1

Actual Gas-Turbine Cycle

Fresh air at ambient conditions is drawn into the compressor,
where its temperature and pressure are raised. The high-

pressure air proceeds

into the combustion
chamber, where the fuel
is burned at constant
pressure. The resulting
high-temperature gases
then enter the turbine,
where they expand to the
atmospheric pressure,
thus producing power.
(An open cycle.)

2
8-7 Brayton Cycle:The Ideal Cycle for Gas-Turbine
Engines
The open gas-turbine cycle can be modeled as a
closed cycle, as shown in the figure below, by utilizing
the air-standard assumptions.
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

3
Thermal Efficiency of Ideal Brayton Cycle
wnet qout
ηth , Brayton = = 1−
qin qin
qin = h3 − h2 = C p (T3 − T2 )
qout = h4 − h1 = C p (T4 − T1 )
C p (T4 − T1 ) T1 (T4 / T1 − 1)
= 1− = 1−
C p (T3 − T2 ) T2 (T3 / T2 − 1)

1
ηth , Brayton = 1 − ( k −1) / k
rp
( k −1) / k ( k −1) / k
T2 ⎛ P2 ⎞ ⎛ P3 ⎞ T3 P2
where = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = , and rp = is the pressure ratio.
T1 ⎝ P1 ⎠ ⎝ P4 ⎠ T4 P1 4
Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Brayton Cycle

Under the cold-air-standard

assumptions, the thermal
efficiency of an ideal Brayton
cycle increases with:
(1) the specific heat ratio, k
(2) the pressure ratio of the
isentropic compression process.

1
ηth , Brayton = 1 − ( k −1) / k
rp
5
The highest temperature in the cycle occurs at the end of
the combustion process, and it is limited by the maximum
temperature that the turbine blades can withstand. This also
limits the pressure ratios that can be used in the cycle.

6
Net Work as a function of compression ratio
Now, suppose that our turbine blade can not tolerate more than
1000k (ie the turbine inlet temperature T3 should not exceed
1000k), then what would be the best compression ratio?
The figure below shows that the net work obtained at rp = 8.2 is
larger than the net work obtained at rp=2. However, if we

increase the rp further to

rp=15, the wnet decreases
again.This means that, there
is an optimum compression
ratio at which wnet maximum
is obtained. In most common
designs, the pressure ratio of
gas turbines ranges from
about 11 to 16.
7
Two major applications of Gas
turbines
The two major application areas of gas-turbine engines
are electric power generation and aircraft propulsion.
For electric power generation:
If we have steam turbine, diesel engine and a gas turbine all
of the same size and weight, then the gas turbine offers the
greatest power, long life and convenient operation. The start
up time has been reduce from 4 hrs (in steam turbines) to 2
min for a gas turbine.

The construction costs of a gas turbine power plant are

roughly half that of comparable steam power plant.

8
The Back Work Ratio

wcompr , in
Back work ratio =
wturb , out
Usually more than half of the 2
turbine work output is used to
drive the compressor.
∫
wrev = − vdP
1

Therefore, the turbine used in gas-turbine power plants are

larger than those used in steam power plants of the same net
power output, P.
9
Development of Gas Turbines
The efforts to improve the cycle efficiency concentrated
in three areas:
1. Increasing the turbine inlet (or firing) temperature
which can be achieve by the development of new
materials and the innovative cooling techniques.
2. Increasing the efficiencies of turbo-machinery
components by reducing aero-thermodynamic
losses.
3. Adding modifications to the basic cycle such as
incorporating inte-rcooling, regeneration, and
reheating techniques.

A more recent gas turbine manufactured by GE use 1425oC

turbine inlet temperature, 282 MW, and 39.5% efficiency in
the simple-cycle mode.
10
Deviation of Actual Gas-Turbine Cycles from
Idealized Ones
The deviation of actual
compressor and turbine behavior
from the idealized isentropic
behavior can be accurately
accounted for by utilizing the
isentropic efficiencies of the
turbine and compressor defined
as (equations at bottom). Where
states 2a and 4a are the actual
exit states of the compressor and
the turbine, respectively, and 2s
and 4s are the corresponding
states for isentropic case.

ws h2 s − h1 wa h3 − h4 a
ηisen ,comp = ≅ and, ηturb ,out = ≅
wa h2 a − h1 ws h3 − h4 s 11
Example
The Simple Ideal Brayton Cycle
A stationary power plant operating on an
ideal Brayton cycle has a pressure ratio of
8. The gas temperature is 300 K at the
compressor inlet and 1300 K at the turbine
inlet.
Utilizing the air-standard assumptions,
determine
a) the gas temperature at the exit of the
compressor and the turbine,
b) the back work ratio, and
c) the thermal efficiency.

12
Example
An Actual Gas-Turbine Cycle
Assuming a compressor efficiency
of 80 percent and a turbine
efficiency of 85 percent, determine
a) the back work ratio,
b) the thermal efficiency, and
c) the turbine exit temperature of
the gas-turbine power plant
discussed in the example on
previous Slide .

Solve on your own

13
8-8 The Brayton Cycle with Regeneration

Introduction

In gas-turbine engines, the temperature (T4) of the exhaust gas leaving

the turbine is often considerably higher than the temperature of the air
leaving the compressor (T2). Hence it would be wise to utilize the excess
energy et point 4 to heat the compressed before entering the combustion
chamber (heat exchanger in our model).
14
T-s Diagram of a Brayton Cycle with Regeneration

Therefore, the high-pressure

air leaving the compressor
can be heated by transferring
heat to it from the hot exhaust
gases in a counter-flow heat
exchanger,.

The thermal efficiency of the Brayton

cycle increases as a result of
regeneration since the portion of
energy of the exhaust gases that is
normally rejected to the surroundings
is now used to preheat the air
entering the combustion chamber.
15
Effectiveness of the regenerator

qregen,act h5 − h2
ε= = .
qregen,max h4 − h2
T5 − T2
ε≅ .
T4 − T2
The use of a regenerator with a very high effectiveness (0.85 in practice)
cannot be justified economically unless the savings from the fuel costs
exceed the additional expense involved.
16
Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Brayton Cycle with
Regeneration
⎛ T1 ⎞ (k -1)/ k
ηth ,regen = 1 − ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟(rp )
⎝ T3 ⎠
This means that the efficiency is function
of: (1) The pressure ratio, (2) the specific
heat ratio and (3) the ratio of the minimum
to maximum temperature in the cycle.

The figure shows that regeneration is

most effective at low pressure ratios and
low minimum-to-maximum temperature
ratios.

17
Example
Actual Gas-Turbine Cycle with Regeneration
Determine the thermal
efficiency of the gas-
turbine power plant
described in the example
on a previous slide if a
regenerator having an
effectiveness of 80
percent is installed.

Solve on your own

18
Ideal Gas-Turbine Cycle with Intercooling, Reheating, and
Regeneration
The thermal efficiency of Bryton cycle can be further
improved by reducing the compressor work, increasing the
turbine work together with heat regeneration.
Recall from ME 203 that the wrev for steady state devices
was derived to be
2
wrev = − ∫ vdP
1
Hence the compressor work can be minimized by keeping v
small (i.e. cooling the gas during the compression process).
The turbine work can be maximized by keeping v large (i.e.
heating the gas during the expansion process).
19
How to minimize work input to a compressor

The figure above shows how this idea can be achieved. The
compressor work is minimized by performing the compression
process in two stages rather than one stage. This way we can cool
the gas after the first stage though an inter-cooler. Then we
compress again.

20
How to minimize work input to a compressor
The size of the colored area
(the saved work input) on
previous slide varies with the
value of the intermediate
pressure Px.
The total work input for a two-
stage compressor is the sum
of the work inputs for each
Wcomp ,in = Wcomp I ,in + Wcomp II ,in
stage of compression.
nRT1 ⎡⎛ Px ⎞
( n −1) / n
⎤ nRT ⎡⎛ P ⎞( n−1) / n ⎤
= ⎢⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 1⎥ + 1
⎢⎜⎜ 2 ⎟⎟ − 1⎥
n − 1 ⎢⎣⎝ P1 ⎠ ⎥⎦ n − 1 ⎢⎣⎝ Px ⎠ ⎥⎦
The only variable is Px .The Px value that will minimize the total work is
determined by differentiating the above expression with respect to Px. And
setting the result to zero. This gives
⎛ Px ⎞ ⎛ P2 ⎞ That is the compression ratio should
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⇒ Px = P1 P2
⎝ P1 ⎠ ⎝ Px ⎠ be the same in each stage 21
How to maximize work output to a turbine

The figure above shows how this idea can be achieved. The turbine work is
maximized by performing the expansion process in two stages rather than one
stage. This way we can reheat the gas after the first stage though a reheater.
Then we expand again. Similar to the compressor analysis, the expansion
ratio should be the same in each stage.

22
T-s Diagram of Ideal Gas-Turbine Cycle with
Intercooling, Reheating, and Regeneration
Note that the intercooling and
reheating will always decrease the
average temperature at which heat is
added while reheating increase the
temperature at which heat is rejected.
This definitely reduce the efficiency of
the Brayton cycle.

Therefore, regeneration should be

used in conjunction with reheat and
intercooling.

⎛ P2 ⎞ ⎛ P4 ⎞ ⎛ P6 ⎞ ⎛ P8 ⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ P1 ⎠ ⎝ P3 ⎠ ⎝ P7 ⎠ ⎝ P9 ⎠
23
Approaching the Ericsson cycle.
As the number of
compression and
expansion stages
increases, the gas-turbine
cycle with intercooling,
reheating, and
regeneration approaches
the Ericsson cycle.

24
Turbojet Engine Basic Components and T-s Diagram for Ideal
Turbojet Cycle

Gas-turbine engines are widely used to power aircraft because

they are light and compact and have a high power-to-weight
ratio.
The ideal jet-propulsion cycle differs from the simple ideal
Brayton cycle in that the gases are partially expanded in the
turbine. The gases that exit the turbine at a relatively high
pressure are subsequently accelerated in a nozzle to provide
the thrust needed to propel the aircraft. 25
Turbojet Engine
The ideal jet-propulsion differs from the
simple ideal Bryton cycle in that the
gases are not expanded to the ambient
pressure in the turbine.
Instead, they are expanded to a
pressure such that the power produced
in the turbine is just sufficient to drive
the compressor and the auxiliary
components in the air plane. That is
wnet = 0.
The gases that exit the turbine at a
relatively high pressure are accelerated
in a nozzle to provide the thrust to
propel the aircraft.
The net thrust developed by the turbojet engine is
( )
r r
F = m& Vexit − Vinlet . 26
Turbofan Engine
The efficiency of the turbojet
is low because of the large
exit velocity. To increase the
efficiency, the exit velocity is
further decreases by
extracting more energy in
the turbine and use it to
drive a fan without
consuming additional fuel.
This fan compress additional
air part of which is passed to
the engine core while the
other part bypasses the jet
engine resulting into
additional thrust. A bypass
ratio of 5 doubles the thrust
and decreases the fuel
consumption by 50% [Bathie
pp 215].
27
Turboprop Engine

Thus it makes since to remove the cowl from the

fan resulting in a bypass ratio of 100. We call this
engine a turboprop engine. Its efficiency is larger
than the efficiency of turboprop for low speed (up
to 600 km/hr). 28
Second law analysis of gas power cycles

zApply the law Xd=To*Sg

zWhere S2-S1=Q/Tb + Sg
zBut for a cycle S2=S1
zHence Sg = -Q/Tb= -QH/TH+QL/TL
zHence Xd=To*(-QH/TH+QL/TL)
zOr xd=To(-qH/TH+qL/TL)

29