Tip clearance

About: Tip clearance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2637 publications have been published within this topic receiving 32671 citations.

Gas turbine plant

Abstract: Provided is a gas turbine plant that enables active clearance control for ensuring tip clearance of first-stage turbine rotor blades required during start-up and for achieving the minimum tip clearance during load operation. In a gas turbine plant including a cooler in an air system used for cooling second-stage turbine stator blades, a first-stage segmented ring and a second-stage segmented ring that oppose tips of first-stage turbine rotor blades and second-stage turbine rotor blades are supported by the same blade ring member, and a cooling-air for the second-stage turbine stator blades forms a cooling air flow cooling the blade ring, to control thermal expansion of the blade ring and to control the clearance with respect to the tips.

Turbine blade tip clearance control

Abstract: Aspects of the invention relate to a system and method for actively managing blade tip clearances in a turbine engine, particularly under steady state operating conditions such as at base load. Aspects of the invention involve routing a portion of air from a rotor cooling air circuit to a vane carrier or other stationary support structure surrounding the turbine blades. Because the temperature of the air is less than the temperature of the stationary support structure, the stationary support structure will thermally contract when the air is passed in heat exchanging relation therewith. In one embodiment, the air can be passed through one or more passages extending through at least a portion of the stationary support structure. The contraction of the stationary support structure reduces the blade tip clearance because the blades do not contract. Thus, fluid leakage through the clearances is minimized, which in turn can increase engine performance.

High Temperature Proximity Measurement in Aero and Industrial Turbomachinery

Abstract: The measurement of disc and shaft displacement has been performed for many years as part of the development, commissioning and monitoring of all classes of turbomachinery. This measurement has traditionally been performed using sensors that cannot operate above the curie point of rare earth magnets. In this paper a programme of work is described that was undertaken to develop a measurement system that could make a measurement of target proximity in a high temperature environment. The specific objectives were to make possible the measurement of turbine disc axial movement and shaft motion in the engine core, close to the combustion chamber or turbine; and secondly to make possible the measurement of tip clearance over shrouded turbine rotors.

Multifidelity Multidisciplinary Whole-Engine Thermomechanical Design Optimization

Abstract: Traditionally, the optimization of a turbomachinery engine casing for tip clearance has involved either two-dimensional transient thermomechanical simulations or three-dimensional mechanical simulations. This paper illustrates that three-dimensional transient whole-engine thermomechanical simulations can be used within tip clearance optimizations and that the efficiency of such optimizations can be improved when a multifidelity surrogate modeling approach is employed. These simulations are employed in conjunction with a rotor suboptimization using surrogate models of rotor-dynamics performance, stress, mass and transient displacements, and an engine parameterization.