ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Surrogate Models ◽  
Future Market ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
Highly Efficient

The demand for energy is increasingly covered through renewable energy sources. As a consequence, conventional power plants need to respond to power fluctuations in the grid much more frequently than in the past. Additionally, steam turbine components are expected to deal with high loads due to this new kind of energy management. Changes in steam temperature caused by rapid load changes or fast starts lead to high levels of thermal stress in the turbine components. Therefore, todays energy market requires highly efficient power plants which can be operated under flexible conditions. In order to meet the current and future market requirements, turbine components are optimized with respect to multi-dimensional target functions. The development of steam turbine components is a complex process involving different engineering disciplines and time-consuming calculations. Currently, optimization is used most frequently for subtasks within the individual discipline. For a holistic approach, highly efficient calculation methods, which are able to deal with high dimensional and multidisciplinary systems, are needed. One approach to solve this problem is the usage of surrogate models using mathematical methods e.g. polynomial regression or the more sophisticated Kriging. With proper training, these methods can deliver results which are nearly as accurate as the full model calculations themselves in a fraction of time. Surrogate models have to face different requirements: the underlying outputs can be, for example, highly non-linear, noisy or discontinuous. In addition, the surrogate models need to be constructed out of a large number of variables, where often only a few parameters are important. In order to achieve good prognosis quality only the most important parameters should be used to create the surrogate models. Unimportant parameters do not improve the prognosis quality but generate additional noise to the approximation result. Another challenge is to achieve good results with as little design information as possible. This is important because in practice the necessary information is usually only obtained by very time-consuming simulations. This paper presents an efficient optimization procedure using a self-developed hybrid surrogate model consisting of moving least squares and anisotropic Kriging. With its maximized prognosis quality, it is capable of handling the challenges mentioned above. This enables time-efficient optimization. Additionally, a preceding sensitivity analysis identifies the most important parameters regarding the objectives. This leads to a fast convergence of the optimization and a more accurate surrogate model. An example of this method is shown for the optimization of a labyrinth shaft seal used in steam turbines. Within the optimization the opposed objectives of minimizing leakage mass flow and decreasing total enthalpy increase due to friction are considered.

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.

Validation of Advanced Steam Turbine Technology: A Case Study of an Ultra Super Critical Steam Turbine Power Plant

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Quinkertz ◽  
Thomas Thiemann ◽  
Kai Gierse
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Operational Experience ◽  
Internal Cooling ◽  
Steam Turbines

High efficiency and flexible operation continue to be the major requirements for power generation because of the benefits of reduced emissions and reduced fuel consumption, i.e. reduced operating costs. Ultra super critical (USC) steam parameters are the basis for state of the art technology of coal fired power plants with highest efficiency. An important part of the development process for advanced steam turbines is product validation. This step involves more than just providing evidence of customer guaranteed values (e.g. heat rate or electric output). It also involves proving that the design targets have been achieved and that the operational experience is fed back to designers to further develop the design criteria and enable the next step in the development of highly sophisticated products. What makes product validation for large size power plant steam turbines especially challenging is the fact that, due to the high costs of the required infrastructure, steam turbine manufacturers usually do not have a full scope / full scale testing facility. Therefore, good customer relations are the key to successful validation. This paper describes an extensive validation program for a modern state of the art ultra supercritical steam turbine performed at an operating 1000 MW steam power plant in China. Several measuring points in addition to the standard operating measurements were installed at one of the high pressure turbines to record the temperature distribution, e.g. to verify the functionality of the internal cooling system, which is an advanced design feature of the installed modern high pressure steam turbines. Predicted 3D temperature distributions are compared to the actual measurements in order to verify and evaluate the design rules and the design philosophy applied. Conclusions are drawn regarding the performance of modern 3D design tools applied in the current design process and an outlook is given on the future potential of modern USC turbines.

Repowering Considerations for Converting Existing Power Plants to Combined Cycle Power Plants

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anup Singh ◽  
Don Kopecky
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Good Shape ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Cost Studies

Most of the recent combined cycle plants have been designed and constructed as Greenfield Plants. These new plants have been designed mostly as Merchant Plants, owned and operated by Independent Power Producers. There is about 260,000 MW of conventional coal-fired and gas-fired capacity in the USA that is more than 30 years old. About 30,000 MW of conventional gas-fired capacity exists in the area of The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) with relatively poor heat rates in comparison to modern combined cycle plants. These plants are good candidates for HRSG repowering. In addition, there are several coal-fired units in the 200 MW range with steam turbines in relatively good shape or in a condition that can be refurbished and used in repowering. The installed cost of repowered (also called Brownfield) capacity is about 20%–40% less than for comparable Greenfield capacity. There are also other advantages to repowering. Since the site is already existing, it is easier to get the various environmental and construction permits. The efficiency of the repowered units will be significantly higher than the existing units in their current status thus increasing the overall performance of the entire system. The paper will discuss various considerations required for repowering, including steam turbine refurbishment, demolition/relocation of existing equipment, recent cost studies, and various considerations for equipment such as HRSGs.

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.

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.

Thermal Modeling of a Solar Steam Turbine With a Focus on Start-Up Time Reduction

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Spelling ◽  
Markus Jo¨cker ◽  
Andrew Martin
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
The Body ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Turbine Casing ◽  
Main Steam

Steam turbines in solar thermal power plants experience a much greater number of starts than those operating in base-load plants. In order to preserve the lifetime of the turbine whilst still allowing fast starts, it is of great interest to find ways to maintain the turbine temperature during idle periods. A dynamic model of a solar steam turbine has been elaborated, simulating both the heat conduction within the body and the heat exchange with the gland steam, main steam and the environment, allowing prediction of the temperatures within the turbine during off-design operation and standby. The model has been validated against 96h of measured data from the Andasol 1 power plant, giving an average error of 1.2% for key temperature measurements. The validated model was then used to evaluate a number of modifications that can be made to maintain the turbine temperature during idle periods. Heat blankets were shown to be the most effective measure for keeping the turbine casing warm, whereas increasing the gland steam temperature was most effective in maintaining the temperature of the rotor. By applying a combination of these measures the dispatchability of the turbine can be improved significantly: electrical output can be increased by up to 9.5% after a long cool-down and up to 9.8% after a short cool-down.

Stress Corrosion Cracking and Corrosion Fatigue Analysis of Nuclear Steam Turbine Rotor

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Chen ◽  
Puning Jiang ◽  
Xingzhu Ye ◽  
Junhui Zhang ◽  
Yifeng Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Corrosion ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Corrosion Fatigue ◽  
Stress Corrosion Cracking ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fatigue Cracking ◽  
Corrosion Cracking ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Steam Turbines

Although stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and corrosion fatigue cracking can occur in many locations of nuclear steam turbines, most of them initiate at low pressure disc rim, rotor groove and keyway of the shrunk-on disc. For nuclear steam turbine components, long life endurance and high availability are very important factors in the operation. Usually nuclear power plants operating more than sixty years are susceptible to this failure mechanism. If SCC or corrosion fatigue happens, especially in rotor groove or keyway, it has a major influence on nuclear steam turbine life. In this paper, established methods for the SCC and corrosion fatigue-controlled life prediction of steam turbine components were applied to evaluating a new shrunk-on disc that had suffered local keyway surface damage during manufacture and loss of residual compressive stress.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document