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Impacts of Startup, Shutdown and Load Variation on Transient Temperature and Thermal Stress Fields within Blades of Gas Turbines

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Abstract

Based on the actual operation parameters and temperature-dependent material properties of a gas turbine unit, composite cooling blade model and corresponding reliable boundary conditions were established. Transient thermal-fluid-solid coupling simulations were then comprehensively conducted to analyze the transient flow and the temperature field of the blade under startup, shutdown, and variable loads condition. Combined with the obtained transient temperature data, the non-linear finite element method was exploited to examine the effect of these transient operations on the turbine blade thermal stress characteristics. Results show that the temperature and pressure on the blade surface increase with the load level and vice versa. As the startup process progresses, the film cooling effectiveness and the heat convection of airflows inside the blade continuously grow; high-temperature areas on the pressure surface and along the trailing edge of the blade tip gradually disappear. Locally high-temperature zones with the maximum of 1280 K are generated at the air inlet and outlet of the blade platform and the leading edge of the blade tip. The high thermal stresses detected on the higher temperature side of the temperature gradient are commonly generated in places with large temperature gradients and significant geometry variations. For the startup/shutdown process, the rate of increase/decrease of the thermal stress is positively correlated with the load variation rate. A slight variation rate of the load (1.52%/min) can lead to an apparent alteration (41%) to the thermal stress. In operations under action of the variable load, although thermal stress is less sensitive to the load variation, the rising or falling rate of the exerted load still needs to be carefully controlled due to the highly leveled thermal stresses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 52076173), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2020M680157), and the Fundamental Research Fund of the Central Universities (No. sxxj032020009) for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Liuxi Cai, Yanfang Hou & Yun Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Fang Li, Shunsen Wang & Jingru Mao

Authors
  1. Liuxi Cai
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  2. Yanfang Hou
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  3. Fang Li
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  4. Yun Li
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  5. Shunsen Wang
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  6. Jingru Mao
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Correspondence to Shunsen Wang.

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Cai, L., Hou, Y., Li, F. et al. Impacts of Startup, Shutdown and Load Variation on Transient Temperature and Thermal Stress Fields within Blades of Gas Turbines. J. Therm. Sci. 31, 727–740 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-022-1603-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-022-1603-z

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