Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2013: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition

GT2013
June 3-7, 2013, San Antonio, Texas, USA

GT2013-95478

SIEMENS SGT-800 INDUSTRIAL GAS TURBINE ENHANCED TO 50MW:

COMBUSTOR DESIGN MODIFICATIONS, VALIDATION AND OPERATION
EXPERIENCE

Daniel Lörstad, Annika Lindholm, Jan Pettersson, Mats Björkman and Ingvar Hultmark
Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB
SE-612 83 Finspong, Sweden

ABSTRACT The first SGT-800 with 50.5MW rating was success-

Siemens Oil & Gas introduced an enhanced SGT-800 fully tested during the Spring 2010 and the expected perform-
gas turbine during 2010. The new power rating is 50.5MW at a ance figures were confirmed. The fleet leader has, up to January
38.3% electrical efficiency in simple cycle (ISO) and best in 2013, accumulated >16000 Equivalent Operation Hours (EOH)
class combined-cycle performance of more than 55%, for im- and a planned follow up inspection made after 10000 EOH by
proved fuel flexibility at low emissions. The updated compo- boroscope of the hot section showed that the combustor was in
nents in the gas turbine are interchangeable from the existing good condition. This paper presents some details of the design
47MW rating. The increased power and improved efficiency work carried out during the development of the combustor de-
are mainly obtained by improved compressor airfoil profiles sign enhancement and the combustion operation experience
and improved turbine aerodynamics and cooling air layout. The from the first units.
current paper is focused on the design modifications of the
combustor parts and the combustion validation and operation NOMENCLATURE
experience. CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
The serial cooling system of the annular combustion CFR Central fuel to total Fuel Ratio
chamber is improved using aerodynamically shaped liner cool- DLE Dry Low Emissions
ing air inlet and reduced liner rib height to minimize the pres- EOH Equivalent Operation Hours
sure drop and optimize the cooling layout to improve the life LES Large Eddy Simulation
due to engine operation hours. The cold parts of the combustion PFR Pilot fuel to total Fuel Ratio
chamber were redesigned using cast cooling struts where the RANS Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations
variable thickness was optimized to maximize the cycle life. RZ Recirculation Zone
Due to fewer thicker vanes of the turbine stage #1, the combus- SGT Siemens Gas Turbine
tor-turbine interface is accordingly updated to maintain the life TBC Thermal Bond Coat
requirements due to the upstream effect of the stronger pressure TET Turbine Entrance Temperature
gradient. VGV Variable Guide Vanes
Minor burner tuning is used which in combination with
the previously introduced combustor passive damping results in INTRODUCTION
low emissions for >50% load, which is insensitive to ambient The SGT-800 is the largest industrial gas turbine
conditions. The combustion system has shown excellent com- manufactured by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB and is
bustion stability properties, such as to rapid load changes and produced in Finspong, Sweden. It was launched in 1997 as a 43
large flame temperature range at high loads, which leads to the MW machine named GTX-100 [1] and the SGT-800 was soon
possibility of single digit Dry Low Emission (DLE) NOx. The after rated to 45MW. In 2007 the machine was enhanced to 47
combustion system has also shown insensitivity to fuels of large MW using 37.5% simple cycle efficiency [2, 3], 54.4% com-
content of hydrogen, different hydrocarbons, inerts and CO. bined cycle operation efficiency and including cogeneration
Also DLE liquid operation shows low emissions for 50-100% (district heating) it further increases up to 94% [3]. Since then,
load. Siemens has continued the stepwise evolutionary development

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 based on experience and proven design solutions so that high
reliability can always be assured. In 2010, the SGT-800 was
upgraded once more with higher power output, higher
efficiency and improved combustion performance. The
performance resulted in 50.5MW with a 38.3% electrical
efficiency (ISO) in simple cycle and best in class combined-
cycle performance of more than 55%. The design modifications,
validation and operation experience which were associated with
the combustor upgrade are described in this paper, while the
turbine upgrades are described in [4].
Up to January 2013, about 180 units of SGT-800 have been
sold, and all of the units are equipped with Dry Low Emission
(DLE) system. The SGT-800 fleet has accumulated more than
2.2 million Equivalent Operation Hours (EOH), and the fleet
leader has passed 90,000 EOH. In addition, the machine has
achieved an excellent average fleet availability and reliability of
96.9% and 99.8%, respectively, during 2011.
The SGT-800 (see Figure 1) is a single shaft engine that
consists of inlet housing, 15-stage axial compressor, an annular
combustor, a 3-stage axial turbine, and an outlet diffuser. The
first 3 stages of the compressor are made of variable guide
vanes to meet the requirement of engine operation condition.
The combustor is equipped with 30 DLE dual-fuel burners
which give low emission at both full and part loads, with a ca-
pability of NOx≤15ppmv (≤42ppmv on diesel oil) and
CO≤5ppmv in the 50 to 100% load range. The first 2 stages of
the turbine are air-cooled, and single crystal material is used for
stage 1 blades. In addition to its high efficiency in simple cy-
cles, the machine is especially suitable for cogeneration and
combined cycle operation due to its high temperature after the
exhaust diffuser.
shield [5]. Figure 4 shows a picture of the soft wall holes on the
combustor front panel from a recent inspection after 20000
equivalent operation hours, showing a combustor in excellent
condition. Except for some minor white areas of the Thermal
Bond Coat (TBC) around the burner holes, the combustor
appears to still be in almost “as new” condition.
The SGT-800 burners are 3rd generation DLE burners,
which are also employed in the SGT-700 industrial gas turbine.
A survey of the history and principle for the burner
development can be found in [6]. Recent burner investigations
of the combustion stability and emissions due to changes in the
fuel profile, swirl generator properties and pilot layout have
given a strong basis for further improvement, together with the
engine operation experience. A comprehensive validation test
program using experiments have been carried out in four
different configurations; water rig tests, atmospheric single can
combustion tests, high-pressure single can combustion tests and
full scale engine tests. Some of these investigations are reported
in [7-10]. Corresponding Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes
(RANS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) simulations have
been performed to further improve the understanding of the
measurement results [11-12]. With these and other
investigations, Siemens has obtained further knowledge for the
combustion behavior which together with engine experience has
improved the combustion performance.

Figure 1: General layout of SGT-800.

Figure 2: SGT-800 annular combustor: Main flow paths and
combustion recirculation zones.
The SGT-800 combustor is shown schematically in Figure
2, where the main flow paths, flame and main combustion re-
circulation zones are highlighted. Figure 3 shows a picture of
the combustion chamber. The annular combustor is convection-
cooled and therefore nearly all combustor air is used for the
combustion, allowing for almost equal flame zone temperature
as for Turbine Entrance Temperature (TET). This is an
advantage for DLE combustion system, allowing for excellent
CO performance at turndown and relatively high TET using
comparatively low flame zone temperature. The annular
concept also yields a relatively smooth tangential TET and
reduced cooling surface area to combustor volume ratio
compared to a can system. In addition, the combustor was
recently enhanced by passive acoustic damping, and an
improved impingement cooling system of the front panel heat Figure 3. SGT-800 combustion chamber, outside view.

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Figure 4. SGT-800 combustion chamber, inside view.
DESIGN MODIFICATIONS
In this section is presented the design modifications for the
burners and the combustion chamber which were performed
during the design work.
Burner modifications
SGT-800 uses 30 DLE burners in an annular combustor as
shown in Figure 2. The burner is shown in Figure 5, where the
sections for fuel transfer, swirl generator and mixing tube are
indicated. The burner uses five fuel lines in total for dual fuel
capability: main gas, pilot gas, central gas, main liquid and pilot
liquid, where the respective injection locations are shown in the
figure. A picture of the corresponding fuel line system is shown
in Figure 6. The uncomplicated fuel system using small amount
of fuel lines and the absence of burner staging, with continuous
flow in all fuel pipes in the entire load range, is an important
feature for stable DLE systems, allowing for example for rapid
load changes.
(A)
(B) (1)
(C) (4)
(2, 5) (3)
Figure 5. SGT-800 burner showing the sections for (A) fuel
transfer, (B) swirl generator and (C) mixing tube. Also the
fuel injection locations are shown for (1) pilot gas, (2)
central gas, (3) main gas, (4) pilot liquid and (5) main liquid.
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Fuel manifolds
around the gas
turbine core
Central gas valve
Main gas valve
Pilot gas valve
Figure 6. SGT-800 fuel line system showing the central,
main and pilot gas valve locations.
Figure 7 presents the main parts of the DLE burner, the
main flow pattern inside and at the outlet of the burner. The
flow enters the swirl generator in a combined tan-
gential/axial/radial direction where the radial component causes
a high axial velocity at the centerline of the mixing tube
entrance. The main fuel is injected into the air stream at the
various nozzles in the swirl generator, i.e. in the slits between
the four quarter-cones and through the space-cap located at the
apex of the cones. The burner consists of the four quarter-cones,
shifted with respect to each other to create a swirling flow, con-
nected to a circular mixing tube with secondary air discharging
through the film air rows as seen in Figure 7. The swirling air-
fuel mixture passes the mixing tube and discharges into the
combustor through the burner outlet after which it expands ra-
dially due to the imposed swirl, as shown schematically in
Figure 7. Around the edges of this radially expanding swirling
air-fuel jet, hot combustion products are mixed with the air and
fuel to form a combustible mixture that ignites due to the high
temperature. The flame itself takes the form of a short wrenched
tube that fold back on itself around the central Recirculation
Zone (RZ) in the middle of the combustion chamber. The flame
is surrounded by a toroidal vortex that is formed between the
dump plane and the radially expanding flame tube. The residual
fuel-air-product mixture accelerates as a result of the volumetric
expansion to form a rotating wall-jet that encloses the central
RZ on its way towards the end of the combustor. As shown in
Figure 2, the flow accelerates as it passes through the
contraction and reaches the turbine vanes. In contrast to a single
burner rig, the interaction with neighboring burners in an
annular combustion chamber causes a tangential annular flow in
the proximity to the inner and outer liners in addition to the
toroidal RZ, as shown in Figure 7.
3 Copyright © 2013 by ASME
 and life. All these design modifications have resulted in
SGT-800 DLE burner improved combustion performance, including reduction of
Burner side view emissions and burner pressure drop as well as improvement of
combustion stability and fuel flexibility capabilities. The
commercial SGT-800 fuel flexibility capability is shown in
Pilot Table 1, which includes certain margin to the results performed
in various fuel flexibility tests. Some fuel flexibility tests are
described in [8].

Combustion chamber modifications

Main The up-rated SGT-800 combustor chamber is shown in
Pilot Figure 8 including the naming convention used through out this
paper. The combustor consists of a convectively cooled annular
combustor, where the combustor air first cools the hot walls
before the air is gathered inside the hood before entering the
burners.
The cooling layout of the exit rings is designed (apart from
achieving sufficient life and minimum deformation with time of
the combustor exit) to achieve sufficient life of the combustor-
Figure 7. Top: Burner description: fuel injection locations
and flame front visualization (acetone/OH PLIF [12]).
turbine interface. This required a modification due to the
Bottom: Schematic view of main burner flow patterns in reduced number of turbine guide vanes as described in [4].
annular configuration. Due to the serial system of cooling and combustion air, the
pressure drop of the combustor system equals the sum of these.
The burner pressure drop was reduced as mentioned in the
Table 1: SGT-800 gas fuel capability. burner section, and here is described the design modifications to
Gas fuel constituents Max Min reduce the combustor cooling system pressure drop. The
(1) combustion chamber effective area was reduced due to (1) soft
Methane, CH4 mole % 100 50
Ethane, C2H6 mole %
(1)
30 0 wall holes and modified impingement cooling layout of the
Propane, C3H8 mole %
(1)
30 0 front panel heat shield as described in [5], (2) modified liner
Butanes & heavier alkanes, C4+ mole %
(1)
15
(3)
0 cooling channel inlet outer bypass plates and (3) smaller liner
Hydrogen & carbon monoxide, mole %
(1)
10
(5)
0 ribs.
H2 + CO Outer cooling struts Mounting cone
Inerts, N2/CO2(4) mole %(2) 50/40 0
Turbine
(1)
% of reactant species (i.e. inerts not included) Stiffener diaphragm
(2)
% of total (inerts + reactants)
(3)
Front Membranes
May be restricted to lower levels depending on the
other gas constituents panel Outer liner
(4)
Fuels with high inert content may require a separate Front panel Bypass
fuel for ignition and start-up Gusset
(5) heat shield plates
15% limit to be released in summer 2013
Inner liner Exit rings
Hood
Inner cooling struts
This type of burner has been thoroughly investigated using
different methods such as CFD and measurements using water
rig for investigating the fuel-air mixing, atmospheric Figure 8: Cross section of the up-rated combustion
combustion rig tests for fundamental investigations with high chamber and naming convention.
optical access, high pressure rig tests to include the pressure
effect and engine tests for complete engine conditions and the The cooling system improvements were performed in
effect of neighboring burners. More details of some of the conjunction with life improvements. By improving the cooling
performed investigations are shown in [7-12]. in certain hot areas with small life margin and reducing the
The investigations have resulted in a design update cooling in areas with larger life margin, the total life due to
especially for the swirl cone area to improve the manufacturing thermal bond coat flaking, material oxidation and creep, is
tolerances, more aero dynamically shaped swirl generator improved despite reduced cooling system pressure drop. For
leading to reduced pressure losses and the fuel-air mixing and example, the inner liner had previously larger margin than the
the pilot system for improved pilot premixing, flash back limit outer liner, which is better balanced in the new design. In

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 addition, the cyclic life is largely dependent on the thermal load
variation, where the different thermal expansion for different
parts due to different temperatures and material thermal
expansion coefficients causes life limiting thermal stresses.
Especially during fast load changes, such as a fast start from
cold engine conditions and a fast engine shut-down, where the
change in compressor outlet temperature and flame zone
temperature are large, the thermal stresses may be significant.
The thermal expansion is also depending on the thermal
response time, which depends on the heat transfer and the
thickness of the parts involved.
For this combustor, the liners and the front panel heat
shield are hotter than the hood parts, causing a difference in
thermal expansion. To reduce this tension, the outer cooling Figure 9. Mesh of SGT-800 combustor system.
struts are redesigned as shown in Figure 8 as compared to the
previous design in Figure 2. By increasing the distance between
the hot parts and the cooling struts and by optimizing the
material thickness, the cyclic life was doubled.
To study the global effect of the design modifications and
to estimate the thermal boundary conditions for life estimation,
CFD was used. Figure 9 shows the cross section of a typical
mesh used, that consists of unstructured tetras for the volumes
and prisms layers to better resolve the boundary layer for the
most important walls. The model includes the flow passages
between the compressor outlet and the first guide vane, as well
as the fuel lines up to well defined constrictions. Some solid
parts, such as the burner tip region, were included to improve
the heat load prediction using conjugate heat transfer. Both
RANS and LES have been used, using either progress variable Figure 10. Velocity magnitude in SGT-800 combustor
pre-calculated chemistry based or Finite Rate Chemistry based system.
combustion models using either ANSYS or OpenFOAM. The
details of the mesh resolution and CFD models are out of the
scope of this paper, but similar approaches are used as
described in [12] with the following exceptions: (1) the models
are extended to engine conditions, (2) the RANS models
contain one annular burner sector with adjusted thicker guide
vane to match the guide vane effective area and periodic
boundary conditions in the tangential direction and (3) the LES
models contain up to three burner sectors.
Figure 10 shows the averaged velocity magnitude which
shows that the highest velocities are found at the compressor
outlet, the liner cooling channels, inside the burner and at the
turbine guide vanes. Also is shown the V-shaped expansion at
the burner outlet, created by the vortex break down causing
central, inner and outer recirculation zones as shown in Figure
7. Figure 11 shows the corresponding averaged temperature
Figure 11. Temperature field in SGT-800 combustor system.
field where the hottest locations are found at the pilot flames
and the coldest areas in the fuel system. The resulting
temperature field is in close agreement with the flame shape as
Combustor exit rings
shown in Figure 2 and 7. The highest heat load is in general
In order to investigate the performance of the combustor-
obtained close to the burner tip and at the liners where the high
turbine interface, the global CFD model previously described
velocity field reaches the walls.
was not sufficient. To obtain reliable results in this region, the
In the following sections, more details are shown on the
correct number of guide vanes, better mesh resolution and
development for the exit rings, the liner cooling system and the
conjugate heat transfer of both the exit rings and the close
cooling struts.
turbine parts are needed.

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 The SGT-800 combustor system has shown remarkable
Measured response from Load addition and
combustion stability and especially after the introduction of the
Load rejection of an SGT800 GT
soft wall [5]. The stability was excellent during the emission
100 7000
tests shown in Figure 19 and 20. A flame temperature 90 6800
dependence test is shown in Figure 21, where the primary zone 80 6600

Rotor speed
PFR(%) and
Load (MW),
temperature was reduced at full load conditions by ~10%, 70
Load Load 6400

VGV (%)
60 6200

(rpm)
which confirms the excellent margin to blow out. The values are 50 addition rejection 6000
scaled with the standard full load conditions, corresponding to 40 5800
30 5600
the 100% load point in Figure 19 (NOx ~10ppm). As can be 20 5400
seen in the figure, very low NOx values may be achieved by a 10 5200
reduction in flame zone temperature. The load level reduces 0 5000
16:10:00 16:20:00 16:30:00 16:40:00 16:50:00
somewhat with flame zone temperature, which gives the
Time
possibility of offering significantly reduced NOx emissions at
high part loads. The pressure is only slightly affected, showing Load (MW) PFR (%) VGV (%) Rotor (rpm)
remarkable performance of the compressor and that the NOx Figure 22: Operational flexibility example of stable load
reduction is not due to pressure effects. The CO emissions were addition and load rejection.
below the accuracy of the measurement equipment, which
means below than 1-2ppm for the whole interval.

SGT-800 emissions vs flame temperature

1,0
Parameter value

0,8

0,6

0,4 NOx ppmvd@15 / NOx0

CO ppmvd@15
0,2 Power / Power0
P3 at compressor outlet / P3_0
0,0
0,9 0,92 0,94 0,96 0,98 1
Flame zone temperature / Reference temperature

Figure 21: Engine test of emissions versus flame zone

temperature at full load conditions.

Operational flexibility
The excellent combustion stability and the stable
combustion control system using few fuel lines, gives the
possibility of handling rapid load changes. Figure 22 shows an
example of rapid load changes, both sudden load increase and
load rejection. The load rejection was performed from full load
to 0% load (idle conditions).
Figure 23 shows pictures of the flame inside the combustor
during such a load rejection from full load using less than 3%
PFR, where the frames are 1 second apart, except for the last
one which is one minute later. The load rejection takes place
after the third frame, and the combustion adjusts without any Figure 23: Photos frame by frame of the combustion at load
difficulty to the new condition and increased PFR within rejection from 100% load to idle in 1 second.
seconds.
Another example of operation flexibility is the capability of
a 10 minutes start from a cold engine to 100% load as shown in
Figure 24. Even though from combustion point of view a
sudden load change as shown in Figure 22 and 23 is a much
more difficult task, a fast start is an important capability which
depends on the capability also for the other components
involved.

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 size as compared to the heat transfer coefficient (HTC), the ribs
could be reduced without significantly affecting the cooling
while achieving a significant reduction in pressure loss. In this
up-rate the rib height for both the outer and inner liner was
reduced by 25% while the pitch to height ratio was kept the
same, which according to Han [14] results in 4% reduced HTC
and 22% reduced pressure drop.
Combustor cooling struts
As described above, the cooling struts were redesigned
which improved the cyclic life of the combustor. Figure 15
shows the resulting full load temperature field of the combustor
and connecting parts, which is used for cyclic life estimation.
To ensure that the new design fulfilled the Eigen frequency
requirements, modal measurements were performed up front the
new design was tested in the gas turbine. As compared to the
previous design, the measured frequency of the mode in Figure
16 increased by 4.1% and the predicted one increased by 3.3%.
The acoustic Eigen modes have been extracted using 3D
Finite Element analysis and the software package, ABAQUS.
Figure 17 shows the acoustic FE-model for a one burner sector,
showing a geometrically static flame which represents the
location for the heat-release area in the combustor. By assuming
a harmonic volumetric oscillation, where its magnitude may be
a function of frequency and location, the flame will represent an
acoustic force (monopole) acting on the air. By running a modal
based force response analysis using a frequency sweep, the
resulting acoustic pressure distribution, as function of frequency
is found. This simple numerical sequence can show acoustic
Eigen modes that are likely to respond to a given flame shape,
and thereby grow due to thermo acoustic interaction. This
method is fast and simple for down selecting acoustic modes
that later is to be compared to extracted structural mode shapes,
or included as a structural force in a mode based mechanical
analysis.

Figure 15. Predicted temperature field on combustor Stiffener

components.
Gusset
Not only life due to thermal expansion is important for a
combustor, since also the Eigen modes of the system has to be
examined. If a structural mode connects with a thermo-acoustic
combustion mode, then the component may fail within seconds.
Therefore a design requirement is to have sufficient difference Figure 16. Typical low frequency 0-nodal Eigen mode.
in mode frequency for structural modes that may couple with
corresponding acoustic modes.
Figure 16 shows an example of a low frequency 0-nodal
structural mode, where the frequency margin to the
corresponding thermo acoustic mode had to be kept as
compared to the original design. The mode shape shows that the
inner liner would get the largest movement if this mode would
be excited. Since the cooling struts in the new design is placed
further away from the hot parts, which acts for reducing this
frequency, other design modifications had to be added to
maintain the frequency margin. The most noteworthy one is that
the stiffener and the gusset are connected not only on the outer
side but also on the inner one as shown in Figure 16, as
compared to the previous design shown in Figure 2.
In addition, even though the flame zone temperature is not
affected by the up-rating, the compressor discharge temperature
is somewhat increased affecting the sound velocity and hence
the acoustic frequencies. This has to be taken into account when Figure 17: The shape and location of the static flame in the
maintaining the frequency margins. combustor that is used in the force response analysis.

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 Figure 18 shows an example from a 360 degree acoustic
calculation of an acoustic mode that is amplified using the force
response acoustic analysis. This mode is mentioned above since
the mode shape has similarities with the structural mode in
Figure 16. It is an axial mode between the compressor outlet
and the turbine inlet and since the pressure forces act on the
front panel parts in axial direction, this mode may be coupled
with the structural mode in Figure 16 (if the frequencies would
be close). This frequency is detected during engine tests for
certain conditions, especially when using liquid fuel and the
predicted acoustic frequency only differs with a couple of
percent which confirms the high accuracy of the method. The
difference to the structural mode in Figure 16 is much more
than 10%, which is sufficient to avoid coupling between these
modes.
since single burner combustion tests may fail to be
representative for an annular combustor.
Figure 19 shows the emissions versus load and Pilot-Fuel-
Ratio (PFR) for a typical engine test when using natural gas,
where PFR is the amount of pilot fuel. As can be seen, the NOx
emissions are low down to 50% load using standard PFR
settings, and hence there is good margin to the guarantee values.
CO is low down to 25-30% which verifies the benefit of this
type of combustor. Relatively large combustor volume and hot
liners without any cooling air entering through the liners, helps
to keep the CO emissions below 2 ppm down to 30% load. The
un-burnt hydrocarbons (UHC) follow a similar trend as CO but
the values are much lower.
For liquid fuel operation the CO and UHC values are
similar as for natural gas down to about 30% load, but
somewhat higher for lower load as shown in Figure 20. The
DLE NOx emissions from this typical engine test using E10
diesel (summer quality) are about 20 ppm for standard PFR
settings at high loads and about 25 ppm down to 50% load, but
could be reduced to about 20ppm for 40-100% load by PFR
adjustment. Corresponding tests with E32 diesel (winter
quality) gives similar results. Note that the NOx emissions are
below 40ppm for the whole load range and that for low load the
NOx emissions are lower for liquid fuel than for natural gas for
standard PFR settings. This shows that there is potential for
reduced NOx for low load also on natural gas.

SGT-800 emissions on natural gas

90 4500
80 4000

CO/UHC (ppm@15%O2)
70 3500
NOx (ppm@15%O2),

PFR
60 NOx 3000
PFR (%)

50 CO 2500

40 UHC 2000

30 1500
20 1000

10 500
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)

Figure 19: Engine test of measured NOx, CO and UHC

emissions versus power and PFR for natural gas.

Figure 18: A typical axial acoustic mode that may connect SGT-800 emissions on liquid fuel
with the Eigen mode of Figure 16, if the frequencies would 90 4500
be close. 80 PFR 4000
NOx (ppm@15%O2),

70 NOx 3500
CO (ppm@15%O2)

NOx_min
60 3000
CO
PFR (%)

VALIDATION 50
UHC
2500

The SGT-800 up-rated design has been verified in several 40 2000

30 1500
steps during the project, where the final engine test is the most
20 1000
important step to validate the design update.
10 500

0 0
Combustion stability and emissions 0 20 40 60 80 100
The validation of combustion stability and emissions are Load (%)

among the most crucial parts of an engine test, due to the lack Figure 20: Engine test of measured NOx, CO and UHC
of sufficiently accurate prediction methods for such topics and emissions versus power and PFR for liquid fuel.

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 The SGT-800 combustor system has shown remarkable
Measured response from Load addition and
combustion stability and especially after the introduction of the
Load rejection of an SGT800 GT
soft wall [5]. The stability was excellent during the emission
100 7000
tests shown in Figure 19 and 20. A flame temperature 90 6800
dependence test is shown in Figure 21, where the primary zone 80 6600

Rotor speed
PFR(%) and
Load (MW),
temperature was reduced at full load conditions by ~10%, 70
Load Load 6400

VGV (%)
60 6200

(rpm)
which confirms the excellent margin to blow out. The values are 50 addition rejection 6000
scaled with the standard full load conditions, corresponding to 40 5800
30 5600
the 100% load point in Figure 19 (NOx ~10ppm). As can be 20 5400
seen in the figure, very low NOx values may be achieved by a 10 5200
reduction in flame zone temperature. The load level reduces 0 5000
16:10:00 16:20:00 16:30:00 16:40:00 16:50:00
somewhat with flame zone temperature, which gives the
Time
possibility of offering significantly reduced NOx emissions at
high part loads. The pressure is only slightly affected, showing Load (MW) PFR (%) VGV (%) Rotor (rpm)
remarkable performance of the compressor and that the NOx Figure 22: Operational flexibility example of stable load
reduction is not due to pressure effects. The CO emissions were addition and load rejection.
below the accuracy of the measurement equipment, which
means below than 1-2ppm for the whole interval.

SGT-800 emissions vs flame temperature

1,0
Parameter value

0,8

0,6

0,4 NOx ppmvd@15 / NOx0

CO ppmvd@15
0,2 Power / Power0
P3 at compressor outlet / P3_0
0,0
0,9 0,92 0,94 0,96 0,98 1
Flame zone temperature / Reference temperature

Figure 21: Engine test of emissions versus flame zone

temperature at full load conditions.

Operational flexibility
The excellent combustion stability and the stable
combustion control system using few fuel lines, gives the
possibility of handling rapid load changes. Figure 22 shows an
example of rapid load changes, both sudden load increase and
load rejection. The load rejection was performed from full load
to 0% load (idle conditions).
Figure 23 shows pictures of the flame inside the combustor
during such a load rejection from full load using less than 3%
PFR, where the frames are 1 second apart, except for the last
one which is one minute later. The load rejection takes place
after the third frame, and the combustion adjusts without any Figure 23: Photos frame by frame of the combustion at load
difficulty to the new condition and increased PFR within rejection from 100% load to idle in 1 second.
seconds.
Another example of operation flexibility is the capability of
a 10 minutes start from a cold engine to 100% load as shown in
Figure 24. Even though from combustion point of view a
sudden load change as shown in Figure 22 and 23 is a much
more difficult task, a fast start is an important capability which
depends on the capability also for the other components
involved.

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 Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2013: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition
GT2013
June 3-7, 2013, San Antonio, Texas, USA

GT2013-95478

SIEMENS SGT-800 INDUSTRIAL GAS TURBINE ENHANCED TO 50MW:

COMBUSTOR DESIGN MODIFICATIONS, VALIDATION AND OPERATION
EXPERIENCE

Daniel Lörstad, Annika Lindholm, Jan Pettersson, Mats Björkman and Ingvar Hultmark
Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB
SE-612 83 Finspong, Sweden

ABSTRACT The first SGT-800 with 50.5MW rating was success-

Siemens Oil & Gas introduced an enhanced SGT-800 fully tested during the Spring 2010 and the expected perform-
gas turbine during 2010. The new power rating is 50.5MW at a ance figures were confirmed. The fleet leader has, up to January
38.3% electrical efficiency in simple cycle (ISO) and best in 2013, accumulated >16000 Equivalent Operation Hours (EOH)
class combined-cycle performance of more than 55%, for im- and a planned follow up inspection made after 10000 EOH by
proved fuel flexibility at low emissions. The updated compo- boroscope of the hot section showed that the combustor was in
nents in the gas turbine are interchangeable from the existing good condition. This paper presents some details of the design
47MW rating. The increased power and improved efficiency work carried out during the development of the combustor de-
are mainly obtained by improved compressor airfoil profiles sign enhancement and the combustion operation experience
and improved turbine aerodynamics and cooling air layout. The from the first units.
current paper is focused on the design modifications of the
combustor parts and the combustion validation and operation NOMENCLATURE
experience. CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
The serial cooling system of the annular combustion CFR Central fuel to total Fuel Ratio
chamber is improved using aerodynamically shaped liner cool- DLE Dry Low Emissions
ing air inlet and reduced liner rib height to minimize the pres- EOH Equivalent Operation Hours
sure drop and optimize the cooling layout to improve the life LES Large Eddy Simulation
due to engine operation hours. The cold parts of the combustion PFR Pilot fuel to total Fuel Ratio
chamber were redesigned using cast cooling struts where the RANS Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations
variable thickness was optimized to maximize the cycle life. RZ Recirculation Zone
Due to fewer thicker vanes of the turbine stage #1, the combus- SGT Siemens Gas Turbine
tor-turbine interface is accordingly updated to maintain the life TBC Thermal Bond Coat
requirements due to the upstream effect of the stronger pressure TET Turbine Entrance Temperature
gradient. VGV Variable Guide Vanes
Minor burner tuning is used which in combination with
the previously introduced combustor passive damping results in INTRODUCTION
low emissions for >50% load, which is insensitive to ambient The SGT-800 is the largest industrial gas turbine
conditions. The combustion system has shown excellent com- manufactured by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB and is
bustion stability properties, such as to rapid load changes and produced in Finspong, Sweden. It was launched in 1997 as a 43
large flame temperature range at high loads, which leads to the MW machine named GTX-100 [1] and the SGT-800 was soon
possibility of single digit Dry Low Emission (DLE) NOx. The after rated to 45MW. In 2007 the machine was enhanced to 47
combustion system has also shown insensitivity to fuels of large MW using 37.5% simple cycle efficiency [2, 3], 54.4% com-
content of hydrogen, different hydrocarbons, inerts and CO. bined cycle operation efficiency and including cogeneration
Also DLE liquid operation shows low emissions for 50-100% (district heating) it further increases up to 94% [3]. Since then,
load. Siemens has continued the stepwise evolutionary development

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 The thermal investigation was complemented by pressure Figures 29 and 30 show one of the thirty burners, which
field predictions and measurements. Figure 27 shows the CFD also is in excellent condition. The burner tip in Figure 30 shows
predicted pressure field and the numbers 1-4 show a few regions of different temperatures, where hot regions may be
selected representative positions for the pressure field seen at or in between many pilot holes and the tip. This is in
measurements. The difference in pressure between location 1 close agreement with the predicted fields using RANS
and 2 is about 15% between predicted and measured values. combustion conjugate heat transfer as shown in Figure 31,
However, the pressure level is quite small and hence the relative where similar regions are locally hotter. It is also seen that the
accuracy of the measurement data is limited. In addition there level is different depending on the circumferential position due
are uncertainties due to the inlet boundary conditions from the to the interaction with the annular combustor and neighboring
compressor discharge and the turbulence model when applied to burners. The only exception is the pilot hole at 8 o’clock which
diffusers, which explain the discrepancy. Between location 2 is for liquid fuel, and hence is colder than the gas pilot holes
and 3 the deviation is only 6%, which is good agreement during gas operation.
considering the difficulty for turbulence models applied to such
complex flows. Between location 3 and 4 the discrepancy is
almost 20% for this case, which is mainly connected to the
under predicted effect on the pressure due to the combustion.
This is confirmed by CFD investigation of non-reacting flow
where the discrepancy to measurements is much lower. Finally,
the up-rated combustion system as compared to the previous
design resulted in a reduction of 8% of the total pressure loss
over the combustor system according to the measurements.

2
3 4
Figure 28: Picture of the front panel heat shield and liners
from the inspection after 10000 EOH.

Figure 27: Total pressure field in the SGT-800 combustor

system where 1-4 shows the selected pressure
measurement locations.

Figure 29: Picture of a burner at 10000 EOH inspection.

OPERATION EXPERIENCE
The first SGT-800 with 50.5 MW rating was successfully
operated and tested during Spring 2010, in both regular engine
tests and the thermal paint test where the later included crystals
for the turbine section [4]. Since then, several machines with
this enhanced rate have been running at different customer sites.
The engines have delivered or even exceeded the expected
power output and efficiency. Up to January 2013, the fleet of
this new rating has accumulated >40000 EOH, while the fleet
leader has accumulated >16000 EOH. A planned follow-up
inspection was made after 10000 EOH by using boroscope for
the hot section, and it showed that all the combustion chamber
parts, including the redesigned cooling struts and exit rings,
were in excellent condition. Figure 28 shows a picture of the
combustion chamber from the boroscope inspection and one
can see that the TBC is still in very good condition. Therefore,
the full life time of the design target is expected to be fulfilled. Figure 30: Picture of a burner tip at 10000 EOH inspection.

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Figure 31: Temperature field of the burner tip hot side wall
using CFD conjugate heat transfer.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Siemens Oil & Gas has successfully introduced an
enhanced SGT-800 gas turbine with a power rating of 50.5MW
during 2010. The design modifications, validation and
operation experience with focus on the combustor are described
in this paper.
The major design changes in the enhanced combustion
chamber version are the redesign of the exit rings to maintain
the life requirements at the combustor-turbine interface, the
reduced pressure drop of the cooling system due to redesigned
bypass plates and reduced liner rib size and the redesign of the
cooling struts. The latter was done to improve cyclic life with
kept margin to avoid coupling between structural and thermal
acoustic Eigen mode frequencies. The burners are redesigned
for the swirl generator and the pilot tip, resulting in enhanced
fuel flexibility capability.
To validate the design, extensive experimental work has
been carried out to verify the cooling performances of the
combustor and the combustion stability and emissions for both
gaseous and liquid fuels. The combustion stability has also been
shown to successfully handle sudden load changes, including
load rejection from full load to idle. With these tests, the design
targets were confirmed or even exceeded in some areas.
For the operation experience up to January 2013, the fleet
leader has already accumulated >16000 EOH. A planned follow
up inspection was made after 10000 EOH by boroscope for the
hot section, and it showed that the combustor was in good
condition.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge Siemens Industrial
Turbomachinery AB, Finspong, Sweden for the permission to
publish this paper. Additionally the authors acknowledge all
Siemens employees involved in the development work during
the concept, design and verification phases of the project.
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