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Failure analysis of the defect-induced blade damage of a compressor in the gas turbine of a cogeneration plant

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Abstract

Gas turbine engines are being widely used for power generation recently because of their high efficiency and versatility. However, it is occasionally reported that a gas turbine under normal operation fails even though careful inspections were scheduled. In this paper, the recent failure of the gas turbines of a cogeneration plant is analyzed by focusing mainly on the crack initiation mechanism of blade fracture. Damage of several blades of the compressor was observed after a gas turbine was disassembled, and the root causes of the damage were investigated in detail by scanning electron microscopy as well as optical microscopy. The defects observed at the crack initiation site have been characterized by comparison with previous studies. The fracture of the blade was supposed to be initiated by a crack due to concentrated stresses around a preexisting defect which was possibly formed before the turbine was operated, e.g., a forging defect during the three-step forging process for blades manufacture.

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Abbreviations

a:

the depth of polishing from the suction side to observe the cross section of the crack

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KEPCO Research Institute, 103-16, Munji-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 305-380

    Wan No Yoon, Myung Soo Kang, Nam Kun Jung & Jun Sung Kim

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Anam-dong 5-ga, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 136-701

    Byoung-Ho Choi

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  1. Wan No Yoon
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  2. Myung Soo Kang
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  3. Nam Kun Jung
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  4. Jun Sung Kim
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  5. Byoung-Ho Choi
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Correspondence to Byoung-Ho Choi.

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Yoon, W.N., Kang, M.S., Jung, N.K. et al. Failure analysis of the defect-induced blade damage of a compressor in the gas turbine of a cogeneration plant. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 13, 717–722 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-012-0093-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-012-0093-4

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