Experimental Investigation on the Solid Particle Erosion in the Control Stage Nozzles of Steam Turbine

This study is concerned with experiments for the relation of solid particle erosion (SPE) and the nozzle profiles. The exfoliated scale from boiler tubing results in hard particles that erode steam turbine components, especially on the control stage nozzles of high parameters turbine. To characterize SPE, solid particle trajectory is measured using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and its relation with the erosion rate of the nozzle surfaces is correlated. In addition, erosion characteristic of nozzle material is investigated by experiments and results reveal that the erosion rate is directly proportional to the impacting velocity of particles with the power of 2.31 and the maximum erosion rate is taken place at the impact angle of 20–25 degree. Furthermore, 0.5% increase in the erosion rate for every one degree of steam temperature rise is observed in the range of 839K∼883K. The erosion rate of front-loaded nozzle A is 2∼3 times higher than that of conventional design nozzle B. The life cycle of nozzle is determined by the erosion of outlet edge, and the life of nozzle B is about 5 times as long as the life of nozzle A. Based on the relation of erosion rate and nozzle profile characteristic, it can be inferred that a aft-loaded nozzle with a contoured endwall substituting a planar endwall may outperform over other nozzle profiles in anti-SPE, prolonging the life cycle of the nozzle.