Gas Turbine Technology : Flying Machine to

Ground Utilities

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

A White Collar Power Generation Method…

 Progress in Rankine Cycle
Year 1907 1919 1938 1950 1958 1959 1966 1973 1975

MW 5 20 30 60 120 200 500 660 1300

p,MPa 1.3 1.4 4.1 6.2 10.3 16.2 15.9 15.9 24.1

Th oC 260 316 454 482 538 566 566 565 538

Tr oC -- -- -- -- 538 538 566 565 538

FHW -- 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 8

Pc,kPa 13.5 5.1 4.5 3.4 3.7 3.7 4.4 5.4 5.1

h,% -- ~17 27.6 30.5 35.6 37.5 39.8 39.5 40

 The most Unwanted Characteristic of Rankine
Group of Power Generation Systems
• The amount of cooling required by any steam-cycle power plant
is determined by its thermal efficiency.
• It has nothing essentially to do with whether it is fuelled by
coal, gas or uranium.
• Where availability of cooling water is limited, cooling does not
need to be a constraint on new generating capacity.
• Alternative cooling options are available at slightly higher cost.
• Nuclear power plants have greater flexibility in location than
coal-fired plants due to fuel logistics, giving them more
potential for their siting to be determined by cooling
considerations.
 Cooling Problems !!!!
• The bigger the temperature difference between the internal
heat source and the external environment where the surplus
heat is dumped, the more efficient is the process in
achieving mechanical work.
• The desirability of having a high temperature internally
and a low temperature environmentally.
• In a coal-fired or conventionally gas-fired plant it is
possible to run the internal boilers at higher temperatures
than those with finely-engineered nuclear fuel assemblies
which must avoid damage.
• The external consideration gives rise to desirably siting
power plants alongside very cold water.
 Steam Cycle Heat Transfer
• For the heat transfer function the water is circulated
continuously in a closed loop steam cycle and hardly any is
lost.
• The water needs to be clean and fairly pure.
• This function is much the same whether the power plant is
nuclear, coal-fired, or conventionally gas-fired.
• Cooling to condense the steam and surplus heat discharge.
• The second function for water in such a power plant is to cool
the system so as to condense the low-pressure steam and
recycle it.
• This is a major consideration in siting power plants, and in the
UK siting study in 2009 all recommendations were for sites
within 2 km of abundant water - sea or estuary.
 Water, Water & Water ….!!!!!

• A nuclear or coal plant running at 33% thermal efficiency

will need to dump about 14% more heat than one at 36%
efficiency.
• Nuclear plants currently being built have about 34-36%
thermal efficiency, depending on site (especially water
temperature).
• Older ones are often only 32-33% efficient.
• The relatively new Stanwell coal-fired plant in Queensland
runs at 36%, but some new coal-fired plants approach 40%
and one of the new nuclear reactors claims 39%.
 History & Repetition
• 1791: A patent was given to John Barber, an Englishman,
for the first true gas turbine.
• His invention had most of the elements present in the
modern day gas turbines.
• The turbine was designed to power a horseless carriage.
• 1872: The first true gas turbine engine was designed by Dr
Franz Stikze, but the engine never ran under its own
power.
• 1903: A Norwegian, Ægidius Elling, was able to build the
first gas turbine that was able to produce more power than
needed to run its own components, which was considered
an achievement in a time when knowledge about
aerodynamics was limited.
• Using rotary compressors and turbines it produced 11 hp
(massive for those days).
• He further developed the concept, and by 1912 he had
developed a gas turbine system with separate turbine unit
and compressor in series, a combination that is now
common.
• 1914: Application for a gas turbine engine filed by
Charles Curtis.
• 1918: One of the leading gas turbine manufacturers of
today, General Electric, started their gas turbine
division.
• 1920: The practical theory of gas flow through
passages was developed into the more formal (and
applicable to turbines) theory of gas flow past airfoils
by Dr A. A. Griffith.
• 1930: Sir Frank Whittle patented the design for a gas
turbine for jet propulsion.
THE WORLD‘S FIRST INDUSTRIAL GAS TURBINE
SET – GT NEUCHÂTEL
4 MW GT for Power Generation
First turbojet-powered aircraft – Ohain’s engine on He 178

The world’s first aircraft to fly purely on turbojet power, the

Heinkel He 178.

Its first true flight was on 27 August, 1939.

 Steam Turbine Vs Gas Turbine : Power Generation
• Experience gained from a large number of exhaust-gas turbines for
diesel engines, a temp. of 538°C was considered absolutely safe for
uncooled heat resisting steel turbine blades.
• This would result in obtainable outputs of 2000-8000 KW with
compressor turbine efficiencies of 73-75%, and an overall cycle
efficiency of 17-18%.
• First Gas turbine electro locomotive 2500 HP ordered from BBC by
Swiss Federal Railways
• The advent of high pressure and temperature steam turbine with
regenerative heating of the condensate and air pre-heating, resulted in
coupling efficiencies of approx. 25%.
• The gas turbine having been considered competitive with steam
turbine plant of 18% which was considered not quite satisfactory.
• The Gas turbine was unable to compete with “modern” base load
steam turbines of 25% efficiency.
• There was a continuous development in steam power plant which led
to increase of Power Generation Efficiencies of 35%+
• This hard reality required consideration of a different application for
the gas turbine.
 Anatomy of A Jet Engine

1 2 4 5 6
3
Variation of Jet Technologies
 Ideal Jet Cycles
~1970s
Aero Rejected Engines & Aero Derivative Engines

TurboJet
3 5 6j
T0
6f 7f Turbofan
6p 7p
1 2 Turboprop
Direction
 Brayton Cycle
1-2 Isentropic compression (in a compressor)
2-3 Constant pressure heat addition
3-4 Isentropic expansion (in a turbine)
4-1 Constant pressure heat rejection
 pv & Ts diagrams

SSSF Analysis of Control Volumes Making a Brayton Cycle:

   V2    V2  
QCV  m  h   gz   m  h   gz   W CV
 2   2 
 in  out
 Specific Energy equation of SSSF :
 V2   V2 
q CV   h   gz    h   gz   wCV
 2   2 
 in  out
No Change in potential energy across any CV

q CV  h0,in  h0,out  wCV

Calorically perfect and Ideal Gas as working fluid.

q CV  C pT0,in  C pT0,out  wCV

1 –2 : Specific work input : wcomp  h2  h1  c p (T02  T01 )
2 – 3 : Specific heat input : qin  h3  h2  c p (T03  T02 )

3 – 4 : Specific work output : wtur  h3  h4  c p (T03  T04 )

4 – 1 : Specific heat rejection : qout  h4  h1  c p (T04  T01 )

Isentropic Processes:
 
p02  T02   1 p03  T03   1
     
p01  T01  p04  T04 
Constant Stagnation Pressure Processes:

p03  p02 & p04  p01

 
p02 p03  T02   1  T03   1
r0 p        
p01 p04  T01   T04 

T02  T01 r0 p 

 1
  T1  0
T03 T03
T04  
r 
 1

0
0p
 wnet  wtur  wcomp  h03  h04   h02  h01 
 c p (T03  T04 )  (T02  T01 )

 T03 
wnet  c p (T03  )  ( T01  T01 )
  
  0  1  
 c p T03    T01 (  0  1)
  0  
  T03 
wnet  c p (T03  T01 )    T01 
   
 qin  h03  h02  c p (T03   0T01 )

  T03 
c p (T03   0T01 )    T01 
wnet   0 
hth  
qin c p T03  T01

wnet 1 1
hth   1  1 
qin 0  1
r0 p
   0  1  
wnet  c p T03    T01 (  0  1)
  0  
T03   0  1 
 c p (  0  1)  T01   c p  T03   0T01 
 0   0 

1 1
hth   
0  1
r0 p
 Pressure Ratio Vs Efficiency
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
hth
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 10 20 30
r0 p
 Pressure Ratio Vs Specific Workoutput

wnet

r0 p
 hth
0.8
0.6
0.4 wnet
h,%

0.2
0
0 10Pressure ratio
20 30
 1872, Dr Franz Stikze’s Paradox

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 10Pressure ratio
20 30