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Comparative evaluation of gas turbine power plant performance for different blade cooling means
Sanjay1 , O Singh2 , and B N Prasad1 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, India The manuscript was received on 8 July 2008 and was accepted after revision for publication on 22 September 2008. DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE671

Abstract: The thermodynamic performance of a gas turbine power plant has been compared for different means of blade cooling in this work. Seven schemes involving air and steam as coolants under open and closed loop cooling means have been studied. The closed loop cooling includes only the internal convection cooling (ICC) technique, while the open loop cooling schemes include the internal convection, lm and transpiration cooling means. Comparative evaluation shows that among all the cooling schemes considered, the open loop steam ICC offers highest specic work and thus highest values of plant efciency of about 50 per cent, whereas open loop lm steam cooling, transpiration air-cooling, lm air-cooling and internal convection air-cooling have been found to yield lower values of plant efciency in decreasing order. The specic work is higher for all open loop steam cooling means due to steam injection into hot gas stream of the turbine. Keywords: gas turbine cycle, thermodynamic performance, open loop blade cooling, closed loop blade cooling, lm, transpiration, steam cooling

INTRODUCTION

Gas turbines are one of the most effective energy conversion technologies at present. The gas turbine cycle burning natural gas (NG) as fuel, gives high efciency, large output, and reduced emission. Major power plant equipment manufacturers are currently undertaking high prole development programs of gas turbines. The present state-of-the-art gas turbine plant (LMS100) employing intercooled gas turbine, yields simple cycle thermal efciency of the order of 47 per cent based on lower heating value analysis. Combined cycle power plants offer further higher efciencies; however, in this paper performance of gas turbine plants employing different means of cooling has been discussed. Different options to improve the performance of the gas turbine cycle include increasing component efciencies, rp,c turbine

Corresponding

author: Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, Jarkhand 831014, India. email: ritsanjay@rediffmail.com

JPE671 IMechE 2008

inlet temperature (TIT), and adopting better cooling medium and means, complex congurations with reheating, intercooling, and recuperation [1]. These developments require active cooling of the turbine components exposed to hot gases in order to avoid reduction in their operating life due to unfavourable combined exposure to oxidation, creep, and thermal stresses on them. Thermodynamic analysis of cooled gas turbine becomes relevant in view of its possible detrimental effect on overall cycle performance for some design conditions, when the power gain associated with incremental increase in TIT is offset by excess compressor work and fuel requirements. Pioneering work in this area has been done by Louis et al. [2], Briesh et al. [3], El-Masri [4, 5], Wu and Louis [6], Bolland and Stadaas [7], Bolland [8], Chiesa and Macchi [9], and Dechamps [10]. A comprehensive thermodynamic study involving various means of blade cooling in turbines for higher values of TIT is very relevant and needed. A comparative study of turbine blade cooling means on the performance of gas turbine power plant is presented here. The cooling means considered are detailed in Fig. 1 ahead.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part A: J. Power and Energy