ARTICLE IN PRESS

Applied Energy & (2004) &&

www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Second-law based thermodynamic analysis of

Brayton/Rankine combined power cycle
with reheat
A. Khaliqa,*, S.C. Kaushikb
a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi 110025, India
b
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 10016, India
Accepted 3 August 2003

Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to use the second-law approach for the thermodynamic
analysis of the reheat combined Brayton/Rankine power cycle. Expressions involving the
variables for specic power-output, thermal eciency, exergy destruction in components of
the combined cycle, second-law eciency of each process of the gas-turbine cycle, and secondlaw eciency of the steam power cycle have been derived. The standard approximation for air
with constant properties is used for simplicity. The eects of pressure ratio, cycle temperatureratio, number of reheats and cycle pressure-drop on the combined cycle performance parameters have been investigated. It is found that the exergy destruction in the combustion
chamber represents over 50% of the total exergy destruction in the overall cycle. The combined cycle eciency and its power output were maximized at an intermediate pressure-ratio,
and increased sharply up to two reheat-stages and more slowly thereafter.
# 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A development in the search for higher thermal-eciency of conventional power
plant has been the introduction of combined-cycle plants. This is leading to the
development of gas turbines dedicated to combined-cycle applications, which has
been a subject of great interest in recent years, because of their relatively low initial
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: abd_khaliq2001@yahoo.co.in.
0306-2619/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2003.08.002

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Nomenclature
Cp
e
h
n
p
Q
R


Sge
s
W
w

AC

1,g
1,Comb
2,Comb


hf

Hf

Specic heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg K)

Specic exergy (kJ/kg)
Specic enthalpy (kJ/kg)
Number of reheat stages
Pressure (kPa)
Heat per unit mass of fuel (KJ/kg)
Gas constant (KJ/kg-K)
Entropy generation rate (W/K)
Specic entropy (KJ/kg)
Work per unit mass of gas (KJ/kg)
Dimensionless specic exergy/work (w=e/CpT0)
Pressure ratio across the compressor
Ratio of specic heats
First-law eciency of gas-turbine cycle
First-law eciency of combined cycle
Second-law eciency of combined cycle
Maximum to minimum cycle temperature ratio (=T3/T0)
Dimensionless heat-input (
Hf/CpT0)
Heat input or enthalpy of reaction at standard condition (KJ/kg)

costs, and the short time needed for their construction. An optimum system for a
given power-generation duty may involve alternate cycle congurations, such as
compressor intercooling, turbine reheat, and steam injection into the gas turbine
combustor.
The early development of the gas/steam turbine plant, was described by Sieppel
and Bereuter [1]. Czermak and Wunsch [2] carried out the elementary thermodynamic analysis for a practicable Brown Boveri 125 MW combined gassteam
turbine power plant. Wunsch [3] claimed that the eciencies of combined gassteam
plants were more inuenced by the gas-turbine parameters like maximum temperature and pressure ratio than by those for the steam cycle and also reported that the
maximum combined-cycle eciency was reached when the gas-turbine exhaust
temperature is higher than the one corresponding to the maximum gas-turbine eciency. Horlock [4], based on thermodynamic considerations, outlined more recent
developments and future prospects of combined-cycle power plants. Wu [5] describe
the use of intelligent computer software to obtain a sensitivity analysis for the combined cycle. Cerri [6] analyzed the combined gassteam plant, without reheat, from
the thermodynamic point of-view. In his analysis, he singled out the parameters that
most inuence eciency, and further reported that combined cycles exhibit a good
performance if suitably designed, but if the highest gas-turbine temperatures are
used, expensive fuel must be utilized.

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Reheat has been widely employed in aircraft engines. However, for industrial gasturbines, it is a technique that has only recently reached the stage of being considered a viable option for power augmentation. For a xed overall pressure-ratio
and given power, the advantage of using reheat is that the turbines entry temperature (TET) corresponding to the main combustor and reheater of the reheat cycle is
lower than the TET of a simple cycle. Hence, the costs related to the use of expensive
superalloys to withstand high temperatures could be reduced as described by Cunha
et al. [7]. There is a reduction in eciency, since more fuel is injected at a lower
pressure so producing less power than that which would be obtained if all the fuel
were injected in the main combustor. In combined-cycle applications, the increased
amount of heat in the exhaust gas is not actually lost and it may improve the combined-cycle characteristics. Andriani et al. [8] carried out the analysis of a gas turbine with several stages of reheat for aeronautical applications. Polyzakis [9] carried
out the rst-law analysis of reheat industrial gas-turbines use in a combined cycle
and suggested that the use of reheat is a good alternative for combined-cycle applications. But the performance analysis based on the rst-law alone is inadequate and
a more meaningful evaluation must include a second-law analysis. One reason that
such an analysis has not gained much engineering use may be the additional complication of having to deal with the combustion irreversibility, which introduced
an added dimension to the analysis. Second-law analysis indicates the association of
exergy destruction with combustion and heat-transfer processes and allows a thermodynamic evaluation of energy conservation in thermal power cycles.
It became apparent to the current authors that, although there was sucient literature on combined power-cycle with reheat, no systematic second-law analysis of
these cycles has been reported. The objective of the present paper is to develop a
systematic and improved second-law based thermodynamic methodology for the
analysis of reheat combined gassteam power plant.
2. System description
A schematic diagram of a combined Brayton/Rankine power cycle with reheat is shown
in Fig. 1. The gas turbine is shown as a topping plant, which forms the high-temperature loop, whereas the steam plant forms the low-temperature loop. The connecting
link between the two cycles is the heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) working on
the exhaust of the gas turbine. A gas-turbine cycle consists of an air compressor (AC), a
combustion chamber (CC) and a reheat gas-turbine (RGT). The turbines exhaust-gas
goes to a heat-recovery steam-generator to generate superheated steam. That steam is
used in a standard steam power-cycle, which consists of a turbine (ST), a condenser
(C) and a pump (P). Both the gas and steam turbines drive electric generators.

3. Thermodynamic analysis
For the system operations in a steady state, the general exergy-balance equation is
given by Bejan [10]

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the combined Brayton/Rankine power cycle with reheat.

EW

n 
 X
X
X





EQ me 
me  ED
i

i1

out

in

for a single-stream ow

EW EQ mein  meout  meD

After making exergy balances using Eq. (2) for the compressor, reheat turbine and
combustion chamber, the following expressions can be obtained
WAC e2  e1 eD;AC

ef;CC e3  e2 eD;CC

eRGT e4  e3 WRGT eD;RGT

where WAC and WRGT are the work done per unit mass for the compressor and
reheat gas-turbine respectively and e is the specic exergy
The net work-output of the gas-turbine cycle is

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Wg WRGT  WAC

The rst law eciency of the gas-turbine cycle is given by

1;g

Wg
DHf

The total exergy of the fuel input for the gas turbine cycle with reheat is
ef ef;CC eRGT

If we dene maximum to minimum cycle temperature ratio as

then the exergy associated with the fuel can be expressed as


1
ef Carnot DHf 1  DHf


8

Tmax T3

,

Tmin T0
9

The second-law eciency of the gas-turbine cycle may be dened as

2;g

Wg
ef

10

The gas stream leaving the turbine at state 4 enters the steam power-cycle, where a
fraction 2,ST of its exergy (e4) is recovered as shaft work and the remaining exergy
destroyed by irreversibilities.
WST 2;ST e4

11

Dividing by CpT0, Eq. (11) becomes

WST 2;ST W4

12

The rst-law eciency of the combined power cycle is given by

1;Comb

Wg WST
DHf

13

The gas-turbines specic work-output with single-stage reheat, on the basis of the
same expansion ratio and eciency of each turbine and full reheat, and assuming air
as a perfect gas, may be given as
Wg Cp 2h3  h4  h2  h1 

14

where AC and RGT are the adiabatic eciencies of the compressor and turbine.
For a system with n stages of reheat, we would have




 

1
Wg Cp n 1RGT Tmax 1  
 T1
AC  1 =AC
16

RGT
Dividing by CpT0, the dimensionless specic power-output becomes
wg n 1RGT


RGT

where !AC=
AC  1 and

RGT

AC

AC

1 
1

RGT

17

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

The fuel input or heat input (
Hf or Qin) per unit mass of the cycle for the single
stage with full reheat is given by


Qin DHf;CC DHf;RGT
18
For a perfect gas, it may be expressed as

T2
DHf Qin CP Tmax  T1 
AC RGT Tmax
AC
For n reheat stage, it becomes

AC
Qin CP Tmax  T1  T2
nRGT Tmax
AC

RGT

19

RGT

20

Dividing by CpT0, Eq. (20) may be written as

qin   1 

AC =AC

RGT 

RGT

21

Using Eqs. (17) and (21), the rst-law eciency of the gas-turbine cycle becomes
1;g

Wg
n 1RGT  RGT  AC =AC

qin
  1  AC =AC nRGT  RGT

22

Using Eqs. (12), (13), (17) and (21), the rst law eciency of the combined cycle
may be expressed as


n 1RGT  RGT  AC =2;ST w4
1 ; comb
23
  1  AC =AC nRGT

RGT 
This shows that the rst-law eciency of the combined cycle is a function of
temperature ratio , compressors pressure-ratio AC, number of reheat stages n
and the pressure drop in the heat-transfer devices.
The second-law eciency of combined cycle may be dened as
2 ; comb

Wg WST 1;Comb

ef
Carnot

Using Eqs. (23) and (9) in Eq. (24),


n 1RGT  RGT  AC =AC 2;ST w4
2 ; comb
  1  AC =AC nRGT  RGT   1

24

25

where w4= 41-ln 4.

4. Relation between compressor and turbine pressure-ratios

The turbine expansion ratio
RGT may be expressed in terms of the compression
ratio and the pressure drop in each of the heat-transfer devices, involved. If pin, and
pout are the inlet and outlet pressures for each heat-transfer device, then

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

pout
pin
where

out

=1 pin p
pin

26
1

Dp
p

The quantity
p/p is known as the relative pressure-drop and b may be called the
pressure-drop factor.
If
cc is the pressure-drop factor or percentage pressure-drop in the combustion
chamber,
R in reheater and
g in heat recovery steam-generator, then
p3
CC p2

27

pRo pRi
R

28

pgo
g pgi

29

Combining Eqs. (27)(29), we have

  
 
p3
pRo
p2

CC
R
g

CC
R
g
AC
pR i
pg i
pg o

30

Now
p3
pR
o
AC
pR i
pg i
For a system with one stage of reheat,

RGT 2
CC
R
g
AC

31


1=2

RGT
CC
R
g
AC

32

For two reheat-stages,


1=3

RGT
CC
2R
g
AC

33

For n reheat-stages,

1=n1

RGT
CC
nR
g
AC

34

The traditional rst-law eciency of a steam turbine cycle is

1;ST

WST
QST

35

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Its second-law eciency has been dened by Eq. (11). Thus the ratio of its secondlaw eciency to its rst law eciency is just the ratio of the heat supplied to the
HRSG per unit mass of hot gas to the specic exergy of the hot gas entering the
HRSG. If the gas with a constant specic heat, enters the boiler at T4 and leaves at
Tex, then
2;ST WST QST
QST

1;ST
e4
WST
e4
For a constant-pressure process, by dividing by CpT0
2;ST
4  ex

1;ST 4  1  n 4

36

37

This is computed in Table (9) versus 4 with ex as the variable parameter. The
second-law eciency of the steam-turbine cycle is larger than the rst-law eciency
so long as 4 < 1+1n 4, a condition satised in any practical steam-turbine bottoming cycle.
For the purpose of combined cycle eciency computations presented based on
Eqs. (23) and (25), the second-law eciency of the steam-turbine cycle was assumed
to follow the trend shown in Fig. A1, which was plotted using the correlation
developed in the Appendix. The second-law eciency (2,ST) is zero for 4 < 2, where
the steam-turbine cycle was judged impractical linearly from 48% at 4=2 to 70%
at 4=3.25, and constant at 70% for 5> 4 > 3.25.

5. Evaluation of components exergy destructions

5.1. Compressor (AC)
The second-law eciency of a compression process (12) is the ratio of the
increased exergy to the work input: thus
e2  e1
2;AC
38
WAC
For frictionless reversible adiabatic or isothermal compressions, no entropy is
generated or exergy destroyed and 2,AC=1. In a real compressor of adiabatic eciency AC, for an innitesimal adiabatic increase in pressure dp, the temperature
increase dT is greater than the isentropic value dTs.
dT

dTs
AC

39

For a perfect gas using the isentropic relation, we have

dTs -1 dp

T
 p

40

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

The canonical relation is

ds Cp

dTs
dp
R
T
p

41

Using Eqs. (39) and (41), the entropy generated during the compression process is
dsgen Cp

dTs
dp
R
AC
p

Using Eqs. (40) and (42), we have



1  AC
dp
dsgen
R
p
AC

42

43

The exergy destroyed is obtained after multiplying Eq. (43) by T0 and then integrating. After non-dimensionalizing by dividing with CpT0, the dimensionless exergy
destruction may be given as


1  AC
wD;AC
nr
44
AC
Eq. (44) accounts for the exergy destroyed within the compressor. The compressor
work for the innitesimal adiabatic stage is CpdT. After using Eqs. (39) and (40) for
a perfect gas, the compressor work in dimensionless form may be given as

  1 2 T dp
45
wAC
AC 1 T0 p
Unlike the exergy destroyed, this depends on the local temperature. The compression work for adiabatic compression may be obtained by using Eqs. (40) and
(45) as
wAC;ad r1=AC  1

46

Applying the exergy balance and using Eq. (38), the corresponding second-law
eciency for the adiabatic compression process may be given by


1  AC
nr
2;ACad 1 
47
r1=AC  1
AC
5.2. Combustion chamber (CC)
The heat addition in the combustion chamber (
Hf,CC) may be dened as

DHf;CC

Q

Cp T3  T2

After dividing Eq. (48) by CpT0, it may be expressed as

48

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Dhf;CC   2

49

The exergy associated with
Hf,CC is

ef;CC DHf;CC 1  1=

50

Using Eq. (49) and dividing Eq. (50) by CpT0, the dimensionless exergy associated
with fuel may be obtained as
wf;CC

  1  2


51

The increase in exergy per unit mass of fuel is given by

e 3  e 2 h3  h2  T 0 s 3  s 2

52

After dividing by CpT0 and using Eqs. (41), (49) and (26), it may further be
expressed as

53
w3  w2   2  n n
CC
2
The dimensionless exergy destruction (wD,CC) in the combustion chamber can be
expressed using Eqs. (3) and (53), as
wD;CC

2

n  n
CC  1
2


54

The second-law eciency for the combustion chamber is the ratio of the increased
exergy over the exergy input and is given by
w3  w2
2;CC
55
wf;CC
Using Eqs. (49) and (53),



  2  n n
CC 
2
2;CC
  2   1

56

This shows that the second-law eciency of the combustion chamber depends on
the compressors discharge temperature, pressure-drop in the combustion chamber
and the maximum cycle temperature.
5.2.1. Reheat gas-turbine (RGT)
For an adiabatic expansion in a turbine with an adiabatic eciency RGT, the
temperature-drop dT for a pressure drop dp is smaller than the corresponding isentropic value dTs.
RGT

dT
dTs

57

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

11

Using Eqs. (40), (41) and (43), we see that the entropy generated in the adiabatic
stage is
dsgen 1  RGT R

dp
p

58

By multiplying Eq. (58) by T0 and integrating, and, thereafter dividing by CpT0,

the exergy destruction may be obtained as
wD;RGT 1  RGT nr

59

It accounts only for exergy destroyed within the turbine but not for reheat pressure-losses or heat-transfer losses. The expansion work CpdT, after using Eqs. (57)
and (40), may be expressed as

  1 4 T dp
60
wRGT RGT

3 T0 p
and depends on the pressuretemperature path. For the adiabatic expansion starting
at T3 after integrating Eq. (60) and using (=T3/T0), it may also be expressed as
wRGT;ad 1  rRGT

61

The second-law eciency of the expansion process is the ratio of work output
over decrease in the exergy of the gas, and is given by
wRGT
2;RGT
62
w3  w2 wRGT
Using Eqs. (61), (53) and (62), the second-law eciency of the expansion process
in the gas turbine cycle may be given as


1  RGT rnr 1
2;RGTad 1
63
1  rRGT
This shows that the second-law eciency of the reheat gas-turbine increases with y
since a larger proportion of the available work lost at higher temperatures may be
recovered.

6. Optimum pressure-ratio
The optimum pressure ratio for maximum work output of a gas turbine, taking
into account the adiabatic eciencies of the compressor and turbine, can be
obtained by dierentiating Eq. (17), w.r.t. pAC as
@wg
0
@
AC

64

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

This gives


1

AC opt
AC RGT


21

65

This shows that the optimum pressure-ratio depends on the adiabatic eciencies
of the turbine and compressor, as well as the cycles temperature-ratio.

7. Numerical results and discussion

Based upon the methodology developed and the equations derived here, the
combined-cycle eciency, exergy destruction as well as the second-law eciency of
each process have been evaluated.
For the results, we made the following assumptions; adiabatic eciencies of
compressor and gas turbine are 0.9 and 0.85, respectively; pressure drops in the
primary combustor are 3%, in each reheater 2% and in the HRSG 4%. The gas is
assumed to have constant properties with =1.4, R=287 J/kg K. For illustration of
the results, the pressure ratio was taken as 32, cycle-temperature ratio as 5, two
reheats and no intercooling.
Table 1 shows the variation of performance parameters of the compressor and gas
turbine with the pressure ratio. The second-law eciency of the adiabatic compressor increases with pressure ratio because the absolute values of the work input
and exergy increase are both larger and the magnitude of exergy destruction in the
adiabatic compressor increases with the increase in pressure ratio.
It is also seen from Table 1 that, the rst-law eciency of the adiabatic turbine
increases with the increase in pressure ratio. The second-law eciency decreases with
the pressure ratio, but increases with the cycle temperature ratio since a greater
proportion of the available work lost at the higher temperature may be recovered.
The exergy destruction in the reheat turbine increases with the pressure ratio, the
number of reheat stages and the pressure drop in each reheater as shown in Table 2.
Table 3(a) and (b) show that the rst-law and second-law eciencies of the combined cycle increases up to the pressure ratio of 32, then they start decreasing with
increases in the pressure ratio. But it is interesting to note that the second-law eciency of the combined cycle is greater than the rst-law eciency for same pressureratio.
Table 4 shows that if the pressure ratio is too low, then the gas-turbine cycle and
combined-cycle eciencies and their specic work-outputs drop, whereas the steam
cycle work-output increases due to the high gas-turbine exhaust temperature T4. At
an intermediate pressure-ratio, both the eciency and specic work peak. If the
pressure ratio is too high, the compressor and turbine works increase but their difference, the net gas-turbine work output drops. The absolute magnitude of exergy
destroyed in both compressor and turbine increases as the logarithm of pressure
ratio. The exergy lost in the reheat turbine also increases due to the lower mean

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13

Table 1
Eect of pressure ratio on the performance of compressor and gas turbine

AC

AC

1,AC

wD,AC

2,AC

RGT

RGT

1,RGT

wD,RGT

2,RGT

1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128

1.000
1.219
1.485
1.811
2.208
2.691
3.281
3.999

0.900
0.890
0.880
0.870
0.860
0.850
0.832
0.820

0.000
0.022
0.043
0.066
0.088
0.110
0.132
0.154

0.900
0.910
0.920
0.929
0.937
0.945
0.951
0.957

0.950
1.151
1.369
1.628
1.76
2.303
2.739
3.257

0.985
1.041
1.094
1.149
1.175
1.269
1.333
1.401

0.850
0.862
0.872
0.883
0.894
0.904
0.912
0.920

0.000
0.029
0.059
0.089
0.118
0.148
0.178
0.207

0.995
0.955
0.941
0.924
0.903
0.876
0.844
0.806

Table 2
Eect of number of reheat stages (n) and pressure drops in the reheater (
R) on the exergy destruction in
the reheat gas-turbine
Number of
reheat stages (n)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

wD,RGT

R=1.0

R=0.98

R=0.96

0.1485
0.2257
0.2203
0.2107
0.2023
0.1954
0.1908
0.1858

0.1485
0.2331
0.2277
0.2223
0.2201
0.2177
0.2166
0.2173

0.1485
0.2380
0.2389
0.2407
0.2441
0.2497
0.2565
0.2643

temperature of reheat. The steam-turbine cycle output suers with the lower
exhaust-gas temperature. The second-law eciency of each cycle is greater than the
rst-law eciency for the given operating parameters.
It is seen from Table 5 that the exergy destruction in the combustion chamber
decreases with the pressure ratio, but increases with the cycle temperature ratio y,
and the second-law eciency of the primary combustor behaves in reverse as is
known from the second-law analysis.
The exergy destructions due to heat-transfer irreversibility (HRSG), condenserheat rejection, irreversibilities of the steam turbine and pump, and the rst-law eciency of the steam turbine cycle increase with an increase in the gas-turbines
exhaust temperature, but the second-law eciency declines with an increase in the
exhaust-gass temperature above the minimum temperature that can operate the
steam cycle. This minimum gas temperature is constrained by the required superheat
steam and or the pinch point on the HRSG as shown in Table 8.
Table 6 shows that increasing the maximum cycle temperature gives a signicant
improvement in both eciency and specic work-output. The gas-turbines cycle
eciency drops, but its net specic work-output increases with the number of reheat
stages. Both eciency and specic work increase with the increase in number of

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Table 3
(a) Eect of pressure ratio (
AC) and cycle temperature ratio () on the rst-law eciency of the combined
cycle for two stages of reheat. (b) Eects of pressure ratio (pAC) and cycle temperature ratio () on the
second-law eciency of the combined cycle for two stages of reheat
=4

=4.5

=5

=5.5

=6

AC

RGT

1,Comb

1,Comb

1,Comb

1,Comb

1,Comb

(a)
8
16
32
64
128

1.920
2.42
3.048
3.840
4.838

3.413
3.227
3.050
2.880
2.727

51.1
52.3
50.7
46.7
38.0

3.840
3.630
3.433
3.245
3.068

53.70
55.76
56.36
54.80
49.00

4.267
4.034
3.814
3.606
3.409

55.80
58.20
59.20
58.80
56.50

4.69
4.438
4.195
3.960
3.750

57.5
60.0
61.45
61.65
60.30

5.0
4.84
4.57
4.12
3.72

59.0
61.57
63.23
63.80
63.20

(b)
8
16
32
64
128

1.920
2.42
3.048
3.840
4.838

3.413
3.227
3.050
2.880
2.727

68.13
69.73
67.6
62.26
50.66

3.840
3.630
3.433
3.245
3.068

69.11
71.76
72.53
70.52
63.06

4.267
4.034
3.814
3.606
3.409

69.75
72.75
74.0
73.5
70.62

4.69
4.438
4.195
3.960
3.750

70.30
73.35
75.12
75.36
73.71

5.0
4.84
4.57
4.12
3.72

70.80
73.80
75.80
76.56
75.84

Table 4
Eect of pressure ratio on the rst-law and second-law eciencies of various cycles

AC

1,g

2,g

1,ST

2,ST

1,Comb

2,Comb

Carnot

8
16
32
64
128

27.8
33.0
35.95
36.7
34.4

34.75
41.25
44.93
45.87
43.00

28.00
25.17
23.25
22.40
22.00

43.82
40.18
37.82
37.1,6
37.00

55.85
58.17
59.2
58.8
56.40

69.81
72.71
74.00
73.50
70.50

80.00
80.00
80.00
80.00
80.00

reheat stages for the steam cycle which benets from a higher gas-temperature. The
combined cycle eciency and specic work-output increase sharply in going from
one to two reheats and more slowly thereafter, It was interesting to note that the
specic power increases by a factor of 2.5 for the two reheats as shown in Table 7.
This may well justify the additional capital cost of the reheat system.
Table 9 shows that the second-law eciency of steam-turbine cycle is larger than
the rst-law eciency so long as < 1+ln 4, a condition satised in any practical
steam-bottoming cycle. It is shown that the second-law eciency of a given steam
cycle declines with increasing gas-temperature above the minimum that can operate
this cycle. This minimum gas-temperature is constrained by the required steam
superheat and/or the pinch point on the heat exchanger.
Fig. 2 shows the eect of increasing the pressure ratio and the cycle-temperature
ratio on the rst-law eciency of the gas-turbine cycle. The increase in pressure ratio
increases the overall thermal eciency at a given maximum temperature. However
increasing the pressure ratio beyond a certain value at any given maximum

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

15

Table 5
Eect of pressure ratio (
AC) and cycle temperature ratio () on exergy destruction and second law eciency of combustion chamber (CC) for two reheats

AC

1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128

=4

=4.5

=5

=5.5

=6

wD,CC

2,CC

wD,CC

2,CC

wD,CC

2,CC

wD,CC

2,CC

wD,CC

2,CC

1.627
1.484
1.353
1.236
1.137
1.060
1.010
0.990

0.133
0.163
0.192
0.214
0.215
0.176
0.058
0.028

1.717
1.568
1.430
1.303
1.190
1.103
1.036
0.997

0.126
1.550
0.186
0.210
0.222
0.207
0.134
0.100

1.800
1.647
1.502
1.368
1.248
1.148
1.068
1.014

0.119
0.146
0.176
0.204
0.223
0.222
0.180
0.061

1.877
1.719
1.570
1.439
1.305
1.195
1.103
1.036

0.112
0.138
0.167
0.196
0.219
0.228
0.206
0.126

1.949
1.423
1.634
1.490
1.359
1.241
1.141
1.062

0.1066
0.1317
0.1590
0.1880
0.2140
0.2300
0.2210
0.1680

Table 6
Eect of cycle temperature-ratio on eciencies of various cycles
Temperature
ratio 

Z1,g

2,g

1,ST

2,ST

1,Comb

2,Comb

Carnot

4
4.5
5.0
5.5
6.0
6.5

30.30
33.70
36.00
37.60
38.85
39.80

40.40
43.33
45.00
46.95
46.62
47.05

20.50
22.57
23.30
23.90
24.39
24.86

35.60
37.90
37.95
37.86
37.63
37.50

50.80
56.27
59.30
61.50
63.24
64.66

67.70
72.40
74.12
75.18
75.89
76.40

75.00
77.70
80.00
81.80
83.33
84.60

Table 7
Eects of number of reheat stages (n) on work output and eciencies of various cycles
n

1,g

1,ST

1,Comb

Wg

wg+w4

wComb

qin

Carnotqin

0
1
2
3
4
5

43.50
37.28
36.7
36.2
35.9
35.7

9.00
66.80
69.57
70.63
71.40
71.90

52.50
57.90
59.77
60.33
60.75
61.00

0.950
1.403
1.644
1.76
1.828
1.865

1.500
2.513
3.109
3.425
3.63
3.756

1.20
2.18
2.67
2.926
3.089
3.186

2.100
3.762
4.469
4.85
5.086
5.224

1.700
3.00
3.575
3.880
4.068
4.180

temperature can actually result in lowering the gas-turbines cycle eciency. It

should also be noted that the very high-pressure ratios tend to reduce the operating
range of the compressor.
Fig. 3 shows that the maximum work per kilogramme of air occurs at a much
lower pressure-ratio than the point of maximum eciency for the same maximum
temperature.

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16

A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Table 8
Exergy destruction as a percentage of heat added, in the components of the steam-turbine cycle: T0=291
K, Tex=420 K, condenser pressure=0.045 bar (304 K), steam-turbine eciency 90%, pump eciency
70%
Exhaust-gas
temperature ratio

Exhaust
availability

Heat-transfer
irreversibility

Condenser loss
and rejection

Irreversibility
of turbine and
pump

Steam cycle
work output

2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
3.25

73
81
85
88
90
91

13
18
16
17
16
13

6
5
6
5
5
4

4
6
5
6
7
8

49
52
58
61
63
65

Table 9
Eects of gas temperature ratio 4 and exhaust temperature ratio ex on the ratio of eciencies of the
steam cycle
4

ex=1
2;ST
1;ST

ex=1.5
2;ST
1;ST

ex=2.0
2;ST
1;ST

ex=2.5
2;ST
1;ST

ex=3.0
2;ST
1;ST

ex=3.5
2;ST
1;ST

ex=40
2;ST
1;ST

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

3.258
2.218
1.859
1.673
1.558
1.479

1.629
1.664
1.459
1.464
1.4026
1.356

1.109
1.109
1.239
1.255
1.246
1.233

0.5540
0.5540
0.9290
1.0457
1.0909
1.1099

0.6196
0.8366
0.9350
0.9866
1.0160
1.0339
1.0450
1.0523

0.3098
0.6274
0.7792
0.8633
0.9145
0.9478
0.9705
0.9865

0.4180
0.6230
0.7400
0.8129
0.8616
0.8958
0.9207

Thus, a cursory inspection of the eciency indicates that the gas-turbine cycle
eciency can be improved by increasing the pressure ratio, or increasing the turbines inlet-temperature.

8. Conclusion
An improved second-law analysis of the combined power-cycle with reheat has
shown the importance of the parameters examined. The analysis has included the
exergy destruction in the components of the cycle and an assessment of the eects of
pressure ratio, temperature ratio and number of reheat stages on the cycle performance. The exergy balance or second-law approach presented facilitates the design
and optimization of complex cycles by pinpointing and quantifying the losses. By

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

17

Fig. 2. Eect of pressure ratio and turbines inlet temperature on the rst-law eciency of the gasturbine
cycle.

Fig. 3. Pressure ratio for maximum work per kg of air.

placing reheat in the expansion process, signicant increases in specic power output
and eciency were obtained. The gains are substantial for one and two reheats, but
progressively smaller for subsequent stages. It is interesting to note that specic
power output (per unit gas ow) increases by a factor of 2.5 for the two reheats. This
may well justify the additional capital cost of the reheat system. Reheating by
increasing the specic power-output reduces the sensitivity of the cycle to component
losses.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
18

A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

Appendix. Correlation for the second-law eciency of the steam cycle

For a simple steam-cycle, the maximum second-law eciency can be correlated
with the gas temperature T4 for a xed exhaust-gas temperature Tex.
To nd this correlation, calculations were done for several values of the temperature T4. In each case, the steam-turbine cycle pressure and peak temperature T5,ST
were rst determined by setting the pinch point (saturation) and maximum steamtemperatures at 5 and 20 K below the corresponding gas-temperature prole. Thus
the percentage of gas and steam enthalpies above the pinch point must be the same,
giving


T4  Tsat 50
h5;st  hsat;liq

T4  Tex
h5;st  h8;liq

A1

which may be solved iteratively for the steam-turbine cycle pressure. In the following
calculations, the assumptions are:

Fig. A1. Second-law eciency correlation for bottoming cycle.

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A. Khaliq, S.C. Kaushik / Applied Energy & (2004) &&

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

19

Ambient temperature T0=291 K

Exhaust temperature Tex=420 K
Condenser pressure 0.045 bar (304 K)
Steam turbine and feed water pump have eciencies 90 and 70% respectively.
Saturation temperature (Tsat)=Tex22
C.

For each T4, these assumptions were applied, the pressure was found using Eq.
(A1) and the second-law eciency (2,ST) is computed and is shown in Fig. A1,
which also shows the steam conditions and eciency computed for each point.

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