Steam Path Audits
A steam path audit is a physical inspection of the turbine steampath, conducted while the rotor is on the half-shell. The purpose is to identify and quantify performance problems due to the deterioration of steampath components. Engineers and maintenance personnel use the results of audits to identify the most cost-effective repairs and to justify repair recommendations.
MD&A offers both thermodynamic and structural audits. Audits are also an excellent way to predict the return to service performance of your machine, following repairs.
Data taken during a steampath audit can also help to:
- Measure the efficiency effects of deposits
- Assess recoverable leakage losses following repairs
- Determine losses due to surface roughness changes
- Provide quantifiable data for the review repair recommendations
- Evaluate the effects of solid particle erosion
- Calculate losses associated with foreign object damage
- Integrate decisions with alignment recommendations
- Provide historical records for future outages
Photographic Record
During an audit, photographs are taken of the damage and are included in each unit’s audit report. Photographs provide a convenient method for recording and confirming the history of repairs and the extent of the damage. Steam path audits are also a useful method to quantify and isolate the performance of new parts. OEMs often guarantee that certain steampath upgrades will contribute a specific percentage to improve turbine performance. A steampath audit is an accepted and repeatable method for quantifying the contribution of these parts, while also determining the performance gained as a result of other maintenance that was performed during the outage.
See our seminar that we offer on Turbine Performance under our Seminar schedule.
See our Steam Path Audits case study example here
Learn more about the other Steam Turbine Services that MD&A offers.
