Gas-Turbine Power Plant

(Part 1)

Dexter Lyndon Sabusap

Instructor

ME521C Power Plant Design with Renewable Energy

 REMINDER

This material is ONLY for educational use of students of

the Mechanical Engineering Department of Adamson
University, Manila, Philippines.

This material is NOT for distribution or sale.

This material cannot be shared, either in print or

electronically, to people not associated with the
University.
Gas Turbine (GT) Engines
Gas Turbine (GT) Engines
• Gas turbines (GT) are competitive due to their low
capital cost and high reliability and flexibility in
operation.

• Owing to their low weight-to-power ratio, GTs are

exclusively used to drive aviation systems.

• GT power plants are capable of quick starting and can

use a wide variety of fuels from natural gas (NG) to
residual oil, and even pulverized coal.
Gas Turbine (GT) Engines
• In the advancements in blade materials and blade
cooling technologies, the inlet gas temperature can
now exceed 1200°C leading to an efficiency of about
35%, almost the same as conventional coal-fired steam
power plant.
Main Components of a GT Engines
The essential components of a GT power plant are the
compressor, combustion chamber (burner), and
turbine. The nozzle is a special component used in
aviation engine.
GT Power Plant
Advantages of GT Power Plant
• Warm Up Time. Once the turbine is brought up to the
rated speed by the starting motor and the fuel is
ignited, the GT will accelerate from cold start to full
load without warmup time.

• Low Weight and Size. The weight of the plant per kW

output is low, which is a favorable feature not only in
vehicle engine application, but also in power plants
because the machine foundation is lighter.
Advantages of GT Power Plant
• Fuel Flexibility. Any hydrocarbon fuel from high octane
gasoline to heavy diesel oil and pulverized coal can be
used effectively.

• Floor Space. Because of its smaller size, the floor space

required for its installation is less.

• Start-up and Shut-down. A GT plant can be started up

as well as shut down quickly, like a diesel power plant.
Thus, it is suitable to meet the peak load demand.
Advantages of GT Power Plant
• High Efficiency. Suitable blade cooling permits the use
of high GT inlet temperature (as high as 1300°C)
yielding a high thermal efficiency (on the order of 37%).

• Combined Cycle Mode. A GT plant can be used in

conjunction with a bottoming steam plant in the
combined cycle mode to yield an overall fuel-to-
electricity efficiency of 55%.
Advantages of GT Power Plant
• Cooling Water. The requirement of cooling water is not
much. Water availability is not a restriction for installing
a GT plant.

• Ash Disposal. In a thermal power station ash disposal

from the site poses a serious problem. This is not so in a
GT power plant.

• Transmission Loss. It can be located at the load center

itself. Therefore, the transmission loss is minimal in
such a plant.
Advantages of GT Power Plant
• Cost of Installation. The installation cost is much less
compared to a thermal plant. Only foundation is
required. The plant comes from the factory to the site,
almost fully assembled.

• Scope of Cogeneration. GT exhaust can be used to

produce process heat for various uses.

• Low Capital Cost. GT plants are available in standard

sizes. The capital cost per kW is considerably less than a
thermal plant.
Disadvantages of GT Power Plant
• Part load efficiency is low.

• Highly sensitive to component efficiency like 𝜂𝐶 and 𝜂 𝑇 .

• The efficiency depends on the ambient condition (𝑃𝑎

and 𝑇𝑎 ).

• High air rate is required to limit the maximum GT inlet

temperature, as a result of which the exhaust losses
are high, unless the waste heat in it is utilized.
Disadvantages of GT Power Plant
• Compressor work required is quite large, which tells
upon the efficiency of the plant.

• Air and gas filters have to be of very high quality so that

no dust enters to erode and corrode turbine blades.
Open vs Closed Type GT Power Plant
Open-Cycle GT Power Plant

𝑾𝒏𝒆𝒕
Open vs Closed Type GT Power Plant
Closed-Cycle GT Power Plant
𝑸𝑨

𝑾𝒏𝒆𝒕

𝑸𝑹
Ideal Closed Brayton Cycle
• The GT power plant is based on the theoretical cycle
called Brayton cycle, or also called Joule cycle.
• Developed by George Brayton in 1872.
• For an ideal (reversible) closed Brayton cycle, the
processes are:
1–2: Isentropic compression
2–3: Isobaric heat addition
3 – 4 : Isentropic expansion
4–1: Isobaric heat rejection
Ideal Closed Brayton Cycle

𝑸𝑸𝑨𝑨

𝑸𝑨

𝑸𝑹

𝑸𝑹

NOTE: For ideal open Brayton cycle, there is no line

connecting pts 1 and 4, but there is still heat rejected 𝑄𝑅 .
Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
• 𝑄𝐴 = 𝑚 ℎ3 − ℎ2 = 𝑚𝑐𝑝,𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑇3 − 𝑇2
• 𝑄𝑅 = 𝑚 ℎ4 − ℎ1 = 𝑚𝑐𝑝,𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑇4 − 𝑇1
• 𝑄𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑄𝐴 − 𝑄𝑅
• 𝑊𝑇 = 𝑚 ℎ3 − ℎ4 = 𝑚𝑐𝑝,𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑇3 − 𝑇4
• 𝑊𝐶 = 𝑚 ℎ2 − ℎ1 = 𝑚𝑐𝑝,𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
• 𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑊𝑇 − 𝑊𝐶 = 𝑄𝑛𝑒𝑡
• Pressure ratio: 𝑟𝑝 = 𝑃2 𝑃1 = 𝑃3 𝑃4
• Compression ratio: 𝑟𝑘 = 𝑉1 𝑉2
Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Some useful relations:
𝑇1 𝑉2 𝑘−1 1 𝑘−1
• = =
𝑇2 𝑉1 𝑟𝑘
𝑘−1 𝑘−1
𝑇1 𝑃1 𝑘 1 𝑘
• = =
𝑇2 𝑃2 𝑟𝑝

𝑇3 𝑉4 𝑘−1
• =
𝑇4 𝑉3
𝑘−1 𝑘−1
𝑇3 𝑃3 𝑘 𝑇1 𝑇4
• = = 𝑟𝑝 𝑘 ⟹ =
𝑇4 𝑃4 𝑇2 𝑇3
Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
• Cycle Thermal Efficiency:

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 1 1 𝑇1
𝑒𝑐 = =1− 𝑘−1 =1− 𝑘−1
=1−
𝑄𝐴 𝑟𝑘 𝑇2
𝑟𝑝 𝑘
• Ideal Mean Effective Pressure:

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡
𝑃𝑚𝑒𝑝 = =
𝑉𝐷 𝑉4 − 𝑉2
Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Some thermodynamic properties of dry air as an ideal
gas:
• 𝑅 = 0.287 𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝐾 = 0.06855 𝐵𝑡𝑢 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ∙ 𝑅
• 𝑐𝑝,𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 1.005 𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝐾 = 0.24 𝐵𝑡𝑢 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ∙ 𝑅
• 𝑐𝑣,𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 0.718 𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝐾 = 0.171 𝐵𝑡𝑢 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ∙ 𝑅
• 𝑘 = 1.4
NOTE: 1 𝐵𝑡𝑢 = 778.17 𝑓𝑡 ∙ 𝑙𝑏𝑓
𝑓𝑡∙𝑙𝑏𝑓
1 ℎ𝑝 = 550 = 0.746 𝑘𝑊
𝑠
Example 1
An air-standard Brayton cycle has air enter the
compressor at 27°C and 100 kPa. The pressure
ratio is 10, and the maximum allowable
temperature in the cycle is 1350 K. Determine:
a. Pressure and temperature at each state in the
cycle.
b. The compressor work per kg of air.
c. The turbine work per kg of air.
d. The cycle thermal efficiency in %.
Example 2
The intake of a compressor of an air-standard
Brayton cycle is 40,000 cfm at 15 psia and 90°F.
The compression ratio is 5.0 and the temperature
at the turbine inlet is 1440°F. The exit pressure of
the turbine is 15 psia. Determine the ideal net
work in hp, ideal cycle thermal efficiency in %, and
ideal mean effective pressure in psf.