A Failure Analysis on the Broken Last Blade of 30MW Steam Turbine

30MW 증기터빈 최종단 회전익 파단 사고 분석

In the recently released accident-investigation report on blade failure, almost 70% of blade failures was found at low pressure turbine blades, and it is well known that main cause is due to the vibration modes. This paper describes the systematic approach on the root cause of the blade failure at L 0 stage, 30MW single flow industrial steam turbine which had tripped by high vibration after ten-month commercial operation. A fracture was found at the only one damping wire hole of 59 blades, and crack was detected at three damping wire holes by NDT. According to the analysis result for the crack fracture surface and the chain of the sequential operational events, we come to the conclusion that a typical high cycle fatigue is the most dominant factor caused to the blade failure, the resonance frequency margin was narrowed by the cut damping wire and the high cycle vibration was amplified, and then the blade was broken at once by the centrifugal force when the crack reached the critical size.