INVESTIGATION OF HIGH VIBRATION ON LOW

PRESSURE STEAM TURBINES

Ray Beebe
Senior Lecturer
Monash University School of Applied Sciences and Engineering
Ray.Beebe@eng.monash.edu.au
Summary: During operation of a large steam turbine generator at lower than full load, the vibration
levels measured at the Low Pressure bearings increased to high levels. Despite changes to
operation, the levels continued to increase and the machine was tripped. During coastdown to rest,
the vibration levels exceeded the maximum scale on the recording charts. The machine was later
returned to service without incident. Condition monitoring techniques were summoned to
investigate this disturbing problem. This paper describes the investigation and identification of the
cause as operating at a very low exhaust pressure. Apparent high noise levels were also a concern
when operating at high exhaust pressure. The outcome of both these investigations was to derive or
confirm allowable operating limits of exhaust pressure. A third case study emphasises the
importance of knowing plant detail when interpreting vibration levels.
Keywords: Low Pressure steam turbine, turbine operation, vibration monitoring, vibration
severity, noise, condition monitoring
1.

INTRODUCTION

Vibration monitoring and analysis is well established for detecting and monitoring changes in the internal condition of
machinery to assist in or guide the need for maintenance and its extent. In power generation, the prime movers and
often also major auxiliary machines have permanently installed vibration monitoring equipment. The purpose of this is
basically for operator guidance and surveillance, but the recorded data can also be useful for condition monitoring, and
can also be used as screening to initiate more complex test measurements. Transducer arrangements are summarised
in Table I:
Type
1

Transducer and position

Velocity transducers or
accelerometers mounted on the
bearing caps
Velocity transducers mounted on
shaft-riding probes
Displacement transducers
mounted on the bearing to
measure shaft vibration relative to
the bearing, often with two
transducers at right angles.
Combinations of these eg
displacement transducer
measuring relative shaft vibration
and bearing cap transducer.

Quantity measured
Vibration of the bearing cap

Vibration of the shaft

relative to space (ie
absolute).
Vibration of the shaft
relative to the bearing

All of the above.

Comments
Output commonly converted to
displacement, sometimes assuming
that all the vibration is at 50Hz
The amplitude of shaft vibration in
most such machines is much greater
than that of the bearing cap.
The twin probes enable the shaft
centreline position to be monitored,
both during start-up and its orbit at
service speed and load conditions.
Gives absolute shaft vibration, relative
shaft vibration, and bearing cap
vibration. Less used than above
systems.

Table I: Vibration monitoring transducer arrangements for major turbomachinery

As for many other key instruments, the output of these systems is shown on any, some or all of: panel meters, usually in
the control room, paper chart recorders, paperless chart recorders, and plant computer system displays. A displacement
probe is also often fitted to give a shaft angular position reference, to allow the phase angle of the rotating speed
Presented at ICOMS-2002, International Conference of Maintenance Societies Brisbane Australia

vibration component to be found. Dedicated computer monitoring is also used, where the vibration signals can be
analysed into their frequency content and continually sampled, analysed, and compared with historical data. Data can
also be taken during transients, such as start up and coast down, to provide further information on condition, and
relative phase is then particularly important.
Depending on the extent of permanent systems fitted, vibration data is also taken with manual collection and remote
processing, as is used in many industries where permanent or continuous monitoring is not considered justified.
With the simpler systems, analysis of incidents after the event is more difficult, and relies on manual correlation of the
available data. This paper describes such an incident, and also further related investigations into machine vibration.

2.

CASE STUDY 1 : THE INCIDENT

The large steam turbine generator in this case study is of the general layout shown in Figure I. It is a 3-casing machine,
with combined High Pressure/Intermediate Pressure casing, and two Low Pressure casings, all tandem-compound the
so-called TC4DF layout. The condensers are mounted rigidly on their foundations, with flexible connecting joints to
the turbine Low Pressure casings.
The machine had permanent vibration monitoring with velocity transducer mounted on shaft riders at each bearing, as
in Type 2 of Table I. Vibration trends were logged as displacement on a paper chart recorder in the control room,
along with selected temperatures and other data. Since commissioning, the normal amplitudes of vibration were very
low, indicating a good state of balance and alignment.

HP

P HP-IP

LP A

LP B

Generator

Journal bearings
Couplings

Figure I: schematic layout of turbine generator

On a weekend day when less production was required, the unit output was reduced to below half rated output. Inside
an hour, a Vacuum Warning alarm showed. Suspecting increased air leakage into the condensers, the operator
started the standby air ejector pump. Inside another hour, vibration increased at No 4 bearing (ie the generator end
bearing of LP casing A). Vibration at other bearings then showed a more rapid increase to levels not seen before, and
reached the Vibrations high alarm, set at about 100m peak to peak.
Output was reduced in a successful attempt to reduce the vibration. However, on then increasing load the vibrations also
increased beyond alarm levels, so the unit was tripped manually. During the coastdown, vibration levels on LP A and
LP B exceeded the chart range of 350m peak to peak. After some hours on turning gear (low speed barring) the unit
was started up and reloaded without incident. During this time, the vacuum warning transmitter was found to be faulty.
All operating indications were normal at and after the return to service.

3.

CASE STUDY 1: THE INVESTIGATION

Investigation of this disturbing incident was initiated the next day, and data was correlated from several chart recorders
and data logging output. Two recordings of the LP casing exhaust temperature were available on one chart, output on
another, and vibrations on another. The turbine exhaust pressure was not recorded, but the saturation temperature is
directly related to it.
Combining this data on the one plot gave the trends shown in Figure II. The effect on exhaust pressure (ie temperature)
of removing more of the air leakage is evident.
The vibration transducers were checked and found to be in calibration, so the recorded readings were confirmed as
correct.

Figure II: trend plots of data

The lowest exhaust pressure during this incident was below 4 kPa, which is much lower than normally met in operation.
This pressure is related directly to the condenser pressure and varies in service. It is reduced :

with lower cooling water inlet temperature, which is a function of cooling tower or pond performance, which in
turn varies with the ambient weather. This remained unchanged during this incident.

if air leakage is reduced or removed more effectively.

output reduces, as shown in Figure III.

higher cooling water flow, as shown in Figure III (but the flow is normally not changed).

Condenser
Pressure

Low flow eg
1 pump only

(kPa)
High flow
2 pumps

Unit output (MW)

Figure III Schematic behaviour of turbine exhaust (ie condenser) pressure with cooling water flow and output

As the bearings are supported on the exhaust hood structure, it was deduced that the whole structure had been distorted
due to the very low internal pressure, sufficiently to affect the alignment of the rotor line. The result was the very high
vibrations. This hypothesis matched the known facts. If it had been possible to analyse the vibration during or after the
event, bearing instability due to unloading of a bearing may have been indicated. As these casings look strong and stiff,
with thick steel reinforcing ribs, etc. this was perhaps a surprising conclusion. It was therefore recommended that the
exhaust hood pressure not be allowed to get too low, by setting a lower operating temperature of 35C. An alarm was
arranged accordingly. As the return to service was without incident, it was deduced that no permanent damage had
occurred.

Bearing and
support
structure

Flexible connection
from turbine casing to
condenser

Concrete
foundation

Figure IV: Low Pressure casing cross-section showing bearing support

It was later found that the operating instructions require one of the cooling water pumps be taken from service at
outputs below half load. No reason for this stipulation was given. The turbine manufacturer later confirmed that the
reason for this was to prevent very low exhaust pressures, and prevent such occurrences as this incident, which had
been experienced on other similar machines.
Changes in alignment would be expected to result in changes in loading on the bearings. Each of these bearings has a
thermocouple set through its steel shell to near to the outer surface of the whitemetal (ie Babbitt) lining. A change in
load would increase bearing metal temperature. During this incident, the thrust and both bearings of the HP-IP rotor
were found to have increased by about 0.5C.
Thermal inertia in this case would delay response, and the
thermocouples would probably need to be into the whitemetal to be indicative enough.
The effect observed in this case would not be expected to occur in machines with a different Low Pressure exhaust
design, where the condenser neck is welded to the turbine exhaust casings, and the condenser supported on springs to
allow for thermal expansion.

4.

CASE STUDY 2: INVESTIGATION OF HIGH NOISE LEVELS

Higher noise levels had been reported in summer conditions when the exhaust pressure was higher than usual. Given
that the experience described above had revealed the need to decide an allowable lower limit on casing temperature

(albeit as an indicator of pressure), it was decided to use vibration analysis to investigate the effect of operation at
higher exhaust pressures.
Operating instruction limits were an alarm setting at an exhaust pressure of 16.6kPa (absolute), corresponding to a
temperature of 56C; a unit trip at a pressure of 24.8kPa (absolute) corresponding to 66C; and also a unit trip at an LP
hood temperature of 107C. Windage overheating could cause this latter temperature, even if the pressure was low, and
cooling sprays were provided to automatically turn on before this temperature was reached.
There had been some design concerns expressed as to increased blade loading when the same mass flow of steam
resulted in increased velocity at the lower density. It was felt that vibration measurements might help quantify the
effects of operating limits and perhaps minimise any output reductions made to comply with them.
A sound level meter was set up at a constant position. A vibration transducer was mounted at an arbitrary point on the
casing. Vibration levels and also spectra up to 1000Hz were obtained at three increasing casing temperatures. These
were arranged by reducing the cooling water flow.
The results of the noise measurements and vibration analysis at significant frequencies are shown in Table II:
Casing
temperature C
40
45
50

Noise level
dBA
93.5
94.5
96

Overall
vibration
mm/s
4.8
6.2
9

Vibration components from spectra

50Hz
90% increase
380% increase

100Hz
Datum level
5% increase
30% increase

200Hz
220% increase
320% increase

Table II: Effect on LP casing vibration of operation at higher casing temperatures

There was no significant change in overall rotor vibrations during these tests, nor in the bearing metal temperatures. It
was therefore concluded that increased noise was normal at higher casing pressures, and probably also occurred on may
not have been noticed on older machines where the noise from the generator may have been much greater and have
made it not evident
It should be noted that there are no accepted standards for severity of vibration as measured on a casing only those
measured on bearings or on shafts (Ref 2 - 7). As can be seen in Table II, the vibration in general increased as casing
temperature was raised. Presumably this occurs from increased buffeting noise from changes in the distribution of
steam flow inside the exhaust casing as steam velocities move away from the design values. Some noise tests run by
Bigret in France (1), but at varying loads and constant exhaust pressure, gave somewhat similar results.
In this case, no reason emerged as to why the manufacturers operating limit for casing temperature (at least up to that
tested here) should be changed.

5.

OTHER ALIGNMENT INVESTIGATIONS

These machines are aligned cold with a large vertical offset at the generator coupling to allow for thermal growth, and
the investigation described above led to study of alignment changes as the machine reached its normal operating
temperatures. The bearings are equipped with high pressure jacking oil tappings at bottom dead centre to reduce bearing
friction at starting up. On some machines, once the jacking oil is shut down, the local pressure gauges then indicate the
wedge pressure in the bearing, which is directly related to the loading exerted by the shaft on the bearing. This is a
rule of thumb used by commissioning engineers in checking alignment.
This machine required minor piping modifications to enable the pressures to be read using test transducers. The
alignment was expected to show some change with the machine at normal service speed and load from the cold to hot
condition. No changes were observed in the wedge pressures. The bearings are of the tilting pad type, and may show
different behaviour from the elliptical clearance types where the initial experience was gained. Given the smooth
running of these machines, the investigation was not taken further.

6.

CASE STUDY 3: THE MISNAMED BEARING VIBRATION

Another design of large steam turbine generator unit had an overhaul where an LP rotor had been removed. When half
full output was reached during the return to service, the vibration on the bearing between the two LP rotors reached the
alarm level. Placing a test vibration instrument adjacent to it checked the service transducer. The permanent system was

found to be reading correctly. Frequency analysis showed that the largest vibration component was at 300Hz, or 6
rotor service speed.
On some types of turbines, the bearing shell has a retaining keep with metal-to-metal contact to the outside, which is the
part seen and accessible for taking vibration measurement. On some other designs, such as both types featured in this
paper, there is a gap of some 50mm between the cover and a direct metal-metal path to the bearing. To the observer
from outside the machine, both of these arrangements look similar.
Figure V shows how the permanent velocity
transducer was mounted, and clearly labelled Bearing 5 Vibration, with this designation carried through to the control
room monitoring system (Figure V). Installed adjacent was one proximity transducer arranged to indicate the absolute
shaft vibration.

Figure V: Vibration transducer on turbine: labelled and appearing to be Bearing Vibration

Investigation of this incident was done under some pressure, with management, maintenance and contractor staff
standing by anxiously. Knowing of the alternative designs, a cross-section drawing was obtained (Figure VI), and it
was established that the cover did not communicate directly with the bearing itself. The permanent Bearing Vibration
transducer was sensing vibration of the cover, not of the bearing.
It was verified that a plugged hole on the top of the cover could be opened without danger to machine or people. A rod
was inserted through it to press firmly on to the bearing top. An accelerometer was held firmly on top of this rod and
the vibration of the bearing measured using the test instrument. The level so found was 5.1mm/s rms (10-1000Hz),
which was in the satisfactory range of severity according to available standards from experience for bearing cap
vibration (Ref 2), [which is consistent with the more recent ISO Standards Ref (3) and (4)]. Frequency analysis
revealed that the major component was at 50Hz, with no 300Hz component present. It was therefore recommended that
the machine loading up proceed as normal, and further service proceeded with out incident.
It was deduced that the cover had a resonance at 300Hz, and similar behaviour was eventually confirmed on other
machines of this design. It was unclear why this cover did not show this behaviour before. It was also found that the
permanent monitoring system converted the velocity signal from the transducer into displacement, assuming that all
vibration was at 50Hz. Such an arrangement may be satisfactory for routine monitoring, but of little use in comparing
levels with those contained in accepted Standards.

Cover with transducer

mounted on it
Air gap between
cover and bearing

Top of bearing

Figure VI: Cross-section of bearing showing air gap between cover and bearing

In this assessment, the shaft absolute vibration measurement was available, but it was not possible to check this locally.
Experience with assessing shaft vibration severity is less well established, and standards such as Ref (5), (6) were not
available on site at the time of this investigation (which was approaching midnight on a weekend). Ref (7) is the start
of a series of ISO Standards, and further developments may result from the current ISO/TC108/SC5 activities.
This example shows the importance of being sure of the location and mounting arrangement of permanent transducers,
or for that matter, of vibration transducers used for routine manual monitoring . There are no established standards for
bearing cover vibration!

7.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of investigations into some disturbing vibration and noise incidents on large steam turbines showed that

the techniques used for condition monitoring are useful also for investigation,

the full details of machine construction are needed before established severity standards can be used,

overall vibration levels are useful, but more refined diagnosis would be useful.

The results should be of interest to those who perform condition monitoring using vibration analysis on such
turbomachines.

8.

REFERENCES

(1)
Bigret, R Vibrations and noises of low pressure casing turbines Transactions of the American Nuclear
Society Vol 46 Supplement #1, pp 35-36 (1984)
(2)
AS2625, Part 3 -1983 Rotating and reciprocating machinery mechanical vibration Measurement and
evaluation of vibration severity of large machines in situ
(3)
ISO 10816-1:1995 Evaluation of machine vibration by measurements on non-rotating parts Part 1: General
guidelines
(4)
ISO 10816-2:2001 Evaluation of machine vibration by measurements on non-rotating parts Part 2: Landbased steam turbines and generators in excess of 50MW with normal operating speeds of 1500 r/min, 1800 r/min, 3000
r/min, and 3600 r/min.
(5)
VDI 2059 Part 2 June 1990 Shaft vibrations for steam turbosets for power stations Measurement and
evaluation

(6)

ISO7919-1:1996 Mechanical vibration of non-reciprocating machines measurement on rotating shafts and

evaluation criteria Part 1 General guidelines

(7)

ISO10817-1:1998 Rotating shaft vibration measuring systems Part 1: Relative and absolute sensing of radial
vibration

Presented at the International Conference of Maintenance Societies, (ICOMS), Brisbane 2002