General Electric Company

James Patrick Claeys

Weiping Wang

Charles Erklin Seeley

Ramanath Iyer Ramakrishnan

Hsin-Pang Wang

Anthony Constantine Thermos

Martel Alexander McCallum

Al McCallum

A method for controlling distortion of a turbine case (&ldquo;case&rdquo;) includes measuring a temperature distribution for the case that includes thermal gradients. The method further includes modeling thermal stresses on the case induced by the thermal gradients, calculating an out of roundness index (&ldquo;index&rdquo;) resulting from the thermal stresses, and comparing the index with at least one distortion limit to determine whether the case has a satisfactory or an unsatisfactory index. The temperature distribution is controlled for an unsatisfactory index to produce the satisfactory index. A system for controlling distortion of the turbine case includes a thermal measurement system, for measuring the temperature distribution, and a computer configured for modeling the thermal stresses, calculating and comparing the index with the distortion limit, and controlling the temperature distribution for an unsatisfactory index to produce the satisfactory index.

Method and system for controlling distortion of turbine case due to thermal variations

A computer model of a gas turbine is analyzed using finite element analyses to determine the height of support jacks underneath the casing of the gas turbine. The computer model defines the gas turbine casing as an array of data points. Each data point includes information regarding the spatial location of the point and the mass (or weight) of the gas turbine with respect to that point. By applying finite element analysis, the load due to gravity and resulting deformation at each point on the gas turbine can be predicted. Jacks supporting the gas turbine are also simulated in the model to compensate for the casing deformation due to gravity. Results using the proposed iterative algorithm indicate the correct jack heights to minimize casing distortion.

Computerized method for positioning support jacks underneath industrial gas turbines

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Anderson, SC, United States of America

James Patrick Claeys