Unsteady Conjugate Heat Transfer Investigation of a Multistage Steam Turbine in Warm-Keeping Operation With Hot Air

In recent decades, the rising share of commonly subsidized renewable energy especially affects the operational strategy of conventional power plants. In pursuit of flexibility improvements, extension of life cycle, in addition to a reduction in start-up time, General Electric has developed a product to warm-keep high/intermediate pressure steam turbines using hot air. In order to optimize the warm-keeping operation and to gain knowledge about the dominant heat transfer phenomena and flow structures, detailed numerical investigations are required. Considering specific warm-keeping operating conditions characterized by high turbulent flows, it is required to conduct calculations based on time-consuming unsteady conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations. In order to investigate the warm-keeping process as found in the presented research, single and multistage numerical turbine models were developed. Furthermore, an innovative calculation approach called the Equalized Timescales Method (ET) was applied for the modeling of unsteady conjugate heat transfer (CHT). The unsteady approach improves the accuracy of the stationary simulations and enables the determination of the multistage turbine models. In the course of the research, two particular input variables of the ET approach — speed up factor (SF) and time step (TS) — have been additionally investigated with regard to their high impact on the calculation time and the quality of the results. Using the ET method, the mass flow rate and the rotational speed were varied to generate a database of warm-keeping operating points. The main goal of this work is to provide a comprehensive knowledge of the flow field and heat transfer in a wide range of turbine warm-keeping operations and to characterize the flow patterns observed at these operating points. For varying values of flow coefficient and angle of incidence, the secondary flow phenomena change from well-known vortex systems occurring in design operation (such as passage, horseshoe and corner vortices) to effects typical for windage, like patterns of alternating vortices and strong backflows. Furthermore, the identified flow patterns have been compared to vortex systems described in cited literature and summarized in the so-called blade vortex diagram. The comparison of heat transfer in the form of charts showing the variation of the Nusselt-numbers with respect to changes in angle of incidence and flow coefficients at specific operating points is additionally provided.

Metallographic and Materials Evaluation of a Cracked Radial Steam Turbine Rotor

A radial steam turbine developed cracks after 220,000 hours of service. The rotor had an integral disc with eight rows of blades, and a short stub. Nine inlets on the disc channeled steam from one side to the other, and then radially outward. Analysis of the fracture surface revealed cracks originating in some of the inlet holes, and propagating by fatigue. No material defects were found at the crack initiation sites. Hardness and microstructure (optical) across the disc were uniform, but chemical composition analysis of the alloy revealed high level of phosphorus and sulfur. In addition, the microstructure consisted of uniformly tempered martensite with manganese sulfide stringers. Although tensile properties were normal, impact testing indicated embrittlement by a shift in Fracture Appearance Transition Temperature (FATT). Metallurgical evidence of embrittlement was also found. It was concluded that service induced cyclic loading in combination with reduced crack resistance caused by embrittlement lead to cracking.

Thermal System Optimization and Energy Grade Analysis of 700°C HUSC Steam Turbine Using a EC System

700°C High Ultra Supercritical (HUSC) technology is taken into account as a more efficient clean coal-fired power generation technology which can achieve higher efficiency and less CO2 emission. With the increase of the main steam and reheat steam temperature, the temperature of regenerative extraction increased accordingly. This not only means higher investment cost and higher unreliability of power plant, but also leads to a great reduction of energy grade efficiency. To solve the above-mentioned problem, we introduce a novel system, called echelon cycle system (EC system). In EC system, a BEST (Backpressure Extraction Steam Turbine) is added, which provides power for feed-water pump and steam for feed-water heaters. The steam source of high temperature regenerative extractions is switched from main turbine to BEST, and the steam source of BEST is cold-reheat. Hence the highest regenerative extraction steam temperature decreased accordingly. EC system has been demonstrated to be a more efficient system by exergy theory[1] and energy grade theory. Three types of EC system are proposed in this paper. Thermal performance calculation of these three types of EC system under rated-load condition and part-load condition is carried out to evaluate and compare the economy of system. In order to obtain a more appropriate thermodynamic system solution, safety and restriction should also be given sufficient consideration. Meanwhile, the matrix solution method for energy grade efficiency of EC system is derived in this paper. Finally, energy grade theory is used to analyze how different schemes cause different hate rate profits.

An Optimization Design Platform for Fir-Tree Root and Groove for Steam Turbine

Fir-tree root and groove profiles are widely used in gas turbine and steam turbine. Normally, the fir-tree root and groove are characterized with straight line, arc or even elliptic fillet and splines, then the parameters of these features were defined as design variables to perform root profile optimization. In ultra-long blades of CCPP and nuclear steam turbines and high-speed blades of industrial steam turbine blades, both the root and groove strength are the key challenges during the design process. Especially, in industrial steam turbines, the geometry of blade is very small but the operation velocity is very high and the blade suffers stress concentration severely. In this paper, two methods for geometry configuration and relevant optimization programs are described. The first one is feature-based using straight lines and arcs to configure the fir-tree root and groove geometry and genetic algorithm for optimization. This method is quite fit for wholly new root and groove design. And the second local optimization method is based on B-splines to configure the geometry where the local stress concentration occurs and the relevant optimization algorithm is used for optimization. Also, several cases are studied as comparison by using the optimization design platform. It can be used not only in steam turbines but also in gas turbines.

On the Evaluation and Consideration of Fracture Mechanical Notch Support Within a Creep Fatigue Lifetime Assessment

Changes within the global energy market and a demand for a more flexible operation of gas- and steam-turbines leads to higher utilization of main components and raises the question how to deal with this challenge. One strategy to encounter this is to increase the accuracy of the lifetime assessment by quantifying and reducing conservatisms. At first the impact of considering a fracture mechanical notch support under creep-fatigue loading is studied by discussing the results of an extensive experimental program performed on notched round-bars under global strain control. A proposal how to consider this fracture mechanical notch support within a lifetime assessment is part of the discussion of the second part. Here, a theoretical FEM-based concept is introduced and validated by comparing the theoretical prediction with the results of the previously mentioned experimental study. Finally, the applicability of the developed and validated FEM-based procedure is demonstrated.

Double Scroll Turbine for Automotive Applications: Engine Operating Point Versus Dynamic Blade Stress From Forced Response Vibration

As a means of meeting ever increasing emissions and fuel economy demands car manufacturers are using aggressive engine downsizing. To maintain the power output of the engine turbocharging is typically used. Compared to Mono scroll turbines, with a multi-entry system the individual volute sizing can be better matched to the single mass flow pulse from the engine cylinders. The exhaust pulse energy can be better utilised by the turbocharger turbine improving turbocharger response. Additionally the interaction of the engine exhaust pulses can be better avoided, improving the scavenging of the engine. Besides the thermodynamic advantages, the multi-entry turbine represents a challenge to the structural dynamic design of the turbine. A higher number of turbine wheel resonance points can be expected during operation. In addition, the increased use of exhaust pulse energy leads to a distinct accentuation of the blade vibration excitation. Using validated engine models, the interaction of the multi-entry turbine with the engine has been analyzed and various operating points, which may be critical for the blade vibration excitation, have been classified. These operating points deliver the input variables for unsteady computational flow dynamics (CFD) analyses. From these calculations unsteady blade forces were derived providing the necessary boundary conditions for the structural dynamic analyses by spatially and temporally high-resolved absolute pressures on the turbine surface. Goal of the investigation is to identify critical operating conditions. Important is also to investigate the effect of a scroll connection valve on blade excitation. The investigations utilize validated tools that were introduced and successfully applied to several turbine types in a series of publications over recent years. It can be stated that the engine operating condition and the admission type significantly influence the forced response reaction of the blade to the different excitation orders (EO). In case of equal admission even (or multiples of two) EOs generate the largest dynamic blade stress as can be expected due to the two turbine inlet segments. This reaction also increases with the engine speed. In the case of unequal admission, the odd EOs produce the largest forced response reaction. The maximum dynamic blade stress occurs in the region where the scroll connection is just closed. Above all, the scroll connection valve influences the Beta value and thus the basic behavior — unequal or equal admission. It has been possible to reconstruct the forced response behavior of the turbine blade within an engine combustion cycle. For the first time it could be shown for a double scroll application that there is a significant dynamic blade stress change dependent on the engine crankshaft angle. Certainly, due to the inertia of the mass and damping (mass, structure, flow), the blade will not exactly follow the predicted course. However, it is clear that the transient processes within an engine combustion cycle will affect the dynamic blade stress. This applies to the turbine wheels investigated in the work at hand with low damping, high eigenfrequencies and the considered internal combustion engines — as they are typically used in the passenger car sector.

Design of an Air-Cooled Radial Turbine: Part 1 — Computational Modelling

This paper is part of a two-part publication that aims to design, simulate and test an internally air cooled radial turbine. To achieve this, the additive manufacturing process, Selective Laser Melting (SLM), was utilized to allow internal cooling passages within the blades and hub. This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first publication in the open literature to demonstrate an SLM manufactured, cooled concept applied to a small radial turbine. In this paper, the internally cooled radial turbine was investigated using a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) numerical simulation. Topology Optimisation was also implemented to understand the areas of the wheel that could be used safely for cooling. In addition, the aerodynamic loss and efficiency of the design was compared to a baseline non-cooled wheel. The experimental work is detailed in Part 2 of this two-part publication. Given that the aim was to test the rotor under representative operating conditions, the material properties were provided by the SLM technology collaborator. The boundary conditions for the numerical simulation were derived from the experimental testing where the inlet temperature was set to 1023 K. A polyhedral unstructured mesh made the meshing of internal coolant plenums including the detailed supporting structures possible. The simulation demonstrated that the highest temperature at the blade leading edge was 117 K lower than the uncooled turbine. The coolant mass flow required by turbine was 2.5% of the mainstream flow to achieve this temperature drop. The inertia of the turbine was also reduced by 20% due to the removal of mass required for the internal coolant plenums. The fluid fields in both the coolant channels and downstream of the cooled rotor were analyzed to determine the aerodynamic influence on the temperature distribution. Furthermore, the solid stress distribution inside the rotor was analyzed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) coupled with the CFD results.

Method for Non-Dimensional Tip Leakage Flow Characterization in Radial Turbines

Tip leakage loss characterization and modeling plays an important role in small size radial turbine research. The momentum of the flow passing through the tip gap is highly related with the tip leakage losses. The ratio of fluid momentum driven by the pressure gradient between suction side and pressure side and the fluid momentum caused by the shroud friction has been widely used to analyze and to compare different sized tip clearances. However, the commonly used number for building this momentum ratio lacks some variables, as the blade tip geometry data and the viscosity of the used fluid. To allow the comparison between different sized turbocharger turbine tip gaps, work has been put into finding a consistent characterization of radial tip clearance flow. Therefore, a non-dimensional number has been derived from the Navier Stokes Equation. This number can be calculated like the original ratio over the chord length. Using the results of wide range CFD data, the novel tip leakage number has been compared with the traditional and widely used ratio. Furthermore, the novel tip leakage number can be separated into three different non-dimensional factors. First, a factor dependent on the radial dimensions of the tip gap has been found. Second, a factor defined by the viscosity, the blade loading, and the tip width has been identified. Finally, a factor that defines the coupling between both flow phenomena. These factors can further be used to filter the tip gap flow, obtained by CFD, with the influence of friction driven and pressure driven momentum flow.

The Effect of Stage-Diffuser Interaction on the Aerodynamic Performance and Design of LP Steam Turbine Exhaust Systems

Modern large steam turbines for power generation are required to operate much more flexibly than ever before, due to the increasing use of intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. This has posed great challenges to the design of LP steam turbine exhaust systems, which are critical to recovering the leaving energy that is otherwise lost. In previous studies, the design had been focused on the exhaust diffuser with or without the collector. Although the interaction between the last stage and the exhaust hood has been identified for a long time, little attention has been paid to the last stage blading in the exhaust system’s design process, when the machine frequently operates at part-load conditions. This study focuses on the design of LP exhaust systems considering both the last stage and the exhaust diffuser, over a wide operating range. A 1/10th scale air test rig was built to validate the CFD tool for flow conditions representative of an actual machine at part-load conditions, characterised by highly swirling flows entering the diffuser. A numerical parametric study was performed to investigate the effect of both the diffuser geometry variation and restaggering the last stage rotor blades. Restaggering the rotor blades was found to be an effective way to control the level of leaving energy, as well as the flow conditions at the diffuser inlet, which influence the diffuser’s capability to recover the leaving energy. The benefits from diffuser resizing and rotor blade restaggering were shown to be relatively independent of each other, which suggests the two components can be designed separately. Last, the potentials of performance improvement by considering both the last stage rotor restaggering and the diffuser resizing were demonstrated by an exemplary design, which predicted an increase in the last stage power output of at least 1.5% for a typical 1000MW plant that mostly operates at part-load conditions.

Numerical Study of a Micro Gas Turbine Integrated With a Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle Turbine

The primary need of reducing pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions has led to new energy scenarios. The interest of research community is mainly focused on the development of energy systems based on renewable resources and energy storage systems and smart energy grids. In the latter case small scale energy systems can become of interest as nodes of distributed energy systems. In this context micro gas turbines (MGT) can play a key role thanks to their flexibility and a strategy to increase their overall efficiency is to integrate gas turbines with a bottoming cycle. In this paper the authors analyze the possibility to integrate a MGT with a super critical CO2 Brayton cycle turbine (sCO2 GT) as a bottoming cycle (BC). A 0D thermodynamic analysis is used to highlight opportunities and critical aspects also by a comparison with another integrated energy system in which the waste heat recovery (WHR) is obtained by the adoption of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). While ORC is widely used in case of middle and low temperature of the heat source, s-CO2 BC is a new method in this field of application. One of the aim of the analysis is to verify if this choice can be comparable with ORC for this operative range, with a medium-low value of exhaust gases and very small power values. The studied MGT is a Turbec T100P.