Prediction of performance of gas

turbines
It is then possible to design the individual components of a gas

turbine so that the complete unit will give the required

performance when running at the design point, that is, when it

is running at the particular speed, pressure ratio and mass flow

for which the components were designed. The problem then

remains to find the variation of performance of the gas turbine

over the complete operating range of speed and power output,

which is normally referred to as off-design performance.

December 23, 2017 Gas Turbine Performance-Dr.Kassab 1

OFF-DESIGN OPERATION OF THE SINGLE-SHAFT GAS TURBINE

The compressor and turbine are directly coupled together, so that

compatibility of rotational speed requires
1 1

Compatibility of flow between the compressor and turbine can be

expressed in terms of the non-dimensional flows by the identity

P03/P02 = 1 — (ΔPb/P02) and m1 = m3

=m
2

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 1. Select a constant speed line on the compressor

characteristic and choose any point on this line; the

values of

are then

determined.

1. The corresponding point on the turbine

characteristic is obtained from consideration of

compatibility of rotational speed and flow.

3. Having matched the compressor and turbine

characteristics, it is necessary to ascertain whether

the work output corresponding to the selected

December 23, 2017 Gas Turbine Performance-Dr.Kassab 3
operating point is compatible with that required by
 Now m√To1/po1 and p02/po1 are fixed by the chosen operating point
on the compressor characteristic

p03 / po2 is assumed to be constant and m√T03/p03 is a

function of the turbine pressure ratio p03/po4

Neglecting inlet and exhaust pressure losses pa = p01 = p04

p03/po4 = (po3/po2)
(po2/po1)
T03/T01) can be obtained from the compressor and turbine characteristic

turbine inlet temperature T03 can therefore be obtained from equation (2)

N/√/T03 is obtained from equation (1)

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 The turbine efficiency can then be obtained from the turbine
characteristic using the known values of N/√/T03 and p03/po4 and the
turbine temperature drop can be calculated from

the compressor temperature rise for the point selected on the

compressor characteristic can be similarly calculated as

The net power output corresponding to the selected operating point is

then found from Net power output =

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EXAMPLE
The following data refer to a single-shaft gas turbine operating at its
design speed.

Compressor characteristic Turbine characteristic

p02/p01 m√T0l/po1 ηc m√T03/po3 ηt

5.0 329.0 0.84 139.0 0.87

4.5 339.0 0.79 (both constant over range of pressure ratio
4.0 342.0 0.75 considered)

Assuming ambient conditions of 1-013 bar and 288 K, a mechanical

efficiency of 98 per cent, and neglecting all pressure losses, calculate
the turbine inlet temperature required for a power output of 3800 kW.

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December 23, 2017 Gas Turbine Performance-Dr.Kassab 7
 Reliability, Availability & Utilization
Reliability and Availability are very useful concepts to apply to the operation of
gas turbines, as indeed they are for many machines and systems. They are
commonly defined in percentages:

Reliability % =
((Period Hours - Unscheduled Hours)/Period Hours) x 100
Unscheduled hours arise from those events inside the envelope of
consideration (ie turbine only, or the whole skid etc) but do not include
unscheduled hours arising from external sources such as an emergency plant
shutdown.

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Availability % =
(Period Hours-(Scheduled Hours+Forced Outage Hours)/Period Hours) x 100

Availability can never be greater than Reliability, and as all gas

turbines require scheduled maintenance it is always lower in
practice. The forced outage hours term covers all events inside the
envelope of consideration causing non-operation including all
those under the unscheduled hours term for reliability.

Again external causes are ignored

Utilization is defined as = Running Time/Period Time

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 If a system has components in series then the overall reliability is
theoretically defined as the product of each individual reliability.
Overall Series Reliability = R1 x R2 x R3 x...

If a system is arranged in a parallel manner then the following applies:

Overall Parallel Reliability = 1 - (1 - R1)(1 - R2)(1 - R3)...
Using 90% individual figures again we get 99.9 % overall.
a much improved result.

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Dimensional Representation & Correction Formulae

There is often a need to rationalize the effects of changes in inlet

pressure and temperature in order to:
1. To conveniently represent performance over a wide range of inlet
conditions on individual component / engine maps.
2. To allow a comparison of actual performance data with other
recorded data at different times / conditions or for different gas
turbines.
3. Understand the schedule of compressor airflow devices such as bleed
valves and variable inlet guide vanes.

December 23, 2017 Gas Turbine Performance-Dr.Kassab 11

Semi-dimensional rotational speed = N /√T
where N is the actual rotational speed.

Semi-dimensional massflow / airflow = m√T/P

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December 23, 2017 Gas Turbine Performance-Dr.Kassab 13