Other Losses in Turbines

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

A Set of Miscellaneous Losses.

Losses by stage and section for a 700 MW turbine.

Source: Toshiba

Adiabatic Condensation of Steam

540C

C
0
7
2

Old Last Stage LP Blade

Adiabatic Expansion of Steam

The liquid in the LP turbine expansion flow field is considered
to progressively appear, with lowering pressure, in four forms,
namely as:
A fine mist (or fog) suspended in the steam;
As a water stream running in rivulets along the casing (mainly
OD);
As a water film moving on the surface of the blades (mainly
stator; not particularly evident on the rotor blades owing to
centrifugal-flinging action);
As larger droplets created when the water flowing along the
surface of the blades reaches the trailing edge.

Notional Diagram of Path Break Down

Re-entrained
Coarse water

Deposition of Part of Fog

and Coarse water
Coarse water spray
Fog
Impact & Splashing of
Coarse water

Coarse water
spray centrifuged
from blade

Impact & Splashing

of Coarse water

Centrifuging of deposited
Fog and Coarse water

Notionally envisaged progressive process

Formation of fog that continues to appear in the through-flow,
some of which is deposited.
Deposition of fog droplets on blade surfaces.
Coarse water re-entrained in through-flow primarily from
fixed blades.
Impact of coarse water on the moving blades.
Coarse water re-entrained in through-flow from moving blades
Coarse water entering the next stage (fixed blades).
Continued process, with more fog formation and some
deposition, in the successive stages.

Deviation of Eater Droplets

Velocity triangles for

coarse water droplets
Velocity triangles for
steam

Wetness losses
The level of allowable moisture in the last stages of the LP
turbine has been a practical limit on the usable temperatures
and pressures of steam since the earliest turbine designs.
Severe erosion was found in LP blades of early turbine designs
and lead to the imposition of a limitation of about 12% on exit
wetness.
A second, although less limiting effect, was characterized by
Baumann as early as 1910: that the efficiency, of wet stages of
the LP decreases approximately 1% for every 1% increase in
wetness in the stage.

Wetness Losses

Baumann Rule

Adiabatic Condensation of Steam

Modified Loss Region

Transport Losses
Impact of droplets on blade surfaces, with strong resulting
momentum exchange.
Slip of the droplets relative to the main steam flow, causing
drag between the droplets and the dry steam.
This is because of the high-density water droplets that cannot
accelerate as fast as the dry steam under the same pressure
gradient.

Losses due to Disc Friction and Windage

Frictional forces appear between the rotating turbine disc
and the steam enveloping it.
The rotating disc drags the particles near its surface and
imparts to them an accelerating force in the direction of
rotation.
A definite amount of mechanical work is spent in
overcoming the effect of friction and imparting this
acceleration.
In the case of partial admission there is good deal of
turbulence over the arc where steam is not admitted.
This turbulence causes windage losses which basically
consist of the following:
Friction & Impingement of steam on the blades.
Intermittent admission of steam into the moving blades.

 The magnitude of these losses is calculated using

Stodolas Empirical Formula:

N wind

2
u
1.07 d 2 0.61z 1 dl11.5 6 Pturbine
10

Nwind: Power los in overcoming friction and windage.

: fluid Coefficient: 1 for air or highly superheated steam,
1.1 1.2 for ordinary superheated & 1.3 for saturated steam.
d : Mean diameter of the disc.
z: Number of velocity stages.
: Degree of partial admission.
l1: Heght of blades, in cm.
U : Velocity of blade at mean diameter, m/s.
: density of steam, kg/m3.

Irreversible Macro Model for Steam Path

3

Governing group

4Ia

4s
I

II

Group 1

4IIa Group 2
4IIIa Group 3

4IIIs
4IVs

4Vs

4IVa Group 4
4Va Group 5

VI

4s
s

4VIa

Governing Stage Efficiency Calculations

For turbines with speed 50 cycles per second, the efficiency of
governing stage depends mainly on the clear cross sectional
area of the nozzle cascade and velocity ratio U/Vfict.
Formulae of efficiency of governing stages have been obtained
by statistical generalization of the available experimental data.
The expression is

ri

gst

2 10 4
kU / V fict 0.83
m

p0'

v0 '

where
KU/Vai = Correction coefficient for governing stage efficiency,
p0 = pressure before governing stage = MPa
v0 = specific volume before governing stage, in m3/kg .

Calculations of HP and IP Turbine Efficiencies

The efficiency of a group of turbine stages between
two successive bleed points is defined.
The statistically generalized expression is

ri

gst

0.5
kU / V fict 0.925

m gr vav

where

vav =

v1v2

m3/
kg,

h0gr 600
1
1 av
20000

where

gr
0 is the

ev

available enthalpy drop of the group

1 2
is exit velocity loss coefficient = z sin 1
Z = No. of stages in group,
= Nozzle exit angle

Exhaust Diffuser For L P Turbine

Exhaust Hood

Path Lines in Exhaust Hood

Steam Turbine Exhaust Size Selection

The steam leaving the last stage of a condensing steam turbine

can carry considerably useful power to the condenser as
kinetic energy.
The turbine performance analysis needs to identify an exhaust
area for a particular load that provides a balance between
exhaust loss and capital investment in turbine equipment.

Typical exhaust loss curve showing distribution of component loss

Exhaust Loss, kJ/kg of dry flow

Annulus
restriction loss
50
Turn-up loss

Total Exhaust
Loss

m ex.steam v1 0.01x
Van
3600 Aan

Annulus velocity (m/s)

40

SP.Volume

Condenser flow
Gross hood loss
rate
Annulus area

30
20

Actual leaving
loss

10

120 240 180 240 300

Annulus Velocity (m/s)

360

Percentage of Moisture at
the Expansion line end
point

H-s Diagram of Turbine Exhaust Steam

h0

p0 ,condenser

p0 ,turbine ,exhaust
Vae2 ,last
2

pturbine ,exhaust

2
Vcond
2

pcondenser

Thermodyna
mic Optimum

Optimal Design of Exhaust Hood

Total Exhaust
Losses

Economic
Optimum
Axial Leaving
Losses

Calculations of LP Turbine Efficiency

To calculate the internal relative efficiency for the low pressure
cylinder, proper consideration to be given to incorporate losses due
to exit velocity and the losses due to moisture.
The statistically generalized expression is

ri LPC

h LPC 400
0.87 1

10000

where correction for wetness fraction

awf

1 1 kwf

awf

h0wf
hev
LPC
LPC
h0
h0

kwf 1 awf

y1 y2
2

= 0.8 for peripheral moisture separation design.

Exit velocity loss is given by

103 mc vc
0.1
hev
1

2 i
1

d 2 l2 m 2
Axial surface area at the exit from last stage moving blades,
and
Average diameter to blade height ratio is
i = No. of flows in LP
turbine

d2
l2

Internal Reheating due to Irreversibilities

3

Governing group

4Ia

4s
I

II

Group 1

4IIa Group 2
4IIIa Group 3

4IIIs
4IVs

4Vs

4IVa Group 4
4Va Group 5

VI

4s
s

4VIa