Experimental measurement on the air test

rig of the axial steam turbine exhaust casing

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2047, 020006 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5081639
Published Online: 28 November 2018

Robert Kalista, Lukáš Mrózek, Václav Sláma, Miroslav Vrátný, Kamil Sedlák, Bartoloměj Rudas, and Michal Tmej

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© 2018 Author(s).
Experimental Measurement on the Air Test Rig of the Axial
Steam Turbine Exhaust Casing

Robert Kalista1,2 a) Lukáš Mrózek1,2 b) Václav Sláma1 c) Miroslav Vrátný1 d)

Kamil Sedlák1 e) Bartoloměj Rudas1 f) Michal Tmej1 g)

1
Doosan Skoda Power s.r.o., Experimental Research of Flow, Tylova 1/57, 301 28, Pilsen, Czech Republic
2
University of West Bohemia, Power System Engineering Department, Univerzitni 8, 306 14, Pilsen, Czech Republic
a)
robert.kalista@doosan.com
b)
lukas.mrozek@doosan.com
c)
vaclav.slama@doosan.com
d)
miroslav.vratny@doosan.com
e)
kamil.sedlak@doosan.com
f)
bartolomej.rudas@doosan.com
g)
michal.tmej@doosan.com

Abstract. This paper describes the aerodynamic design of the scaled air test rig of axial exhaust casing. The axial exhaust
casings are used to benefit steam turbines of less than 180 MW, and their design can significantly affect the performance
of the last stage and thus the performance of the entire steam turbine. The proposed test rig, along with extensive CFD
simulations, will help to optimize the flowing in the exhaust casing and provide the ability to reliably predict losses in the
exhaust casing on real steam turbines. Part of the study will be the detection of the influence of the individual
components of the velocity at the diffuser inlet, the effect of the number, shape and arrangement of the internal struts.
Last but not least, the effect of a wall jet blowing into the outer diffuser wall will be studied. The aerodynamic design
of the test rig itself required a lot of numerical simulations to achieve the desired velocity profile at the diffuser inlet.
It has been shown that it is difficult to simulate the radial component of the velocity in experimental conditions.
The desired circumferential component of the velocity can be achieved more easily by suitable shaping of the stationary
blade grid at the diffuser inlet.

NOMENCLATURE

IDW Inner diffuser wall ODW Outer diffuser wall

NPP Nuclear power plant PP Power plant
LP Low pressure LS (B) Last stage (blade)
DSPW Doosan Skoda Power s.r.o.

INTRODUCTION
The steam turbine exhaust casing is an inseparable part of every turbomachine (most frequently the condensation
turbine) and serves primarily for steam transmission from the last rotor stage to the condenser. Working steam after
the passage through the flow part has already relatively low parameters (pressure, temperature), which correlates
with the largest specific volume. The exhaust casing then reaches larger dimensions in comparison with the rest
of the flow part, which entails more constructive and technological restrictions. For this reason the exhaust casings
are made as weldments or castings of a very simple shape without a distinctive emphasis on the inner aerodynamic

17th Conference of Power System Engineering, Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

AIP Conf. Proc. 2047, 020006-1–020006-11; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5081639
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1773-1/$30.00

020006-1
properties. As mainly condensation turbines of larger output work with a low condensation pressure level up to 0.1
bar absolutely, the exhaust casing must be equipped with numerous reinforcements in the form of tubes,
reinforcement ribs or plates that prevent the exhaust casing from deformation caused by the outer overpressure
force. Last but not least, there are often several pipes (oil, seal, regenerative sampling) that are frequently connected
to the exhaust casing, which could not be displaced for reasons of disposition.
It all leads to considerable energy losses in the flowing steam leaving the last rotor stage. Even if the emission
steam as such no longer performs any useful work, its parameters can play an important role in terms of efficiency
and the lifetime of the entire turbomachine. By appropriate setting of outlet flow parameters and by lowering losses
it is possible to increase the enthalpy drop in the last or possibly even the penultimate turbine stage. Equalization
of the steam flow entering the condenser has a positive influence on vibration characteristics of flowed-by tube
bundles. The fact that the influences on the last stage output can be quite important is dealt with in e.g. [1]
by Hoznedl who provides as an example a 1090 MW turbine in the nuclear power plant with a pressurized water
reactor where the increase of pressure loss between the last stage and the condenser by only 2000 Pa can cause
output loss of about 4MW for one LP flow. In case of using for example three double flow LP parts the final loss
can reach up to 24MW. It is evident that lowering pressure losses of the outlet area by only hundreds of Pa (in case
of larger turbine) can lead to output increase by hundreds of kW, which is, at the time of permanently increasing
need of the higher installed output, highly desirable. In addition, finding an appropriate exhaust casing configuration
and reaching lower pressure losses does not have to be constructionally or financially demanding.
Aerodynamic efficiency of the outlet area (sketch of axial-radial and axial exhaust casing is shown in Fig. 1) is
influenced not only by the shape of the diffuser, but also by the shape, number and arrangement of inner
reinforcements and other functional elements that are a necessary part of the steam turbine exhaust casings in terms
of function, strength and stiffness requirements. Besides passive attempts to lower energy losses, it is also possible
to use the so-called active methods that try to actively control the boundary layer separation, or more specifically,
to delay or totally avoid the separation. Active control can be achieved for example by blowing the steam
on the diffuser outer wall in order to supply energy to the boundary layer and in this way to achieve its turbulization
and thus lower its tendency to separation.

(a) (b)
FIGURE 1. Sketch of the axial-radial exhaust casing (a), Sketch of the axial exhaust casing (b)

There are many publications dealing with optimization of diffuser shape, with the influence of inlet parameters
on pressure losses or with designs for boundary layer active control. Research works are often based on numerical
simulations where, despite a considerable technological progress, many simplifications are necessary due to limited
computational capacities, see e.g. Fu and Liu [2] or Hirschmann et al. [3]. Some numerical calculations deal only
with the separate parts of the exhaust casing, or neglect e.g. the inner reinforcements or the LSB at the diffuser inlet.
However, it is mainly the mutual interaction of the last stage with the diffuser or reinforcements in the outlet area
that strongly influences the total flow parameters, as described e.g. in Burton et al. [4].

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 For the above mentioned reasons and for some doubts concerning the CFD reliability it is obvious that
experimental measurements that can be supported after mutual validation by suitable numerical calculations have
an irreplaceable role in the exhaust casings study, but not vice versa.
Nevertheless, research in real turbines is only possible to a limited extent. Even if there are rather detailed
measurements with valuable results such as Hoznedl [1], [5] or Sedlák [6], it is not possible to experiment on real
turbines with different shapes of diffuser or to investigate limitlessly changes in the flow field.
When examining exhaust casings experimental measurements on diminished models are preferably used.
Due to generally known difficulties with model measurement using real steam as a medium, the measurements are
usually carried out using air. As an example a relatively detailed study by Finzel [7] can be presented, where
on the air model the influence was experimentally observed of various exhaust casing geometrical parameters
on total energy losses. DSPW has a wealth of experience with similar experiments.
In the DSPW company the research in the area of steam turbine exhaust casings has been recently directed to the
optimization of the axial–radial exhaust casing. Within this research mainly measurements on work (NPP Temelín,
PP Ledvice), experimental measurement in the air tunnel in the DŠPW laboratory and also experiments
in cooperation with the CKTI institute in Russia were carried out. With many numerical simulations it was possible
to find an aerodynamically suitable shape and to optimize the inner arrangement of the axial–radial exhaust casing.
Recently, however, increased demand can be monitored for turbines of the 180MW output, where axial exhaust
casings are favourably applied, see e.g. Fig. 1b. From the picture it is evident that for the axial diffuser the
previously used terminology cannot be applied for the exhaust casing parts. While the axial-radial diffuser was
clearly divided into the diffuser part, exhaust hood and condenser neck part, the axial body is basically represented
by only one direct annular diffuser. In the outlet part the diffuser is terminated by a flange followed by connecting
pipes with the condenser. The connecting pipes can reach tens of metres in length and the flow angle changes by
90° are not unusual, depending on disposition possibilities. In Fig. 1b on the diffuser outer wall (ODW) the blowing
slot is marked for active control of the boundary layer, which will be also tested in the experiments.
The reason for a higher demand for smaller turbines is not only an increased support of renewable sources
(biomass incinerators etc.), but also electrification of areas, where for climatic or geographical reasons it is
necessary to use air cooled condensers placed outside the machine room building. The advantage of axial outlet
in contrast to the axial-radial outlet is in an undoubtedly simpler construction and friendlier aerodynamic conditions
during the steam flow to the condenser (there is no change in steam flow direction). A big advantage is also
in a small claim to the height of the floor in the machine room building. On the other hand, the limitation of the axial
outlet is an increasing axial length of the turbo machine, which is disadvantageous for the disposition reasons.
Deteriorated access to the outer bearings of the rotor can be also considered a disadvantage. For these reasons
the axial access is used with smaller (as for dimensions and output) turbines.
With increasing support of renewable energy sources, for new energy sources the requirement for regulation
possibility depending on network load is increasingly important. For nominal and non-nominal mode it is necessary
to know and predict the behaviour of the “last stage – exhaust casing” system and to guarantee its proper functioning
or at least be able to estimate the loss incurred. Thus, despite the undisputed advantage (the flow direction does not
change) the design of axial exhaust casings has still great potential for improvement.
The aim of the project is to design a new optimal geometry of the axial outlet area for the steam turbine
of modern construction and to estimate more truly the behaviour of the outlet area for various operational regimes
and various configurations. For the purpose of research on axial exhaust casings, it was necessary to design
a suitable experimental model that enables in laboratory conditions to truly simulate the flow conditions of the real
machine, change the arrangement of the outlet area, change parameters and ways of controlling the boundary layer,
and by using suitable experimental, numerical and analytical methods to monitor the effect of these parameters
on energy losses. The submitted text deals with the experimental model design.

BASIC CONCEPTION, POSSIBILITIES OF EXPERIMENTAL BASE

As mentioned above, the most valuable results are always from experimental measurements on the real work.
Within DSPW orders measurement casting was carried out on the axial exhaust casing for the turbine with the
output of 35 MW. Experimental measurement is to take place in 2018 and the parameters will be monitored before
and behind the last blade stage as well as the parameters of the outlet area. The last stage blades are shown in Fig. 2.
The influence of the last stage can be in no case neglected, as it has a major impact on the steam velocity in the
diffuser (mainly the radial and circumferential velocity component) and in this way it influences all other pressure
losses and related flow phenomena occurring in the diffuser.

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 FIGURE 2. Last stage blades

In order to make the laboratory environment results the closest comparable with the real work, the outlet
parameters from the 35MW turbine last stage were used as a pattern for the experimental model design.
It was necessary to keep above all the right meridional and circumferential flow angle at the last stage outlet
or diffuser inlet. The required tendency of the mentioned meridional and circumferential angles is shown in Fig. 3.

FIGURE 3. Radial and circumferential angle at diffuser inlet

The basic component of the prepared experiment is the aerodynamic tunnel (Fig. 4), located at the experimental
base DSPW, on whose outlet the tested model of the axial exhaust casing will be placed.
The aerodynamic tunnel operates with an open cycle which sucks the air by ventilator from the surrounding
environment and after the passage through the whole measuring section the air is blown again to the atmosphere.

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The aerodynamic tunnel is equipped with a fan driven by an electric motor of 160 kW, and for smooth operation
a frequency invertor is used. The advantage of this solution is the possibility to smoothly change the fan speed and
thus to reach outlet velocities from 10 to 80 m/s. The sucked medium flows through the diffuser, rectifier with a set
of equalizing screens to the contraction nozzle followed immediately by the examined model of the axial body.
The accuracy of the velocity setting is better than 0.5% depending on the quality of the used sensor. The typical
value of fluctuation intensity is in the outlet area 0.7% for axial component and 0.3% for radial component.

FIGURE 4. Air tunnel scheme

DESING OF EXPERIMENTAL MODEL

Certain possibilities of the air flow direction changes at the inlet of the diffuser model were examined in detail
during the above mentioned optimization of the axial-radial exhaust casing. Here for the first time the need arose
to model not only the velocity axial component that occurs naturally by the flow in the tunnel, but also the velocity
component in the circumferential and radial direction. For proper functioning of the diffuser it is necessary to have
all three velocity components in relation, or to simulate at least two of them so that only the influence of the given
component can be compared. For simulation of velocity circumferential component circumferential shaping
of stationary blades was successfully used. While attempting to obtain the velocity radial component a number
of options was tested in blade shaping, or inserting additional components at the diffuser inlet with the aim
to regulate the air flow to the desired direction. None of the tested variants led to the required profile of radial
velocity along the height of the inlet channel to the diffuser.
Within the axial exhaust casing studies these findings were used and several new variants were tested.
The original intention was to use rotation of the rescaled last stage of the pattern turbine and in this way to reach
deduction of all three velocity components at the same time. However, this solution turned out to be in the
construction way unrealistic because it required the high speed of the rotor and thus enormous dynamic strain
of the blades. For this reason another concept was chosen which used limiting planes shaping as well as
circumferential shaping of stationary blades located at the diffuser inlet. First attempts showed that it was very
difficult to deduce all three velocity components at the same time and so later the way was chosen for two
components deduction (axial + radial or circumferential) and in this way to monitor the influence of the third,
missing component.
In order to create shaped limiting planes and especially shaped stationary grids it was necessary to develop
special methodology of the design in commercial software Catia using supporting calculations. While shaping the
inlet channel it was necessary to preserve basic dimensional characteristics of the pattern diffuser, it is the ratio
S2/S1 and L/Dp, where S2 is the outlet plane from the diffuser, S1 is the inlet plane into the diffuser, parameter L is
the height of the rotor blade and Dp is the root diameter of the rotor.
While in simulation of the velocity circumferential component the chosen method of shaping stator grid blade
profiles was sufficient, for radial component simulation in combination with shaping limiting planes it proved to be
totally inappropriate. For this reason it was necessary to come up with a totally new non-traditional method
in the form of spirally twisted sheets (Fig. 5) that are placed in the conical part of the inlet channel. Selected results
will be analyzed more in detail in the following chapters.

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 FIGURE 5. spirally twisted sheet

NUMERICAL MODEL
A commercial package of ANSYS tools was used for carrying out numerical analyses and creating relevant
meshes. ANSYS ICEM 17.0 and ANSYS Turbogrid 17.0 were used for creating a structured hexahedral mesh,
where a blocking strategy was largely used, or an unstructured tetrahedral mesh, if necessary. An appropriate
boundary layer (Fig. 8b) was used so that an average value of y+ would be lower than 5 which is a recommended
value for the used turbulent model [8].
Since there was designed a wide range of different geometries representing the models for a radial
or a circumferential velocity investigation, three different types of CFD models were created:

x Nine 2D CFD models (examples are in Figs. 6a, 6b) for radial velocity investigations.
x Fourteen 3D CFD models (examples are in Figs. 7a, 7b) for radial velocity investigations.
x Eight 3D CFD models (examples are in Fig. 7c) for circumferential velocity investigations.

(a)

(b)
FIGURE 6. 2D CFD model of var01 (a), 2D CFD model of var07 (b)
The 2D CFD models (Fig. 6) consist of one axisymmetric domain representing the empty channel where hub and
shroud walls were changed in each variant. Only a hexahedral mesh was used there. The 3D CFD models for radial
velocity investigations (Figs. 7a, 7b) consist of two domains. The upstream domain represents the model of twisted

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sheets (Fig. 5), where the fine tetrahedral mesh was created. The downstream domain represents the outlet diffuser,
where the hexahedral mesh was used. The 3D CFD models for circumferential velocity investigations (Fig. 7c)
consist of three domains. The upstream domain represents the inlet diffuser, the downstream represents the outlet
diffuser and, in the middle, there is the model of used blades. In all cases, the hexahedral mesh was used.

(a) (b)

(c)

FIGURE 7. 3D CFD model of var01 (a), 3D CFD model of var14 (b), 3D CFD model of var08 (c)

(a) (b)
FIGURE 8. 3D CFD model of var08 – detail of the middle domain (a), Detail of hexahedral mesh boundary layer (b)

A numerical solver ANSYS CFX 17.0 was used as the main CFD software tool. A numerical computation using
the steady state RANS analysis was performed. A compressible turbulent flow with the k-ω SST turbulent model
was used. This turbulence model is a robust two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence model which switches between
two basic turbulence models (k-ω turbulence model and k-H turbulence model) in a way that the k-ω model is used
in the inner region of the boundary layer and the k-H model in the free shear flow. The medium was air defined as
an ideal gas. Second order accurate approximations for all terms in the governing equations were applied in each

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numerical simulation. Boundary conditions were defined according to the previous measurements on the
aerodynamic tunnel carried out before starting this study. A total pressure and a static temperature along with the
normal to boundary condition of the flow direction and medium turbulence intensity 5 % were defined at the domain
inlet and an average value of a static pressure was defined at the outlet. To be more specific, total pressure
100 842 Pa and static temperature 31 °C were defined at the domain inlet and average static pressure 97 842 Pa was
defined at the domain outlet for all the numerical simulations. Rotational periodicity conditions or symmetry
conditions were applied to corresponding free side boundaries of the computation domains and connections between
the domains were defined as interfaces which were specified as a general connection or a frozen rotor. The residual
values were used to quantify convergence criteria of the simulations. The RMS (root mean square) residual type was
chosen and 1·10-5 residual target value was defined. The global imbalances were less than 0.1% for all cases.
Moreover, the required velocity components were monitored during all the simulations in order to check that the
convergence is appropriate.

OBTAINED RESULTS AND RESULTS ANALYSIS

The way of circumferential shaping of stationary blades in order to deduce velocity circumferential components
proved to be very efficient and after several modifications of the chosen geometry a suitable variant was found,
labelled as Var 6, when the required velocity profile is reached. The comparison of the reached outlet angle with the
pattern turbine is shown in Fig. 9. For production requirements of the blade grid (model in the picture on the left)
variants simulating production inaccuracy r1mm were calculated. It is obvious that the influence of production
accuracy is about 3° from the outlet circumferential angle and thus it is desirable to maintain minimal manufacturing
tolerances in production.

FIGURE 9 CFD results – simulation of circumferential angle

As mentioned above, in order to reach the velocity radial component or the meridional angle in first variants only
shaping limiting planes was unsuccessful. In 3D simulations it appeared to be impossible for the larger flow

020006-8
separation which was not possible to eliminate. Combination of limiting planes and shaped blade grid in an attempt
to obtain all three velocity components was similarly unsuccessful, as shown in Fig. 10.

FIGURE 10 CFD –First variant of velocity radial component simulation

In the following procedure the spirally twisted sheets were used placed in the inlet conical part of the channel.
After several variants where the course of the sheet twisting and limiting planes shaping changed, the results shown
in Fig. 11 were reached. Separating the flow at the tip was significantly diminished, nevertheless the result is still
insufficient regarding the influence on the flow in the diffuser. From the comparison of the meridional angle
of the tested variant and real turbine in Fig. 12 it is evident that it is necessary to pay attention to better shaping
geometry in order to reach better agreement with the pattern state of the real machine.

FIGURE 11 CFD variant of spirally twisted sheets

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 FIGURE 12 Meridional angle – comparison

CONCLUSIONS
The submitted text dealt with the flow design of an experimental air model of the steam turbine axial exhaust
casing.
When designing the testing equipment many variants of shape or other modifications of the inlet channel
to the diffuser were tested in order to deduce the same or similar parameters to those on the real machine.
Due to undoubted laboratory limits when reaching certain Reynolds or Mach number, attention was paid above
all to the flow direction or the relation of individual components of working medium velocity at the diffuser inlet.
Obtained results showed how difficult is to deduce all three velocity components at the same time in laboratory
conditions. When simulating at least two velocity components, the method of shaping blade profiles of the stator
grid in the circumferential direction was successfully used and the circumferential angle of outlet velocity was
deduced with satisfactory results. In order to reach the meridional angle of the outlet velocity a new method
of spirally twisted sheets at the diffuser inlet was tested. However, the preliminary results show high instability of
the flow on the outer wall of the inlet channel and even the velocity profile along the blade height does not reach
the required agreement. The selected way shows nevertheless certain potential and a promise for the future, so it will
continue the study on.
The aim of future experimental measurements, suitably supported by CFD simulations, will be to optimize
the shape or arrangement of the outlet area of the steam turbines of modern constructions and to be able to predict
the exhaust casing losses on the real work and ideally also in non-designed states.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was realized with financial contribution of TA ČR within the project TJ01000048 – Lowering outlet
losses in steam turbines of modern construction.

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