A

FIELD EXPOSURE
On
General Awareness of Steam Turbine
Manufacturing (TUM,BL-3

Submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Diploma of

Polytechnic Mechanical Engineering (Production)

KITE GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS, MEERUT

Session- 2015-16
Submitted To-

Submitted By

Mr. Pradeep Ray

PAWAN Kr. KUSHAWAHA

(H.O.D., Me Deptt.)

Final Year
1

ME (Production)

DECLARATION
I PAWAN KR. KUSHAWAHA of Polytechnic Final Year of KITE,
Meerut hereby declare that the training report entitled General Awareness
of Steam Turbine Manufacturing (TUM, BL-3 is an original work and
the same has not been submitted to any other institute.

PAWAN Kr. KUSHAWAHA

Final Year
ME (Production)

Acknowledgement
It gives me immense pleasure to present my Project Report before
you. I thankfully acknowledge the staff of BHEL, Haridwar for
giving me so much co-operation and taught lots of new things to
me, which I am sure will help me in my war future.
A special thanks to Er. Jaikesh Kumar for his support during my
Industrial Training. I pay my sincere regards to him. Without his
support I was not able to accomplish my training. I also thanks to all
the working staff of fabrication block for their helpful guidance and
support during the period .I extend my thanks to my college for giving
me such an opportunity.

CONTENTS
4

S. No.

Topics

1.

Overview to BHEL

2.

Various locations of BHEL

3.

Companies vision, mission and values

4.

Business activities

5.

Manufacturing facilities

6.

Classification of product

7.

Description of 8 blocks

8.

Description of block with machines

9.

General description

10.

Turbine blades

11.

Rotors

B.H.E.L- An Overview
BHEL or the Bharat Heavy Engineering Limited is one of the largest
engineering and manufacturing organizations in the country and the
BHEL, Haridwar is their gift to Uttaranchal. With two large
manufacturing plants, BHEL in Haridwar is among the leading
industrial organizations in the state. It has established a Heavy
Electrical Equipment Plant or HEEP and a Central Foundry Forge
Plant or CFFP in Haridwar.
The Heavy Electrical Equipment Plant in Haridwar designs and
manufactures turbo generators, AC and DC motors, gas turbines and
huge steams. The Central Foundry Forge Plant in Haridwar deals with
steel castings and manufacturing of steel forgings.
The BHEL plants in Haridwar have earned the ISO - 9001 and 9002
certificates for its high quality and maintenance. These two units have
also earned the ISO - 14001 certificates. Situate in Ranipur near
Haridwar, the Bharat Heavy Engineering Limited employs over 8,000
people.
BHEL is an integrated power plant equipment
manufacturer and one of the largest engineering and
manufacturing companies in India in terms of turnover.
BHEL was established in 1964, ushering in the indigenous
Heavy Electrical Equipment industry in India - a dream that
has been more than realized with a well-recognized track
record of performance. The company has been earning
profits continuously since 1971-72 and paying dividends
since 1976-77 .BHEL is engaged in the design, engineering,
manufacture, construction, testing, commissioning and servicing of a
wide range of products and services for the core sectors of the
economy, viz. Power, Transmission, Industry, Transportation,
Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas and Defence.BHEL has 15
manufacturing divisions, two repair units, four regional offices, eight
6

service centres, eight overseas offices and 15 regional centres and

currently operate at more than 150 project sites across India and
abroad. BHEL places strong emphasis on innovation and creative
development of new technologies. Our research and development
(R&D) efforts are aimed not only at improving the performance and
efficiency of our existing products, but also at using state-of-the-art
technologies and processes to develop new products. This enables us
to have a strong customer orientation, to be sensitive to their needs
and respond quickly to the changes in the market.
The high level of quality & reliability of our products is due to
adherence to international standards by acquiring and
adapting some of the best technologies from leading
companies in the world including General Electric Company,
Alstom SA, Siemens AG and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ltd., together with technologies developed in our own R&D
centres. Most of our manufacturing units and other entities
have been accredited to Quality Management Systems (ISO
9001:2008), Environmental Management Systems (ISO
14001:2004) and Occupational Health & Safety
Management Systems (OHSAS 18001:2007).
BHEL has a share of around 59% in India's total installed
generating capacity contributing 69% (approx.) to the total
power generated from utility sets (excluding nonconventional capacity) as of March 31, 2012. We have been
exporting our power and industry segment products and
services for approximately 40 years. We have exported our
products and services to more than 70 countries. We had
cumulatively installed capacity of over 8,500 MW outside of
India in 21 countries, including Malaysia, Iraq, the UAE,
Egypt and New Zealand. Our physical exports range from
turnkey projects to after sales services.
7

BHEL work with a vision of becoming a world-class

engineering enterprise, committed to enhancing
stakeholder value.
Our greatest strength is our highly skilled and committed
workforce of over 49,000 employees. Every employee is
given an equal opportunity to develop himself and grow in
his career. Continuous training and retraining, career
planning, a positive work culture and participative style of
management - all these have engendered development of a
committed and motivated workforce setting new
benchmarks in terms of productivity, quality and
responsiveness.

STEAM TURBINE

steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy

from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern
manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884. It has
almost completely replaced the reciprocating piston steam engine
(invented by Thomas Newcomen and greatly improved by James
Watt) primarily because of its greater thermal efficiency and higher
power-to-weight ratio. Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it
is particularly suited to be used to drive an electrical generator about
80% of all electricity generation in the world is by use of steam
turbines. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much
of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency through the use of
9

multiple stages in the expansion of the steam, which results in a closer

approach to the ideal reversible process.

Types
These arrangements include single casing, tandem compound and cross
compound turbines. Single casing units are the most basic style where a single
casing and shaft are coupled to a generator. Tandem compound are used where
two or more casings are directly coupled together to drive a single generator. A
cross compound Steam turbines are made in a variety of sizes ranging from
small 1 hp (0.75 kW) units (rare) used as mechanical drives for pumps,
compressors and other shaft driven equipment, to 2,000,000 hp (1,500,000 kW)
turbines used to generate electricity. There are several classifications for modern
steam turbines.
Steam Supply and Exhaust Conditions
These types include condensing, non-condensing, reheat, extraction and
induction.
Non-condensing or backpressure turbines are most widely used for process
steam applications. The exhaust pressure is controlled by a regulating valve to
suit the needs of the process steam pressure. These are commonly found at
refineries, district heating units, pulp and paper plants, and desalination
facilities where large amounts of low pressure process steam are available.
Condensing turbines are most commonly found in electrical power plants. These
turbines exhaust steam in a partially condensed state, typically of a quality near
90%, at a pressure well below atmospheric to a condenser.
Reheat turbines are also used almost exclusively in electrical power plants. In a
reheat turbine, steam flow exits from a high pressure section of the turbine and
is returned to the boiler where additional superheat is added. The steam then
goes back into an intermediate pressure section of the turbine and continues its
expansion.
Casing or Shaft Arrangements
10

Turbine arrangement features two or more shafts not in line driving two or more
generators that often operate at different speeds. A cross compound turbine is
typically used for many large applications.

Principle of Operation and Design

An ideal steam turbine is considered to be an isentropic process, or constant
entropy process, in which the entropy of the steam entering the turbine is equal
to the entropy of the steam leaving the turbine. No steam turbine is truly
isentropic, however, with typical isentropic efficiencies ranging from 20%90% based on the application of the turbine. The interior of a turbine comprises
several sets of blades, or buckets as they are more commonly referred to. One
set of stationary blades is connected to the casing and one set of rotating blades
is connected to the shaft. The sets intermesh with certain minimum clearances,
with the size and configuration of sets varying to efficiently exploit the
expansion of steam at each stage.
Turbine Efficiency
To maximize turbine efficiency, the steam is expanded, generating work, in a
number of stages. These stages are characterized by how the energy is extracted
from them and are known as impulse or reaction turbines. Most modern steam
turbines are a combination of the reaction and impulse design. Typically, higher
pressure sections are impulse type and lower pressure stages are reaction type.
Impulse Turbines
An impulse turbine has fixed nozzles that orient the steam flow into high speed
jets. These jets contain significant kinetic energy, which the rotor blades, shaped
like buckets, convert into shaft rotation as the steam jet changes direction. A
pressure drop occurs across only the stationary blades, with a net increase in
steam velocity across the stage.
Reaction Turbines
In the reaction turbine, the rotor blades themselves are arranged to form
convergent nozzles. This type of turbine makes use of the reaction force
produced as the steam accelerates through the nozzles formed by the rotor.
11

Steam is directed onto the rotor by the fixed vanes of the stator. It leaves the
stator as a jet that fills the entire circumference of the rotor. The steam then
changes direction and increases its speed relative to the speed of the blades. A
pressure drop occurs across both the stator and the rotor, with steam
accelerating through the stator and decelerating through the rotor, with no net
change in steam velocity across the stage but with a decrease in both pressure
and temperature, reflecting the work performed in the driving of the rotor.

SPECIFICATIONS OF MACHINES AVAILABLE IN BLOCK-III:

Vertical Boring Machine :

Max diameter of work piece accommodated
12500mm
Max height of work piece

:10000mm to
:5000mm

Diameter of table

:8750mm

Max travel of vertical tool head RAM slides

:3200mm

Max travel of vertical tool heads from centre of

Table

:5250mm

Max weight of work piece

:200 T

For N<=6rpm;100T for any speed

Diameter of boring spindle of combined head
Travel of boring spindle

:160mm
:1250mm

Taper hole of boring spindle

:100metric

Centre Lathe :(Biggest of all BHEL)

Max diameter over bed
Max diameter over saddle

:3200mm
:250mm

Length between centers

:16m
12

 Max weight of work piece

:100 T

Spindle bore

:96mm

CNC Lathe :
Manufacturer: Safop, Italy
Swing over carriage
Centre distance

:3500mm
:9000mm

Weight capacity

:120 T

Spindle power

:196KW

External chucking range

:250-2000mm

Hydrostat steady range

:200-1250mm

Max spindle rpm

:200

CNC system
840D

:SINUMERIK

CNC Indicating stand :

Manufacturer : Heinrich Georg, Germany
Turning diameter
Turning length
Weight capacity

:5.3m
:15m
:160 T

CNC Vertical Borer :

Manufacturer : M/S Pietro Carnaghi, Italy
Machine model
6500
Table diameter

:AP 80TM:6500mm
13

 Max turning diameter

:8000mm

Min boring diameter

:660mm

Max height for turning and milling

:7000mm

Table Speed

:0.2-50 rpm

Table load capacity

:200 T

Milling spindle speed

Spindle taper
CNC system

:3.4-3000 rpm at40KW

:BT 50
:SINUMERIK 840D

CNC Facing Lathe : KH-200-CNC

Swing over bed
:2300mm
Swing over carriage
:1800mm
Max distance between faced plate and carriage
:2000mm
Max weight of job held in chuck
:6000kg
Face plate diameter
:1800mm
Spindle speed
:1.4-400rpm
Main spindle drive
:95.5KW
Step boring Machine :
Max boring diameter
:2500mm
Min boring diameter
:625mm
Table
:4000mmx4000mm
Max weight of job
:100 T
Headstock travel
:4000mm
Double Column Vertical Borer :
Table diameter
Max travese of cross rail
:4250mm

:4000mm

14

 Max weight of work piece

Max weight of job
CNC Skoda Horizontal Borer :
Spindle diameter
Taper spindle
RAM size
RAM length
Spindle length
Headstock
Table
CNC system
Job

:4200mm
:50 T
:200mm
:BT 50
:450x450mm
:1600mm
:2000mm
:5000mm
:4000x3500mm
:SIMENS 850mm
: I.P. Outer

Horizontal Borer : LSTG 8006

Spindle diameter
:250mm
Height of machining bed
:600mm
Max boring depth with spindle
:2000mm
Max extension of RAM
:1600mm
Width of bed guide ways
:2500mm
Actual length of headstock with vertical lift
:2150mm
Actual length of column horizontal feed
:15000mm
Lowest position of spindle axis upon bed guideways :1475mm
Machine weight with electrical equipments
:140 T
Height of machine
:10.3m
CNC Lathe : 1-120
Manufacturer :
Ravensburg
Main spindle bore
:150mm
Distance between centers
:12m
Turning diameter over bed cover
:1400mm
Turning diameter over carriage
:1100mm
Workpiece weight unsupported
:4000kg
Workpiece weight between centers
:20 T

15

Centre Lathe : 1-23

Manufacturer : K3TC, USSR
Max diameter over bed
Max diameter over saddle
Length between centers
Max weight of work piece
Spindle bore
Machine wattage
Horizontal Boring Machine : 1-28
Diameter of spindle
Working surface of table
Max travel of table
Max vertical travel of headstock
Horizontal Boring Machine :
Boring spindle taper
Boring spindle diameter
Headstock vertical travel
Longitudinal RAM travel
Longitudinal spindle travel
Column cross travel
Rotary table travel
Table load
Horizontal Boring Machine : 1-11
Boring spindle internal taper material
Boring spindle diameter
Max spindle travel
:2500mm
Vertical head travel
Transverse column travel
:6000mm
Max longitudinal column travel
Machine wattage

:1250mm
:900mm
:6300mm
:25 T
:80mm
:55KW

:150mm
:2250x1250mm
:1200mm
:2000mm
:BT50
:160mm
:3000mm
:700mm
:1000mm
:10m
:3000mm
:40 T
:200
:320mm

:6000mm

:800mm
:90KW
16

Double Column Rotary Table Vertical Borer :

Max diameter of work piece accommodated
:10m/12.5m
Max height of work piece accommodated
:5m
Diameter of table
:8.75m
Max travel of vertical tool head RAM slides
:3.2m
Max travel of vertical tool head from centre of table
:5.25m
Max weight of work piece :200T for N<=8rpm;100T for any speed
Diameter of boring spindle of combined head
:160mm
Travel of boring spindle
:1250mm
Taper hole of boring spindle
:100mm
Horizontal borer : 1-2
Spindle diameter
Working surface
Max vertical travel
Max transverse travel of column
Max longitudinal travel of column
Max longitudinal travel of spindle
CNC Lathe : 2-360
Manufacturer : Hoesch
Max load
Max length between centers
Swing over bed
Horizontal Borer : 2-198
Spindle diameter
Max vertical travel
Max transverse travel of column
Max longitudinal travel of column
Max longitudinal travel of spindle
Working surface
Creep Feed Grinding Machine :
Diameter of job
Job height
Table rpm

:220mm
:8100 x 5000mm
:3mm
:6m
:6m
:1.8m

:320 T
:18m
:3.2m
:220mm
:3m
:6m
:6m
:1.8m
:1800x500mm
:2m
:2.4m
:10rpm(max)
17

 Table diameter
Swing diameter
CNC control
Broaching Machine :
Broaching capacity
Broaching stroke
Broaching slide width
Broaching specific cutting stroke
Broaching specific return stroke
Max diameter of disc
Max move of table
Helix angle/skew angle setting
Cone angle
CNC Lathe :
Manufacturer : Innse Berardi, Italy
Swing over carriage
Swing over bed
Capacity
Cost
CNC system
Over Speed Balancing of Turbines :
Main features :
Type of pedestials
Rotor weight
Rotor diameter
Rotor journal diameter
Bearing centre distance
Balancing speed
Min vibration limit
Max vacuum
Tunnel Features :
Tunnel length

:2050mm
:2500mm
:SIEMENS-3GG
:32 T
:10.3m
1500mm
:1.25m/min
:60m/min
:2300mm
:600mm
:+45/-45
:0-20
:1500mm
:2000mm
:30 T
:16 crore
:SINUMERIK 840D

:DH 90/DH 12
:Min 4 MT, Max 320 MT
:Max 6900mm
:Min 250mm,Max 950mm
:Min 3000mm,Max 15700mm
:180-3600rpm
:1 micron
:1 torr
:19000mm
18

 Tunnel diameter
Max thickness of tunnel
Steel plate thickness
Cost of balancing equipment(FE)
Total cost of balancing tunnel
Main Features of Drive :
Drive motors (2 no.)
each
Total drive power
MG set of Drive :
Synchronous motors
DC Generator (2 no.)

:6900mm
:2500mm
:32mm
:444 lakhs
:770 lakhs
:950V DC, 500rpm,3.5 MW
:7 MW(2x3.5)
:11 KV,9MW,50Hz,500rpm
:950V,500rpm,3.8MW each

3d coordinate measuring machine in new blade shop:

Model refrence:
22129 LIETZ Germany
Plan no
3-068
Measuring range:
X axis
2200mm
Y axis
1200mm
Z axis
900 mm
Volumetric error: (max)
1.5 micron
Resolution:
0.05 micron
Max weight of job:
2250 kg
Accuracy:
1.5+L/350 micron
Application:
dimensional and profile
management of turbine moving and guide blades

HOW IT WORKS

19

20

21

LP rotor with moving blades

various blade profiles

22

STEAM FLOW THROUGH STEAM TURBINE

23

24

25

26

27

Modernization of Facilities:

CNC Lathe for LP Rotor from SAFOP, ITALY

CNC Horizontal Boring machine for machining of casing from PAMA,

ITALY

CNC Indicating Stand for LP Rotor Blade machining from GEORG,

GERMANY

CNC Fir Tree Root Milling machine

CNC Gantry Milling machine

Major Facilities for New Turbine Shop:

CNC V Borer-Table diameter-7500mm

CNC V Borer-Table diameter-4000mm

CNC H Borer Spindle Diameter-200mm,160mm

28

CNC Lathe capacity-120 T,80T

CNC Fir Tree Root Milling machine

CNC Gantry Milling machine

Highlights:
Imported Substitutions :

Hybrid burner for gas turbine

E ring for gas turbine

Deep hole drilling in HP outer casing supplied by Machine

Shop, CFFP

Process Improvement :

Slitting of casing, thrust rings, GT rings on Band Saw

milling machine, thus saving the time on critical machines
such as Ram Borers

Using KOMET drilling systems, the productivity in joint

plane drilling of casing and LP Rotors has increased

Seeing the congestion on KOOP milling machine, a new

work center machine called RAMBHOR machine(No.
2473

Tool Brands:

Widia
Sandwick
Seco
Isear
Addisson
29

Guhring
Indian tools
Mitutoyo

Tool Instruments:

Die ring spanner

Hack saw frame
Burr cutter
Solid tap (carbide)
Hand tap

Grinding Cutters:

Combination cutter-140x40mm
Fillet cutter-160x32mm
Hand mill cutter
End mill cutter
Internal profile cutter
Shell end mill cutter-63x80mm
Ball nose
Slab mill

500 MW Steam Turbine:

HP Turbine:

Module
Steam Pressure
Steam temperature
Reheating temperature
Weight
Length of Rotor
Height

:H30-100-2
:170Kg/sq.cm
:537 deg.cel
:537 deg.cel
:86400 Kg
:4.61m
:2.15m

LP Turbine:

Module
Weight
Length of Rotor
Width
Height

:N30-2x10sq.m
:3.5 T
:8.7m
:10.7m
:4.6m

IP Turbine:

Length
Width
Height

:4.425m
:5m
:4.8m
30

Steam pressure
Steam temperature

:41Kg/sq.cm
:537 deg.cel

Milling Cutters:
1) Side end face milling cutter
2) Interlocking side and face milling cutter
3) Shell end mill cutter
4) Metal slitting saw
5) Single angle milling cutter
6) Double unequal angle milling cutter
7) Double equal angle milling cutter
8) Keyway milling cutter
9) Milling cutter for chain wheels
10)
Single corner rounding milling cutter
11)
Convex milling cutter
12)
Concave milling cutter
13)
T slot milling cutter with plane parallel shank
14)
T slot milling cutter with Morse taper shank having tapered
end
15)
Cylindrical milling cutter
16)
Slot milling cutter with parallel shank
17)
End mill with parallel shank
18)
Ball nosed end mill with parallel shank
19)
Flat end tapered die sinking cutter with plane parallel shank
20)
Ball nosed taper die sinking cutter with plane parallel shank
21)
Slot milling cutter with morse tapered shank having tanged
end
22)
End mill with morse tapered shank having tanged end
23)
Ball nosed end mill with morse tapered shank having tanged
end
24)
Flat end tapered die sinking cutter with morse tapered shank
having tapped end
25)
Ball nosed tapered die sinking cutter with morse tapered
shank having tapped end
26)
Slot milling cutter with morse tapered shank having tapped
end
27)
End mill morse tapered shank having tapped end
28)
Ball nosed mill morse tapered shank having tapped end
29)
Roughing end mill with parallel shank finishing type
30)
Roughing end mill with parallel shank roughing type
31)
Slot milling cutter with 7/24 taper shank
32)
End mill with 7/24 taper shank
33)
Ball nosed end mill with 7/24 taper shank
34)
Woodruff key slot milling cutter with parallel shank
35)
Screwed shank slot drill

31

Major Components of Steam Turbine:

LP Rotor
LP Inner Casing Upper Half
LP Inner Casing Lower Half
LP Outer Casing Upper Half
LP Outer Casing Lower Half
IP Rotor
IP Inner Casing Upper Half
IP Inner Casing Lower Half
IP Outer Casing Upper Half
IP Outer Casing Lower Half
HP Rotor
HP Inner Casing Upper Half
HP Inner Casing Lower Half
HP Outer Casing Upper Half
HP Outer Casing Lower Half
Diffuser
GBC (Guide Blade Carrier)
IVCV (Intercept Valve Control Valve)
ESVCV (Emergency Stop Valve Control Valve)

Auxiliary Parts of Steam Turbine:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Valve Seal
U-Ring
Piston Rod
Base Plate
Sealing Ring
Liner
Guide Ring
Valve Cover
Guide Blades :
Fixed Blades
Moving Blades
10)
Support
32

11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
21)
22)
23)
24)
25)
26)

Bearing
Bearing Shell
Angle Ring
Sleeve
Pin Taper (25x140)
Journal Bearing Shell
Casing
Guide bush
Piston (500MW)
Valve Cone
Yoke
Mandrel
Support Ring
Thrust Ring
Adjusting Ring
Shaft Sealing Cover

Types of Blades:

T2 blades
T4 blades
TX blades
3DS blades
F- blades
GT-Compress blades
Brazed blades
Russian design blades
Z-Shroud blades
Compressor blades (Sermental coated)
LP Moving blade 500MW

New Blade Shop:

First Generation Blades :
T2 Profile Blades
Cylindrical Profile Blades (1970)

Second Generation Blades :

T4 Profile Blades
Cylindrical Profile Blades ( late 1980)
1% Gain in Stage Efficiency over T2 Profile Blades

TX Profile Blades
Cylindrical Profile Blades ( late 1990)

Gains :
33

 Reduces Profile Losses

0.2% Gain in Stage Efficiency over T4 Profile Blades

Applications :
Middle Stage Of H.P. and I.P Turbine
Initial Stage of L.P. Turbine

3DS Blades :
Gains :

Reduces Secondary Flow Losses

0.5 1.0% Gain in Stage Efficiency over TX Profile
Blades

Application :
Initial Stage of H.P. and I.P Turbine

F- Blades
Gains :
Reduces Indirect Flow Losses
0.5 1.0% Gain in Stage Efficiency over TX Profile
Blades

Applications :
Rear Stage of H.P. and I.P Turbine
Middle Stage of L.P. Turbine

Sequential operation for machining of TX blades:

Operation
1) Blanking
2) Rhomboid machining

Machine
Band saw
CNC rhomboid
machine cell
34

3) Removal of tech allowance/parting

off
4) Root machining
5) Profile and expansion angle(internal
and external)
6) Shroud copying
7) Taper grinding
8) Grinding and polishing
9) Final fitting of blades
10)
Vibro finishing of blades
11)
Final inspection

band saw
CNC high speed root
machining
CNC heavy/light duty
machine or CNC profile and
fillet machining center
CNC heavy/light duty
machine
CNC creep feed grinding
machine
Polishing machine
Vibro finishing equipment
-

Sequential operation for machining of 3DS and F

blades:
Operation

Machine

1) Blanking

Band saw

2) Preparation of technological ends for

work piece holding
3) Complete blade machining(with
normal shroud/Z shroud)
4) Inspection
5) milling off technological ends at root
and shroud radius machining
6) Fitting
7) vibro finishing for surface finishing
improvement
8) Inspection

CNC machining center

CNC 5 axis machining
centre
3D CMM
CNC machining centre
Vibro finishing equipment
-

Number of advance design blades:

Blades

250MW

500MW

TX Profile blade
F and 3DS blade
Free standing blade

10390
3100
224

6820
2852
252

35

NON- DESTRUCTIVE TESTING (Liquid penetration

,magnetic flaw&radiography)
Failure of the turbine blades was one of the challenges addressed with the help of BHEL
by modifications of LP stage-5 blade, shroud modifications etc., and based on its
success, the same technique was used for other plants to sort out inherent problems.
Grid-induced Outages Grid disturbance induced outages were overcome by house load
schemes and in one-month viz., May 1998, as many as 150 house load operations took
place and units operated withstanding these transients. Healthiness of the control
system and other equipment to withstand external grid transients was remarkable. The
sharp corner in the root section of the blade causes the blade to crack. Failure of the
turbine blades was one of the challenges addressed with the help of BHEL by
modifications of HP stage-5 blade, shroud modifications etc., and based on its success,
the same technique was used for other plants to sort out inherent problems. The
material used was 12Cr-Mo martensitic steel,which is a very high temperature resistant
material. The microstructure was observed was tempered martensitic structure. These
turbine blades were collected from Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) for analysis.
These blades were found to be failed. These blades were used for the present
investigation
techniques.

of

defects

Turbine

using

blades

are

ultrasonic
known

phased
to

fail

array
due

to

and

X-ray

tempered

radiography
martensite

embrittlement, fatigue, fretting, high temperature creep age hardening, firtree design,
high residual stresses etc.

Chemical compositions of the turbine blade:

Element Weight %
Sulphur 0.019 to 0.03
Phosphorus 0.019 to 0.028
Carbon 0.20 to 0.24
Chromium 12.8 + 1.2
Manganese 0.45 to 0.54
Silicone 0.30 to 0.43
Nickel 0.40 to 0.52
Vanadium 0.05
Molybdenum 0.1 to 0.13
Iron Balance
36

TURBINE MATERIALS
In the case of turbine, the advancement in steam conditions mainly
affects its high pressure (HP) and intermediate pressure (IP)
sections.As a result, the associated rotations as well as stationary parts
of these sections experience more severe service conditions than that
of conventional sets. Since they operate well within the creep range,
their design is based primarily on the long-term creep strength ofthe
material, but the stress levels during steady and non-steady operating
conditions, particularly during 593C contemplate the use of 12Cr
steel rotor with steam cooling to bring the rotor temperature down
to 566C, where its creep strength is adequate to meet the design
pressure. However, presently several super 12Cr steels with much
superior creep resistance are available and they should also be
considered before a final decision is taken. Above 593C steam
temperature, X12CrMoWVNbN 10 11 and austenitic stainless steel
must be considered. Amongst the austenitic steels, A286 and
X8CrNiMoBNb 16 16 offer better creep strength for an HP rotor of
advanced sets operating at 649C. One of the rotor-related problems is
the maximum size that can be produced from the 12Cr and austenitic
steels. Due to severe segregation in conventional ingots, the size of
the austenitic steel rotors used in earlier supercritical units was limited
to small size, as a result of which, it became necessary to divide the
HP turbine into two stages. It is estimated that a large advanced plant
would require a one-piece super-alloy HP rotor forging
weighing 11,300 kg with a barrel diameter of 890mm. Similarly, a
double-flow reheat rotor made of 12Cr steel is expected to be about
1150mm in diameter and 31,750 kg in weight, which would
require to start with an ingot size of 63,500 kg . Significant progress
has been made, in recent years, in increasing the size as well as the
quality of the forging by employing modern steel making techniques

37

such as low sulfur silicon deoxidation (low S), vacuum oxygen

decarburization (VOD), vacuum carbon deoxidation (VCD), central
zone refining (CZR), electro slag hot topping (ESHT) and electro
slag remelting (ESR). By employing these techniques, either
individually or in combination, production experience with low-alloy
ferritic [39], 12Cr as well as austenitic steels [4, 40] demonstrate that
the rotors of the candidates materials can be made to the required size
and quality without experiencing much
problems.
Blading
Conventional 12CrMoV steel blades are adequate to meet the steam
temperature at 566C. But a wide variety of high-temperature blade
materials with proven service performance in large gas turbines are
available, and they should be considered for more advanced steam
conditions. These include super 12Cr steels, austenitic steels, Nimonic
80A, 90, 105, 115, In718 and precision casting alloys such as Udimet
500 and IN 738LC.
LP Rotor
The principal requirements of material for lowpressure (LP) rotor are
high yield strength to withstand the high stress imposed on it by long
blades and high fracture toughness to minimize subcritical flaw
growth so as to avoid the possibility of fast fracture. 3.5NiCrMoV
steel is widely used for LP rotor throughout the power industry. To
avoid temper embrittlement, the maximum operating temperature of
the LP rotor made of this steel is generally limited to about 350C [9].
The inlet steam temperature to LP turbine of the supercritical
units, on the other hand, is dictated by the exhaust steam from the
second IP section. The IP-LP crossover temperature from advanced
supercritical units at steam temperatures of 593C and above
would be 400-455C [9]. To maintain the inlet steam temperature of
LP turbine at its present maximum allowable limit, it would be
necessary to cool the steam either through cooling of the rotor
or by adding an additional stage of expansion to the IP turbine. The
latter approach would be a difficult design task, as it requires usage of
long blades at high temperature, whereas the former approach has to
sacrifice a part of the thermal efficiency. Another approach to the
problem would be to render LP rotor material more resistant to temper
38

embrittlement [41]. Efforts are, therefore, being made to improve the

fracture toughness of the IP rotor steel by improved steel making
technology and closer control of chemical composition. The
interaction between Mn, Si, P and Sn was shown to have promoted
the degree of temper embrittlement. Resistance to temper
embrittlement of 3.5NiCrMoV rotor steel with low Mn and low Si
contents was found to have greatly improved as compared to
conventional steel [9]. By utilising the modern steel making
technologies, it is now possible to decrease both Mn and Si contents
to levels of- 0.002%.

39

BAY-3

BAY-4

SECTION

HEAVY MACHINE

BAY-2

TBM

TURNING AND MILLING

SHOP

HEAVY MACHINE SHOP

BAY-1

RAILWAY TROLLEY TRACK

TROLLEY TRACK

40

MAINTAINENCE

MECHANICAL

MACHINE

TOOL-CRIB

STORES

ELECTRICAL

TBM

BLANKING

CNC

STORES

TROLLEY TRACK

MAINTAINENCE

MAINTAINENCE

LAYOUT OF BLOCK-3

LIGHT MACHINE

BLADE ASSEMBLY

MACHINE

(HYDRO/ STEAM)

WAY FROM BLOCK-2

BAY-4

TESTING

ASSEMBLY AREA BAY-2

BAY-1

OFFICE OF GM (TUM)

TOOL-ROOM

GOVERNING

BAY-4

AND MEDIUM

LP BLADE SECTION

MACHINE SHOP

G-T MACHINE SHOP BAY-

HEAVY

ASSEMBLY

ASSEMBLY

G -T

ASSEMBLY

TBM

GOVERNING

TRACK

SHOP BAY-3

HEAVY MACHINE SHOP

SHOP

RAILWAY TROLLEY

41
N