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1
The casing cracks before failure, Anderson continued, and the vane
loading will propagate the crack. Thus regular checks of casing
condition in the extraction cavity during borescope inspections can
warn of impending failure (Fig 3) and enable corrective action before
serious damage occurs.
Industry experience with cracking of the ninth-stage hook fit is that
it can be expected on peaking units with more than about 1000
starts/5000 service hours over a nominal 30-yr period. TVA’s 16
dual-fuel peaking Frame 5Ns (a/k/a Nancys) at one site were beyond
that, approaching 40 years of service; in round numbers they
averaged 2000 starts/6000 operating hours. Plus, two engines in
this group had suffered forced outages because of in-service hook-fit
failures.
The utility’s original repair technique required performing a major
inspection with the unit rotor removed to access the compressor
casings for hook-fit repairs—a costly approach. With outages
planned for the remaining 5Ns at this site by the end of 2019, an
alternative solution was sought to reduce outage cost and duration,
and still provide a quality hook-fit repair.
Industry sources suggested a less intrusive method, which
eliminated the need to remove the rotor to make hook-fit repairs.
These are the steps:
o Remove the upper half of the forward and aft compressor
casings.
o Roll out the lower half of the aft compressor casing (Fig
4).
2
o Machine the ninth-stage hook fit offsite.
o Bolt the patch ring in place axially.
o Reinstall the lower-half aft casing.
o Reinstall the upper half of the forward and aft compressor
casings.
Six patch rings already have been installed using the rotor-in
technique (Method 2) at about one-third the cost and one-third the
duration of the original method. Even in cases where the rotor must
be removed, the speaker recommended pulling the lower half of the
aft compressor casing to machine the hook fit. This allows bolting
together both casing halves and machining a 360-deg patch ring,
thereby reducing the risk of radial clearance issues.
Lessons learned included the following:
o Weld and grind flush axial patch-ring bolting.
o Where multiple units are involved, project synergies can
reduce cost and schedule.
o Secure compressor stator vanes into the casing before
rolling out the lower half.
3
TIL 1304 3 - 9th Stage Stator Casing Hook Fit Cracking