Desa2011 PDF
Desa2011 PDF
Desa2011 PDF
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The difference between the actual power generated by a gas turbine and the design rated power tagged
Received 4 November 2010 on the gas turbine is observed whenever a gas turbine operates at site ambient conditions that vary from
Accepted 28 April 2011 the stipulated ISO conditions. A detailed study and extensive logging of data has endorsed the well
Available online 12 June 2011
known existence of a direct relationship between the ambient temperature and the de-rating of gas
turbine power output. The paper proposes an empirical relationship between the gas turbine’s ability to
Keywords:
generate power when exposed to site ambient conditions, such as the ambient temperature, which differ
Gas turbine power
from ISO conditions. For every K rise in ambient temperature above ISO conditions the Gas Turbine loses
Efficiency
Ambient temperature
0.1% in terms of thermal efficiency and 1.47 MW of its Gross (useful) Power Output. This established
Empirical relationship relationship will assist the proper assessment of local power generation for installation planning and
forecasting with special reference to Middle-eastern countries which are rapidly developing the appli-
cation of Gas Turbine Inlet Air Cooling (GTIAC) technologies. This study was conducted for specific
turbines SGT 94.2 and SGT 94.3 installed at the DEWA Power Station located at Al Aweer, H Phase II and
III in Dubai, UAE.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1359-4311/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2011.04.045
2736 A. De Sa, S. Al Zubaidy / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2735e2739
de-rates the gas turbine’s performance [5]. In case studies carried temperature with special reference to middle-eastern desert
out previously, the effect of ambient temperature on electricity conditions has not been generally undertaken.
production and fuel consumption of a simple cycle plant has been
documented at temperatures closer to ISO conditions in Turkey [6].
2.2. Re-visiting the reversible simple (Joule-Brayton) cycle
Further, the performance improvement of the gas turbine is
dependent on the maximum temperature tolerance of the first
Here the original Joule-Brayton cycle (i.e. an internally revers-
stage blades and is also reliant on inter stage cooling at the
ible closed gas turbine cycle 1, 2, 3, 4, with a maximum temperature
compression stage [7]. Several methods and technologies are
T3 ¼ TB and a pressure ratio r) as a standard [2] is used. The
available to augment this power loss but this entails additional
minimum temperature is taken as TA (the ambient temperature) so
plant and equipment installation as well as additional operational
that, T1 ¼ TA. Refer Fig. 2.
requirements [8]. Many of these methods such as use of air cooler
The concept of compressor polytropic efficiency can be devel-
[9], regenerative steam injection [10], effusive blade cooling tech-
oped from considering small compression processes and by using
niques [11e13], use of desiccant-based evaporative cooling [14] or
the Gibbs equation for an ideal (or isentropic) process. Using the
absorption chillers [15] are commonplace. The effect of relative
definition of the isentropic (or overall) compressor efficiency with
humidity [16] on the gas turbine power plant addresses issues of
reference to the pressure ratio the following expression could be
the air cooling [17e19] and enhances compressor efficiency.
written:
However, humidity prior to filtration system imposes a penalty on
gas turbine performance. Analytical methods have been researched
for evaluation of gas turbine performance when subjected to inlet g1
P2 g
air cooling in combined cycle power plant [20]. The effects, whether 1
P1
positive or detrimental on the gas turbine compressor and engine hc ¼ g1
(1)
performance, as well as their operability to use of water cooling ghpc
P2
techniques for inlet air can be effectively assessed for their merits 1
P1
[21]. Also, analytical studies are performed to confirm that
increasing the turbine inlet temperature no longer means an
The same thermodynamic principles can be applied to the gas
increase in cycle efficiency, but increases the work. When applied
turbine expansion process to produce the following:
with intercooled gas turbines, these studies have shown that
increasing turbine inlet temperature and pressure ratio can still
improve the performance of the intercooled gas turbine [22]. hPt g1
P3 g
However, such use of additional plant is seldom encountered in 1
P4
desert conditions, primarily due to the high cost of such application ht ¼
(2)
and its maintenance as water for such application needs to be g1
P3 g
specially generated using desalination technologies, which are high 1
P4
cost applications. The effect of ambient temperature on gas turbine
performance is known. However, the arriving at an empirical Fig. 3 shows the relationships given between the isentropic
relationship between gas turbine power, efficiency and ambient efficiencies of the compressor and the turbine (for a constant
Fig. 4. Behavior of gas turbine SGT 94.2 thermal efficiency under various operating
loads at varying ambient temperature during the performance tests.
Fig. 4 shows the input data associated with the performance test
on the Gas Turbine SGT 94.2. The figure portrays the actual varia-
tion of the thermal efficiency during the operation and perfor-
mance test conducted on the Gas Turbine when the ambient air
temperature undergoes changes at three specific loads (60%, 80%
and 100%). It can be observed that at higher loads the deviation is
Fig. 2. Tes Diagram for reversible closed simple cycle. less pronounced while at lower loads it is much sharper. The
probable reason is that when the Gas Turbine operates at design
base loads with inlet guide vanes in open position, the Gas Turbine
internal polytropic losses are at its minimum. On the other hand the
polytropic efficiency of 0.85) against the pressure ratio. For the
Gas Turbine internal polytropic losses increase when the Gas
compressor, it can be observed that as the pressure ratio increases
Turbine operates at part loads with inlet guide vanes partially open.
(the compressor is bigger), the overall compressor efficiency is
Therefore, it is interesting to note this difference in variance of Gas
penalized. For the turbine it can be observed that the isentropic
Turbine efficiency response in varying ambient temperatures while
efficiency is higher than the polytropic (or small-stage) efficiency.
the Gas Turbine is made to operate at part loads and base loads.
The cycle efficiency could be expressed as:
Fig. 5 highlights the actual variation of the Gas Turbine SGT 94.3
cp ðT3 T4 Þ cp ðT2 T1 Þ thermal efficiency and the useful power output it undergoes versus
h¼ (3) the ambient air temperature at base loads during annual moni-
cp ðT3 T2 Þ
toring exercise conducted on the Gas Turbine. A set of sixteen
Making use of the isentropic relationship between the pressure readings has been selected from the data to give a continuous visual
and temperature, perspective of results as the ambient temperature varies from
approximately 42 K to approximately 20 K. With Gas Turbine at
T2 P P T base load (inlet guide vanes open) it is demonstrated that the useful
¼ 2 ¼ r ¼ 3 ¼ 3 (4)
T1 P1 P4 T4 Power Output varies from approximately 226 MW to 257 MW with
Ambient Temperature dips.
The simple cycle efficiency is readily shown as:
Fig. 6 shows the actual variation of the Gas Turbine SGT 94.3
g1 thermal efficiency with the ambient air temperature and relative
1 g humidity at base loads and at approximately sixty percent of base
h ¼ 1 (5) loads, during annual monitoring exercise conducted on the Gas
r
Turbine. Once again it is interesting to observe that at base loads,
the deviation in thermal efficiency and power output is less
pronounced. The variation in thermal efficiency and useful power
0.95
Polytropic efficiency for compressor and turbine = 0.85
Turbine
0.90
Isentropic efficiency
0.85
0.80 Compressor
0.75
1.00 6.00 11.00 16.00
Pressure ratio
Fig. 5. The behavior of gas turbine SGT 94.3 thermal efficiency and power variance
Fig. 3. Turbine and compressor isentropic efficiency variance with pressure ratio at when at base load at varying ambient temperature during the annual continuous
constant polytropic efficiency. monitored period.
2738 A. De Sa, S. Al Zubaidy / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2735e2739
Table 1
Gas turbine power and efficiency at ambient temperatures different from ISO
condition.
Fig. 7. Behavior of gas turbine SGT 94.3 thermal efficiency under various operating Fig. 8. SGT 94.3 gas turbine thermal efficiency and power output variance at base load
loads at varying ambient temperature during the Performance tests. at varying ambient temperature and varying humidity during annual monitoring.
A. De Sa, S. Al Zubaidy / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2735e2739 2739