Fatigue failure analysis of last stage blade in a low pressure steam turbine

Failures occur from time to time in power plants, as they do in other engineering structures. Most investigations of blade failures end with a metallurgical analysis. But to correct a blading problem requires more than positive identification of the mechanisms involved. In this paper, a mechanical analysis is performed with the metallurgical analysis for competent analysis of blade failure. The mechanical analysis capable of predicting stress and dynamic characteristics of turbine blades is presented to increase steam turbine availability by decreasing blade failures. The analysis is illustrated by the case study. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.