Analysis of Possible Operational Defects in and Damages to the Gas Turbine Drives of Gas Pumping Units and Techniques for Their Diagnostics

Abstract

Modern gas pumping units quite often use gas turbine drives adapted to ground operating conditions. The distribution of failures occurring in such a gas pumping unit tilts towards the engine. The resulting failures can be distributed between various assemblies of the gas turbine drive, but practice shows that the combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine (GTE) is the most dangerous from the standpoints of reliability and safety.The paper considers the gas turbine drive failure flow distribution. Specific malfunctions inherent in the combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine and their causes such as fuel pressure pulsation, a local increase in the gas flow temperature, flameout or cessation of combustion, damage and burnout of flame tubes, deposits on the combustion chamber elements, fuel injector blockage or burnout, and incomplete fuel combustion have been described in detail.The paper also proposes a technique developed by the authors for determining the GTE combustion chamber malfunctions by oscillation parameters using a mathematical model explaining the occurrence of certain modulations reflecting specific engine malfunctions.