GT2012 69617
GT2012 69617
GT2012
June 11-15, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark
GT2012-6
ABSTRACT rotor discs and the connecting tie-rod. Particular care has been
put in the definition of the boundary conditions which are: the
During load operations the gas turbine is characterized by centrifugal loads, the tierod pre-tightening, the thermal
cyclic transients and long dwell times, resulting clearance transient conditions. To take into account 3D effect of airfoil
variation occurs. twisting and bending, the 3D models of the assembly blade-
Tight clearances in both the compressor and the turbine disk are built. The 3D FE displacements of the tip blades are
section is one key to high component efficiencies. However, combined with the 2D FE displacements of the complete rotor
under any operating condition, some clearance must be in the evaluation process. 3D casing FEM model are built to
maintained in order to avoid contact between rotating and calculate the casing distortion due to temperature difference
stationary parts. between cylindrical shell and horizontal flange. The procedure
The optimization of the clearances during the running is one evaluates the axial and radial clearance combining the
of the most relevant key to improve the engine performance, a rotor/stator displacements.
Hydraulic Clearance Optimization (HCO) system is installed The clearance and temperature values are measured and filed
on the Ansaldo Energia gas-turbine models fleet in order to thanks to tip timing capacitive sensors and thermocouples
control turbine blade-tip clearances by appropriate shifting of sensors installed on same stages.
the rotor against the flow direction and consequently reducing The proposed procedure gives results in good agreement with
the radial gaps above the turbine blade tips. the measured clearances in all the transient operation
In particular the proposed procedure takes into account the conditions.
HCO effect on the blade clearances and their optimizing
during the operation conditions. NOMENCLATURE
AEN Ansaldo Energia
The proposed procedure is based on a combination of 2D/3D HCO Hydraulic Clearance Optimization
FEM model of complete rotor-casing assembly and field α duct slope of vane carrier
operation data. U displacement.
The computational approach is based on a 2D axi-symmetric C clearance
finite element model of the engine rotor, including the stacked TVC Turbine Vane Carrier
Subscripts
r radial
ax axial
C cold
H hot
Superscripts
cv casing and vane
asu axial sealing upstream
asd axial sealing downstream
rs radial sealing
rt radial tip Figure 1: Clearance calculated positions
HCO Hydraulic Clearance Optimization
When the gas turbine is sufficiently heated, HCO system
works, because during transient operations radial clearances
INTRODUCTION are lower than base load condition. The clearance evaluation
showed in this paper relates to base load condition.
The heavy-duty Ansaldo Energia gas Turbine is made using The computational approach is based on a combination of 2D
the splined-disk rotor concept which features a single central and 3D analysis for the axial and radial clearance calculation
tie-rod assembling the individual bladed disks together by during engine operation. Particular care has been put in the
radial facial serration known as Hirth-teeth. The assembly of definition of the boundary conditions which are: the
the rotor is shown in Figure 2. The basic design principle is centrifugal loads, the pre-tightening load of the tie rod, the
that the central tie-rod without transmitting any torque, holds thermal conditions on all surface of rotor, blades and casing.
the multi-disks rotor tightly together by an adequate Results simulation by FEM have been compared and validated
compressive prestress force. The full torque developed by the with the field operation data in terms of: temperatures,
power turbine is transmitted to the compressor and then to the displacements and clearances.
coupling by the Hirth teeth which connect adjacent disks.
A gain in efficiency and an increase in power output can be The 2D axi-symmetric finite element model is shown in Figure
obtained from Gas Turbines when the rotor is shifted against 4.
the direction of flow. Through this action the gaps between
turbine blades and the casing become narrower, and the gaps
in the compressor are increased accordingly but the sum of the
two effects produce an increased GT efficiency and power
output.
The shifting may be performed only when the GT is
sufficiently heated.
HCO system (Figure 3) is located on compressor bearing and
allows through hydraulic pistons an axial shift of the rotor
against the direction of flow.
Figure 4: FEM model of the rotor and mesh particular
All relevant clearances have been evaluated using different 2D axisymmetric and plane stress casing model
FEM models; in particular:
• 2D axisymmetric rotor model The 2D axi-symmetric and plane stress finite element
• 2D axisymmetric and plane stress casing model model is shown in Figure 5.
• 3D casing and blade carrier model
• 3D compressor and turbine blade and disk models
• 3D turbine vane model
All thermo-mechanical calculations have been performed by
Ansys® v11.
The procedure for calculation of component thermal loads for
running clearances of heavy-duty gas turbines is shown in Ref.
2.
• Brick and tetrahedric parabolic elements are used for The previous described procedure has been implemented in a
the description of vane and stator ring. in-house tool that reads text files with displacement and
• The coupling between vane and stator ring has been evaluates the axial and radial clearances in all positions,
simulated by constraining the displacements in all starting from the assembly clearances.
necessary directions. Moreover, in the in-house tool it is possible to introduce an
• FE calculation has been performed considering linear HCO effect in order to define an optimum value for the axial
elastic materials behavior shift. Due to this effect, turbine blade tip clearances get
reduced and compressor blade tip clearances increase, so a
The applied boundary conditions on the vane and stator compromise between these two opposite effects must be found:
ring assembly are pressure loads and heat transfer using the described procedure this optimization is really fast.
coefficients with bulk temperature on the vane and the As shown in Figure 9 a field experimental campaign has been
ring. developed in terms of temperatures measurements, absolute
axial displacements of the casing, relative axial displacement
GENERAL APPROACH DESCRIPTION between casing and rotor and clearance measurements. The
validation of the FEM results is of primary importance to
This paper presents a complete clearance evaluation approach obtain reliable values of the clearances even in the positions
for the whole engine, using, as mentioned before, 2D and 3D where no direct measurements are possible.
models.
The above equations describe the radial clearances between Axial clearance between vane and disks in sealing cavity
blade tip and casing; displacements required come from 2D
= cC + (u ax − u ax − uaxHCO )
asu asu cv rotor
rotor model, 3D blade and disk model and 3D casing model. In cH (5)
particular the procedure analyses all displacements of the
casing in all circumferential position, in order to take into
= cC + (−u ax + u ax + u ax
asd asd cv rotor HCO
account the effect of casing ovalization. cH ) (6)
Assembly clearance (evaluated in the condition of minimum
= u ax + u ax
cv ca sin g vane
tolerance) and axial shift due to HCO must be provided by the uax (7)
designer.
The above equations describe the axial clearances between
vanes and rotor; displacements required come from 2D rotor
model, 2D casing model, 3D casing model and 3D turbine
vanes model.
Not uniform temperature distribution of turbine vanes
determinates a rotation in the meridian plane, that can only be
taken into account using a full 3D vane model. This effect is
very important because produces a reduction/growing of axial
clearances in upstream and downstream sealing cavity.
RESULTS ASSESSMENT
u rcv = u r + ur
ca sin g vane
(4)
Clearances assessment
HCO system permits an axial shift of the rotor against flow In order to validate the proposed procedure, it’s been necessary
direction to reduce turbine clearances. During transient compare FEM results to experimental measurements.
Direct clearance measurement has been carried out on 2nd
operations radial clearances are lower than base load
condition, to avoid rubbing this system is used only when the compressor blade; a dedicate geometry sensor has been used in
gas turbine is sufficiently heated. order to fit existing casing holes (factory inspection clearance).
Temperatures
CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES