Combustion Turbines

M&M Engineering Associates Inc. has worked extensively on assessment of combustion turbines and has developed considerable expertise in understanding damage mechanisms and the root causes of turbine damage.

From the 1990s, there has been a tremendous growth in use of combustion turbines by utilities, independent power producers, and large industrial users (e.g., petroleum). This growth will only increase in the future, as the world s power needs increase. Combustion turbine-based generation will continue to be built because of their low cost, operational flexibility, and small physical size per megawatt produced. However, with the proliferation of installed megawatt capacity, the owners of modern day combustion turbines have suffered a number of failures, many catastrophic, that have resulted in loss of capacity for the owner and claims paid out by insurance carriers. These failures typically have multiple root causes including operation, design, and maintenance issues.

M&M Engineering has developed a substantial body of experience analyzing these failures. In the last ten years alone, our records show that we have analyzed over one hundred failures on gas turbines involving blades, vanes, rotors, nozzles, and related components from all the major manufacturers including GE and have particular expertise with the GE FA-Series turbines. While our primary expertise is in metallurgy, we also have in-house capabilities in the area of structural analysis (FEA) and work closely with experts in gas turbine design.