Engineering Failure Analysis Digital
Assignment -1
NAME: koushik gupta DATE: 5th February 2022
REG NO: 19BME0941
1) Write an illustrative assignment on the low pressure steam turbine failures and the potential
causes of failure. Use case studies to validate your justification.
Aim:
Investigation in the fracture of low-pressure last stage turbine blade of 1.7 MW steam turbine
which drives hydrogen compressor in Daura refinery- Baghdad- Iraq has been done to
determine the reasons for this failure.
Tools:
LP turbine blade, steam turbine, X20Cr13.
Literature Review :
Under the severe operating conditions inside the gas and steam turbines, the blades face high
temperature, high stresses, and potentially high vibrations.
Steam turbine blades are critical components in power plants which convert the linear motion of high
temperature and high-pressure steam flowing down a pressure gradient into a rotary motion of the
turbine shaft.
Low pressure turbine blades are found to be more susceptible to failure as compared to the HP and IP
section blades.
The major causes of failure in steam turbines are fatigue, stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue.
The vibration of blade arising from the variable flow of steam induces vibratory stresses and causes
fatigue failure. The fatigue failure is further intensified due to corrosion.
Vibratory stresses can be reduced by
(a) ensuring blade frequencies within a narrow limit and thus avoiding resonant vibration and
(b) limiting steam bending stresses
Experimental Setup:
The fracture of the broken blade has been located at (13mm) from the root of a
95mm long blade of the final stage (12th) low-pressure steam turbine. The turbine
running time is about (60,000 hr). The material of the blade is X20Cr13 martensitic
chrome alloy steel which its chemical composition is shown in table.
Fe% Cr% Mn% Si% S% P% C%
84.27 12-14 <1.5 <1 <0.03 <0.04 0.16-
0.25
Visual inspection has been performed to determine any marks or pitting that could
appear on the blade surface which could indicate erosion or mechanical failure. A
penetration test has also been done to reveal further cracks on other blades.
Mechanical properties of the fractured blade have been also investigated to
determine the change in material properties. Measuring the hardness of the
material and performing a tensile test to the material specimen. The results have
been compared with the original properties of the material.
Chemical composition has been analyzed in the fracture region to determine the
change in elements. Besides, microstructure analysis has been done to the
material blade to determine the change in material microstructure and to inspect
the surface of the blade.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:
• Visual inspection
Visual inspection revealed that a crack has been propagated from the
attack angle of the blade. On the area of broken blade beach marks and
pitting on the blade attack angle and broken surface have been noticed as
shown in figure below. The guard wire holds 15 blades in the stage which
consists of 50 blades noticed to be missing and dislocated from its place.
Also, deep pitting has been noticed on all blades of the 12th (last stage) of
the turbine along the leading edge of the blades at the suction surface
(figure). These pitting are a result of erosion-corrosion on the blade
surface. This could be an indication that crack has been propagated from
the pitting
area that caused stress corrosion cracking (SCC) which is common in low-
pressure turbine blades.
Furthermore, penetration test has been performed to inspect blade for
other cracks that may exist. The tests showed no other cracks has been
existed on the un-fractured blades in the last stage of the steam turbine as
shown in figure.
• Mechanical tests
Hardness test has been performed on the blade at pitting area and root
area. The results of hardness showed that the hardness has been
increased to 309 HB whereas the standard hardness of X20Cr13 tempered
martensitic stainless steel is 225 HB. The increase in hardness by 37%
increases the
brittleness and reduces ductility of material which would be more liable to
fracture due to cyclic stress that the turbine blades are subjected to it.
Tensile test results showed that there is a noticeable decline in ultimate,
yield, and feature stress. The ultimate tensile stress has been dropped
from 700 Mpa to 500 Mpa (reduction 28%) while the yield stress has been
decreased from 500 Mpa to 385 Mpa (reduction 23%) figure.
This significant deterioration in mechanical properties could be due to long
working hours which is 60,000 hrs as the steam turbine blades are
susceptible to high temperature and stress levels . In addition, turbine
blades are subjected to pressure fluctuation due to the flow of steam which
causes vibratory stress and these fluctuations in loads will result in high-
stress concentrations especially in blade root in addition to pitting that
initiate the crack.
• Chemical analysis and microstructure
Chemical composition analysis showed no noticeable change in chemical
composition compared with standard X20Cr13 tempered martensitic
stainless steel as shown in table
Regarding the microstructure investigation, two specimens had been
inspected one on the pitting region and the other on the blade root region.
Optical micrographs for both polished specimens showed normal homogeneous
microstructure with no evidence of degradation in microstructure of the X20Cr13
martensitic stainless steel as shown in figure.
Optical micrograph at 600x of blade material (a) root region (b) pitting region
2(a) Turbine rotor failure due to high cycle fatigue cycling
AIM:
To study the turbine rotor failure due to high cycle fatigue cycling.
REQUIREMENTS:
Major Input that are needed to perform a FE simulation:
(1) Geometry of the part(s) of interest;
(2) Applied loading and boundary conditions; and
(3) Material behavior of each of the different materials.
FAILURE ANALYSIS:
First, and foremost, is the existence of vibratory stresses from unexpected drivers
and structural responses which exceed the material capability as determined
from laboratory specimen and sub-component tests. Fatigue failures are analyzed
based on the various mean stress theories like Goodman, Soderberg and Gerber
theories. Here we are using Mean stress theories since much of the fatigue data
in the literature has been determined for completely reversed bending with
= 0.
However the effect of mean stress is important and an increase in mean stress
will always causes a reduction in the fatigue life.
The second category involves the introduction of damage into the material during
production or during service usage. HCF failures in materials used in both static
and rotating components of gas turbine engines have often been found to be
attributable to fatigue loading on materials which have sustained some type of
damage. Damage can be present from initial material or manufacturing defects, or
can develop during service operation. In service damage, while not catastrophic by
itself, can degrade the HCF resistance of the material below that for which it was
designed. Three major sources of in-service damage have been identified which
can alter the HCF resistance individually.
FORMULAE:
Equations Used for the Calculation of Alternating Stress
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:
When the notch position is at the middle of the blade the life decreases because
of the twist present in the blade. It can be seen from the fig that life of the blade
increases as the notch size increases up to particular notch size after that as the
notch size increases the life decreases drastically this behavior is due to the twist
present in the blade.When the notch is present at the tip of the blade the life of
the blade increases since it will not affect the operation of the blade
considerably.
Similarly when the notch depth is large it can be considered as the U-notch with
b=1 and b= 2 depending on the depth of notch. Here also the life decreases when
the notch is present at the root and the life decreases as the notch size increases.
At the middle position the life remains constant up to particular notch size then
increases upon increasing the notch size life of the blade decrease. When the
notch is present at the tip or near the tip of the blade the life increases.
2) Write an illustrative assignment on the following:
a) Turbine rotor failure due to high cycle fatigue cycling
b) Gas turbine high temperature engine blade failures, their potential cause
and design improvements to increase blade life.
Answer:
a) High cycle fatigue failures in materials used in rotating components of gas turbine engines have often
been found to be attributable to fatigue loading on materials which have sustained damage from other
sources.
High cycle fatigue (HCF)
Fatigue failure occurs when either the material fracture toughness is exceeded by the combination of
applied stress and crack size, or a critical crack size is attained in a highly stressed region of a component.
The process to achieve either of these conditions involves crack initiation and sub-critical crack
propagation. Whilst components under an LCF regime spend the majority of their lives in the crack
propagation phase, for HCF. crack initiation often tends to be the time-consuming process. Low
amplitude, high frequency loading cycles (HCF) could quickly propagate a LCF initiated crack to failure.
HCF is primarily a function of engine design. A component that fails in HCF does so because it has loading
been subjected to a large number ( 10^7 ) of stress cycles. A number of factors can cause high frequency
of components and are generally known as drivers.
Damage can be present in the form of initial material or manufacturing defects, or can develop during
service operation Three major sources of in-service damage.
have been identified which can alter the High cycle fatigue resistance individually or in conjunction with
one another: low cycle fatigue (LCF), foreign object damage (FOD), and fretting.
High cycle fatigue requires a relatively large fraction of life for creation of damage which can be detected,
to occur. This results in a very small fraction of life remaining for propagation. It must be pointed out that
considerable research is being conducted at the present time to identify and detect High cycle fatigue
damage in the early stages of total fatigue life.
High cycle fatigue caused by large resonance stress is one of the main problems in turbine design. Fatigue
analysis is done for the flat and tapered cantilever beam with semi-circular and U-notched rotating blade,
the alternating stress, fatigue stress intensity and life of the rotating blade is found for the known damage.
So that failure analysis of the rotating blade is carried to give the information to maintenance engineer so
that critical usage can be done in the emergency. services. Fatigue failures are analysed based on
Goodman Mean Stress theory for completely reversed bending with Sn= 0.
b)
The gas turbines have been operated at elevated temperatures to have the advantage of achieving higher and
higher power output and engine efficiency. The turbine blade is one of the most important components of the gas
turbine and is principally made of Nickel base super alloys.
Superalloys are metallic materials for service at high temperatures and the excellent thermal stability, tensile and
fatigue strengths, resistance to creep and hot corrosion, and micro structural stability possessed by Nickel-base
super alloys render the material an optimum choice for application in turbine blades.
The main function of turbine blade is to translate thermal energy of gas at high temperature and high pressure into
mechanical work.
The gas turbine blades operate at very high temperature under conditions of extreme environmental attack and
subjected to degradation by oxidation, corrosion and wear etc.
Generally, during operation, the turbine blades are subjected to the failure mechanisms like Fatigue, Creep,
Corrosion, Erosion and sulphidation etc. The failure of turbine blades may have severe impact on safety and
reliability of the gas turbine engine.
Keeping this in view, in this paper an attempt has been made to review the blade failure mechanisms and blade
failures with some case studies .Gas-turbine blades are known to be extremely critical and important components in
power plants.
They are expected to operate in harsh working conditions, such as high temperature, high pressure and complex
dynamic loading conditions. Degradation and failure of gas-turbine blades can obviously have severe negative
implications for the integrity and functionality of gas turbines and hence the output of a power plant. Failures of
gas-turbine blades can be due to creep damage, high-temperature corrosion, high-temperature oxidation, fatigue,
erosion, and foreign object damage. Obviously, in most cases the failure is due to the interrelation of more than one
failure mechanism. As a case in point, creep and fatigue can simultaneously result in failure in gas-turbine blades.
Increasing the operating temperature in gas turbines has always been a target, given that any increase in service
temperature is associated with an increase in the efficiency and output of a turbine.
Among different candidate materials for harsh high-temperature working conditions in turbines, nickel- and cobalt-
based superalloys have long been known as the best options on the grounds that these alloys are capable of
working at high temperature, while they keep their properties . These alloys benefit from a unique and exceptional
combination of high-temperature mechanical properties (i.e., superior creep resistance), excellent resistance to
high-temperature degradation/oxidation, and superior microstructural stability during high-temperature service .
Nickel-based superalloys
When the turbine is operating, fluid pressure is applied to the surface of the air foil, and an inertia body force is
applied to the whole blade structure due to rotation. The inertia body force contributes significantly to the blade
structural deformation.
To simplify the problem, fluid pressure is, neglected in the finite element and sensitivity analyses. In addition,
although the shank sustains a major stress flow from the dovetail to the airfoil due to rotation, the FEA results
confirm that the platform does not contribute significantly to blade structural behaviour. Thus, the platform is
removed in the modeling process. The profile of the airfoil is determined from aerodynamics consideration and is
not considered for shape design changes. However, the shape of the shank and the position of the dovetail can be
modified to improve structural performance of the blade.
Thermo mechanical fatigue damage is caused by a combination of the external loads and cyclic
compressive and tensile loads induced by thermal gradients across components.
This effect is particularly significant for turbine blades and especially cooled blades.
Taking an uncooled HP turbine blade as an example, before first engine start it has no residual stresses
and is at uniform temperature.
Upon engine start the blade experiences high temperatures on its outer surface whilst taking longer to
reach operating temperature at its core.
This leads to excessive compressive forces particularly at the leading edge and the material plastically
deforms to relieve the stress.
As the blade core reaches steady state temperature, the outer surface goes into tension due to the earlier
compressive deformation.
The centrifugal loading on the blade increases this tensile loading.
As the throttle is retarded, the centrifugal forces reduce and the outer surface cools faster than the core
causing the outer surface to contract.
This contraction is opposed by the core, which holds the outer surface in tension. When the engine is
shutdown and reaches the ambient temperature throughout, there remains a tensile stress in the outer
surface of many components. This process enhances the level of tensile stress cycling experienced by the
blade, particularly in the thinner sections such as the leading and trailing edges, where temperature
changes occur most rapidly [2]. It can therefore be seen that the blade goes through a stress sequence
with every change of temperature. The scale of the load imposed is proportional to the temperature
gradient induced in the blade and this is a function of the rate of throttle movement. Therefore, for long
engine life throttle movements should be made as slowly as possible. The thermal gradient will produce a
stress field that varies across the radius due to the temperature differences and the coefficient of
expansion
Thermal fatigue is defined as the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material caused primarily by
alternate heating and cooling. This heating and cooling almost always gives rise to a non uniform
distribution of temperature which in turn causes cyclic thermal stress. This thermal stress of course leads
to thermal-fatigue cracking. Thermal fatigue can (and quite often does) occur in gas and steam turbine
blades, diesel engine pistons, railroad loco. The thermal-fatigue problem is of greatest concern to the
engineers as it causes the initiation of cracks in aircraft gas turbine blades. Modern gas turbines are
running at hotter and hotter temperatures in the search for increased efficiency, thrust, and economy.
Service times are also being lengthened. These are the circumstances which tend to make thermal fatigue
dominant as a mode of failure in the failure of turbine blades in gas turbine engines.
RESULTS:
Consequently, failure analysis of gas turbine blades must investigate all engineering causes including
design issues, environmental factors, cleanliness of the fuel, air quality, material, and gas turbine
operating and maintenance history.
