Power Plant Training: Steam and Gas Turbines, Generator, and Control System Training – Las Vegas

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed for power plant maintenance and operations personnel,
plant engineers and central staff, and loss control engineers responsible for
fossil/aero-derivative, nuclear, simple cycle and combined cycle power plants
equipment. The course will introduce key design aspects of turbines and
generators, failure modes and emphasize risk informed repair and life extension
strategies. The course will also offer best practices and maintenance
considerations for flexible operation which typically includes more cycling,
lower minimum loads, and greater capacity ratings. All modules are supplemented
with current case studies demonstrating the applied techniques.

COURSE DURATION: 4 Days </em >

DATES: September 21 – 25, 2026

COST: $3,450 per person (10% discount for 3 or more from same
company – must register and pay at the same time. Attendees from the same
company may register for any of the 3 courses being held at this location and
still receive the discount.)

Course Outline

1. Turbine Control Design, Engineering, and Operation Considerations

• Typical Gas/Steam Turbine Startup
  • Startup
  • Shutdown
  • Turbine Control Modes
  • Plant Type Considerations
• Alarm Overview
  • Alarm Rationalization
  • Alarm Discussion
• Design Considerations
  • Control System Upgrades
    • Best Practices
  • OEM vs Third Party

2. Steam Turbine Design Fundamentals

• Industry failure statistics-locating the areas of highest risk
• Steam turbine design features – key features for your unit and technology
  advancements
  • Steam turbine design – impulse vs. reaction and impact on maintenance
    decisions
  • HP, IP, and LP Rotor design features and types – bored vs. no bore,
    attachment types and inspection considerations
  • High and Intermediate pressure blading
  • Low pressure blading – free standing vs. coupled, erosion protection,
    blade tuning
  • Stationary blades/vanes and Diaphragms
  • Sealing technology – types and pro/con’s
  • Steam turbine valves
• Steam turbine rotor retrofits – key considerations, performance benefits,
  technology enhancements
• Steam turbine cold start up logic and optimization opportunities

3. Steam Turbine Failure Modes, Mitigation, & Repair

• Failure modes for steam turbines with case studies –explained, impacted
  components, how to manage each failure mode
  • High Cycle Fatigue
  • Low Cycle Fatigue
  • Stress Corrosion Cracking
  • Solid Particle Erosion
  • Water Droplet Erosion
  • Creep and Embrittlement
  • Foreign Object Damage
• Advanced Troubleshooting – detecting and mitigating before manifesting into
  a forced outage
• Turbine vibration – unlocking the secrets of rotor lateral and torsional
  vibration
• Nondestructive testing – most effective nondestructive inspections to detect
  known failure modes
• OEM Technical Advisories/Service Bulletins – management and integration into
  outage scopes

4. Customer Event

5. Gas Turbine Design Fundamentals

Compressor:

• Blade design – materials, blade root and airfoil design, coatings
• Inlet guide vanes – function, mechanical design, inspections

Combustion:

• Technologies – overview of different combustion designs and key attributes
• Design of combustion components – introduction, materials, coatings, and
  function
• Emissions control – enhancements to reduce emissions

Hot Gas Path:

• Blade design – inlet vs. aft stage blades, blade casting and internal
  cooling design
• Stationary blade design – singlet vs. doublet/triplet design, heat transfer
  and cooling
• Design life and failure modes – base loaded vs. cycling, limiting failure
  mode vs. location in hot gas path
• Material upgrades – grain structure, alloys
• Coating systems – oxidation protection vs. thermal barrier coatings,
  application processes, evaluation of remaining life
• Cooling systems – overview of cooling techniques, types of cooling holes
• Upgrade/retrofit opportunities – overview of new offerings and benefits

Rotor Design:

• Construction – disc, spacers, through bolts, aero derivative vs. frame
  machine
• Materials – materials vs. location in engine

6. Gas Turbine Failure Modes, Mitigation, & Repair

Failure Modes:

• Creep – overview of mechanism, detection, life of parts and which parts are
  limited
• Oxidation – overview of mechanism, coatings to protect against, repair
  limitations
• Thermal mechanical fatigue – overview of mechanism, detection, life of parts
  and which parts are limited
• High cycle fatigue – overview of mechanism and impacted components
• Foreign and domestic object damage – sources of material, ways to protect
  against

Maintenance Intervals & Repair:

• Equivalent operating hours approach (EOH) – pluses and minuses of using an
  EOH vs. an hour or start based criteria for maintenance intervals
• Condition based maintenance approaches – which parts are applicable, how to
  avoid unnecessary spend
• Borescope inspections – how to interpret results, what to look for and
  frequency of inspection
• Combustion inspections – included items, rotatable parts
• Hot gas path inspections – included items, rotatable parts
• Major inspections – included items, scope of inspection/repair
• Water washes, online and offline – pros/cons of online vs. offline water
  washes, performance benefits
• Inspection techniques – NDE techniques, detectable limits, repair limits
• Keys to successful part overhaul – coating quality, crack repair, blade
  restoration

7. Generator Design Fundamentals & Failure Modes

• Key components and design features – overview and purpose of each component
  • Stator
  • Rotor
  • Core
  • Winding Insulation
  • Retaining Rings
  • Hydrogen vs. Air Cooled
  • Auxiliary Equipment (exciter, grounding brushes, high voltage bushings,
    coolers, heaters, etc.)
• Failure modes – stator vs. rotor/field: visual and electrical signs, root
  causes, and mitigating actions
• Electrical testing – overview of standard electrical testing and information
  proved by each and acceptance criteria
• NDE techniques – Recommended techniques for retaining rings, fan blades,
  etc.
• Outage type – robot vs. rotor out, pros and cons of each
• Economical repair options – looseness, girth cracking, oil ingress
• Operations – operational data trending, flux probes and partial discharge
  monitoring

8. Excitation System Design, Engineering, and Operation
Considerations

• Typical Plant Startup (Synchronization)
  • Startup
  • Shutdown
  • Plant Type Considerations
• Excitation Operational Modes
  • Base Mode
  • Field Current Regulation
  • Automatic Voltage Regulation
• PID Operation
• Excitation Integration
  • Standard Feedback
  • Interlocks / Permissive
• PID Tuning

9. Power Plant Equipment Root Cause Analysis – Troubleshooting – Case Studies

Root Cause Analysis 

• Structured process overview for power plant root cause analysis
• Initial investigation and data collection
• Operational data review and indications
• NDE testing recommendations and indicators
• Destructive metallurgical testing and failure mode signatures
• Down selection of most probable root causes
• Actions to prevent reoccurrence
• Practical RCA case studies for Steam and Gas Turbines and Generators