Numerical Calculation of Seal Clearance Change in Installation Process of a 1000MW Nuclear Steam Turbine HIP Casing

Abstract

During installation process, most of 1000MW-class nuclear power steam turbines will undergo certain deformations due to their own big size and heavy weight, which will change seal clearances in the steam passage. The clearance change will affect steam turbine’s efficiency, and may cause rubbing faults and even strong abnormal vibration, affecting the safety of the steam turbine. Moreover, limited by the complex structure and measurement method, it is difficult to measure deformation and seal clearance accurately, so it is necessary to study the change tendency of the clearance in the installation process. In this paper, a HIP (High and Intermediate Pressure) casing of a 1000MW nuclear steam turbine was taken as the research object, and its 3D geometry model is established based on Pro/E software. By using ANSYS WORKBENCH, we calculated the deformation of the HIP casing during installation with five steps, which are named as: ① lower casing with lower diaphragms, ② step ① + upper diaphragms, ③ step ② + upper casing, ④ step ③ + bolting, and ⑤ replacing the support. Then we analyzed the change of the seal clearance during the installation process by deformation differences of some points under different conditions. The calculation results show that the maximum deformation of the HIP Casing during the installation process occurs in the middle of casing close to the IP (Intermediate Pressure) casing. The relative change of the clearance during the whole process is 0.6–0.8 mm. The change of seal clearance is largest at the first-stage of IP casing, and it can be 0.8mm during replacement of the support.