Gas‐Turbine Cycle (Open )

Fuel

Combustion
chamber Turbine

Shaft

Wnet
Compressor

Combustion
Air products

Fig.1: Schematic for an open gas-turbine cycle.

This topic includes

i. Brayton Cycle
ii. Regeneration Cycle
iii. Cycle with Inter cooling

Working Principal
The basic operation of the gas turbine is a Brayton cycle with air as the working fluid. Fresh
atmospheric air flows through the compressor that brings it to higher pressure. Energy is then
added by spraying fuel into the air and igniting it so the combustion generates a high-
temperature flow. This high-temperature high-pressure gas enters a turbine, where it expands
down to the exhaust pressure, producing a shaft work output in the process. The turbine shaft
work is used to drive the compressor; the energy that is not used for compressing the working
fluid comes out in the exhaust gases that can be used to do external work.

Fresh air enters the compressor at ambient temperature where its pressure and
temperature are increased.
The high pressure air enters the combustion chamber where the fuel is burned at constant
pressure.
The high temperature (and pressure) gas enters the turbine where it expands to ambient

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 pressure and produces work.
Features:
 Gas-turbine is used in aircraft propulsion and electric power generation.
 High thermal efficiency up to 44%.
 Suitable for combined cycles (with steam power plant) will study later in next lecture.
 High power to weight ratio, high reliability, long life
 Fast start up time, about 2 min, compared to 4 hr for steam-propulsion systems
 High back work ratio (ratio of compressor work to the turbine work), up to 50%,
compared to few percent in steam power plants.

Brayton Cycle
Brayton cycle is the ideal cycle for gas-turbine engines in which the working fluid
undergoes a closed loop. That is the combustion and exhaust processes are modeled by
constant-pressure heat addition and rejection, respectively.
The Brayton ideal cycle is made up of four internally reversible processes:

1-2 isentropic compression (in compressor)

2-3 const. pressure heat-addition (in combustion chamber)

3-4 isentropic expansion (in turbine)

4-1 const. pressure heat rejection (exhaust)

T
3 P
QH QH 3
2
P= Const.
2 Isentropic
4
QL Isentropic
P = Const. 4
1 s 1 QL
v

Fig. 2: T-s and P-v diagrams for ideal Brayton cycle.

Thermal efficiency for the Brayton cycle is:

2
 The thermal efficiency in terms of the compressor pressure ratio (PR = p2/p1), which is the
parameter commonly used:

where RP is called the pressure ration and k = cp /cv is the specific heat ratio.

Maximum Pressure Ratio

Given that the maximum and minimum temperature can be prescribed for the Brayton
cycle, a change in the pressure ratio can result in a change in the work output from the
cycle.
The maximum temperature in the cycle T3 is limited by metallurgical conditions because
the turbine blades cannot sustain temperatures above 1300 K. Higher temperatures (up to
1600 K can be obtained with ceramic turbine blades). The minimum temperature is set by
the air temperature at the inlet to the engine.

Fig. 3: An optimum pressure ratio exists for a given max., min. temperature ratio that
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 maximized the net work output.

Actual Brayton Cycle

Irreversibilities exist in actual cycle. Most important differences are deviations of actual
compressor and turbine from idealized isentropic compression/expansion, and pressure
drop in combustion chamber.
T Pressure drop

3
Pressure drop
4a
2s
4s
2a

1 s

Fig. 4: Actual Brayton cycle.

w w
  s  h2 s  h1   a  h3  h4a
wa h2a  h1 ws h3  h4 s
c T

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 Thermal Efficiency Improvement – Brayton Cycle
There are several methods, how can be the thermal efficiency of the Brayton cycle
improved. Assuming that the maximum temperature is limited by metallurgical
consideration, these methods are:
 Increasing compression Ratio
 Heat Regeneration
 Reheat- Reheaters
 Compression with Inter cooling

The Brayton Cycle with Regeneration

The high pressure air leaving the compressor can be heated by transferring heat from
exhaust gases in a counter-flow heat exchanger which is called a regenerator.
Regenerator
6
Combustion 4
chamber Combustion
Q
products
2 3
5 Wnet

Turbine
Shaft

Compressor
Air 1

Fig. 5: Schematic for a Brayton with regenerator.

5
 T 3

QH
5’ 4

Qregen 5
Regeneration
Qregen
6
2

QL
1 s

Fig. 6: T-s diagram for a Brayton cycle with regeneration.

In the ideal case, the air exits the regenerator at the inlet temperature of the exhaust gases,
T4. One can write:
qregen, actual = h5 – h2
qregen, max = h5’ – h2 = h4 – h2
The effectiveness of regenerator is defined as:
qregen,act h5  h2  T5  T2 assuming cold - air - standard conditions
  
qregen,max h4  h2 T4  T2

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
The Brayton Cycle with Intercooling, Reheating, and Regeneration
The net work output of the cycle can be increased by reducing the work input to the
compressor and/or by increasing the work output from turbine (or both).
Using multi-stage compression with intercooling reduces the work input the compressor.
As the number of stages is increased, the compression process becomes nearly isothermal
at the compressor inlet temperature, and the compression work decreases.
Likewise utilizing multistage expansion with reheat (in a multi-turbine arrangement) will
increase the work produced by turbines.
10 Regenerator

QReheater
5 QH
9
Reheater
1 4 Combustion
6
Compressor 1 chamber 7 8
Wnet

Compressor 2 Turbine 1 Turbine 2

2 3

Intercooler

QIntercooler

Fig. 7: A gas-turbine engine with two-stage compression with intercooling, two-stage

expansion with reheating, and regeneration.
When intercooling and reheating are used, regeneration becomes more attractive since a
greater potential for regeneration exists.
The back work ratio of a gas-turbine improves as a result of intercooling and reheating.
However; intercooling and reheating decreases thermal efficiency unless they are
accompanied with regeneration.

T Qin
Qin 6
8

5 9
Qregen. 7
2
4 7 10
Qout
3 Qout 1 s
 Fig. 8: T-s diagram for an ideal gas-turbine cycle with intercooling, reheating, and
regeneration.
As shown in Fig. 8:
T1 = T3, T2 = T4
In an ideal regenerator, T5 = T9. In practice (actual regenerator), T5 < T9.
T8 = T6, T7 = T9
The net work input to a two-stage compressor is minimized when equal pressure ratios
are maintained across each stage. That is:
P2 P4

P1 P3
This procedure also maximizes the turbine work output.
P6 P8

P7 P9

Closed gas turbine brayton cycle

Reference
[1]
https://www.sfu.ca/~mbahrami/ENSC%20461/Notes/Brayton%20Cycle.pdf