Analysis and design of wet-steam stages

Senoo, S and White, AJ (2017) Analysis and design of wet-steam stages. In: Advances in Steam Turbines for Modern Power Plants. UNSPECIFIED, pp. 165-218.

Abstract

In most conventional power plants the turbines are supplied with superheated steam but, during the course of its expansion, the condition of the steam enters the two-phase region and the last few low-pressure (LP) stages operate in the wet steam regime. For nuclear plants, the steam supplied from the reactors is often already wet or, at best, only slightly superheated, so wetness effects may be relevant throughout the entire machine. In either case, the main practical consequences of operating in the wet regime are blade erosion and corrosion damage, and deterioration in thermal efficiency due to a variety of two-phase effects collectively known as wetness losses.