Considering Gas Turbine Power Plants

Gas turbine power plants are more quickly

constructed, less costly, and more compact than the
vapor power plants considered in Chapter 8.
Gas turbines are suited for stationary power
generation as well as for powering vehicles,
including aircraft propulsion and marine power
plants.
Gas turbines are
increasingly used for large-scale power
generation, and
for such applications fueled primarily by
natural gas, which is relatively abundant today.
 Considering Gas Turbine Power Plants
Gas turbines may operate on an open or closed basis, as
shown in the figures.
The open gas turbine is more commonly used and is the
main focus of our study of gas turbines.
Study of the individual components of these configurations
requires the control volume forms of the mass, energy, and
entropy balances.
Open to the atmosphere Closed
 Considering Gas Turbine Power Plants
The open mode gas turbine is an internal combustion
power plant.
Air is continuously drawn into
the compressor where it is
compressed to a high pressure.
Air then enters the combustion
chamber (combustor) where it
mixes with fuel and combustion
occurs.
Combustion products exit
at elevated temperature and
The remainder is
pressure. Part of the available as net work
Combustion products turbine work output to drive an
is used to electric generator, to
expand through the turbine drive the propel a vehicle, or
and then are discharged to the compressor. for other uses.
surroundings.
 Air-Standard Analysis of
Open Gas Turbine Power Plants
To conduct elementary analyses of open gas turbine power
plants, simplifications are required. Although highly idealized,
an air-standard analysis can provide insights and qualitative
information about actual performance.
An air-standard analysis has the following elements:
The working fluid is air which behaves as an ideal gas.
Ideal gas relations are reviewed in Table 9.1.
The temperature rise that would be brought about by
combustion is accomplished by heat transfer from an
external source.
With an air-standard analysis, we avoid the complexities of
the combustion process and the change in composition
during combustion, which simplifies the analysis
considerably. Combustion is studied in Chapter 13.
In a cold air-standard analysis, the specific heats are
assumed constant at their ambient temperature values.
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
The schematic of a simple open air-standard gas turbine
power plant is shown in the figure.
The energy transfers by heat and work are in the
directions of the arrows.
Air circulates through the components:
At state 1, air is drawn into the
compressor from the surroundings.
Process 1-2: the air is
compressed from state 1 to
state 2.
Process 2-3: The
temperature rise that would be
achieved in the actual power
plant with combustion is
realized here by heat transfer, Q in .
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Process 3-4: The high-pressure, high-temperature air
expands through the turbine. The turbine drives the
compressor and develops net power, W cycle.
Air returns to the
surroundings at state 4 with a
temperature typically much
greater than at state 1.
After interacting with the
surroundings, each unit of mass
returns to the same condition as
the air entering at state 1,
thereby completing a
thermodynamic cycle.
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Process 3-4: The high-pressure, high-temperature air
expands through the turbine from state 3 to state 4. The
turbine drives the compressor and develops net power, W cycle.
Air returns to the
surroundings at state 4 with a
temperature typically much
greater than at state 1.
After interacting with the
surroundings, each unit of mass
returns to the same condition as
the air entering at state 1,
thereby completing a
thermodynamic cycle.
We imagine process 4-1 being
achieved by a heat exchanger, as
shown by the dashed line in the figure.
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Cycle 1-2-3-4-1 is called the Brayton cycle.
The compressor pressure ratio, p2/p1, is a key
Brayton cycle operating parameter.
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Analyzing each component as a control
volume at steady state, assuming the
compressor and turbine operate
adiabatically, and neglecting kinetic and
potential energy effects, we get the following
expressions for the principal work and heat
transfers, which are positive in accord with
our convention for cycle analysis.
Turbine Heat addition
(Eq. 9.15) (Eq. 9.17)

Compressor Heat rejection

(Eq. 9.16) (Eq. 9.18)
 Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
The thermal efficiency is

(Eq. 9.19)

The back work ratio is

(Eq. 9.20)

Note: A relatively large portion of the work developed by the

turbine is required to drive the compressor. For gas turbines,
back work ratios range from 20% to 80% compared to only 1-2%
for vapor power plants.
Since Eqs. 9.15 through 9.20 have been developed from mass
and energy balances, they apply equally when irreversibilities
are present and in the absence of irreversibilities.
 Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
The ideal air-standard Brayton cycle provides an
especially simple setting for study of gas turbine power
plant performance. The ideal cycle adheres to additional
modeling assumptions:
Frictional pressure drops are absent during flows through
the heat exchangers. These processes occur at constant
pressure. These processes are isobaric.
Flows through the turbine and pump occur adiabatically
and without irreversibility. These processes are isentropic.
Accordingly, the ideal Brayton cycle consists of two
isentropic processes alternated with two isobaric processes.
In this respect, the ideal Brayton cycle is in harmony with
the ideal Rankine cycle, which also consists of two
isentropic processes alternated with two isobaric processes
(Sec. 8.2.2).
 Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
The ideal air-standard Brayton cycle consists of four
internally reversible processes:
Process1-2: Isentropic compression of air flowing through the
compressor.
Process 2-3: Heat transfer to the air as it flows at constant pressure
through the higher-temperature heat exchanger.
Process 3-4: Isentropic expansion of the air through the turbine.
Process 4-1: Heat transfer from the air as it flows at constant
pressure through the lower-temperature heat exchanger.
 Area Interpretations for
Work and Heat Transfer
One-inlet, one exit control volumes at steady state
are used to model gas turbine power plants. For these
applications, the following area interpretations apply for
internally reversible processes:
W Q

p T
vdp
m int

Td s
m int


rev rev

v s

Observe that these expressions give work and heat

transfer per unit of mass flowing through the control
volume.
 Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
Since the ideal Brayton cycle involves internally
reversible processes, results from Sec. 6.13 apply.
On the p-v diagram, the work per unit of mass
flowing is vdp. Thus on a per unit of mass flowing
basis,
Area 1-2-a-b-1
represents the
compressor work input.
Area 3-4-b-a-3
represents the turbine
work output.
Enclosed area 1-2-3-4-1
represents the net work
developed.
 Ideal Air-Standard Brayton Cycle
On the T-s diagram, the heat transfer per unit of
mass flowing is Tds. Thus, on a per unit of mass
flowing basis,
Area 2-3-a-b-2 represents
the heat added.
Area 4-1-b-a-4 represents
the heat rejected.
Enclosed area 1-2-3-4-1
represents the net heat
added or equivalently, the
net work developed.