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Turbine Bearing Wiped on Coastdown: Cause Analysis

Vibration Institute Annual Technical Symposium 2013

By David Gluzman

Problem Description

During coastdown metal temperature of the short elliptical bearing supporting LP section of a large
steam turbine spiked from 122 deg F to 200 deg F at speed of 235 RPM. Upon disassembly the bearing
was found wiped.

Journal roughness was evaluated as being marginal and decision has been made to hone the journal in
place. Journal roundness and taper were found to be within tolerance. Original journal diameter is
20.000 inch, after honing - 19.9964 inch. A few major grooves were left in the journal in order to avoid
significant diameter reduction.


Refuted/confirmed causal factors

Bearing wipe was suspected before the turbine dissassembly based on bearing metal temperature
pattern captured during the trip [1]. This pattern is a reliable symptom of a wipe and has been well
documented in the literature. During the investigation several possible failure causal factors were
considered.

Improper Lubricating Oil temperature during coastdown (refuted).

Typically, simultaneously with a turbine trip maximum cooling water flow is introduced through the oil
cooler so that oil temperature 115 deg F at full speed is lowered to 90 deg F or less when the turbine
comes to turning gear operation. This condition has been met [1] and therefore the causal factor is
refuted.

Excessive operating bearing metal temperature (refuted).

Reference [1] also indicates that during operation bearing metal temperature was steady at 197 deg F,
which is within the design specifications of 190-210 deg F for short elliptical bearings. This causal factor
is refuted.

Low Lubrication Oil header pressure (refuted).

Turbine bearing header pressure dropped somewhat, however never reached the value at which the
emergency bearing oil pump would start. The pressure leveled out based on the design of the turning
gear oil pump, which again is typical. This causal factor was refuted.






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Improper size or plugged orifice (refuted).

Both, condition and the size of the orifice have been examined and met the design requirements. This
causal factor was refuted.

Inadequate Babbitt bond (refuted).

The upper half indicated normal bonding based on ultrasound test results. The lower half could not be
tested. However, based on the shaft CL position trend indicating movement toward the bottom at each
start/stop [15] this condition is refuted.

Excessive journal out-of-roundness and taper (refuted).

Both parameters were examined and found to be conforming to the design specifications. This causal
factor is refuted.

Excessive bearing static loading (refuted).

Although additional loading does not necessarily play a negative role at full speed as far as metal-to-
metal contact is concerned, it is a major consideration at low speed when oil wedge has lower capability
of supporting the journal due to boundary lubrication mode. Bearing static loading was analyzed based
on the orbit shape. Typically excessive loading condition is indicated by a flat orbit and relatively low
journal CL position. The vibration spectrum with excessive loading typically features relatively large
second harmonic. Higher than normal bearing metal temperature is also an indicator of excessive
preload.

In this case the orbit is indicating a lightly flattened pattern [11]. The CL plot [10] indicates that the
journal lifted up 6 mils from the bottom of the bearing at full speed, which is normal. Vibration spectra
[14] indicate relatively small second harmonic. As mentioned above, the bearing metal temperature was
197 deg F, which is also normal. Excessive loading condition is refuted.

Journal surface excessive roughness/waviness (confirmed as Cause #1)

Journal surface finish condition and its effect on wiping is of great importance. This issue has been
addressed in many technical papers and prior to confirming, it will be discussed in a great detail.

The OEM addresses the issue by stating that regardless of oil condition, low speed operation can result
in bearing babbitt wipes, particularly if the journal is scored. Each time the unit is started or stopped the
condition will progressively become worse. When the turbine runs below rated speed, temperature
excursions with a characteristic spike may occur if a scored journal is present. Temperature spikes may
not be pronounced in all cases since wiping can be only momentary. The mating bearing to that journal
will be wiped also. The bottom line is that journal damage in form of scratches and grooves is caused by
dirty oil. Journals with wavy surfaces also result from particulate matter in the oil, which in time wears
away shaft material.




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When a journal becomes scored, the oil film pressure profile across the length of the bearing becomes
segmented. Consequentially, the journal rides closer to the babbitt surface. This is not necessarily a
problem at rated speed, however at coastdown or startup the oil film thickness is reduced in proportion
to the speed. As the film thickness decreases, a transition from hydrodynamic to boundary lubrication
takes place. During this transition the oil thickness becomes smaller and when already reduced by the
scored journal, the film may not provide sufficient support. The result is metal-to-metal contact and
wiping of the bearing.

D. R. Gardner [16] and F.A. Martin [17] provide information on correlation between surface finish, peak-
to-valley surface finish, and minimum amount of oil thickness needed to prevent metal-to-metal contact
in a plain journal bearing. Data indicates that this contact occurs at predicted film thickness, which, in
turn, depends on surface finish and bearing size. A realistic failure value of the film thickness is given
by the peak-to-value surface finish Rmax of the journal as shown in Figure 1. In order to increase the
operating oil film thickness the bearing size has to be increased or a thicker lubricant used for given
conditions of load and speed. Another way to interpret this data is such that when actual roughness and
waviness increases, the existing load may exceed the value of no metal-to-metal contact operation.

Since peak-to-valley parameter is thought of as a failure value, a multiplication factor is applied to
obtain minimum allowable oil film thickness. For a 20 inch diameter journal, minimum allowable oil film
thickness is equal to 0.000,900, which is close to 0.001,000 oil wedge thickness calculated at 250 RPM.



Figure 1. Guidelines on shaft surface finish and allowable oil film thickness for a journal bearing




Surface finish
guidance
Peak to valley
surface finish
Rmax

Min allowable oil
thickness



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EPRI [18] provides instructions on performing inspection of the shaft journals for signs of abnormal
wear, such as scratches, nicks, etc.

Typical recommended tolerances and surface finish for a new journal are as follows:

Taper - 0.001 inch
Out of roundness - 0.001inch
Surface finish - 0.000,016 inch
Re-machining required if the following are exceeded:
Taper - 0.0025 inch
Out of roundness - 0.0015inch
More than one circumferential score greater than 0.015 inch deep per linear inch.
( to prevent bearing from overloading at full speed).

Variation of the friction coefficient in a journal bearing as a function of Bearing Parameter [V/p], as
shown in Figure 2, where: - oil viscosity, cp; V shaft speed, rpm; p unit pressure, psi ). Note that
hydrodynamic friction slowly decreases at decreasing speed, but then increases sharply with onset of
mixed-film oil lubrication. The plot shows that dirt, deformations, misalignments, surface roughness,
and reduced supply oil flow rate - all have deleterious effects on the resulting coefficient of friction
(CCW arrow). When such condition exists, the onset of metal-to-metal contact occurs at higher values of
the Bearing Parameter. Bearing wearing-in, as opposed to wearing-out, has a beneficial effect friction
(CCW arrow) since hydrodynamic full film operation is maintained to lower values of the Bearing
Parameter.

Due to the steep pattern of the curve in the mixed lubrication zone, a small change in Bearing Parameter
can result in a significant change in the Coefficient of Friction and therefore generate additional heat.
Note that in the region of boundary lubrication operation is unstable. If the temperature has increased,
viscosity will be reduced and coefficient of friction will increase causing more heat and further viscosity
reduction.

Using coefficient of friction characteristics, a curve can be constructed of bearing temperature as a
function of time during coastdown. With onset of contact starting at certain bearing parameter, the
temperature curve can be calculated (Figure 3). The form of this curve is quite similar to the field
observations in the journals that have been scored. Solid particle contaminants in the lubricant and/or
deformations and misalignments of the bearing members would also result in similar contact induced
transient temperature rise of the bearing during coastdown.















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Figure 2. Coefficient of friction curve in a journal bearing.







Wearing in
Boundary friction
Mixed
friction
Dirt,
Misalignment,
Roughness,
Reduced oil supply
Fluid
friction
Brg parameter, [V/P]
Operating
speed
Friction
coeff

Figure 3. Variation of speed, temperature, and bearing wear as function
of time in a bearing experiencing metal-to-metal contact at coastdown.







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Current experince regarding the effect of journal surface finish and dynamics of the bearing wear
process at low speed suggests the following. A journal bearing undergoes some damage with every
startup/shutdown, when a rotor is lifting off from a metal-to-metal contact at turning gear speed and at
coastdown. If the babbitt and journal are in near perfect condition, the momentary transition will cause
minimal damage in form of light polishing of the babbitt surface. Otherwise wiping may occur.

Calculations indicate that at low speeds minimal oil thickness for a 20 inch diameter shaft and ISO 32
viscosity oil drops down from approximately 0.007 inch (200 m) at 3600 RPM to approximately 0.001
inch (25 m) at 235 RPM and below 0.000,5 inch (12 m) at 100 RPM. At the same time maximum
pressure approximately doubles (Figure 4). Under these conditions any particulate contaminants in the
oil being moved by the rotating shaft will score the soft babbitt surface. The hard particulates will also
score and wear the journal. Important to consider the fact that as damage gets worse, the loading
capacity of the bearing decreases and metal-to-metal contact is more likely to occur at low speed.






3600 RPM 1000 RPM 100 RPM

Shaft RPM Altitude angle, deg Minimal gap, mil (m) Pmax, psi
3600 85 7 (175) 850
1000 65 4 (100) 900
100 35 0.5 (12) 1650
Data for a 22 in dia shaft and elliptical bearing is approximate.

Figure 4. Journal bearing pressure distribution and operating parameters matrix at different speeds

Figure 5 presents a summary description of the two lubrication regimes taking place at
startup/coastdown when mixed film and boundary lubrication are in effect - by which sliding surface
bearings provide their load support function. The effect of surface condition (segmentation) is shown for
understanding of its role in supporting the load.




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In the mixed film lubrication regime there is partial shaft-bearing contact. Inserted are thin layers of
lubricant in the remaining areas, which if pressurized add to load support ( Figure 5, a). In boundary
regime the lubricant does not provide any support ( Figure 5, b).









Figure 5. Bearing support at mixed-film and boundary lubrication regimes. Oil pressurized areas
provide additional support.


If the shaft is tapered, the stress in one bearing load zone area will be higher than in the other. In this
particular case journal dimension measurement did not indicate presence of taper and the babbitt
wiping pattern was not representative [6].

In regards to the effect of journal surface condition on wiping reference [20] concludes that
hydrodynamically lubricated bearings can operate satisfactorily with a certain amount of scoring,
however, a stage is eventually reached when it is no longer possible.

EPRI [21] is also stating that one mode of metal-to-metal contact requires simultaneous occurrence of
both, a scored journal (which in turn occurs due to hard particles contamination within the bearing oil
film or partially embedded into Babbitt surface) AND the rotor being at startup or coastdown.

P. R. Trumpler [25] defines minimum oil thickness as:

h = 0.000,200 + 0.000,040*D

For a bearing diameter D=20 inch, the minimum oil thickness is h = 0.001 inch. This is close to the wedge
thickness calculated at 235 RPM.

M.F. Spotts [26] offers the following relationship linking surface RMS roughness Rq and minimum oil
thickness h at which hydrodynamic lubrication still exists (Babbit roughness will be conservatively
assumed to be negligible).
h= 4.5*Rq

From the above, at oil film thickness of h=0.001 inch, Rq=0.000,220 inch ( 220 in), which is 13 times
higher than typical OEM journal surface finish specification of 16 in. The 220 in value could be
established as journal surface roughness tolerance. Turbine manufacturers typically do not provide a
tolerance value other than one grove of certain depth per inch, which is relates only to full speed.



shaft
W
bearing
shaft
W
bearing
a
b



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Cause #1 Summary:

The technical sources listed above consider journal surface roughness/waviness condition to be a critical
parameter. If excessive, it will cause a bearing wipe at low speed. The bearing in question failed
previously by being wiped during coastdown. At that time the babbitt was re-poured but the journal,
although visually possessing marginal roughness, has not been re-machined. From the previous to the
current wipe event there were multiple startups/coasdowns. During this period of time the journal
centerline (CL) in the bearing has gradually shifted downward by about 7 mils [15]. This number provides
the amount of wear the babbitt sustained when mixed lubrication regime was in effect. This wear has
also altered the shape and clearance of the bearing a critical parameters for creating an oil wedge
thus, negatively affecting oils ability to support the journal, and also increased the potential of fluid
induced instability.

An accurate assessment of journal surface roughness from the photo in [7] provides an approximate
range of the grooves size being up to 0.003 inch deep. A more accurate estimate of roughness was done
based on journal diameter before and after honing when most of the scoring has been removed [8]. The
radial difference is 0.001,800 inch. It represents peak-to-valley dimension of the surface roughness
existed on the surface and is called Rmax. The RMS value ( called Rq) could be roughly estimated to be
0.001,800/1.4=0.001,200 inch or 1,200 in (for simplicity purposes a sine wave type of roughness profile
is assumed). This roughness exceeded the proposed above tolerance of 220 in by factor of six.

Considering the above reasoning, it could be concluded that journal surface roughness in the journal
was excessive and therefore constitutes a confirmed cause of the wipe.

Cause #2: Large size hard particulates were being continuously generated or ingressed into
the lube oil system.

The next logical question which needs to be addressed is condition of the bearing lube oil system from
the cleanliness point of view. Oil was sampled and analyzed in detail on a monthly basis. Oil was also
sampled on a weekly basis or prior to each start and checked for cleanliness and water content. Data is
presented in [2]. The recommended contamination levels are as follows.

ISO 4406:99 16/13/10 as a normal and ISO 4406:99 20/18/15 as an alarm level.

Lab data confirmed that the turbine oil met cleanliness requirements. However manufacturers typically
warn that if great portion of particles appear in 50-250 micron size for particular substance such as
metallic, black oxide, fly ash, asbestos, their content has to be reduced.

Maintenance flush performed after the bearing wipe event revealed the elemental content of the
particles collected on the Millipore filter after several hours of flushing [3].

The size of the hard particles, such as Iron and Silicon, are in the 200-400 m (0.008-0.016 inch) range.
Although up to 0.010 inch maximum size particles are typically allowed to be collected on Millipore filter
during a high velocity/high-low temperature flush, no safe limits are known for a flush replicating
operating conditions of oil flow.




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The iron and silicon particles of 0.008-0.016 inch size circulating through the journal bearings couldve
easily machined groves into the journal while passing with the oil flow not only during coastdown but
also at full speed when oil wedge minimum thickness is 0.004-0.007 inch. OEM does specify the stop-
flushing flag if high velocity/high-low temperature flushing is used. However, flushing in this particular
case resembled normal operation oil flow and therefore no large particles should have been in existence
if oil system was truly clean. Even a small concentration of the detected sizes will eventually score the
journal after many hours of operation.

This condition invokes another question: Why sampling data from the lubricating oil tank has always
indicated a proper level of contamination in the 4, 6, and 14 m range, but never - presence of large size
particles? The sampling location is correct at the suction zone of the kidney loop pump - where
sufficient turbulence is present.

The answer is unknown at this time. It is feasible that these particles are being continuously generated
downstream of the sample collection location and therefore missed. The available contamination data
appears to be not representative.

Admitting that one of causes of excessive journal surface roughness is presence of large size particulates
in the oil, it is important to reiterate that physics behind the babbitt wipe phenomenon outlined above
suggests that a wipe can occur even with perfectly clean oil if excessively rough journal surface is already
present.

Oil cleanliness data isn't representative of the oil actually reaching a bearing (Cause #3)

As stated above, oil cleanliness data collected on a regular basis in the oil lube tank did not indicate a
problem, thus creating a false sense of security.

No filters preventing contaminants from entering the bearings are present (Cause #4)

Although a kidney loop filtration system is being used to continuously circulate the oil in the tank
through the filter, there are some lube piping sections that are left out from the cleanliness perspective.
Namely, the oil piping downstream of the tank, where particulates could be generated and the dust
sucked into the tank and not completely filtered out can travel further and ultimately reach a bearing.

Multiple startups/coastdowns (Contributing factor)

During each startup/coastdown, a bearing undergoes a mixed film and boundary lubrication mode a
phenomenon which occurs at low speed. The slope of the curve in the referenced above Coefficient of
Friction vs. Bearing Parameter plot is very steep. Therefore, if the contact surfaces are rough, chances of
wiping are higher during this mode even with a perfectly clean oil. If the journal and the babbitt surface
are in pristine condition, the short transition during startup/shutdown will cause minimal damage to the
babbitt surface. However, more severe roughness in journal surface increases chances of a wipe. Time
wise, wiping is accelerated by multiplicity of transitions.

By itself a large number of transitions are unlikely to cause wiping if surface roughness is low; however
under less than perfect conditions each transition accelerates chances of a wipe.




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References


1. Bearing metal temperature spiked at 235 RPM on coastdown.





2. Oil samples analyzed by an Oil Lab met recommended ISO cleanliness levels


RPM
Brg metal temp
LO cooler outlet temp
Brg drain LO temp



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3. Particles washed off of the Millipore filter at lube oil system maintenance flush.



4. Electronic Scanning Microscope (SEM) image of a sample obtained from
Millipore filter during the maintenance oil flush.






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5. EDS/SQ analysis results from Millipore sample. Hard elements Iron and Silicone and their
oxides - make up some particles.




6. The lower half of the bearing is wiped






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7. The journal as found.


8. The journal after honing. Same scale as in reference 7 for comparison.




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9. Before the failure, CL in both bearings across the coupling appear to be in the wrong quadrant
suggesting bearing alignment in horizontal direction.








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10. After repair both across the coupling bearings CL are in the lower part of the annulus with
altitude angle close to zero. Because of that, while probes for the bearing in question are
switched (see below), it did not affect the result.






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11. Before the wipe event, both bearings across the coupling operated at normal preload.



12. After bearing replacement the orbits did not change significantly ( X and Y probes on the
bearing in question were accidently switched as indicated by the keyphasor ).






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13. Before and after spectra are about the same on the across the coupling bearings






14. Before and after spectra are about the same on the wiped bearing. Second harmonic is small.








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15. Centerline (CL ) data indicates that the bearing in question gets lower with each start/stop.


16. D. R. Gardner, Designing a plain bearing, The Glacier Metal Company Ltd, Alperton,
Wembley, UK
17. Martin, F. A., Minimum allowable oil film thickness in steadily loaded journal bearings,
Proceedings on Lubrication and wear convention, 1964; Vol. 178, Institute of Mechanical
Engineers, London, UK
18. EPRI, Guidelines for Reducing Time and Maintenance Cost of T-G overhauls, Vol.2
19. EPRI, Guidelines for Maintaining T-G Lubrication Systems.
20. http://www.tribology.co.uk/services/investigate/pb02-0.htm
21. EPRI Turbine Training Manual, Ch. 3, Operational Problems of Sliding Surface Bearings.
22. EPRI, T-G Auxiliary System, Vol. 1
23. EPRI, Training Manual, Ch.4
24. EPRI, CS 4555 Guideline for Maintaining Steam Turbine Lubrication Systems
25. P. R. Trumpler, Design of Film Bearings, NY, 1966, pp. 103-119
26. M.F. Spotts, Design of Machine Elements, 3
rd
Ed., p. 321