No abstract

A significant share of the conversion of thermal into electrical energy is realized by steam turbines. Formerly designed for continuous operation, today’s requirements include extended part load operation that can be accompanied by highly unstable flow conditions and vibrations within the control valve of the turbine. The prediction of the flow at part load conditions requires large computational efforts with advanced turbulence modeling in order to compute the flow at a reasonable accuracy. Due to the unsteadiness of the flow, the evaluation of the numerical results itself is a major challenge. The turbulent structures require statistical approaches, of which the use of Spectral Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (SPOD) has proven itself as a powerful method. Within this paper, the application of the method on a critical operating point with a temporal excitation of pressure oscillations observed in the experiments with dry air is presented. Using SPOD, the dominating flow phenomena were isolated and flow structures visualized.

Steam turbines are among the most important systems in the conversion of thermal into electrical power. As the amount of renewable energies increases, existing power plants are experiencing increased times at part load conditions. To control the power output of a steam turbine, the use of control valves is a widely spread method, allowing fast load gradients and a quicker response on variable power requirements. At part load, a significant amount of energy is dissipated across the valve, as the total inlet pressure of the turbine is reduced. At these conditions, the flow across the valve becomes trans- and supersonic and large pressure fluctuations appear within the downstream part of the valve. As a result, unsteady forces can trigger strong vibrations, leading to mechanical stresses and possible valve failures. A spherical valve shape is still used in smaller industrial steam turbines, in which the flow is prone to show strong flow instabilities across a wide range of operating points. Because of these known instabilities, the spherical valve shape was chosen as the experimental test geometry and the evaluation of the unsteady flow and fluid-structure-interaction within the scaled steam turbine control valve. Using numerical methods, the test valve is investigated and the time dependent pressure distribution in the downstream diffuser is evaluated. The evolution of the flow stability will be discussed for different pressure ratios. Pressure signals retrieved from the control valve test rig will be used to compare the numerical results to experimental data.

Steam turbines are among the most important systems in commercial and industrial power conversion. As the amount of renewable energies increases, power plants formerly operated at steady state base load are now experiencing increased times at part load conditions. Besides other methods, the use of control valves is a widely spread method for controlling the power output of a steam turbine. In difference to other throttling approaches, the control valve enables fast load gradients as the boiler can be operated at constant conditions and allows a quicker response on variable power requirements. At part load, a significant amount of energy is dissipated across the valve, as the total inlet pressure of the turbine is decreased across the valve. At these conditions, the flow through the valve becomes trans- and supersonic and large pressure fluctuations appear within the downstream part of the valve. As a result, unsteady forces are acting on the valve structure and vibrations can be triggered, leading to mechanical stresses and possible failures of the valve. Besides more complex valve geometries, a spherical valve shape is still often used in smaller and industrial steam turbines. Because of the smooth head contour, the flow is prone to remain attached to the head surface and interact with the flow coming from the opposite side. This behaviour is accompanied by flow instabilities and large pressure fluctuations, leading to unsteady forces and possible couplings with mechanical frequencies. The spherical valve shape was therefore chosen as the experimental test geometry for the investigation of the unsteady flow field and fluid-structure-interactions within a scaled steam turbine control valve. Using numerical methods, the test valve is investigated and the time dependent pressure distribution in the downstream diffuser is evaluated. The evolution of the flow stability will be discussed for different pressure ratios. Pressure signals retrieved from the control valve test rig will be used to compare the numerical results to experimental data.