• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.114-121
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• 2003

Water droplet erosion is one of major concerns in the design of modern large fossil steam turbines because it causes serious operational problems such as performance degradation and reduction of service life. A new erosion model has been developed in the present study for the prediction of water droplet erosion of rotor blades operated in wet steam conditions. The major four erosion parameter : impact velocity, impacting droplet flow rate, droplet size and hardness of target are involved in the model so that it can also be used for engineering purpose at the design stage of rotor blades. Comparison of the predicted erosion rate with the measured data obtained from the practical steam turbine operated for more than 90,000 hours shows good agreement.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.61-68
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• 2001

Turbine blade in nuclear plant is subject to cyclic bending fatigue by high steam pressure. Especially, fatigue fracture is caused by low stress below yielding stress. Photograph by SEM doesn't have striation but photograph by AFM has striation on the fatigue fractured surface of 12% Cr steel used in turbine blade. Surface roughness $R_q$ has the linear relation with respect to stress intensity factor range ΔK and is increased linearly according to load amplitude $\textit{\Delta}P$. In this study loading condition applied to turbine blade is predicted by the relation between the gradient of $R_q$ to $\textit{\Delta}K$ and load amplitude $\textit{\Delta}P$.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.258-265
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• 2001

Turbine blade is subject to force of three type ; torsional force by torsion-mount, centrifugal force by rotation of rotor and cyclic bending force by steam pressure. Cyclic bending force of them is main factor on fatigue fracture. In the X-ray diffraction method, the change in the values related to plastic deformation and residual stress near the fracture surface mat be determined, and information of internal structure of material can be obtained. Therefore, to find a fracture mechanism of torsion-mounted blade in nuclear plant, based on the information from the fracture surface obtained by fatigue test, the correlation of X-ray parameter and fracture mechanics parameter was determined, and then the load applied to actual broken turbine blade parts was predicted. Failure analysis is performed by finite element method and Goodman diagram on torsion-mounted blade.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.253-253
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• 2008

The main purpose of this study is to identify the vibrational characteristics for the LP blades of Korean standard fossil power plants. Modal tests for the 6 stage blade with boundary condition in which the root of blades are constrained with the disk were conducted, and FE analysis was also did with the same boundary condition. The steady-stress and modal analyses for the coupled bladed-disk system of LP turbine stages were completed. The dynamic analysis and fatigue analysis were followed to diagnose the integrity of LP turbine blades.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.713-720
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• 2015

The sizes of the final blades of a low-pressure (LP) steam turbine have been getting larger for the development of high-capacity power plants. They are also larger than the other blades in the same system. As a result, fatigue damage is caused by a large centrifugal force and a low natural frequency of the blade. Recently, many failure cases have been reported due to repeated turbine startups and their prolonged use. In this study, the causes and mechanism of failure of a LP turbine blade were analyzed by using a finite element method to calculate the centrifugal force, the natural frequency of a stress-stiffening effect, and the harmonic response. It was observed that the expected fatigue damage position matched the real crack position at the airfoil's leading edge, and an equivalence fatigue limit approached a notch fatigue limit.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2010

This paper studies causes of the L-1 blade damage of a low pressure turbine, which was found during the scheduled maintenance, in 500 MW fossil power plants. Many failures of turbine blades are caused by the coupling of aerodynamic forcing with bladed-disk vibration characteristics. In this study the coupled vibration characteristics of the L-1 turbine bladed-disk in a fossil power plant is shown for the purpose of identifying the root cause of the damage and confirming equipment integrity. First, analytic and experimental modal analysis for the bladed-disk at zero rpm as well as a single blade were performed and analyzed in order to verify the finite element model, and then steady stresses, natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes, dynamic stresses were calculated for the bladed-disk under operation. Centrifugal force and steady steam force were considered in calculation of steady and dynamic stress. The proximity of modes to sources of excitation was assessed by means of an interference diagram to examine resonances. In addition, fatigue analysis was done for the dangerous modes of operation by a local strain approach. It is expected that these dynamic characteristics will be used effectively to identify the root causes of blade failures and to perform prompt maintenance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2013

Steam turbine blades and discs of nuclear power plants are one of the most highly stressed areas of turbine rotor, and periodic inspection of the blade roots is essential for monitoring integrity and preventing turbine failure. Ultrasonic technique is applied for volumetric inspection of blade root. However, the complexity of blade root geometry imposes challenges to inspection of blades and discs. Recently, phased array ultrasonic inspection technology is being applied to numerous power generation inspection applications including turbine rotor. The phased array ultrasonic technique requires customized inspection wedges which are generally necessary to generate effectively higher incident angle. But the usage of this wedge can cause access limitation for the lower stage blades of turbine because of the wedge front length. Therefore, the shear wave phased array probe which can generate high inspection angle without wedge is essentially necessary. In this study, feasibility study is conducted for the shear wave phased array ultrasonic probe application to blade and disc inspection. As results, the experimental results show that the shear wave phased array probe can detect the flaw and measure its size with reliable accuracy. Therefore if this shear wave phased array probe is applied to field inspection of blade and disc, more reliable inspection is expected for turbine having access limitation.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2016

An experimental study is conducted for unsteady wet steam flow in a four-stage low-pressure test steam turbine. The measurements are carried out at outlets of the last two stages by using a newly developed fast response aerodynamic probe. This FRAP-HTH probe (Fast Response Aerodynamic Probe - High Temperature Heated) has a miniature high-power cartridge heater with an active control system to heat the probe tip, allowing it to be applied to wet steam measurements. The phase-locked average results obtained with a sampling frequency of 200 kHz clarify the flow characteristics, such as the blade wakes and secondary vortexes, downstream from the individual rotational blades in the wet steam environment.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1715-1720
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• 2004

This paper presents the characteristics of internal clearances for the interstage of blades and shaft gland seals on the steam turbine which are installed in tandem compound. Internal clearances was changed when the rotor turned in the cylindrical sleeve bearing due to the generation of oil film wedge. This presented concern is very useful to prevent the rubbing damage of seal edge between the fixed and moving parts in steam turbine due to the misalignment at the rotating and stationary parts. This method is applied for the unbalanced clearances distribution to the left and right sides in the turbine casing. A considerable amount of unbalanced clearances distribution trend is determined according to the rotating speed of rotor, size and type of proceeding bearing, oil viscosity, surface roughness of bearing and shaft, oil temperature, oil pressure and bearing load.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.22-29
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• 2011

In this study, the damage mechanism of large scale steam turbine due to water induction was analyzed and recovery characteristics were reviewed. A turbine consists of the rotating rotor and the stationary casing, and the clearance between them is very small for the efficiency enhancement. If water induction, while relatively cold steam or water is introduced into turbine, occurs, the considerable humping is caused at the casing near the initial water induction point and that induces the rubbing between rotor and casing. Finally, it leads to the catastrophic failure. Bowed rotor has the different characteristics in the recovery depending on damage degree. The elastic deformation due to light rubbing is recovered by turning the rotor with 3 rpm under normal operation condition, but most plastic deformation due to rubbing deforms the local microstructure and that results in permanent deformation which could not be recovered under normal operation condition. Bowed rotor has diverse characteristics depending on the recovery method, and the method is empirical and needs the cutting edge technology. Careful recovery treatment of the rotor will eliminate the risks and secure the high quality rotor similar to new rotor. If any critical error is made during the recovery, the rotor would not be recovered permanently and it should be scrapped.