Creep-life usage analysis and tracking for industrial gas turbines

Creep-life usage analysis and tracking of first-stage turbine rotor blades of an aeroderivative industrial gas-turbine engine are investigated in this study. An engine performance model is created, and blade thermal and stress models are developed for the calculation of the blade material temperatures and stresses at different sections of the blade. A creep-life model is developed based on the Larson–Miller parameter method by taking inputs from the thermal and stress models. An integrated creep-life estimation system is developed by bringing together the engine performance model, the blade thermal and stress models, the creep-life model, and a data acquisition and preprocessing model. Relative creep-life consumption analysis using new concepts developed in this research is introduced for the analysis of creep-life consumption of the gas-turbine engine operating for a period of time; these concepts include equivalent creep life and equivalent creep factor. The developed algorithms have been applied to the creep-life tracking of an aeroderivative gas-turbine engine using its field test data. The results show that it is able to provide a quick evaluation and tracking of engine creep-life consumption and provide very useful information for gas-turbine operators to support their operation optimization and creep-life consumption monitoring.