Enhancement to the Traditional Ellipse Law for More Accurate Modeling of a Turbine With a Finite Number of Stages

This paper studies the origin and applicability of the traditional Stodola ellipse law and demonstrates its deficiencies when applied in certain conditions. It extends the equation by Cooke and Traupel through the definition of a semi-ellipse law. This new law produces more accurate results as compared to the ellipse law (EL), especially for turbines with a low number of stages. It does, however, require knowledge of the choking behavior of the turbine, as well as an appropriate pressure ratio exponent. Through numerical studies and careful application of nozzle flow equations, correlations were developed to predict the critical pressure ratio of a multistage turbine, taking nozzle and blade efficiency into account. Correlations are also presented to obtain an appropriate pressure ratio exponent to use in the semi-ellipse law. A methodology is proposed through which the necessary semi-ellipse law terms can be calculated using only design base conditions and estimates of efficiencies. This was successfully validated on a steam turbine. The semi-ellipse law is believed to be the most accurate way of modeling an axial-flow multistage steam or gas turbine from design base conditions, without requiring a stage-by-stage analysis.