HMEL 6B Compressor Damages

R2 Trailing Edge Tip Loss Events

R14 & R16 airfoil cracks

RCA Team
BGGTS: H V Ramana Murthy
GE: Srinivas Rayaprolu
BHEL: Madhusudan & Kamal Deep
HMEL: Mahesh Shet & Amit Kumar
STEAG: Siddhartha Nath & Mahesh Mishra

The information contained in this document is BGGTS proprietary information and is disclosed in confidence. It is the property of BGGTS and shall not be used,
disclosed to others or reproduced without the express written consent of BGGTS. If consent is given for reproduction in whole or in part, this notice shall appear in any 12/11/2016
such reproduction in whole or in part.
6B HMEL-Bhatinda R2 Trailing Edge Tip Loss Events
Background:
 HMEL site experienced 03 R2 tip loss events on their 02 GTs (GT198 & GT199)
 GTD450 material blades
 Along with damaged R2, remaining R2 blades replaced on
rotor that was assembled in GT2 (GT198).
 Evap Cooler temporarily stopped on both GTs after the event
 R2 blades pertaining to 2016 & 2015 events analyzed at
GE Material Process lab and BHEL R&D lab

Analysis & Root Cause:

 Cluster of corrosion pits noticed at the trailing edge tip region
Cluster of Pits
 Metallurgical evaluation of R2 blade (2016 & 2015 events) indicated
crack initiation from corrosion pit and subsequent propagation via High Crack Propagation
Region
Cycle Fatigue (HCF) mode.
 Traces of corrosive elements found on the blade at pit region. Source of
contaminants from air/water
 Off-design evap cooler operation observed with possible consequence
of water carryover into compressor section Crack Initiation Point
 Material composition and hardness of the blade meet the specification
 Root cause for R2 trailing edge tip loss is due to pits on account of
aqueous corrosion causing crack and subsequent liberation

Corrective Action and Preventive Action:

 Drain provision in inlet filter downstream of evap cooler.

Evap Cooler Section

 Hardwire interlock for IGV angle permissive to be inline with
logic/design requirement.
 Operator awareness to ensure evap cooler operation at max IGV
 BTIL to alert customers using evap cooler/Mee-fog on risks of off-
design operations
Drain
Provision
The information contained in this document is BGGTS proprietary information and is disclosed in confidence. It is the property of BGGTS and shall not be used,
disclosed to others or reproduced without the express written consent of BGGTS. If consent is given for reproduction in whole or in part, this notice shall appear in any 12/11/2016
such reproduction in whole or in part.
6B HMEL-Bhatinda R14 & R16 Airfoil Crack
Background:
 HMEL 6B unit GT2 (GT198) experienced vertical airfoil cracks on R14 and R16
blades. There was no blade material liberated. Rotor clocked~18500FH/43FS
 403Cb material blades
 02 nos. of R16 blades and 01 no. of R14 blade found with cracks
 01 no. of R16 blade sent to GE Material Process lab for analysis

Analysis & Root Cause:

 Fracture surface of the cracked blade showed gray colored regions
 Sectioned blade at the fractured surface region indicated large and
elongated inclusions.
 Energy Dispersive Spectrum( EDS) of these inclusions indicated
composition to be rich in oxides and other compounds of Ca, Al & F.
 These inclusions are likely slag inclusions which got entrapped into
metal during steel manufacturing and elongated during subsequent Fracture Surface
Appearance EDS of Sectioned Blade
rolling process.
 Root cause is due to presence of slag inclusions in the blade,
resulting in subsequent cracking of the airfoil along the inclusions.

Affected Rotors at HMEL:

 Rotors having blades manufactured from specific vendor and raw material size and heat number same as the cracked blades,
considered as impacted ones
 02 affected rotors @ HMEL include, Compressor Rotor currently running in GT198 (GT2); Spare Rotor lying at BHEL works (rotor on
which the cracks were identified)

Corrective Actions and Preventive Actions:

 Inspection of aft stages on impacted rotors. Inspection interval will be Bi-annually (every 4000FH) / during off-line water wash
regime which every occurs first till the rotor reaches 24000FH. After 24000FH, inspection of the aft stages will be every 8000 FH /
annually whichever occurs first.
 UT inspection of bar stock once these are cut for machining of the blades.---------Additional check at BHEL during manufacturing

The information contained in this document is BGGTS proprietary information and is disclosed in confidence. It is the property of BGGTS and shall not be used,
disclosed to others or reproduced without the express written consent of BGGTS. If consent is given for reproduction in whole or in part, this notice shall appear in any 12/11/2016
such reproduction in whole or in part.