Improving design of piping for combined cycle gas turbine power plants (CGTPP) with computational technology developed to satisfy safety requirements for nuclear power plants

摘要

Today engineering analysts have practically unlimited computing capacity at their disposal. Using knowledge and experience from another field of engineering (i.e. structural analysis of piping according to the safety standards of the nuclear power plants) allows using this capacity to improve combined cycle power plants which integrate a gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) at the exhaust of the gas turbine and a steam turbine. Such plants strive for more efficiency through increasing temperatures in the gas turbine. The paper presents one of the cases in which detailed analysis using the mentioned techniques has resulted in more simple, more reliable and less costly structure, paid for by investment in engineering analysis work.