When a large roaster at a smelter began experiencing structural failures of the roof and supports during operation, the plant reliability team needed to understand what was driving the issue. The concern was not limited to visible damage. The team needed to know whether support structure vibration, structural resonance, or floor movement was affecting the roaster’s operation and contributing to reliability risk.
This article details the average vector balancing process used to achieve acceptable vibration in a vertical Francis Hydro turbine across all operating loads.