Online compressor washing: A numerical survey of influencing parameters

Abstract

Online compressor washing is an advanced method to recover power losses caused by compressor blade fouling without incurring the availability penalty of having to shut down the gas turbine engine. Liquid is sprayed into the compressor at full or near full load to wash off particulates accumulated on the compressor surfaces. In particular, the cleaning of the first stage is vital to reinstate the mass flow of the engine, and a uniform fluid distribution is desirable in order to cover the full annulus. To achieve this, washing systems are generally developed empirically. Owing to the variety of intake duct geometries and gas turbine engines, the design of washing systems is generally related to individual power plants. To illustrate the trends of the main influencing parameters, a numerical investigation has been undertaken, based on an application case of a washing system installed in a heavy-duty gas turbine. The parameters studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were airflow reduction, injection location and direction, droplet mass, and injection velocity. The effectiveness of the washing system was evaluated from the fluid distribution at the compressor inlet plane. It has been shown that, depending on the spray nozzle location, different optimum droplet sizes and injection velocities are required. Consequently, the application of different nozzle types is advisable. The operating condition of the engine has a significant effect on the fluid distribution at the compressor inlet and therefore changes in engine mass flow have to be considered when deciding on a washing scheme.