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Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Analysis and Test

The document discusses Mechanical Solutions, Inc.'s experience analyzing and testing aeroderivative gas turbines. It provides several examples of projects they have worked on, including: 1) Identifying the root cause of vibration issues in two gas turbines installed at an overseas power plant by performing detailed modal and operating deflection shape analysis of the engine casing, supports, and foundation. 2) Performing a torsional analysis of pumps and modifying couplings to avoid excitation of vibration modes. 3) Using modal testing to identify the cause of gearbox failures in service water pumps as vibration of a hollow driveshaft exacerbated by gear meshing forces. 4) Various other projects analyzing steam turbines, compressor

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Jorge Mario Rodriguez
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128 views4 pages

Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Analysis and Test

The document discusses Mechanical Solutions, Inc.'s experience analyzing and testing aeroderivative gas turbines. It provides several examples of projects they have worked on, including: 1) Identifying the root cause of vibration issues in two gas turbines installed at an overseas power plant by performing detailed modal and operating deflection shape analysis of the engine casing, supports, and foundation. 2) Performing a torsional analysis of pumps and modifying couplings to avoid excitation of vibration modes. 3) Using modal testing to identify the cause of gearbox failures in service water pumps as vibration of a hollow driveshaft exacerbated by gear meshing forces. 4) Various other projects analyzing steam turbines, compressor

Uploaded by

Jorge Mario Rodriguez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Analysis and Test

The staff of Mechanical Solutions, Inc. has background and experience in the
analysis and testing of aeroderivative gas turbines, such as the popular FT-4,
LM2500, and LM6000 PC units. One of MSI’s principals was one of the design
analysis team-members for the original ground-based and marine-based
conversions of the FT-4. Generally, problems with these units are installation or
system related. MSI’s ability to separate and evaluate rotordynamic, casing, and
support structure effects allows such problems as well as any warranty issues to
be quickly identified, such that responsibilities can be determined, and appropriate
fixes can be developed and implemented.
In a new power plant overseas, two newly installed aeroderivative gas turbine/
generator sets were experiencing sudden and dramatic increases in vibration level
over certain operating torque ranges. Blame was at first fixed on the engine
rotordynamics. MSI performed impulse excitation of the operating engine casing
and rotor, using its time-averaged pulse (TAP ) technique. Forward and backward
TM

critical speeds of the rotor were determined, along with rotor modal damping. It
was clearly shown that rotordynamics was not the issue. Very detailed
experimental modal analysis (EMA) was then performed on the engine casing,
engine supports, I-beam support structure, and turbine bay foundation. Complex
mode shapes were constructed and animated, and modal damping was
determined, for all natural frequencies in the running speed range. In addition,
operating deflection shapes (ODS) of vibration amplitude and phase were
produced based on measurements at many casing and support locations.

This was repeated for various torque conditions, including both problem and non-
problem conditions. EMA and ODS animations were compared, allowing the
identification of excitation force locations and system nonlinearities. Situations
were identified in which the support structure was behaving much more flexibly
than it was designed to. Strain gages on support struts were used to verify these
conclusions. A fix was designed by MSI to fundamentally and completely cure the
problem, on a permanent basis at all operating conditions.

Centrifugal Pump/ Steam Turbine/ VFD-Motor Torsional Analysis and Rotor


Modification

A series of centrifugal pumps were to be purchased and installed in a


petrochemical plant in Taiwan. Prior to purchase, the user contracted Msi staff to
perform a complete mechanical design evaluation, including rotor dynamic,
torsional critical speed, and rotor forced response analysis. In addition, the
pressure-carrying capability of all casings at full and part load was to be assessed.
Some of the pumps were driven by motors through variable frequency drives
(VFDs, which have unique and strong torsional excitation harmonics), and some of
them were driven by steam turbines. Our analysis showed that all aspects of the
design were acceptable with sufficient factor of safety, except for the second
torsional natural frequency, which was excited by twice line frequency of the motor
(this is usually the strongest torsional excitation frequency in electrical motors), and
by the partial admission steam turbine’s second harmonic of running speed, which
could be easily excited by misalignment. A low-speed-shaft coupling modification
was determined through "what-if" analysis that allowed the second torsional mode
to be shifted up and out of the range of excitation by these harmonics, without
creating any new problems. The pumps were installed, and have operated for
several years without any mechanical difficulties.

Identification and Solution of Pump/ Gearbox/Driveshaft/Turbine System


Vibration Problem

A major petrochemical company had a serious gear box failure problem in some
service water pumps, driven at variable speed by a steam turbine though a right
angle 1:1 gear box and hollow drive shafting. Many experts from the pump, turbine,
and gear manufacturers had attempted without success to understand and cure
the problem over a 3 year period. Replacement of the gear boxes with some built
to more stringent standards had no effect. External consultants, using test or
analysis also had failed to solve the problem. Analysis by Msi engineers of
torsional and lateral rotor and structural frequencies confirmed earlier consultant
findings that the design should be sound in this regard. Torsional modal testing,
using testing techniques that could be applied while the pump/gear/turbine
operated, found that all rotor
system natural frequencies
were close to their predicted
values, and with even more
damping than
predicted.However, impact
modal testing on the hollow drive shaft showed that it had a "bell-mode" at the gear
meshing frequency, where the hollow shaft ovalized with very little damping,
causing the shaft length to change through the "poisson effect". The driving force
was shown by the test to be the combined torsional and axial load from the
bull/pinion gear meshing. The drive shaft was filled with grease to damp out this
unusual vibration. The gear box noise immediate fell a factor of five, and all gear
box problems ceased.

Power Steam Turbine Evaluation

Vibration testing was performed on an African power plant steam turbine/


generator set to determine the reasons for excessive vibration. Based on the test
results and evaluation, the plant decided to continue operation, successfully, in
spite of the excessive vibration readings obtained using standard signature testing.
The alternative was a premature turbine overhaul, with associated but unbudgeted
downtime costs of about $1.5M/ day.

Steam Turbine Driver Blade Erosion

Following a lengthy period of service, the LP stages of a nuclear plant boiler feed
pump turbine were found to have suffered erosion damage. A mechanical redesign
of those stages was undertaken by Msi engineers. Analytical modal analysis found
the first several natural frequencies for each stator blade. A possible vibration
problem in one redesigned turbine blade was discovered, and was avoided by
shortening the blade chord. The casing stresses were also investigated, and the
alteration in stress field was determined due to modification of the inner casing.
Both the casing and stator blade stress analyses were performed for worst case
pressure and transient thermal loading. The stator blade vibration and stress
analyses and casing stress analysis predicted that all aspects of the redesigned LP
turbine components should perform satisfactorily in terms of structural and
reliability characteristics.

Latin American New Refinery Process Compressor/ Gas Turbine Train

A major Latin American petrochemical company involved in building a new refinery


purchased their required turbomachines (several complete trains of two
compressors and a gas turbine each) and peripheral equipment (gear sets, valves,
lubrication systems, anti-surge systems, compressor controls, etc.) from foremost
manufacturers around the world. However, they decided that their several hundred
million dollar investment might be jeopardized unless someone was assigned
responsibility for analyzing how the entire system interacted, through-out all
reasonably possible operating conditions. Msi engineers were retained as a third
party to perform this function, analyzing the linked compressors and turbine for
torsional response, analyzing the steady and transient system coupled mechanical/
fluid dynamic/ control system response, and analyzing the lubrication system
adequacy per API specifications and "good practice". Many hours of senior level
engineers, as well as supporting staff, were going to be required by such an
analysis, but the buyer felt that this was necessary as insurance against start-up
problems in this very expensive venture.The machines and peripherals themselves
were found to be without fault, and generally in full compliance with the purchase
specifications. However, it was discovered that the anti-surge valve in one of the
three compressors in the train had insufficient capacity, and likely would have
plagued the train with surges and associated trips and possible bearing and shaft
damage from the first day of operation. This problem, however, was minor
compared with the discovery that the post-trip oil feed reservoir was sized to
provide oil for only several minutes following a system trip. Analysis of the
combined train rotary inertia, including the massive gear sets and couplings,
versus the frictional losses during coast-down showed that coast-down from full
speed would take about double this amount. Both of these problems were able to
avoided very inexpensively during the design stage, but could have involved
enormous cost later. In the case of the inadequate lubrication supply, the source of
the likely catastrophic failure would have been very hard to track down and prove,
and besides the lost maintenance time and production profits may have spawned
warranty collection problems with several of the manufacturers. Even worse, once
the system was re-built, the root problem might never have been solved.

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