TURBINE ENGINE COMPONENT DETERIORATION MODEL

THE EXISTING GASTURBINE PERFORMANCE DETERIORATION SIMULATION METHODS ARE EITHER TOO SIMPLE OR TOO SOPHISTICATED TO BE OF GENERAL USE. GAS TURBINE DETERIORATION MODELS BASED ON STAGE CHARACTERISTICS, AND STAGE STACKING METHODS ARE PROPOSED TO ALLEVIATE THIS DRAWBACK. THE STAGE CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE FIRST DEVELOPED FOR THE CASE WHEN THE STAGES ARE NOT DETERIORATED, AND WILL BE STACKED TOGETHER TO DEVELOP BASELINE COMPONENT PERFORMANCE MAP. THEN USING FIRST PRINCIPLES, THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF FUALTS, VIZ., A) EROSION, B) FOULING, C) FOD, D) TIP CLEARANCE E) WATER INGESTION WILL BE SIMULATED TO REFLECT THE EFFECTS OF THESE ON THE STAGE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS.THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF THESE FAULTS ARE PROPOSED TO BE STUDIED FIRST ON THE STAGE OR SUBCOMPONENT LEVEL. THEN, USING STAGE-STACKING PROCEDURE, THE EFFECT OF EACH OF THE ABOVE FAULTS AND A COMBINATION OF THESE WOULD BE STUDIED IN DETAIL. DUE TO THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT NEED TO BE HANDELED IN SUCH A COMPARITIVE STUDY, A CORRELATION PROCEDURE WILL BE DEVELOPED, IN WHICH THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF ALL THE STAGES COULD BE REPRESENTED ALONG WITH THE OVERALL COMPONENT PERFORMANCE. A COMPONENT LEVEL COMPUTER PROGRAM CAPABLE OF SIMULATING DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAULTS WOULD BE DEVELOPED IN PHASE I. THIS WOULD BE USED IN PHASE II, WHERE DIFFERENT COMPONENT PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS DEPENDING ON THE CYCLE WOULD BE LINKED USING COMPRESSORTURBINE MATCHING CALCULATIONS, TO SEEK THE EFFECT OF THE FAULT OF A COMPONENT ON THE OVERALL ENGINE PARAMETERS, WHICH IS THE FINAL GOAL OF THE PROJECT. AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE IS THAT IT COULD BE USED FOR EXISTING AS WELL AS NEW ENGINE CYCLES. THE PROPOSED PROCEDURE ALSO HAS ITS ATTRACTIVENESS FROM QUANTIFICATIONOF THE EFFECTS OF FAULT AS WELL AS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FAULT MATRICES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAULT AND ENGINE COMBINATIONS.