Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
The performance testing of steam and gas turbines are covered in national standards which can only
be studied by purchasing the relevant standards.
ASME PTC 6 for the USA. See:
http://catalog.asme.org/home.cfm?CATEGORY=CS&TAXONOMYITEMID=3104
BS EN 60953-1:1996 See:
http://www.standardsdirect.org/standards/standards2/StandardsCatalogue24_view_16233.html
This web address gives a pdf file with lots of information and pictures of steam plant and its
controls.
www.dti.gov.uk/files/file18243.pdf
You will find a wealth of information and free learning material from this web site that also
includes a free steam tables and calculator.
http://www.spiraxsarco.com/esc/
N = 600/60 = 10 rev/s
u = ND = x 10 x 0.6 = 18.85 m/s
DP = m u vw = 0.8 x 18.85 x 80 = 1206.5 W
REACTION THEORY
In a pure reaction turbine, the rotating vanes act as nozzles and the steam/gas expands as it flows
through the vanes and accelerates. The pressure of the fluid falls and the kinetic energy increases.
The force required to accelerate the steam/gas through the passage is F = m v where v is the
change in velocity through the passages. Every force has an equal and opposite reaction so the force
that pushes the fluid through the passages has an equal and opposite reaction that propels the rotor.
In practice, pure reaction turbines are
rare and most popular designs use a
combination of impulse and reaction.
The diagram illustrates the configuration
for such a turbine. The fixed rows
accelerate the steam and there is a
pressure drop over the row. The moving
row also accelerates the steam and there
is a further pressure drop over the
moving row. The moving blades are thus
moved by both impulse and reaction
forces. If the rows of blades are
identical, the pressure drop over each is
the same and there is 50% impulse and
50% reaction.
The moving vanes experience both reaction and impulsive forces and the two together is given by
the change in momentum. The same formulae is used to calculate the diagram power.
D. P. = m vwND
(c) D.J.Dunn www.freestudy.co.uk
AXIAL FORCE
The change in momentum that produces the force on the
vane/blade is not only in the direction of rotation. There is
also a change of velocity and hence momentum in the
direction of the axis of rotation and this pushes the turbine
rotor in that direction. This would require a large thrust
bearing in the turbine design. This can be avoided by
placing two identical rotors back to back so the axial thrust cancels out as shown in the schematic
diagram. This is usual for steam turbine layouts.
Because the volume of the steam or gas increases greatly as it progresses along the axis, the height
of the blades increases in order to accommodate it. The picture shows a steam turbine with the
casing removed. You can see that it matches the schematic with the short vanes at the middle. The
fixed vanes are in the case.
The picture below shows the same layout with top case removed from the turbines.
PASS-OUT TURBINES
The circuit of a simple pass-out turbine plant is shown
below. Steam is extracted between stages of the turbine
for process use. The steam removed must be replaced by
make up water at point 6.
SOLUTION
h3 = 2678 kJ/kg
h4 = 2166 kJ/kg.
A steam cycle is performed as follows. The boiler produces 3 kg/s of superheated steam at 60
bar and 400oC. The steam is supplied to a turbine that it expands it without loss to 1.5 bar and
dryness fraction 0.882. The exhaust steam is supplied to a process. The feed water is supplied to
the pump at 1.013 bar and 100oC and delivered to the boiler at 60 bar. The pump may be
considered as ideal.
Calculate the following.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
2.
A back pressure steam cycle works as follows. The boiler produces 8 kg/s of steam at 40 bar
and 500oC. This is expanded without loss to 2 bar and dryness fraction 0.993. The pump is
supplied with feed water at 0.5 bar and 30oC and delivers it to the boiler at 31oC and 40 bar.
Calculate the following.
i.
The net power output. (6 MW)
ii. The heat input to the boiler. (26.5 MW)
iii. The thermal efficiency of the cycle. (22.5%)
A gas turbine uses a pressure ratio is 6/1. The air is heated from 200oC to 950oC in the
combustion chamber. The flow rate of air is 0.2 kg/s. Assuming a specific heat of 1.005 kJ/kg
K, calculate the following.
i. The ideal thermal efficiency.
ii. The heat transfer into the combustion chamber.
iii. The net power output to the load.
SOLUTION
th = 1 rp - 0.286 = 1 6
- 0.286
= 0.4 or 40%
Pnett
in
10
FREE TURBINES
Most designs used for gas turbine sets use two turbines, one to drive the compressor and a free
turbine. The free turbine drives the load and it is not connected directly to the compressor. It may
also run at a different speed to the compressor. The diagram shows the layouts for parallel and
series turbines.
11
In order to solve problems associated with this cycle, it is necessary to determine the temperature
prior to the combustion chamber (T3).
A perfect heat exchanger would heat up the air so that T3 is the same as T5. It would also cool
down the exhaust gas so that T6 becomes T2. In reality this is not possible so the concept of
THERMAL RATIO is used. This is defined as the ratio of the enthalpy given to the air to the
maximum possible enthalpy lost by the exhaust gas. cpa is the specific heat capacity of air and cpg
is the specific heat capacity of the exhaust gas. ma is the mass of the air and mg is the mass of the
exhaust gas.
The enthalpy lost by the exhaust gas is H = mgcpg(T5 - T6)
This would be a maximum if the gas is cooled down such that T6 = T2. Of course in reality this
does not occur and the maximum is not achieved and the gas turbine does not perform as well as
predicted by this idealisation.
H (maximum) = mgcpg(T5-T2)
The enthalpy gained by the air is
Hence the thermal ratio is
H (air) = macpa(T3-T2)
m a c pa (T3 T2 )
T.R. =
m g c pg (T 5 T2 )
Since the mass of fuel added in the combustion chamber is small compared to the air flow we often
neglect the difference in mass and the equation becomes
c pa (T3 T2 )
T.R. =
c pg (T 5 T2 )
12
A gas turbine draws in air from atmosphere and compresses it with a pressure ratio of 7.5. The
air passes through an exhaust gas heat exchanger before reaching the combustion chamber. The
temperatures at various points in the cycle are given on the diagram. The specific heat capacity
cp for air is 1.005 kJ/kg K and for the exhaust gas is 1.15 kJ/kg K. Assume no losses and a
constant mass flow rate of 1kg/s.
Calculate the ideal efficiency given that the exhaust heat exchanger has a thermal ratio of 0.8.
Compare this to the efficiency when no heat exchanger is used.
SOLUTION
TURBINE
P(out) = mCpg(T4-T5) = 1 x 1.15 (1300 - 681) = 712 kW
P(net) = P(out) - P(in) = 490 kW (to the load)
COMBUSTION CHAMBER
(in)combustion chamber) = mCpg(T4-T3)
(in)= 1.15(1300 - 645) = 753 kW
th = P(net)/(in) = 490/753 = 0.65 or 65%
-0.286
13
= 0.438 or 43.8%
1. A gas turbine uses a pressure ratio of 7/1. The compressor draws in 0.7 kg/s of air at 10oC and
after compression the temperature is 220 oC. The temperature after heating in the combustion
chamber is 1000 oC and after expanding through nthe turbine it is 457 oC. The specific heat
capacity cp is 1.005 kJ/kg K for air and gas. Assume no losses from the compressor or turbine.
Calculate the net power output and the thermal efficiency when an exhaust heat exchanger with
a thermal ratio of 0.8 is used. (Answers 234 kW and 56%)
2. A gas turbine draws in air from the atmosphere at 1.02 bar and 27oC. The air is compressed to
6.4 bar and 234oC. The air entering the turbine is at 1227 oC and this expands to 1.02 bar and
615oC. Assume the specific heat cp is 1.005 kJ/kg K for both the turbine and compressor. Ignore
the addition of mass in the burner. Calculate the following.
i. The air standard efficiency. (40.8%)
ii. The efficiency when an exhaust heat exchanger with a thermal ratio of 0.75 is
added. (70.7%)
Note that in reality friction in the compressor and turbine result in higher temperatures at exit and
this reduces the efficiency so figures like that in the last problem are not obtained in practice. The
solution to the next problem is just the same as before but more realistic temperatures are given.
1. A gas turbine uses a pressure ratio of 6.5/1. The compressor draws in 1 kg/s of air at 15oC and
after compression the temperature is 254 oC. The temperature after heating in the combustion
chamber is 1200 oC and after expansion through the turbine the temperature is 732 oC. The
specific heat capacity cp for air is 1.005 kJ/kg K and for the exhaust gas is 1.15 kJ/kg K.
i. The ideal efficiency without a heat exchanger. (41.4%)
ii. The ideal efficiency when an exhaust heat exchanger with a thermal ratio of 0.75 is
added. (48.3%)
14
When large amounts of hot exhaust gas is produced by either gas turbines or large diesel engines,
the heat in the exhaust gas may be recovered for useful applications such as using it to produce hot
water or steam in a boiler. A factory might well use a gas turbine to produce electric power and hot
water or steam. This is more economical than buying electricity.
A factory is to be built that uses both electricity and steam. There are two proposals to be
considered.
PROPOSAL 1
PROPOSAL 2
Generate electric power with a gas turbine and produce steam in a waste heat
boiler using the exhaust gas.
OPERATING DATA FOR STEAM BOILER
Mass Flow rate
Steam condition
Feed water temperature
1 kg/s
5 bar and dry saturated.
15oC.
7
15oC
229 oC at inlet and 1500 oC at outlet
743 oC
15
FUEL DATA
Any fuel to be burned in either the gas turbine or the boiler will be light oil with a calorific
value of 42 MJ/kg.
The cost of fuel is 12.7 pence per kg.
Electricity cost 2.5 pence per kWhr (1 kWhr = 3600 kJ)
PROPERTIES
AIR
cp=1.005 kJ/kg K
BURNED GAS
cp =1.1 kJ/kg K
Produce a report comparing the costs for both schemes. You will need to do the following tasks.
GUIDANCE
STEAM BOILER
Determine the following.
i. The energy required to make the steam.
ii. The fuel required in kg/s.
iii. The mass of exhaust gas required to produce the same steam in kg/s.
GAS TURBINE
You will need to equate the heat transfer from burning fuel to the energy required to raise the
temperature in the combustion chamber.
Determine the following.
vi. The mass flow of air.
v. The fuel burned in kg/s.
vi. The Power input of the compressor.
vii. The power output of the turbine.
viii. The net power for generating electricity.
COSTING
Base the cost of option 1 on the cost of fuel plus the cost of buying the same electricity as for
option 2.
Base the cost on the cost of fuel only.
What other factors would you consider when making a decision on which option take?
16