Turbines

Steam and Gas Units Ch 5 in El-Wakil

Turbines
Consider the following schematic of a vapour power plant. Until now, we have focused most of our attention on subsystems A and B

Turbines
Within subsystem B is the turbine, which merits special attention. We will now consider steam and gas turbines in more detail.

Steam Turbines
Before 1900, steam power plants were reciprocating engines to convert enthalpy to work 1909: Steam turbines started to get implemented with 12 MW units being installed

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Steam Turbines
1929: A 208 MW unit is installed in NYC 1950s: 450 MW steam turbines were being installed Capacities have now risen to over 1000 MW

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Gas Turbines
1903: The first successful gas turbine was built in France (with = 3% it was not practical) 1939: First flight of a jet plane powered by a gas turbine

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Gas Turbines
WWII: Swiss engineers develop gas turbines for power generation that are efficient enough for use After WWII, jet fighters and passenger jets became widespread in many countries

Turbine Uses for Power

Steam turbines are used for municipal power generation, normally providing base load power from large installations Gas turbines: Used as peaking units Power isolated locations such as oil rigs Power oil pipeline routes Used with steam turbines in combined cycle power plants To understand the physics of blade motion, we revisit the Impulse Principle

The Impulse Principle

Consider a horizontal jet impinging in the +x direction on a flat plate. The fluid imparts a horizontal force, called an impulse to the plate

F = the force of the impulse (N) = mass flow rate of the jet (kg/s) = velocity of the jet in the x-direction (m/s)

The Impulse Principle

If the plate is moving as the jet hits it, than the velocity of the jet relative to the plate is Vs - Vb Now:

The Impulse Principle

Work is being done on the plate, because the force is being applied over a distance (recall W = Fd. Power is work done per unit time = Fd/t Alternatively:

Or:

The Impulse Principle

The efficiency of the transfer or power from the jet to the plate, can be found by dividing the power by the power of the water jet to get the efficiency

The Impulse Principle

In a gas turbine with a steam jet impinging on a blade, maximizing power transfer is an objective This can be done by differentiating w/r/t and setting it equal to zero (see El-Wakil 5.2). This gives:

Note that this is 50% of the power in the incoming water

The Impulse Principle

Turbine blades are rounded. Consider a surface that is rounded instead of flat, which causes the jet to change direction. The fluid velocity, relative to the surface is still Vs - Vb. The fluid exit velocity, relative to the surface is also Vs - Vb. This will increase the impulse that is imparted to the rounded surfaces

The Impulse Principle

Using the same analysis as with the flat plate, impulse, power, and blade efficiency are:

The Impulse Principle

Again, the blade velocity which maximizes power transfer can be found by differentiating power and setting the expression equal to zero.

Note that this is 100% of the power in the incoming water

Example 14
A jet of water with a mass flow rate of 0.84 kg/s and a velocity of 0.66 m/s impinges on a curved surfaces and propels it forward. The efficiency with which power is transferred from the jet to the surface is 78%. A) Calculate the velocity of the surface B) Calculate the power transferred from the jet to the surface C) Calculate the velocity of the surface and power transferred as functions of varying efficiency

The Impulse Principle

In a turbine, the blades are rotating away from a jet, so there must be a continuous series of blades. Turbines typically have 30 - 60 blades per rotor. In the confined space of a gas turbine, it is impossible to have the jet impinging directly on the blades

The Impulse Principle

The jet impinges at an angle
The jet also exits at an angle close to so that it can be redirected to another row of blades
General Flow Direction