In 2001/2002 PennWell published a two-volume set entitled Turbine Steam Path Maintenance and Repair. These volumes were based upon a portion of the seminar I present on "Turbine Steam Path Engineering."

This two-volume work covers the remaining portion of that seminar and considers the design options available to the manufacturer and the challenges faced in selecting and arranging the components to optimize unit performance efficiency, reliability, and safety.

The engineer responsible for the health and operation of steam turbines is often faced with the difficult task of selecting between options for repair; these matters are covered in the earlier volumes. This work provides insights into the design options, challenges, and decisions that were originally made by the designers and selection from among these options for the manufacturing facilities at his disposal.

In selecting the information to include, I have tried to anticipate what information a turbine engineer requires when he has to decide what is influencing the performance of his unit or when he is involved with making a decision concerning new components to be incorporated into an existing unit to refurbish or upgrade it for continued use.

Also, I have tried to make these volumes as user-friendly as possible by eliminating as much as possible extensive mathematical treatments. There are a number of excellent volumes that already do this and these are referenced. I have tried to concentrate instead on the practical aspects of the unit its design and manufacture to the extent that when problems are encountered or decisions must...