An Advanced Model Based Health Monitoring System to Reduce Gas Turbine Ownership Cost

The health of gas turbines is vital for profitability. All gas turbines deteriorate in performance during operation resulting in reduce revenue and increasing costs. The paper discusses the application of gas turbine models to detect damage at engine component level. The method also enables the detection of instrument faults. An example of this method has been applied to an aero derived gas turbine. The impact of performance deterioration on engine life is also discussed. The paper also discusses a method to highlight combustion problems and thereby prevent major failures of the hot end components. The paper concludes by using the fault detection method and creep life analysis to develop a suitable strategy for a predictive based maintenance system.Copyright © 2000 by ASME