Market requirements for faster and more frequent power unit start-up events result in a much faster deterioration of equipment, and a shorter equipment lifespan. Significant heat exchange occurs between steam and turbine rotors during the start-up process and even more intensive heat exchange takes place during the condensation phase in cold start-up mode, which leads to further thermal stresses and lifetime reduction. Therefore, the accuracy of lifetime prediction is strongly affected and dependent on the accuracy of transient thermal state prediction. In this study, transient thermal and structural analyses of a 30 MW steam turbine for a combined High and Intermediate pressures (HPIP) rotor during a full cold start cycle is performed and special attention is paid to initial start-up phase with 'condensation' thermal BC. All steps for rotor design and the thermal model preparation were done using the AxSTREAM™* software platform. It included the development of a two dimensional model of the rotor, thermal zones and corresponding thermal boundary conditions (heat transfer coefficients and steam temperatures) calculation during turbine start-up and shut down operation. Rotor thermal and structural simulations were done using commercial FE analysis software to evaluate the thermo-stress-strain state of the turbine rotor. Calculation and validation of thermal and structural state of the rotor was done using actual start-up cycle and measured data from a power plant, and it showed good agreement of the calculated and the measured data. Based on the results of thermo-structural analysis, the evaluation of rotor lifetime by means of a low cycle fatigue approach was performed and presented in this paper.
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