Nonsynchronous Rotor Blade Vibrations in Last Stage of 380 MW LP Steam Turbine at Various Condenser Pressures

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of nonsynchronous rotor blade vibrations in the last stage of an LP steam turbine at various condenser pressures. The nonlinear least squares Levenberg–Marquardt method is used in a tip-timing analysis to determine nonsynchronous multimode rotor blade vibrations, which is a novelty. This is done with two sensors in the casing and a once-per-revolution sensor. The accuracy of the nonlinear least squares Levenberg–Marquardt multimode method is compared with the one-mode linear method. The algorithm is verified by comparing it with one-mode tip-timing methods for synchronous and nonsynchronous vibrations. The analysis shows that the rotor blades vibrate simultaneously with two modes in non-nominal conditions, which is also a novelty. The rotor frequencies are unchanged, although the blade vibration amplitudes vary, depending on the pressure in the condenser. Flutter does not appear in the last stage for the various condenser pressures and powers that were tested.