Gas Turbine Technology and Engineering Services

Gas turbine manufacturers, suppliers, and users are continually challenged to design, construct, test, and operate reliable and efficient turbines that meet market needs and respect the environment. Engineers at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) provide technical services, expertise, and research facilities to meet the challenge. SwRI's state-of-the-art facilities, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary engineering services are recognized and used throughout the industry to help improve engine reliability.

A shaker test facility is used at SwRI to assess high-cycle fatigue (HCF) capabilities of turbine blading.

SwRI offers the following capabilities and services for the gas turbine industry.

• Failure Analysis and Prevention -- Root cause failure diagnosis for blades, nozzles, and other turbine components. Investigations combine the technologies of fractographic examination, metallurgical evaluation, fracture mechanics analysis, structural analysis, dynamic loading, thermal environment prediction, and frequency testing.
  
  
• Life Management and Extension -- Durability and life estimation of hot section components, coating life prediction, probabilistic failure risk assessment, and condition assessment of components. 
  
  
• Selection of Materials and Coatings -- Selection and qualification of alternative materials and coatings, field evaluations, supplier qualification, and refurbishment evaluation. 
  
  
• Troubleshooting and Rotor Balancing -- Vibration problem diagnosis; monitoring systems and surveys; resonance identification; flow-induced vibration diagnosis using exhaust ducts, heat recovery steam generators, and combustors; and blade vibration stress prediction. 
  
  
• Heat Rate Improvement -- Diagnosis of fuel flow measurement accuracy and meter calibration, performance measurement, and analysis per test codes. 
  
  
• Installation and Commissioning Support -- Troubleshooting, third-party evaluation, design consultation, and technical representation. 
  
  
• Design Assurance -- Rotor dynamics analysis for lateral and torsional instability, stress and thermal analysis, finite element and computational fluid dynamic analyses, probabilistic evaluation, and design assessment of reliability. 
  
  
• System Integration -- Optimization and system integration for specialty applications of turbines. 
  
  
• Nondestructive Evaluation -- Ultrasonic and eddy current inspection of components and coatings, and method development and application.

SwRI engineers predict the life of hot section bladings and coatings by metallurgical condition assessment and by applying state-of-the-art life prediction methods.

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