A fast response miniature probe for wet steam flow field measurements

• Published in: Measurement science & technology 2016-12, Vol.27 (12), p.125901
• Main Authors: Bosdas, Ilias, Mansour, Michel, Kalfas, Anestis I, Abhari, Reza S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: probe; steam turbine; time resolved measurements; unsteady flow; wet steam
• ISSN: 0957-0233; 1361-6501
• DOI: 10.1088/0957-0233/27/12/125901

Modern steam turbines require operational flexibility due to renewable energies' increasing share of the electrical grid. Additionally, the continuous increase in energy demand necessitates efficient design of the steam turbines as well as power output augmentation. The long turbine rotor blades at the machines' last stages are prone to mechanical vibrations and as a consequence time-resolved experimental data under wet steam conditions are essential for the development of large-scale low-pressure steam turbines. This paper presents a novel fast response miniature heated probe for unsteady wet steam flow field measurements. The probe has a tip diameter of 2.5 mm, and a miniature heater cartridge ensures uncontaminated pressure taps from condensed water. The probe is capable of providing the unsteady flow angles, total and static pressure as well as the flow Mach number. The operating principle and calibration procedure are described in the current work and a detailed uncertainty analysis demonstrates the capability of the new probe to perform accurate flow field measurements under wet steam conditions. In order to exclude any data possibly corrupted by droplets' impact or evaporation from the heating process, a filtering algorithm was developed and implemented in the post-processing phase of the measured data. In the last part of this paper the probe is used in an experimental steam turbine test facility and measurements are conducted at the inlet and exit of the last stage with an average wetness mass fraction of 8.0%.