Numerical Investigation on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Low-Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood Using Design of Experiment Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Diurno ◽  
Tommaso Fondelli ◽  
Leonardo Nettis ◽  
Nicola Maceli ◽  
Lorenzo Arcangeli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Design Of Experiment ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Pressure Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

Abstract Nowadays, the rising interest in using renewable energy for thermal power generation has led to radical changes in steam turbine design practice and operability. Modern steam turbines are required to operate with greater flexibility due to rapid load changes, fast start-up, and frequent shutdowns. This has given rise to great challenges to the exhaust hood system design, which has a great influence on the overall turbine performance converting the kinetic energy leaving the last stage of low-pressure turbine into static pressure. The radial hoods are characterized by a complex aerodynamic behavior since the flow turns by 90 deg in a very short distance and this generates a highly rotational flow structure within the diffuser and exhaust hood outer casing, moreover, the adverse pressure gradient can promote the flow separation drastically reducing the hood recovery performance. For these reasons, it is fundamental to design the exhaust system in order to ensure a good pressure recovery under all the machine operating conditions. This paper presents a design of experiment (DOE) analysis on a low-pressure steam turbine exhaust hood through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. A parametric model of an axial-radial exhaust hood was developed, and a sensitivity of exhaust hood performance as a function of key geometrical parameters was carried out, with the aim of optimizing the pressure recovery coefficient and minimizing the overall dimensions of the exhaust casing. Since hood performance strongly depends on a proper coupling with the turbine rear stage, such a stage was modeled using the so-called mixing-plane approach to couple both stator–rotor and rotor-diffuser interfaces. A detailed analysis of the flow field in the exhaust hood in the different configurations was performed, detecting the swirling structures responsible for the energy dissipation in each simulation, as well as correlating the flow field with the pressure recovery coefficient.

Numerical Investigation on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Low-Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood Using DOE Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Diurno ◽  
Tommaso Fondelli ◽  
Leonardo Nettis ◽  
Nicola Maceli ◽  
Lorenzo Arcangeli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Pressure Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

Abstract Nowadays, the rising interest in using renewable energy for thermal power generation has led to radical changes in steam turbine design practice and operability. Modern steam turbines are required to operate with greater flexibility due to rapid load changes, fast start-up, and frequent shutdowns. This has given rise to great challenges to the exhaust hood system design, which has a great influence on the overall turbine performance converting the kinetic energy leaving the last stage of LP turbine into static pressure. The radial hoods are characterized by a complex aerodynamic behavior since the flow turns by 90° in a very short distance and this generates a highly rotational flow structure within the diffuser and exhaust hood outer casing, moreover, the adverse pressure gradient can promote the flow separation drastically reducing the hood recovery performance. For these reasons it is fundamental to design the exhaust system in order to ensure a good pressure recovery under all the machine operating conditions. This paper presents a Design of Experiment analysis on a low-pressure steam turbine exhaust hood through CFD simulations. A parametric model of an axial-radial exhaust hood was developed and a sensitivity of exhaust hood performance as a function of key geometrical parameters was carried out, with the aim of optimizing the pressure recovery coefficient and minimizing the overall dimensions of the exhaust casing. Since hood performance strongly depends on a proper coupling with the turbine rear stage, such a stage was modeled using the so-called mixing-plane approach to couple both stator-rotor and rotor-diffuser interfaces. A detailed analysis of the flow field in the exhaust hood in the different configurations was performed, detecting the swirling structures responsible for the energy dissipation in each simulation, as well as correlating the flow field with the pressure recovery coefficient.

Detailed Numerical Study of the Main Sources of Loss and Flow Behavior in Low Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hoods

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dickson Munyoki ◽  
Markus Schatz ◽  
Damian M. Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Flow Behavior ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The performance of the axial-radial diffuser downstream of the last low-pressure steam turbine stages and the losses occurring subsequently within the exhaust hood directly influences the overall efficiency of a steam power plant. It is estimated that an improvement of the pressure recovery in the diffuser and exhaust hood by 10% translates into 1% of last stage efficiency [11]. While the design of axial-radial diffusers has been the object of quite many studies, the flow phenomena occurring within the exhaust hood have not received much attention in recent years. However, major losses occur due to dissipation within vortices and inability of the hood to properly diffuse the flow. Flow turning from radial to downward flow towards the condenser, especially at the upper part of the hood is essentially the main cause for this. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the losses within the exhaust hood flow for two operating conditions based on numerical results. In order to identify the underlying mechanisms and the locations where dissipation mainly occurs, an approach was followed, whereby the diffuser inflow is divided into different sectors and pressure recovery, dissipation and finally residual kinetic energy of the flow originating from these sectors is calculated at different locations within the hood. Based on this method, the flow from the topmost sectors at the diffuser inlet is found to cause the highest dissipation for both investigated cases. Upon hitting the exhaust hood walls, the flow on the upper part of the diffuser is deflected, forming complex vortices which are stretching into the condenser and interacting with flow originating from other sectors, thereby causing further swirling and generating additional losses. The detailed study of the flow behavior in the exhaust hood and the associated dissipation presents an opportunity for future investigations of efficient geometrical features to be introduced within the hood to improve the flow and hence the overall pressure recovery coefficient.

Aerodynamics Prediction and Design of a Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiwei Zhou ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Xiaocheng Zhu ◽  
Zhaohui Du
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Design ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Experimental Measurement ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Optimization System ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

The exhaust hood of a low pressure steam turbine is a component that has the potential to be improved considerably in terms of aerodynamic efficiency. In the present study, flow structures in the exhaust hood model of the low pressure stream turbine are investigated with experimental measurement and numerical simulation. The flow field in a modern type of exhaust hood is illustrated. The flow field predicted by CFD is validated by experimental measurement. Then, this paper introduces an aerodynamic optimization system to further improve the pressure recovery capability of low pressure turbine exhaust hood. The optimization system is developed with the Kriging surrogate model and the CFD method. The aerodynamic benefit provided by the optimal exhaust hood is explained. Finally, to scrutinize the static pressure recovery capability of the optimized exhaust hood, a full-scale exhaust hood coupled with last three stages is used to numerically evaluate the optimal design at four different flow rates. It is demonstrated that the optimal design from the air model can be used in the actual exhaust hood in different operation conditions.

Numerical Investigation of the Influence of Hood Height Variation on Performance of Low Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hoods

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dickson Munyoki ◽  
Markus Schatz ◽  
Damian M. Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Reference Configuration ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Parameter Study ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

Performance optimization of low pressure steam turbine exhaust hood has been a subject of a number of both numerical and experimental studies. This is driven by the understanding that improving the diffuser and exhaust hood outer casing performance results in a lower turbine back pressure and hence an increased plant overall output. The performance of the exhaust hood is greatly influenced by many structural factors such as the size of its outer casing, design of the diffuser parts and the arrangement of the internal supports. A number of studies have shown that a decrease of the hood height is detrimental to the exhaust hood performance [1, 2], however, up to now the impact of increased hood height has not been researched. In the present study, a scaled axial-radial diffuser test rig operated by ITSM is used as reference configuration for a parameter study. A total of fourteen different configurations with both increased and reduced hood height are investigated numerically. Design load at three different tip jet Mach numbers (no tip jet, tip jet Mach number of 0.4 and 1.2) is chosen as operating condition. Numerical and experimental data is available for the reference configuration and the numerical results have already been validated in a previous paper by the authors [3]. While a decrease of hood height shows the expected deterioration of efficiency, an increase of the hood height only initially results in an improved performance. After reaching a maximum efficiency, which is dependent on the tip leakage, the exhaust hood performance decreases noticeably again. Apart from the variation of pressure recovery, the results allow a better understanding of the loss mechanisms and flow phenomena in exhaust hoods, showing that the deflection of the flow coming out of the diffuser in the top part of the hood has a major impact on exhaust hood pressure recovery.

scholarly journals Investigation on low-pressure steam turbine exhaust hood modelling through computational fluid dynamic simulations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Fondelli ◽  
Tommaso Diurno ◽  
Lorenzo Palanti ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Dynamic Simulations ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

Numerical Investigation on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Low-Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood Using DOE Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Diurno ◽  
Tommaso Fondelli ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Leonardo Nettis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

Efficient Methods for Predicting Low Pressure Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood and Diffuser Flows at Design and Off-Design Conditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Burton ◽  
Grant Ingram ◽  
Simon Hogg
Keyword(s):  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Static Pressure ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Current Standard ◽  
Industrial Practice ◽  
Flow Asymmetry ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

The exhaust hood of a steam turbine is an important area of turbomachinery research as its performance strongly influences the power output of the last stage blades (LSB). This paper compares results from 3D simulations using a novel application of the nonlinear harmonic (NLH) method with more computationally demanding predictions obtained using frozen rotor techniques. Accurate simulation of exhausts is only achieved when simulations of LSB are coupled to the exhaust hood to capture the strong interaction. One such method is the NLH method. In this paper, the NLH approach is compared against the current standard for capturing the inlet circumferential asymmetry, the frozen rotor approach. The NLH method is shown to predict a similar exhaust hood static pressure recovery and flow asymmetry compared with the frozen rotor approach using less than half the memory requirement of a full annulus calculation. A second option for reducing the computational demand of the full annulus frozen rotor method is explored where a single stator passage is modeled coupled to the full annulus rotor by a mixing plane. Provided the stage is choked, this was shown to produce very similar results to the full annulus frozen rotor approach but with a computational demand similar to that of the NLH method. In terms of industrial practice, the results show that for a typical well designed exhaust hood at nominal load conditions, the pressure recovery predicted by all methods (including those which do not account for circumferential uniformities) is similar. However, this is not the case at off-design conditions where more complex interfacing methods are required to capture circumferential asymmetry.

Numerical Investigation and Validation of the 1 090 MW Steam Turbine Exhaust Hood Flow Field

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Živný ◽  
A. Macálka ◽  
M. Hoznedl ◽  
K. Sedlák ◽  
M. Hajšman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Flow Behavior ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Exhaust Hood ◽  
Recovery Coefficient ◽  
Strongly Coupled ◽  
Lp Turbine ◽  
Turbine Exhaust

The last-stage blade (LSB) rows and exhaust hood in low-pressure (LP) steam turbine sections are key elements of the entire LP turbine part. The cold end section affects significantly the whole LP turbine efficiency and overall turbine performance due to huge steam expansion. This expansion is strongly coupled with the diffuser and exhaust hood, which transforms kinetic energy at the stage exit into potential energy. Mentioned mechanism leads to expansion line prolongation between the stage inlet and diffuser outlet and higher turbine power output. An experimental investigation of the flow field in the exhaust hood is very economically and procedurally expensive and not commonly feasible. Nowadays, capable numerical simulations can provide relatively fast and accurate results on any studied model. On the other hand, the flow behavior inside the LSB and the exhaust hood is very complex and it is still challenging to investigate the whole system using CFD codes. The purpose of this paper is to validate complex three-dimensional CFD methodology of the flow field in the operating 1 090 MW steam turbine exhaust hood with radial diffuser and condenser neck. The exceptional contribution of this paper is the fact that unique data obtained by measurement on operating Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) steam turbine are available. The comparison is focused mainly on the pressure, velocity and steam wetness distribution along the LSB height at the stage exit/diffuser inlet. Wall static pressures and the pressure recovery coefficient of the exhaust hood were also determined and compared with experimental data. The complete CFD study helps to understand the flow behavior inside the whole exhaust throat and locate critical parts that negatively affect aerodynamic design.

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