Background Info

This course is designed for power plant maintenance and operations personnel, plant engineers and central staff, and loss control engineers responsible for fossil/aero-derivative, nuclear, simple cycle, and combined cycle power plant equipment.

The course introduces key design aspects of turbines and generators, failure modes, and risk-informed repair and life extension strategies. It also offers best practices and maintenance considerations for flexible operation, which typically includes more cycling, lower minimum loads, and greater capacity ratings.

All modules are supplemented with current case studies demonstrating the applied techniques. 

Course Description

This course covers turbine and generator design, operation, maintenance, failure modes, repair considerations, and root cause analysis. The course is organized into the following modules:

1. Turbine Control Design, Engineering, and Operation Considerations

This module covers turbine startup, shutdown, control modes, alarm management, design considerations, upgrades, and OEM vs. third-party considerations.

Topics include:

• Typical Gas/Steam Turbine Startup
• Startup
• Shutdown
• Turbine Control Modes
• Plant Type Considerations
• Alarm Overview
• Alarm Rationalization
• Alarm Discussion
• Design Considerations
• Control System Upgrades
• Best Practices
• OEM vs Third Party

2. Steam Turbine Design Fundamentals

This module reviews steam turbine design features, technology advancements, rotor and blading considerations, sealing technology, valves, retrofits, and cold startup optimization.

Topics include:

• Industry failure statistics-locating the areas of highest risk
• Steam turbine design features – key features for your unit and technology advancements
• Steam turbine design – impulse vs. reaction and impact on maintenance decisions
• HP, IP, and LP Rotor design features and types – bored vs. no bore, attachment types and inspection considerations
• High and Intermediate pressure blading
• Low pressure blading – free standing vs. coupled, erosion protection, blade tuning
• Stationary blades/vanes and Diaphragms
• Sealing technology – types and pro/con’s
• Steam turbine valves
• Steam turbine rotor retrofits – key considerations, performance benefits, technology enhancements
• Steam turbine cold start up logic and optimization opportunities

3. Steam Turbine Failure Modes, Mitigation, & Repair

This module focuses on common steam turbine failure modes, impacted components, mitigation strategies, advanced troubleshooting, vibration, nondestructive testing, and outage scope considerations.

Topics include:

• Failure modes for steam turbines with case studies – explained, impacted components, how to manage each failure mode
• High Cycle Fatigue
• Low Cycle Fatigue
• Stress Corrosion Cracking
• Solid Particle Erosion
• Water Droplet Erosion
• Creep and Embrittlement
• Foreign Object Damage
• Advanced Troubleshooting – detecting and mitigating before manifesting into a forced outage
• Turbine vibration – unlocking the secrets of rotor lateral and torsional vibration
• Nondestructive testing – most effective nondestructive inspections to detect known failure modes
• OEM Technical Advisories/Service Bulletins – management and integration into outage scopes

4. Customer Event

5. Gas Turbine Design Fundamentals

This module covers gas turbine compressor, combustion, hot gas path, and rotor design fundamentals.

Compressor topics include:

• Blade design – materials, blade root and airfoil design, coatings
• Inlet guide vanes – function, mechanical design, inspections

Combustion topics include:

• Technologies – overview of different combustion designs and key attributes
• Design of combustion components – introduction, materials, coatings, and function
• Emissions control – enhancements to reduce emissions

Hot Gas Path topics include:

• Blade design – inlet vs. aft stage blades, blade casting and internal cooling design
• Stationary blade design – singlet vs. doublet/triplet design, heat transfer and cooling
• Design life and failure modes – base loaded vs. cycling, limiting failure mode vs. location in hot gas path
• Material upgrades – grain structure, alloys
• Coating systems – oxidation protection vs. thermal barrier coatings, application processes, evaluation of remaining life
• Cooling systems – overview of cooling techniques, types of cooling holes
• Upgrade/retrofit opportunities – overview of new offerings and benefits

Rotor Design topics include:

• Construction – disc, spacers, through bolts, aero derivative vs. frame machine
• Materials – materials vs. location in engine

6. Gas Turbine Failure Modes, Mitigation, & Repair

This module reviews gas turbine failure modes, inspection approaches, maintenance intervals, repair strategies, and part overhaul considerations.

Failure Modes:

• Creep – overview of mechanism, detection, life of parts and which parts are limited
• Oxidation – overview of mechanism, coatings to protect against, repair limitations
• Thermal mechanical fatigue – overview of mechanism, detection, life of parts and which parts are limited
• High cycle fatigue – overview of mechanism and impacted components
• Foreign and domestic object damage – sources of material, ways to protect against

Maintenance Intervals & Repair:

• Equivalent operating hours approach (EOH) – pluses and minuses of using an EOH vs. an hour or start based criteria for maintenance intervals
• Condition based maintenance approaches – which parts are applicable, how to avoid unnecessary spend
• Borescope inspections – how to interpret results, what to look for and frequency of inspection
• Combustion inspections – included items, rotatable parts
• Hot gas path inspections – included items, rotatable parts
• Major inspections – included items, scope of inspection/repair
• Water washes, online and offline – pros/cons of online vs. offline water washes, performance benefits
• Inspection techniques – NDE techniques, detectable limits, repair limits
• Keys to successful part overhaul – coating quality, crack repair, blade restoration

7. Generator Design Fundamentals & Failure Modes

This module covers generator components, design features, failure modes, electrical testing, NDE techniques, outage considerations, repair options, and operational monitoring.

Topics include:

• Key components and design features – overview and purpose of each component
• Stator
• Rotor
• Core
• Winding Insulation
• Retaining Rings
• Hydrogen vs. Air Cooled
• Auxiliary Equipment, including exciter, grounding brushes, high voltage bushings, coolers, heaters, etc.
• Failure modes – stator vs. rotor/field: visual and electrical signs, root causes, and mitigating actions
• Electrical testing – overview of standard electrical testing and information provided by each and acceptance criteria
• NDE techniques – recommended techniques for retaining rings, fan blades, etc.
• Outage type – robot vs. rotor out, pros and cons of each
• Economical repair options – looseness, girth cracking, oil ingress
• Operations – operational data trending, flux probes and partial discharge monitoring

8. Excitation System Design, Engineering, and Operation Considerations

This module covers typical plant startup, excitation operational modes, excitation integration, feedback, permissives, and PID tuning.

Topics include:

• Typical Plant Startup (Synchronization)
• Startup
• Shutdown
• Plant Type Considerations
• Excitation Operational Modes
• Base Mode
• Field Current Regulation
• Automatic Voltage Regulation
• PID Operation
• Excitation Integration
• Standard Feedback
• Interlocks / Permissive
• PID Tuning

9. Power Plant Equipment Root Cause Analysis – Troubleshooting – Case Studies

This module provides a structured overview of power plant root cause analysis, including investigation, testing, root cause selection, corrective actions, and practical case studies.

Root Cause Analysis topics include:

• Structured process overview for power plant root cause analysis
• Initial investigation and data collection
• Operational data review and indications
• NDE testing recommendations and indicators
• Destructive metallurgical testing and failure mode signatures
• Down selection of most probable root causes
• Actions to prevent reoccurrence
• Practical RCA case studies for Steam and Gas Turbines and Generators