HANDBOOK
team-turbine bypass sys tems are used in combinedcycle plants during startup,
shutdown, and load rejection.
The most common arrangement,
shown in Fig 1, allows plant operators to route high-pressure (HP)
superheated steam through a pressure control valve/desuperheater station to the cold-reheat line,
thereby bypassing the steam turbines HP cylinder. This typically
is referred to as the HP bypass.
In addition to the HP bypass, an
IP/LP-turbine bypass allows operators to condition and dump steam
from the hot-reheat line directly to
the condenser via another pressure
control valve/desuperheater station.
This generally is called the hotreheat bypass, or more simply, the
HRH bypass.
The service life of a bypass system
can be shortened dramatically by poor
design and installation practices and
by ignoring control issues that cause
severe thermal stresses conducive to
metal fatigue. Cracking attributed to
thermal fatigue has occurred in valve
trim, bodies, desuperheaters, and
downstream piping, and is most acute
in plants cycling daily (Fig 2).
All plants with turbine bypass
systems should establish preventive maintenance and inspection
programs to determine if cracks are
IP
LP
Block valve
Cold-reheat line
Pressure control
valve/desuperheater
Hot-reheat or IP/LP
bypass to condenser
details in Fig 3)
HP superheater
HRSG
Reheater
HP evaporator
Condenser
Sparger
Hot-reheat line
Deaerator
Economizer
Feedwater
heater
Feedwater
pump
Spray-water valve
Condensate
pump
OD
ID
D
27
HANDBOOK
Planning forensics
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900
100
Hot-reheat bypass to
condenser (CCI data)
TC1
800
90
80
700
70
TC2
600
60
3
Spray-water
valve stroke
500
400
40
300
30
TC7
200
20
100
0
50
10
4:27:53
5:17:53
Time
6:07:53
4. Sharp temperature drops recorded by CCI engineers almost certainly indicates that water is contacting the pipes internal surface. One cause was control
logic that allowed the spray-water valve to remain open for a few seconds after
the bypass valve had closed
600
(1112)
100
500
(932)
Turbine-bypass
valve stroke
80
70
400
(752)
60
300
(572)
Spray-water
valve stroke
200
(392)
Spray-water flow
100
(212)
0 (32)
90
4:27:53
50
40
30
20
10
HRH bypass
1000
Steam temperature, F
HANDBOOK
1000
900
Steam temperature, F
800
HANDBOOK
100
TC2
HP-turbine bypass
to cold-reheat line
(CCI data)
90
TC6
Turbine-bypass
valve stroke
700
80
TC4
70
600
60
Spray-water
valve stroke
500
50
TC5
400
40
TC7
300
30
2
200
20
100
0
10
1
4:53:14
0
7:06:34
5:59:54
Time
500
(932)
400
(752)
100
Turbine-bypass
valve stroke
HP-turbine bypass
to cold-reheat
line (DCS data)
90
80
Turbine-bypass
valve, steam
70
inlet pressure
Spray-water
valve, water
inlet pressure
300
(572)
Spray-water
valve stroke
200
(392)
Spray-water flow
1
0
(32)
50
40
30
20
100
(212)
60
10
4:53:14
Time
5:59:54
7:06:34
600
(1112)
7. DCS data confirmed the behavior of bypass and spray-water valves characterized by the CCI test. Engineers learned that both the bypass and spraywater valves were leaking and required new trim
that approximately 20% more spray
water was being injected into the
steam flow than was indicated by
designers calculations.
Startup data from the technical
specifications indicated a fully open
bypass valve handling a steam flow
of 219 tonnes (T, a metric ton or 2205
lb)/hr and a matching spray-water
requirement of 72.4 T/hr. Test data
captured during the carefully monitored start last spring showed the
bypass valve was never more than
80% open. All other operating conditions either matched, or were very
close to, those calculated by designers.
When the bypass valve is at 80%
stroke, spray-water requirement
should be 57.9 T/hr, or 80% of the
32
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900
Steam temperature, F
800
TC2
HP bypass
Data recorded by CCI engineers on
the HP bypass during one startup
are shown in Fig 6; information
captured for the second startup was
similar. Lower two arrows originating at Point 1 in the diagram show
100
TC2
90
TC4
TC4
80
700
70
600
60
500
400
300
200
100
0
50
TC5
1
Turbine-bypass
valve stroke
40
Turbine-bypass
valve stroke
30
20
10
Day 1, 21:49:54
Time
1000
888-881-7118
Day 2, 7:33:14
8. Sharp temperature spikes recorded for the HP bypass during normal operation confirmed that water was entering the steam system via the spray-water line
34
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that when the bypass valve closes,
the spray-water valve is still open
approximately 8% and proceeds to
close over the next two minutes.
The negative temperature gradient observed on the curves for TCs
2, 4, 5, and 6 at about 6:30 a.m.
confirmed spray water was flowing
when steam was not. As noted in the
section on the HRH bypass, such a
large gradient causes an enormous
amount of pipe stress. It could eventually lead to cracking if the root
cause is not correctedespecially
considering the units daily-start/
shutdown regimen.
Point 2 reveals that TC7 was
at saturation temperature for the
duration of the startup. This suggests that the pipe was either in
constant contact with water or the
steam at that location actually was
at saturation temperature. Either
way, too much spray water was
being injected.
DCS data. Information on HP
bypass operation captured from the
DCS, at the same time CCI instruments were monitoring that component, are presented in Fig 7. Note
that DCS data on the stroke of bypass
and spray-water valves exhibit the
same behavior as that identified by
CCI in Fig 6.
Comparison of design and operating data for the HP bypass, as was
done for the HRH bypass, revealed
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that approximately 82% more spray
water was being injected during
startup than specified. Specifically,
a wide-open bypass valve handles
166 T/hr of main steam and requires
18.8 T/hr of spray water. During the
startup evaluated, the bypass valve
reached a maximum stroke of 97%
and should have been supplied 18.2
T/hr of spray water. But actual flow
was 33.2 T/hr. As mentioned earlier,
this could be caused by instrument
or control error.
The spray-water inlet pressure
during the startup observed was 55
bar (abs). According to the design
specifications, the inlet pressure
should have been 42.2 bar (abs) for
all operating conditions. Thus the
spray-valve inlet pressure was about
30% higher than specified.
Conclusions. Engineers concluded
that the HP bypass system had the
following three major problems, presented in the order of their severity:
1. Poor synchronization of the
bypass and spray-water valves during closing. During the startups
evaluated, injection of spray water
after steam flow had ceased resulted
in the rapid reduction in pipe wall
temperature as measured by TCs 2,
4, 5, and 6 in Fig 6. The 500-deg-F
temperature drop experienced qualifies as thermal shock and one of
the main reasons for the cracks at
the desuperheater outlet.
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Normal plant
operation
HP bypass data also were recorded
between the two startups analyzedthat is, during normal plant
operation. However, the TC curves
in Fig 8 were not what engineers
considered normal, exhibiting
sharp temperature spikes while the
unit was in service (region between
the startup peaks for the first and
second days at the left- and righthand sides of the chart). During this
time there was no movement of the
bypass or spray-water valves.
From the detailed information collected during the first startup (Figs 6
and 7), engineers knew that the HP
bypass valve was leaking and constantly passing steam to the downstream piping. This would cause high-