Abstract
In this paper we present the test results of measurements in a scaled model steam turbine test operated at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. In order to understand the aerodynamic behavior of the low-pressure steam turbine, numerical and experimental results obtained on a five-stage scaled steam turbine module are presented.
In order to investigate the effect of non-equilibrium condensation on the performance of the low-pressure steam turbine, inlet temperature change tests were conducted, and wetness loss change was evaluated experimentally. Besides, the overall performance and the flow pattern were evaluated numerically by the commercial CFD code ANSYS CFX. The wetness loss and flow pattern change due to the non-equilibrium process was numerically evaluated by ANSYS CFX. Besides, the pressure ratio and loading distributions in low pressure turbine stage were evaluated numerically by ANSYS CFX. In a turbine stage in which the non-equilibrium condensation occurs, the pressure ratio is decreased, while the pressure ratio of the adjacent stage is increased. The flow pattern obtained by the non-equilibrium condensation modeling CFD was good agreement with that of tests data.
In order to more accurately capture the flow pattern characteristics by CFD analysis, it is necessary to consider non-equilibrium condensation modeling. Therefore, it was found that CFD is useful for understanding the flow pattern of a low-pressure steam turbine.
