Title of the Paper: Steam Turbine Vibration and Critical Speed

Date: 21-04-2018

Introduction: Starting of steam turbine of both hot and cold start-up is a critical task for a medium range
of power plant. Many steam turbine facing problem of high vibration when turbine was being rolled
from hot and cold start-up and machine was seized and loss of production for a long time. I dedicated
this article to our new engineers who working at this field. I hope this article may help them a lot.
Main Section:

Every turbine having critical speed range or exclusion ranges. At that time no point of time machine
should be halted in this range. As per design maximum steam turbine machine having critical speed
range fall between 2000–4400 rpm that is why the turbine rolling procedure says to roll the turbine
straight from 1800 rpm to 4600 rpm, taking another safety margin of 200 rpm on both side. This range is
called exclusion range which means, that at no point of time machine should be halted in this range.
Especially 3000–4000 rpm is the most critical as the main prime mover i.e. turbine critical speed falls in
this range. So, this should be passed on a bit more quickly. Turbine engineers must be vigilant while
rolling in this range and at any point of time, if they feel that acceleration rate is going down than the
desired rolling rate despite that auxiliary speed changer is being moved continuously the turbine should
be hand tripped immediately before acceleration rate comes to zero.

What is critical speed?

Every matter on this earth has its own natural frequency of vibration, even the human being also. This
depends on the mass and stiffness of the matter, when even stand still. Turbine rotor, casing and
foundation also have their natural frequency. During design stage care is taken in designing the rotor and
casing fairly above or below the normal operating range of the machine. Since rotor is rotating, it has
different natural frequency at the different speed and it is called fundamental frequency. When rotor is
accelerating its fundamental is also changing and the speed at which this fundamental frequency
matches with the any of the stationary part e.g. casing, stator and foundation etc is called critical speed.
In TG train we have five critical speeds that of casing, gear box, generator, foundation and combined
critical speed.

What is resonance?

When the fundamental frequency of the rotor matches with natural frequency of the stator or casing
causes the resonance. If this resonance is allowed to persist the amplitude of vibration goes on
multiplying in every cycle and within very short time it can grow to such an extent that it can breakdown
the machine completely.

In the history, even bridge have broken down due to synchronized marching of army troops while
crossing the bridge because resonance between the synchronized marching frequency and the natural
frequency of the bridge. That is why synchronized marching on the bridge is prohibited all over the world
and every turbine is provided with speed exclusion range where turbine speed should not be halted.

In spite of all the care taken in the construction and balancing of the turbine shaft and disc due to some
reason or other the mass centre of the rotor does not coincide with the geometric axis of the shaft and
the distance between the two is known as eccentrically. During the shaft rotation even a small
eccentricity gives rise to a transverse force that increase with shaft rpm and tends to deflect the shaft.

The rpm which numerically coincide with the natural frequency of the shaft is known as critical speed.
Theoretically, at the critical speed the deflection of the shaft tends to infinity. Thus, operation of the
turbines at the critical speed is to be avoided. For safe working of turbine the critical speed should differ
from the normal speed by 30%.

Turbine shaft having critical speeds less than normal operating speed are known as flexible shaft and
those with critical speed higher than normal operating speed are known as rigid shaft.

All rotating shaft even in the absence of external load with deflect during rotation, the unbalanced mass
of rotating object cause deflection that will create resonance vibration at certain speeds known as critical
speed. The magnitude of deflection depends upon the followings,

i) Stiffness of the shaft and its support.

ii) Total mass of the shaft and its supports.
iii) Unbalanced of the mass with respect to axis of rotation.
iv) The amount of damping in the system.

The rpm which numerically coincides with the natural frequency of transverse vibrations of the shaft is
known as critical speed. Theoretically, at the critical speed the deflection of the shaft tends to infinity.

Calculation of bending of shaft:

If the shaft is the horizontal supports (Fig. 1) even under static condition there will be some amount of
the deflection ∆ caused by the weight of the shaft and the discs mounted on it. Thus, the shaft will
always be slightly bent. Consequently, while in rotation there will be an additional amount of deflection y
and the shaft begins to vibrate relative to static geometric axis.

Let us consider a slightly

out balance shaft with an
eccentricity . The mass of
the shaft is at a distance

from the
geometrical axis of the shaft. We shall consider the shaft to be supported in the vertical direction to
avoid the shaft deflection due to its own weight.

The centrifugal force due to rotation is given by Fc = mω 2 (y+ )......... (1)

Where, y = deflection of rotor, mm;

 m= mass of rotor, kg; and

ω= angular velocity, rad/s

If f is the stiffness of shaft, i.e. the force that cause the shaft to deflection by I mm, then by force balance,

Fc = Fy --------- (2)

Fy = mω2(y+ ) or

Y= / f/ (mω2)-1 …….. (3)

From Eq (3) it follows that each value of w conforms to a definite deflection y. e.g., at F/mω 2 =1, y = ∞ .
The angular velocity of the shaft at mω 2 = F , when y = ∞, is known as the critical velocity.

wct = [ F/m]1/2 ………. (4)

wct = 2πNct /60 = [ F/m ]1/2

Ncr = 9.55 [ F/m ]1/2 ………….. (5)

The static deflection is given from

F . ∆ = m= weight of the rotor or shaft.

Where F is stiffness of the shaft (Kg/mm deflection)

∆ = m/F……… (6)

For simply supporting shaft loaded at the centre, the deflection will be

∆ = ml3 /48 EI ……. (7)

And for the shaft with fixed ends and loaded at the centre

∆ = ml3 /192 EI ……. (8)

Where, Ɩ = length of the shaft

E = modulus of elasticity of the material of the shaft

I = moment of inertia of the shaft, ∏d 4/64

We may rewrite the equation for shaft deflection as, ∆ = C ml 3 / EI ……. (9)

Where C is a coefficient depending upon the type of support and the point at which the load is applied
(in the cases referred above, C = 1/48 and 1/192)
Having determined the deflection ∆ the critical speed can be easily determined from equation (5) and
(8).

Ncr = 9.55/√∆ -------(10)

Conclusion:

Furthermore, uneven shaft warming caused by rubbing between rotating and stationary parts can cause
further bending of the shaft in the same direction of the existing bow and cause additional contact with
stationary parts, increasing temperatures and therefore causing more bending. The effect cascades if
allowed to continue. If the bending is allowed to continue, it is possible that the yield strength of the
metal could be exceeded, causing a permanent deformation of the shaft. The allowed bending in 3,000-
rpm turbines is up to 0.02–0.03 mm in each section. When on turning gearing, the limit is 0.05 mm.

References:

1. Mr. V.K Kanujia, General Manager, DLF Power Ltd

2. Power Plant Engineering by P.K Nag

Details of Author:
Topics: Steam Turbine Vibration and Critical Speed
Written by: Asim Kumar Nath
Date: 22nd April’2018
Membership Number: MIE-160602-0
Designation: Assistant General Manager
Name of Company: Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Angul, Odisha
Mobile: 9777446458
E-mail: asim.nath@angul.jspl.com