Summary

1
2
Introduction
3
Result
4
Turbine Cylinders
5
6
Casings
7
Requirements
8
Bands in stead of Flanges & Bolts
9
Single Flow H.P. Turbine
10
Barrel Design No Horizontal Flanges
11
Single flow H.P.Turbine
12
Double Flow H.P.Glands avoided
Balanced Thrust
13
Double Flow L. P. Turbine
14
15
Steam Turbine Design
Impulse Turbine- Velocity Compounding
Reaction Turbine- Pressure Compounding
Compounded Turbine First Stage Velocity
and later stages reaction.
Most large Turbines have an Impulse stage
where the pressure drops greatly and after
velocity compounding, the remaining stages
are reaction.

16
Comparison-
In Impulse
type,the
pressure drops
and velocity
rises greatly.

In reaction
type,the drop
& rise is
gradual.
17
18
True
Impulse
Turbine

And

Reaction
Turbine
Difference between Impulse and Reaction Turbine:
1. An impulse turbine, has nozzles and moving &
fixed blades in series.No pressure drop in the
blades
2. Reaction turbine has fixed blades and moving
blades.
3. In impulse turbine pressure falls in nozzle only,
while in reaction turbine pressure drops over fixed
& moving blades.
4. In impulse turbine velocity of steam increases
greatly in nozzle, while velocity increases gradually
over the fixed blades in the reaction turbine.
19
4. Compounding is done in impulse turbines to increase
efficiency while no compounding is necessary in reaction
turbine.
5. In impulse turbine pressure drop per stage is more than in
reaction turbine.
6. Less number of stages required in impulse turbine
compared to the reaction turbine.
7. Power developed in impulse turbine is less than in a
reaction turbine.
8. Efficiency of impulse turbine is lower than reaction
turbine.
9. Impulse turbine requires less space than reaction turbine.
10. Blade manufacturing of impulse turbine simpler than
reaction turbine blades.


20
Turbine Type Selection
Smaller sizes are Impulse type as they are
cheaper, although less efficient.
Medium and large size turbines must be
reaction type with initial velocity stages.
As a large pressure drop occurs in the
Nozzle, the casing of Impulse turbine is
thinner and hence cheaper.
Warming of Impulse Turbine is faster.
21
Layout Options Transverse or Longitudinal ?
22
More space is required in Longitudinal L/O
Width of Boiler is much less than length of
Turbine.
So space is wasted on Boiler side.
But EOT crane is cheaper as the span is less.
Transverse layout saves space and the energy
flow is in a straight line.
As width of Turbine hall is more, the EOT crane
becomes costlier.
Space has to be provided for Feed heaters and
maintenance purposes.
23
Michell Thrust Bearing
Fluid-film thrust bearings were invented by Australian engineer
George Michell (pronounced Mitchell) who patented his
invention in 1905.
Michell bearings contain a number of sector-shaped pads,
arranged in a circle around the shaft, and which are free to pivot.
These create wedge-shaped regions of oil inside the bearing
between the pads and a rotating disk, which support the applied
thrust and eliminate metal-on-metal contact.
Michell's invention was notably applied to the thrust block in
ships. The small size (one-tenth the size of old bearing designs),
low friction and long life of Michell's invention made possible
the development of more powerful engines and propellers.
They were used extensively in ships built during World War I,
and have become the standard bearing used on turbine shafts in
ships and power plants worldwide.
24
25
Thrust Pads
26
Double Casing (Shrink Rings in lower fig.)
27
Barrel Design
28
Double Flow I.P. Turbine
29
Double Flow L.P. Turbine
30

Blade Materials

Blade material must have following properties,
Corrosion resistance (especially in the wet LP stage)
Tensile strength (to resist centrifugal and bending stresses)
Ductility (to accommodate stress peaks and stress
concentrations)
Impact strength (to resist water slugs)
Material damping (to reduce vibration stresses)
Creep resistance
12% Cr stainless steels are a widely used material. Their
weakness is at very high temperatures (> 480C).
A typical high temperature steel is 12% Cr alloyed with
molybdenum and vanadium (to 650C).
31
Interstage Sealing
32

Blade Erosion

Water droplets in the last stages of a turbine
can cause erosion at the leading edge of
moving blades, and cracks can form.
Leading edges can be protected by surface
hardening or by welding a shield of hard
material such as tungsten chromium tool
steel or satellite (an alloy of cobalt and
chromium).
Shields will probably need to be replaced
once during the lifetime of the turbine.
33

Turbine Casings

A turbine casing (cylinder) is a high pressure vessel with its
weight supported at each end on the horizontal centreline.
It is designed to withstand hoop stresses in the transverse plane
and
to be stiff in the longitudinal direction to maintain accurate
clearances between the stationary and rotating parts.
Casings are split along the horizontal centreline to allow internal
access and insertion of the rotor as a complete assembly.
High pressures necessitate very thick flanges and bolting.
The temperature of these changes more slowly than the rest of the
casing during start-up so a flange warming system is used.
HP and IP casings are cast.
LP casings can contain some fabrication.
Casings are tested to 150% of highest working pressure.
34
Double Casing
35
High Pressure Casings
Cross-sections of a single-flow HP casing are shown in Fig.
HP casings are usually of a double shell design.
The space between the shells is filled with steam at exhaust
conditions.
Then each casing can be designed for smaller temperature and
pressure differentials.
Some exhaust steam leaks past a baffle to fill the space between
the shells.
The rotor is protected from high pressure steam at the inlet by a
deflector ring.
Steam leaking past the gland at the HP end is piped to exhaust
connections, so there is only a gentle flow between the casings.
Triple casings are used in some machines to further reduce
temperature and pressure differentials.
36
37

Couplings

Shaft couplings are needed between the various stages
of a turbine/generator set.
Ideally, couplings should:
Transmit torque
Allow angular misalignment
Transmit axial thrust
Ensure axial location or allow relative axial movement
Provide torsional resilience
Flexible or semi-flexible couplings can provide this but
they are impracticable on large turbines because of the
high torque to be transmitted.
38
Rigid couplings are used in large turbines so that the joined
shafts can behave as one continuous rotor.
They are either integral with the shaft forging or
shrunk on to the shaft .
In the latter case, high pressure oil can be injected into
annular grooves to ensure correct seating during assembly,
or to aid removal.
Couplings are designed to withstand a three-phase fault or
out-of-phase synchronising without damage (4-5 times full
load torque).
39
Rigid Forged Coupling
40

Rotor Alignment

Excessive misalignment of a multi-bearing shaft line can affect the
vibration behaviour.
It causes bending moments at couplings which act like a rotating out-
of-balance.
It can cause bearing unloading which alters shaft vibration behaviour.
A long shaft bends naturally under its own weight to form a catenary
and revolve around a curved centreline.
The shape of the catenary depends on the masses and stiffnesses of the
rotors.
The aim of alignment is to ensure insignificant bending moments and
shear at the couplings.
Bearing heights are adjusted so that coupling faces are square to each
other, with centrelines coincident and with the same slope where the
faces meet.
This is done by slightly separating the coupling and turning the rotor to
different positions. Bearings are adjusted to get uniform gap and
concentricity (measured with a dial gauge).
41
Shaft Catenary
42

Journal Bearings

Bearings on the shaft line of a large
turbine/generator set are invariably white-
metalledjournal bearings because of their:
high load capacity
reliability
absence of wear through use of
hydrodynamically generated films of
lubricating oil .(no metal-to-metal contact)
43
Construction of Journal Bearings
Turbine bearings have diameters up to 550 mm,
with length/diameter (L/D) ratios of 0.5 to 0.7.
Generator bearings have L/D ratios of 0.6 to 1.0
because of the weight of the generator rotor.
They are split in halves for assembly of the rotor,
with bolts and local dowels.
White metal is either cast into a mild steel liner or
cast into the bearing body.
The bearing body is spherically seated into the
pedestal for angular alignment.
Shims are available for vertical and horizontal
alignment.
44
Exploded view of a Journal Bearing
45
White metal (or babbit) is usually composed of 80 to 90
% tin to which is added about 3 to 8% copper and 4 to
14% antimony.
These alloys have very little tendency to cause wear to
their steel journals because of their ability to embed dirt.
They are easily bonded, cast and shaped, and can have
good load-carrying and fatigue properties.
The bores of journal bearings are usually elliptical to
provide the geometry for hydrodynamic lubrication.
46
A circular bore is machined with shims in the horizontal
split.
The shims are removed in assembly to give typical
diametrical clearance/diameter ratios of 0.001 vertically
and 0.00015 horizontally.
Oil is fed into the bearing via lead-in ports at two
diametrically opposite points on the horizontal centreline.
This is to cool and lubricate the bearings and comes from
the main turbine lubricating-oil pump.
Each bearing also has a high pressure jacking oil supply at
the bottom.
This lifts the shaft when starting from rest, until speed is
high enough for hydrodynamic lubrication to start-up.

47

Pedestals

Pedestals support the turbine rotor via the journal
bearings in a fixed axial relationship with each
cylinder so that gland clearances are maintained.
They are usually fabricated in steel and stiffened
by ribs and gussets plates.
In the LP area, pedestals are normally bolted and
dowelled to the foundations.
At the HP end, provision is made for the cylinders
to expand by way of sliding points at the top or
bottom of the pedestals
48
49
T U R B I N E
DESIGN ASPECTS
High temperature.Creep.
Thermal Stress.
High pressure-Hoops stress.(for cylinders)
High Speed (3000 RPM)
High centrifugal stress proportional to (r*w*w)
Unbalance-Vibrations -Close clearances
between fixed & rotating parts.

50
Turbine Rotor Requirements
High temperature rotors (HP & IP) need a
combination of-
1. Creep strength
2. Rupture strength
3. Ductility.
Chromium, Molybdenum, and Vanadium
(Cr-Mo-V) provide these properties to steel.
They provide a ferritic material for best creep
properties.
51
Creep
Creep is plastic deformation (strain) at high
temperature at a stress even below the yield
point.
Permissible creep strain is 0.2% during 10 lakh
hours of operation.
(About 12-1/2 years with annual one month
outage for overhaul.
1%Cr-1%Mo-0.25%V give best results for
creep strength.
52
L.P. Rotors
1. Here the temperature is low but centrifugal stress is
highest.
2. So, L.P. rotors need high tensile strength & High
toughness.
3. 3.5%Ni,Cr,Mo,V mono-block rotors are generally
used.
4. In 200/210 Russian design-the discs on LP Rotor are
shrunk fit.
5. Hence sudden change in diff.expn.from 600 to 3000
RPM.
53
Rotor sizes
1. Mono block rotors for 900 MW 3000 RPM.
2. LP Rotor for 660 MW- 100 MT forged
weight.
3. This is made from ingot of twice this size.
4. Vacuum degassing eliminates Hydrogen
embrittlement cracking.
5. Ultrasonic test- No internal cavity greater
than 5mm diameter is permissible.
54
Boroscopic Inspection
All rotors have a central axial bore for
boroscopic inspection.
The central hole doubles the centrifugal stress .
With superior inspection techniques, no bore is
drilled.
This greatly reduces the stress.
For built-up rotors,(only L.P.)-good welding
techniques are developed now.
The conflicting needs are Tensile strength and
ductility.
55
Fracture Appearance Transition temperature.(FATT)
FATT is the Temperature at which small cavities may
enlarge under stress.
FATT is kept as low as possible.
LP rotors operate at near ambient temperatures.
With stringent NDT and fracture mechanics study,
FATT is kept well below the ambient temperature.
3.5%Ni,Cr.Mo.V. steel has low FATT.
To get high fracture toughness, proper composition
control and heat treatment is required.
This ensures trouble free operation of LP Rotor.
56
Rotor Testing-Thermal (On Load) Stability
There are three types of instabilities-
1. Permanent-Due to asymmetrical expansion
coefficients across the rotor diameter.
Close metallurgical control of forging process is
essential.
2.Temporary-Due to residual stresses in rotor.
Stress relieving of rotor before & after machining.
For this the rotor is kept rotating in a special furnace.
3. Transient-Differences in conductivity & emissivity.
57
Transient Instability
To demonstrate this, one side of a rotor was mirror
finished, and other side was kept as usual.
Vibrations were noticed in service although the rotor was
balanced.
Generally ferritic materials remove this problem.
While cleaning a rotor by sand blasting, care must be
taken to ensure uniform cleaning on all sides of rotor.

An unstable rotor develops a bow and consequent
vibrations develop.
58
Over-speed Testing
20% proof O/S. after manufacture.
It proves the rotor balance at operational speed.

The rotor gets proof stress tested as much higher
centrifugal stress is imposed at 20% O/S.

Stress is proportional to Square of rotational
speed.
59
Rotor Balancing
1. Static Balancing- It proves even distribution of
mass.This is tested by rolling the rotor on knife edge
supports.
2. Dynamic Balancing.-It take care of unbalanced
couples.
The rotor is rotated (400 rpm) and vibrations are
noted.
Balance weights are added till vibrations become
negligible.
For full speed balancing, vacuum chambers are used.

60
Unbalance couple
Such a rotor will show static balance
but is dynamically unbalanced. It will vibrate in
service.
Provision is made on rotors to fix balance weights.
As site conditions differ from test bed conditions,
trim balancing may be needed at site.
61
CRITICAL SPEED
Natural Frequency of a rotor is directly proportional to dia.and
inversely proportional to length.
When a critical speed is below the operating speed, it must be
quickly passed while rolling the turbine.
Otherwise there will be resonance and severe vibrations.
This is a FLEXIBLE rotor.
Rotor shafts are joined by couplings. There may be 6-7 couplings.
Coupled shafts are treated as ONE Shaft.
Each rotor is supported on two bearings.
These are not simple supports.
Hydro dynamics of bearing oil film changes with temperature & oil
condition.
All this may significantly alter the critical speed calculated by
theory.
62
Rotor Fast Fracture Risk Assessment
1. Advanced forging techniques try to give defect free
rotor.
2. But due to the huge size of the forging, some small
defects (cavities/cracks) may remain.
3. These defects may grow in service, (due to
centrifugal stress) and cause fracture.
4. Permissible size of defect is determined by
calculations & experience.
To assess the failure possibility
100% volumetric NDT is done. and it is ensured that
defects are below the permissible size.



63
5. The rotor is subjected centrifugal & thermal stress
cycling.
6. Growth rate of defect is observed. It should be
within permissible band.

Mal-operations during start-up may cause
higher growth rate and failure.
Hence the need to strictly follow the
established operations procedure.
(Thermal soaking of Turbine is important)
HP & IP Rotors operate in creep range and
any defect may grow even under steady loading.

64
COUPLINGS
FlexibleSemi FlexibleRigid.
Flexible-Claw or gear-tooth couplings, Bibby coupling
can-
1. Absorb small angular & axial misalignment.
2. Double flexible couplings can absorb eccentricity.
3. Bibby couplings satisfactory for medium loads.It has
torsional resilience.Useful for jerky loads like coal
mills.Torsional stiffness increses with load.
These couplings require lubrication.
65
Semi-flexible and Rigid couplings
Semi-Flexible:-Bellow type.Allow angular bending
only. Absorb some axial movement. They are stiff in
torsion.No lubrication.
Coupling between LP Rotor & Generator.
Rigid Couplings:- These are integral with the
shaft.
Shrunk on coupling flanges may be used on Turbines &
Generator-rotor. These can be taken off to remove the
rotor discs or the rotor retaining rings.(End bells).
66
Torque transmission by couplings
The torque is transmitted by the friction at the flanges
and shear load on the bolts.
Coupling bolt tolerance is about 0.02mm.
For this reaming of holes is necessary which is a lengthy
procedure.
Normally ALL bolts are not fitted by reaming.Only
sufficient no. of bolts are fittedto withstand system
fault torques.Remaining bolts are loose fit.
A close by 3-ph. Fault or mal-synchronising torque may
be 4-5 times full-load torque.
So-Synchronise very carefully.
67
Coupling Bolts
Coupling Bolts have cylindrical heads with an
integral hexagon for tightening.

They are recessed into the coupling flanges to
reduce windage.

Coupling guards are provided to reduce windage
heating of adjacent bearing pedastal and formation
of oil mist.
68
TURBINE CASINGS
1. Casing is a pressure vessel supported at both ends on
a horizontal centerline.
2. Hoops stress in transverse plane.
3. Very stiff in longitudinal direction to keep accurate
clearances between rotating and fixed parts.
4. All casings are split for internal access. For placing
diaphragms carrying fixed blades and the rotor in
position.
5. So, there are horizontal flanges and bolts.
69
Flanges are massive (compared to casing
thickness) as bolt holes are present and huge force
has to be applied for tightness of the flange.
So they tend to expand differently relative to the
casing.For this , flange heating is provided.
Gland housings further complicate the casing.
HP & IP casings are castings. Circular cross
section,flanges,bolting steam entry etc. are kept
symmetrical to reduce thermal asymmetry &
distorsion.

70
LP casing may be fabricated. Or a combination of casting &
fabrication.
Hydarulic test is conducted at 150% of highest working
pressure.
HP casings are usually double casings.
This reduces the shell thickness.
Each casing has to be designed for lesser thermal & pressure
stress.
Space between casings is filled with exhaust steam from HP
cylinder.
Faster warming possible due to thinner shells.
Thinner shells are easier to cast and have less defects.

71
Tripple Casing
Inner casing has flanges.
Outer casing is barrel type.It has no flanges,so design is
simpler.
In earlier machines, the control & stop valve-chest was
integral with the casing.This complicated the design and
valve maintenance was delayed as cooling was very slow.
Now valves may be mounted in the pipe line,slighly away
from the casing.
Casing becomes simpler and valve maintenance is easier.
72
IP & LP Casing
Temperature is same as HP casing but the pressure is
much less.
So the casing is thinner.
In double flow IP, no glands are needed at high pressure
end.
L.P. casing is usually double flow-double casing.
Inner casing contains the diaphragms & extraction points.
Outer casing directs exhaust steam to condensor and
provides support for the inner casing.
73
CASING MATERIALS
H.P. and I.P. Casing:- High temperature, creep
resistant material.
2.25% Cr.-1Mo-for temperatures up-to 538 deg.C.
0.5%Cr-0.5Mo-0.25V for temperatures up-to 565.

L.P. casing:- Generally fabricated from Carbon
Steel.
Inner casing may be spheroidal Cast Iron.
Any large defect is ground out and repaired by
welding.
74
Casing gland & Diaphragm glands.
To prevent leakage from the gap between fixed & moving
parts, glands are provided.
Glands are labyrinth or see-through type.
They provide a torturous path for the leaking steam which
greatly reduces its pressure and hence the leakage.
Glands prevent steam leakage in HP & IP casing.
L.P. casing glands prevent air entry.Here sealing steam
must always be provided.
HP & IP casing gland sealing steam is needed only during
start-up.
75
Bearings
Thrust bearing. It is an axial bearing.
76
Thrust Bearing Monitor
77
78
SHAFT CATENARY
Turbo-Generator Shaft Catenary
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Bearing No.
L
i
f
t

i
n

m
m