Study on Stability of High Pressure Turbine (Effect of Partial Admission)

Subsynchronous vibration of high-pressure steam turbine is one of the difficult problems to improve the reliability of power plant. Extensive work has been done to prevent the low frequency vibration of high-capacity steam turbine and most of the problems were practically solved (1). In the future, we must build up theoretical approach to design a new turbine operating under the steam condition of high-temperature and high-pressure. To design such an advanced steam turbine, it is necessary to solve the effect of partial admission on control stage of the steam turbine. This paper describes the experimental results from the scale model of the steam turbine and theoretical analysis of destabilizing forces. In theoretical analysis, destabilizing forces that take partial admission into consideration were analyzed. As a result, it was clarified that large destabilizing force was generated in partial admission condition and the destabilizing force varied periodically by the instant rotor position. In experimental study, we designed the new inlet seal for the prevention against the vibration. From the experimental result that increase of total flow rate leads the system stable, we showed the effectiveness of new inlet seal. And we paid attention to the step-up that is the step between blade and nozzle. As a result, it was experimentally proved that the step-up had a large influence on the rotor stability.