2D-simulation of wet steam flow in a steam turbine with spontaneous condensation

Removal of condensates from wet steam flow in the last stages of steam turbines significantly promotes stage efficiency and prevents erosion of rotors. In this paper, homogeneous spontaneous condensation in transonic steam flow in the 2-D rotor-tip section of a stage turbine is investigated. Calculated results agree with experimental data reasonably well. On the basis of the above work, a 2-D numerical simulation of wet steam flow in adjacent root sections of a complex steam turbine stage was carded out. Computational results were analyzed and provide insights into effective removal of humidity.

Prediction of Boiler Drum Pressure and Steam Flow Rate Using Artificial Neural Network

Numerical simulation of complex systems and components by computers is a fundamental phase of any modern engineering activity. The traditional methods of simulation typically entail long, iterative processes which lead to large simulation times, often exceeding transient real time. Artificial neural networks （ANNs） may be advantageous in this context, the main advantage being the speed of computation, the capability of generalizing from the few examples, robustness to noisy and partially incomplete data and the capability of performing empirical input-output mapping without complete knowledge of underlying physics. In this paper, the simulation of steam generator is considered as an example to show the potentialities of this tool. The data required for training and testing the ANN is taken from the steam generator at Abott Power Plant, Champaign （USA）. The total number of samples is 9600 which are taken at a sampling time of three seconds. The performance of boiler （drum pressure, steam flow rate） has been verified and tested using ANN, under the changes in fuel flow rate, air flow rate and load disturbance. Using ANN, input-output mapping is done and it is observed that ANN allows a good reproduction of non-linear behaviors of inputs and outputs.

A COUPLED THERMO-HYDRAULIC MODEL FOR STEAM FLOW IN PIPE NETWORKS

This article aims to establish a coupled thermo-hydraulic mathematical model for steam network by adopting a set of equations, i.e., the continuity equation, motion equation, energy equation, state equation and enthalpy equation and considering the interaction of hydraulic and thermal working conditions. The model is simplified according to steam flow features in pipe networks. The unsteady flow model is simplified to a steady one with considering engineering practice and the solution to the governing equations are obtained by using the standard fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Many factors of steam flow are generally considered, such as condensability, change of state, friction and heat transfer in the model. It is concluded that coupled iteration can be employed in steam network thermo-hydraulic computation. The numerical results with the model are basically in accordance with practical operation data.

Improvement of Heating Method for Measuring the Wetness of Flowing Wet Steam

In this paper, an improvement of heating method for measuring wetness of the flowing wet steam is developed, the basic principle of the heating method is presented and the mathematical model has been built for analyzing the thermodynamics problezns during the process of heating. Moreover, an instru-ment for measuring wetness of wet steam flow was designed and made out. This instrument has been used for measuring wetness of the wet steam flow at the outlet of the nozzle rig in Thermal TUrbine Laboratory Xi’an Jiaotong University. By analyzing the relative error of the result, it was found that this instrument has fairly high accuracy it can be used as the prototype of practical instrument and has an important applicable value in engineering.

Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Rotating Two-pass Channels Cooled by Superheated Steam

In a modern gas turbine,using superheated steam to cool the vane and blade for internal convection cooling is a promising alternative to traditional compressor air.However,further investigations of steam cooling need to be performed.In this paper,the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer characteristics of steam are numerically investigated in two-pass square channels with 45° ribbed walls under stationary and rotating conditions.The investigated rotation numbers are 0 and 0.24.The simulation is carried out by solving the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations employing the Reynolds stress turbulence model,especially considering two additional terms for Coriolis and rotational buoyancy forces caused by the rotating effect.For comparison,calculations for the air-cooled channels are done first at a Reynolds number of 25 000 and inlet coolant-to-wall density ratio of 0.13.The results are compared with the experiment data.Then the flow and heat transfer in steam-cooled channels are analyzed under the same operating conditions.The results indicate that the superheated steam has better heat transfer performance than air.Due to the combined effect of rotation,skewed ribs and 180° sharp turn,the secondary flow pattern in steam-cooled rotating two-pass channels is quite complex.This complex secondary flow pattern leads to strong anisotropic turbulence and high level of anisotropy of Reynolds stresses,which have a significant impact on the local heat transfer coefficient distributions.

Optimization of operating conditions in the steam turbine blade cascade using the black-box method

Water droplets cause corrosion and erosion,condensation loss,and thermal efficiency reduction in low-pressure steam turbines.In this study,multi-objective optimization was carried out using the black-box method through the automatic linking of a genetic algorithm(GA)and a computational fluid dynamics(CFD)code to find the optimal values of two design variables(inlet stagnation temperature and cascade pressure ratio)to reduce wetness in the last stages of turbines.The wet steam flow numerical model was used to calculate the optimization parameters,including wetness fraction rate,mean droplet radius,erosion rate,condensation loss rate,kinetic energy rate,and mass flow rate.Examining the validation results showed a good agreement between the experimental data and the numerical outcomes.According to the optimization results,the inlet stagnation temperature and the cascade pressure ratio were proposed to be 388.67(K)and 0.55(-),respectively.In particular,the suggested optimaltemperature and pressure ratio improved the liquid mass fraction and mean droplet radius by about 32%and 29%,respectively.Also,in the identified optimal operating state,the ratios of erosion,condensation loss,and kinetic energy fell by 76%,32.7%,and 15.85%,respectively,while the mass flow rate ratio rose by 0.68%.