Computer Models for Education on Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics of Gas Turbines
The paper discusses how performance models can be incorporated in education on the subject of gas turbine performance monitoring and diagnostics. A particular performance model, built for educational purposes, is employed to demonstrate the different aspects of this process. The way of building a model is discussed, in order to ensure the connection between the physical principles used for diagnostics and the structure of the software. The first aspect discussed is model usage for understanding gas turbine behaviour under different operating conditions. Understanding this behaviour is essential, in order to have the possibility to distinguish between operation in ‘healthy’ and ‘faulty’ engine condition. A graphics interface is used to present information in different ways such as operating line, operating points on component maps, interrelation between performance variables and parameters. The way of studying faulty engine operation is then presented, featuring a novel comparison to existing simulation programs. Faults can be implanted into different engine components and their impact on engine performance studied. The notion of fault signatures on measured quantities is explained. The model has also a diagnostic capability, allowing the introduction of measurement data from faulty engines and providing a diagnosis, namely a picture of how the performance of engine components has deviated from a ‘healthy’ condition