Concept of advanced lifetime monitoring system for steam turbines

The increasing share of renewables in electricity production adversly affects the operation of thermal plants, including steam turbine units. Intermittency of renewable sources results in high variability of steam turbine operating conditions, which together with the inherent scatter of turbine operating parameters significantly complicates their lifetime assessment. The paper presents a concept of lifetime monitoring system in scope of creep-fatigue damage. The system is based on online and offline calculations, performs online analysis of measurement data and takes into account the results of material tests. Functionality of the system main modules is described and mathematical models suitable for online calculations are presented. A general concept of hardware configuration for the system is proposed as well. © 2021 Polish Society of Technical Diagnostics. All rights reserved.