Active Condition Monitoring of a Marine Gas Turbine through Rotor Shaft Vibration Analysis

Ogbonnaya EA^1, , Ugwu HU², Poku R¹ and Adigio EM¹

¹Department of Mechanical/Marine Engineering, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Ogbonnaya EA, Ugwu HU, Poku R and Adigio EM. Active Condition Monitoring of a Marine Gas Turbine through Rotor Shaft Vibration Analysis. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2013; 1(4):82-88. doi: 10.12691/ajme-1-4-2

Abstract

While preventive and predictive maintenance have played their part in engine health monitoring, the problem of downtime maintenance has truly reached a serious level. Also, most companies have found out that their maintenance costs can be cut drastically by establishing a proactive line of defence. Most imminent faults in gas turbines often result from the vibration of the rotor shaft of the engine. Some of these faults that could lead to catastrophy include misalignment, imbalance, cracks and eccentricity. These defects are equally likely to lead to unscheduled downtime resulting to large economic losses. It is on this backdrop that the rotor shaft of a marine gas turbine system was isolated and used for condition monitoring to enunciate methods to reduce downtime. The need to study vibration which is one of the biggest threats to rotating equipment has become much required now than ever before. This project thus presents a case to monitor the condition of the gas turbine through its thermodynamic and rotor shaft vibration analyses. Selected measurements from an industrial gas turbine to detect changes in operating conditions of the plant were of immense help in setting the proactive measures for the plant. Simulation and analysis were achieved using high level java computer programming language and data collected from a gas turbine plant. The work shows that vibration reduces the active load of the engine. Thus, proactive maintenance monitoring programs should be employed in gas turbine usage to avoid the effects of vibration.

Keywords:
gas turbine rotor shaft vibration maintenance active condition monitoring

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Figures

References:

[1]	Aretaks, N (2001), “Contribution to Development of Gas Turbine Diagnostic Systems Using Fast Response Measurements Analysis Methods”, PhD Thesis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
[2]	Available: http://www.ltt.mech.ntua.gr/naret/phdthesis.htm
[3]	Azovksev, A and Barkov, A (2002), “Development of Condition Monitoring in Russia Using Vibration”, VAST Inc., St. Petersburg, Russia, pp.1-14.
[4]	Available: http://www.vibrotek.com/articles/russia/index.htm
[5]	Bertele, V. (2002), "Why Condition Monitor?" 3rd International Conference on Condition Monitoring. October 15-16, 2002.
[6]	Ḉengel, Y.A and Boles M.A (1998), “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, McGraw –Hill, pp. 508-520. (ISBN: 0-07-011927-9)
[7]	Chaplin, J., "Improving Vehicle Productivity through Better Contamination Control." SAE Paper No. 861300. September, 2006.
[8]	Denton, R and Ritmiller R (2011), “The Future of Vibration Sensor and Asset Marine Gas Turbine Beyond Sensor: Where Do We Go From Here? Wilcoxon Research, Inc., USA, pp. 1-3. Available: http://www.coxmoor.com/denton.html .
[9]	Dodd, R.V. (2000), "Condition Monitoring of Major Turbomachinery Cuts Costs Over 4-year Period", Oil and Gas Journal.
[10]	[Available: www.acw.sdp.sirsi.net/client/search/asset/1002267]
[11]	Katsuhiko, O. (2005), “System Dynamics” (4th Ed.). University of Minnesota, Pearson Pnmticc. Hidi, NJ. p. 617. Available: www.amazon.com
[12]	Maynard, K., Trethewey, M., Gill, R and Resor, B (2001), “Gas Turbine Blade and Disk Crack Detection Using Torsional Vibration Monitoring: A Feasibility Study”, Proceeding of 14th International Congress and Exhibition on Condition Monitoring (COMADEN), University of Manchester, U.K.
[13]	Maynard, K.P, Trethewey, M.W and Groover, C.L (2001); “Application of Torsional Vibration Measurement to Shaft Crack Monitoring in Power Plant”, 55th Meeting of the Society for Machinery Failure Prevention Technology, Virginia Beach, VA, USA.
[14]	Ogbonnaya, E.A. (2004a), “Modeling Vibration-Based Faults in Rotor Shaft of a Gas Turbine. PhD Thesis, Department of Marine Engineering, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
[15]	Ogbonnaya, E.A. (2004b), “Thermodynamics of Steam and Gas Turbines” 1st edition Oru’s Press Ltd, Page 71-73.
[16]	Ogbonnaya E.A., Bob-Manuel K.D.H., Douglas I.E and Hart H.I. (2004), “Application of Artificial Neural Network to Gas Turbine Rotor Shafts Diagnoses”, Journal of Science and Technology Research, Volume 3, Number 1 (ISSN: 1596-9649).
[17]	Ogbonnaya, E.A and Theophilus-Johnson, K (2011), “Optimizing Gas Turbine Rotor Shaft Fault Detection, Identification and Analysis for Effective Condition Monitoring”, JETEAS 2(1): 11-17 Scholarlink Research Institute Journals (ISSN: 2141-7016).
[18]	Rao, J. (2001), "Determining Financial Benefits for Predictive Maintenance and Developing Management Support." PPM Technology. May/June, 2001.
[19]	Shablinsky, A.G., Barkov A.V and Barkova M.A. (2000), “Rotor Balancing for Multi-Condition Machines”, Vibro—Acoustic Systems and Technologies (VAST) Inc., Saint Petersburg, Russia. Available: http://www.Vibrotek.com/articles/rbmcm/index.htm.
[20]	Simon, D.L and Armstrong, J.B (2012), “An Integrated Approval for Aircraft Engine Performance Estimation and Fault Diagnostics”, Paper#GT2012-69905, ASME-Turbo Expo, June 11-15, 2012, Bella Centre, Copenhagen-Denmark.
[21]	Singh, S (2009), “Mechanical Vibrations and Noise Control”, Romesh Chander Khanna for KHANNA Publishers, Delhi, India, pp.70-95 (ISBN: 81-7409-167-x).
[22]	Theophilus-Johnson,K., Ukpaka, C.P., Uba, H.U and Ogbonnaya, E.A (2012), “Influence of Proper Condition Monitoring on Gas Turbine Combustion Efficiency”, NSE Technical Transaction, Vol.46, No.4, ISSN 11195363, October-December,2012.
[23]	Tarbet, M.A., (2001): “Gas Turbine Vibration Monitoring Systems” Magelian Publishing (A Division of Woodward Communication), Inc., Ohio-U.S.A. [Online Series] Available: http://energy-tech, com/issues/html/we 0006-007.html [2002, Feb. 20].
[24]	Ugwu, H.U and Ogbonnaya, E.A (2011), “Simulating Gas Turbine Bearing Failure Towards Effective Condition Monitoring”, NSE Technical Transaction, Vol. 46, No.3. ISSN 11195363, Jul.-Sep., 2011.
[25]	Verdegan, B. M., Thibodeau L and Stephen L. F (2002), "Lubricating Oil Condition Monitoring Through Particle Size Analysis."SAE Paper No. 8818.