Marius Grübel

Two-Phase Flow Modeling and Measurements in Low-Pressure Turbines: Part 1 — Numerical Validation of Wet Steam Models and Turbine Modeling

In this publication an overview of the current state of wetness modeling at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery and Machinery Laboratory (ITSM) is given. For the modeling an Euler-Euler method implemented in the commercial flow solver ANSYS CFX is used. This method is able to take into account the non-equilibrium state of the steam and models the interactions between the gaseous and liquid phases.This paper is the first part of a two-part publication and deals with the numerical validation of wet steam models by means of condensing nozzle and cascade flows. A number of issues with regard to the quality of the CFD code and the applied condensation models are addressed comparing the results to measurements. It can be concluded, that a calibration of the models is necessary to achieve a satisfying agreement with the experimental results.Moreover, the modeling of the low pressure model steam turbine operated at the ITSM is described focusing on the asymmetric flow field in the last stage caused by the axial-radial diffuser. Different simplified axisymmetric diffuser models are investigated in steady state simulations and the results and the arising issues for part-load, design-load and over-load conditions are discussed. Thereafter, a comparison between the equilibrium and non-equilibrium steam modeling approaches is performed and the advantage of the non-equilibrium model is highlighted.The second part of the publication focuses on experimental investigations and compares the numerical results to wetness measurement data, see Schatz et al. [1]. For this purpose, also different load conditions are considered.Copyright

Two-Phase Flow Modeling and Measurements in Low-Pressure Turbines—Part I: Numerical Validation of Wet Steam Models and Turbine Modeling

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Experimental study of the effects of temperature variation on droplet size and wetness fraction in a low-pressure model steam turbine

The three-stage low-pressure model steam turbine at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery and Machinery Laboratory (ITSM) was used to study the impact of three different steam inlet temperatures on the homogeneous condensation process and the resulting wetness topology. The droplet spectrum as well as the particle number concentration were measured in front of the last stage using an optical-pneumatic probe. At design load, condensation starts inside the stator of the second stage. A change in the steam inlet temperature is able to shift the location of condensation onset within the blade row up- or downstream and even into adjoining blade passages, which leads to significantly different local droplet sizes and wetness fractions due to different local expansion rates. The measured results are compared to steady three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics calculations. The predicted nucleation zones could be largely confirmed by the measurements. Although the trend of measured and calculated droplet size across the span is satisfactory, there are considerable differences between the measured and computed droplet spectrum and wetness fractions.

Numerical Investigation of Boundary Layers in Wet Steam Nozzles

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Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flow in a Low-Pressure Industrial Steam Turbine With Part-Span Connectors

An experimental and numerical study on the flow in a three stage low pressure (LP) industrial steam turbine is presented and analyzed. The investigated LP section features conical friction bolts in the last and a lacing wire in the penultimate rotor blade row. These part-span connectors (PSC) allow safe turbine operation over an extremely wide range and even in blade resonance condition. However, additional losses are generated which affect the performance of the turbine. In order to capture their impact on the flow field, extensive measurements with pneumatic multi-hole probes in an industrial steam turbine test rig have been carried out. State-of-the-art three-dimensional CFD applying a non-equilibrium steam (NES) model is used to examine the aero-thermodynamic effects of the PSC on the wet steam flow. A detailed comparison between measurement data and CFD results is performed for several operating conditions. The investigation shows that the applied CFD model is able to capture the three-dimensional flow field in LP steam turbine blading with PSC and the total pressure reduction due to the PSC with a generally good agreement to measured values and is therefore sufficient for engineering practice.Copyright

Two-Phase Flow Modeling and Measurements in Low-Pressure Turbines - Part II: Turbine Wetness Measurement and Comparison to Computational Fluid Dynamics-Predictions

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Results of the International Wet Steam Modeling Project

The purpose of the “International Wet Steam Modeling Project” is to review the ability of computational methods to predict condensing steam flows. The results of numerous wet-steam methods are compared with each other and with experimental data for several nozzle test cases. The spread of computed results is quite noticeable and the present paper endeavours to explain some of the reasons for this. Generally, however, the results confirm that reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained by using classical homogeneous nucleation theory corrected for non-isothermal effects, combined with Young’s droplet growth model. Some calibration of the latter is however required. The equation of state is also shown to have a significant impact on the location of the Wilson point, thus adding to the uncertainty surrounding the condensation theory. With respect to the validation of wet-steam models it is shown that some of the commonly used nozzle test cases have design deficiencies which are particularly apparent in the context of two- and three-dimensional computations. In particular, it is difficult to separate out condensation phenomena from boundary layer effects unless the nozzle geometry is carefully designed to provide near-one-dimensional flow.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flow in a LP Industrial Steam Turbine With Part-Span Connectors

An experimental and numerical study on the flow in a three stage low pressure (LP) industrial steam turbine is presented and analyzed. The investigated LP section features conical friction bolts in the last and a lacing wire in the penultimate rotor blade row. These part-span connectors (PSC) allow safe turbine operation over an extremely wide range and even in blade resonance condition. However, additional losses are generated which affect the performance of the turbine. In order to capture their impact on the flow field, extensive measurements with pneumatic multi-hole probes in an industrial steam turbine test rig have been carried out. State-of-the-art three-dimensional CFD applying a non-equilibrium steam (NES) model is used to examine the aero-thermodynamic effects of the PSC on the wet steam flow. A detailed comparison between measurement data and CFD results is performed for several operating conditions. The investigation shows that the applied CFD model is able to capture the three-dimensional flow field in LP steam turbine blading with PSC and the total pressure reduction due to the PSC with a generally good agreement to measured values and is therefore sufficient for engineering practice.Copyright

Numerical and experimental study on aerodynamic optimization of part-span connectors in the last stage of a low-pressure industrial steam turbine

Industrial steam turbines are operated over an extremely wide range of operating conditions. In order to ensure safe turbine operation, even in blade resonance condition, conical friction bolts are mounted between blade reinforcements of adjacent last stage low-pressure blades. These part-span connectors (PSC) provide blade damping and coupling. However, additional losses are generated, which affect the performance of the turbine. In this paper, a numerical and experimental study on aerodynamic optimization of PSCs is presented. State-of-the-art three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applying a nonequilibrium steam model is used to examine the wet steam flow in coupled last stage blading. The one-passage CFD model with parameterized PSC geometry features structured high-resolution hexahedral meshes. Experimental data of measurements with pneumatic multi-hole probes in an industrial steam turbine test rig are used for validation. According to the good agreement between measured and predicted flow field downstream of the last stage rotor blading, the CFD model is valid to capture the loss induced by the PSC. A numerical study on the aerodynamic effects of geometrical variations of PSCs concerning blockage area and shape is presented in this work. Based on this study, a performance assessment of different PSC designs is discussed and numerical results are compared to the loss coefficients predicted by Traupel’s analytical correlation, which is widely used in industry.

Two-Phase Flow Modeling and Measurements in Low-Pressure Turbines: Part 2 — Turbine Wetness Measurement and Comparison to CFD-Predictions

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