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Tracking the Life of Critical Gas Turbine Parts (PowerGen
International December 2007)
Tom Christiansen
As the technology employed in gas turbines has steadily advanced, the “critical” gas
turbine parts (i.e. combustion and hot gas path components) have seen a significant
change in terms of their initial cost, repair cost, expected life limits and order lead times.
In order to accommodate these changes, owner/operators have developed various business strategies that are designed to minimize the lifetime costs associated with owning and
operating these gas turbines. Examples of these business strategies include the adoption
of OEM service agreements to address parts availability & infant mortality risks, part
sharing/pools to reduce lead times, maintenance programs (reliability based, condition
based, etc.) that eliminate unnecessary removals and innovative repair processes to
maximize parts life. 
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By the Numbers (Combined Cycle Journal Q1/2007)Sal DellaVilla and Bob Steele
This whitepaper was part of the article titled “Report Card Attests to the Vitality of the
Gas-Turbine-Based Sector of the Electric Power Industry in the US and Worldwide, Long-term
Outlook is Bright.” The SPS portion of the article focuses on the Western Turbine Users’
Board of Directors early realization that performance related information on aeroderivative
engines, across the industry, would benefit all members of their user group. Bob Steele then
goes on to speak about the impact of the shift in duty cycles for gas turbines, a presentation
that he made at WTUI in Phoenix in 2007.
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Expectations and Recent Experience for Gas Turbine Reliability,
Availability and Maintainability (RAM) (ASME Turbo Expo May 2007)Bob Steele, Dale Paul and Torgeir Rui
Since the early 1990’s there have been significant changes in the gas turbine, and power
generation market place. The F-Class’ Gas Turbines, with higher firing temperatures,
single crystal materials, increased compressor pressure ratios and low emission combustion systems that were introduced in the early 1990’s have gained significant field experience.
Many of the issues experienced by these new product introductions have been addressed.
The actual reliability growth and current performance of these advanced technology machines
will be examined. Additionally, the operating profiles anticipated for many of the units installed
during this period has been impacted by both changes in the anticipated demand and increases
in fuel costs, especially the cost of natural gas. This paper reviews how these changes have
impacted the Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability performance of gas turbines.
Data from the ORAP System, maintained by Strategic Power Systems, Inc, will be utilized to
examine the actual RAM performance over the past 10 to 15 years in relation to goals and
expectations. Specifically, this paper will examine the reliability growth of the F-Class turbines
since the 1990’s and examine the reliability impact of duty cycle on RAM performance.
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WTUI Helps Aero Users Achieve Sustainable 'best-in-class' Performance (Combined Cycle Journal WTUI Special Edition 2007)Sal DellaVilla
The 17th Annual Western Turbine User's conference is a well-organized and informative technical meeting where users, in particular operators of GE aeroderivative gas turbines, convene to discuss experiences, practices, issues and opportunities. It's a great way to look back to see how far we have come as an industry, as well as an opportunity to look forward in anticipation of where we are going.
An appropriate way to assess the trends and changes in operating duty is to consider the plant's service factor as reported by SPS' ORAP system. Service factor represents the number of service (operating) hours per year that the plant generated power at any load. It is reflective of the operating demand that the plant must fulfill to be profitable, excluding capacity payments for spinning reserve or synchronous condensing.
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Parts Life Management - Essential for Minimizing Life Cycle Costs (ASME Power May 2006)Sal DellaVilla and Bob Steele
This paper reviews the issues associated with parts tracking and critical parts life management, discussing the need to implement accurate and efficient processes to develop meaningful and accurate empirical observations.
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Proactive Management of GT Parts Life Key to Controlling
Maintenance Cost (Combined Cycle Journal Q3/2005)Sal DellaVilla
The gas-turbine-based segment of the electric power industry is evolving rapidly, considering most change in the electric sector is measured over a period of decades. Only a few years ago, gas was under $3/million Btu and large combined-cycles were being designed for base-load service. F-class gas turbines dominated combined-cycle orders and long-term service agreements (LTSAs) championed by the OEMs were the risk-mitigation strategy of choice by owner/operators. The plan looked perfect. But then the wheels came off.
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Gas Turbines Meet Owner Objectives (Turbomachinery International
Nov/Dec 2004)
Sal DellaVilla & Tom Christiansen
In the last five years, the gas turbine market in the US, has transformed from a conservative base that meets the loss of load probability, to a more risk-tolerant one that meets future expectations for increased electrical demand. The financial objective of the transformation was to capitalize on opportunity-based pricing in a competitive open environment. This is a strategic shift from a fixed rate of return expectation.
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ALSTOM GT26 – An Availability and Reliability Assessment
(PowerGen Asia October 2004)Bob Steele, Sal DellaVilla and Kevin Licata
The global energy market continues to drive and motivate significant change, both structurally and technologically. This paper focuses on the use of Strategic Power System, Inc.’s (SPS) ORAP® (Operational Reliability Analysis Program) for accurate analysis and measurement of reliability and availability growth. To demonstrate this, ALSTOM’s GT26, a 50-Hertz gas turbine fleet was selected as a case study, as it had introductory issues, which required engineering efforts, and measurement of reliability growth was feasible.
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Measurement of Reliability and Availability to Improve Plant
Profitability (ASME Industrial Applications of Gas Turbines
Symposium October 2001)Sal DellaVilla and Bob Steele
Significant change is taking place in the power generation market. We are witnessing structural change as we move to a deregulated and competitive global market. And we can also see significant technological change, as new products are driven towards improved efficiencies, greater output and environmental friendliness. Measuring the impact of these changes in terms of efficiency, output and reduced emissions is a straightforward exercise, and the ability to judge if the change has been positive is relatively objective.
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Gas Turbine Performance of Mature, F- and Advanced Technologies
2000 (ASME International Gas Turbine & Aeroengine Congress &
Exhibition June 2001)Axel von Rappard and Sal DellaVilla
The contribution of the gas turbine in simple and combined cycle systems to power production in the US has been steadily rising over the past 25 years. In parallel, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has financially supported Advanced Technology development with good formulated goals for overall performance of plants including reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM). This paper will evaluate RAM performance data from power plants over the past five years.
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Equivalent Availability Measurement for Combined-Cycle Power
Plants – A New Approach (ASME International Gas Turbine &
Aeroengine Congress & Exhibition June 2001)Dieter Lampert (ALSTOM), Markus Rosenfelder (ALSTOM), Sal DellaVilla and Bob Steele
The Equivalent Availability Factor (EAF) is the most important RAM characteristic in statistics for benchmarks and guarantees for power plants. It represents an energy ratio of the amount available in a period and the theoretical maximum. Representing the impact of scheduled and forced outages of components along with any deratings, a large number of parameters are involved from design, operation to the environment.
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Risk and Asset Management…An Industry Focus on Reliability
(Marcon
May 1997)Sal DellaVilla and Bob Steele
The advent of deregulation is being received with some trepidation, as well as with vision of opportunity. The common denominator for all in the industry is how the level of risk is assessed and quantified. Risk has various meanings and values depending upon who is making the assessment.
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Risk and Asset Management…Significant Issues For Continuing
the Focus on Reliability (Process Plant Reliability Europe November 1996)Sal DellaVilla and Steven Hartman
In an industry which is evolving into a more competitive and cost conscious global marketplace, the subject of risk management was not only timely, but was ripe for discussion, with conference participants looking for detailed and needed information sharing. The increasingly competitive nature of both the industrial process and power generation markets has created an increased awareness of the impact that reliability (or the lack of it) has on plant profitability.
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RAM Performance of Modern Gas Turbines (ASME International
Gas Turbine & Aeroengine Congress & Exhibition June 1996)Axel von Rappard (ABB Power Generation), Heinz Neuhoff (ABB Power Generation)
and Sal DellaVilla
Power and heat rate, and exhaust gas and noise emissions are commonly used to evaluate the performance of power generation equipment. Recently, Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) are being widely adopted as more significant evaluation criteria for gas turbine power plants. All the criteria are used to evaluate new equipment and the measurements on previous installations are the basis for expected values. This paper provides a summary of results over a period of four years with a review of the data and conclusions concerning the actual operation.
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A Focus on the Customer through Reliability, Availability and Maintainability: Operational Reliability Analysis Program (Process Plant Reliability November 1995) – Sal DellaVilla & Wolfram Krockow
The foundation for a realistic and achievable “Commitment to Customer” is established through a continuing focus on both product and service quality. Product quality and service quality are not just attributes which simply differentiate “the best”. Nor are they a badge of honor; once achieved, easily retained. They are attributes which reflect the “inherent” culture of the corporation, the long-term commitment, the idea that responding to the customer is an ongoing process of continuous improvement, because customer requirements are dynamic, not unchanging.
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Computer-Aided FT8 RAM Analysis with On Condition Maintenance (ASME International Gas Turbine & Aeroengine Congress & Exhibition May 1993)T.L. Gaudette (Turbo Power and Marine Systems), Larry Fraser (Turno Power and Marine Systems)
and Sal DellaVilla
Product reliability is influenced by both design and operating and maintenance practices. This means both the equipment manufacturer and the equipment’s operator have an impact on the systems’ achievable level of availability. Many variables such as application (utility or cogeneration) or service or duty cycle (peaking, cycling or continuous duty); influence the expected availability/reliability of any unit. This paper will provide an assessment of proved design reliability along with the application of on condition maintenance of Turbo Power and Marine Systems most recent product introduction, the FT8.
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A New Reliance on Combustion Turbines in the 90’s, Expectations for
High Reliability (ASME/IEEE Power Generation Conference Oct. 1989)Sal DellaVilla, Steve Hartman, Tom Christiansen
It is clear that combustion turbines will play a more significant role in the utility generation’s mix. Whether additional capacity is built, owned and operated by the utility, or purchased from independent power producers or cogenerators. The purpose of this paper is to show that combustion turbines are capable of providing reliable service, regardless of duty (peaking or baseload). Additionally, the paper illustrates that the historical frame of reference is no longer applicable or accurate as an evaluation point for today’s combustion turbine.
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