An investigation of electrostatic phenomena associated with flowing wet steam with particular reference to the wet steam turbine

Abstract

A wet steam tunnel was constructed to simulate the ineteraction of liquid and vapour in order to investigate the nature and origin of static electrification phenomena which occur within wet steam turbines. The tunnel was operated at 0·17 bar pressure with steam velocity up to 290 m/s. The mechanisms likely to cause charging were investigated in turn. The major charging mechanism is 'separation charging' which occurs when a mass of water is torn rapidly from a solid surface. The rate of charging depends on the speed of separation, the geometry, and the surface contamination of the solid. © 1980.