Advanced Modeling of Fluid Thermodynamic Properties for Gas Turbine Performance Simulation

Author(s):  
Vishal Sethi ◽  
Fulvio Diara ◽  
Sina Atabak ◽  
Anthony Jackson ◽  
Arjun Bala ◽  
...  

This paper describes the structure of an advanced fluid thermodynamic model which has been developed for a novel advanced gas turbine simulation environment called PROOSIS. PROOSIS (PRopulsion Object Oriented SImulation Software) is part of the VIVACE-ECP (Value Improvement through a Virtual Aeronautical Collaborative Enterprise - European Cycle Programme) project. The main objective of the paper is to determine a way to achieve an accurate, robust and reliable fluid model. The results obtained demonstrate that accurate modeling of the working fluid is essential to avoid convergence problems of the thermodynamic functions thereby increasing the accuracy of calculated fluid properties. Additionally, the impact of accurately modeling fuel thermodynamic properties, at the point of the injection, is discussed.

Author(s):  
Konstantinos G. Kyprianidis ◽  
Vishal Sethi ◽  
Stephen O. T. Ogaji ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Riti Singh ◽  
...  

In this two-part publication, various aspects of thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines are described and their impact on performance calculations and emissions predictions at aircraft system level is assessed. Accurate and reliable fluid modelling is essential for any gas turbine performance simulation software as it provides a robust foundation for building advanced multi-disciplinary modelling capabilities. Caloric properties for generic and semi-generic gas turbine performance simulation codes can be calculated at various levels of fidelity; selection of the fidelity level is dependent upon the objectives of the simulation and execution time constraints. However, rigorous fluid modelling may not necessarily improve performance simulation accuracy unless all modelling assumptions and sources of uncertainty are aligned to the same level. Certain modelling aspects such as the introduction of chemical kinetics, and dissociation effects, may reduce computational speed and this is of significant importance for radical space exploration and novel propulsion cycle assessment. This paper describes and compares fluid models, based on different levels of fidelity, which have been developed for an industry standard gas turbine performance simulation code and an environmental assessment tool for novel propulsion cycles. The latter comprises the following modules: engine performance, aircraft performance, emissions prediction, and environmental impact. The work presented aims to fill the current literature gap by: (i) investigating the common assumptions made in thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines and their effect on caloric properties and (ii) assessing the impact of uncertainties on performance calculations and emissions predictions at aircraft system level. In Part I of this two-part publication, a comprehensive analysis of thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines is presented and the fluid models developed are discussed in detail. Common technical models, used for calculating caloric properties, are compared while typical assumptions made in fluid modelling, and the uncertainties induced, are examined. Several analyses, which demonstrate the effects of composition, temperature and pressure on caloric properties of working mediums for gas turbines, are presented. The working mediums examined include dry air and combustion products for various fuels and H/C ratios. The errors induced by ignoring dissociation effects are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Konstantinos G. Kyprianidis ◽  
Vishal Sethi ◽  
Stephen O. T. Ogaji ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Riti Singh ◽  
...  

In this two-part publication, various aspects of thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines are described and their impact on performance calculations and emissions predictions at aircraft system level is assessed. Accurate and reliable fluid modelling is essential for any gas turbine performance simulation software as it provides a robust foundation for building advanced multi-disciplinary modelling capabilities. Caloric properties for generic and semi-generic gas turbine performance simulation codes can be calculated at various levels of fidelity; selection of the fidelity level is dependent upon the objectives of the simulation and execution time constraints. However, rigorous fluid modelling may not necessarily improve performance simulation accuracy unless all modelling assumptions and sources of uncertainty are aligned to the same level. Certain modelling aspects such as the introduction of chemical kinetics, and dissociation effects, may reduce computational speed and this is of significant importance for radical space exploration and novel propulsion cycle assessment. This paper describes and compares fluid models, based on different levels of fidelity, which have been developed for an industry standard gas turbine performance simulation code and an environmental assessment tool for novel propulsion cycles. The latter comprises the following modules: engine performance, aircraft performance, emissions prediction, and environmental impact. The work presented aims to fill the current literature gap by: (i) investigating the common assumptions made in thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines and their effect on caloric properties and (ii) assessing the impact of uncertainties on performance calculations and emissions predictions at aircraft system level. In Part II of this two-part publication, the uncertainty induced in performance calculations by common technical models, used for calculating caloric properties, is discussed at engine level. The errors induced by ignoring dissociation are examined at 3 different levels: i) component level, ii) engine level, and iii) aircraft system level. Essentially, an attempt is made to shed light on the trade-off between improving the accuracy of a fluid model and the accuracy of a multi-disciplinary simulation at aircraft system level, against computational time penalties. The results obtained demonstrate that accurate modelling of the working fluid is not always essential; the accuracy/uncertainty for an overall engine model will always be better than the mean accuracy/uncertainty of the individual component estimates as long as systematic errors are carefully examined and reduced to acceptable levels to ensure error propagation does not cause significant discrepancies. Computational time penalties induced by improving the accuracy of the fluid model as well as the validity of the ideal gas assumption for future turbofan engines and novel propulsion cycles are discussed.


Author(s):  
K G Kyprianidis ◽  
V Sethi ◽  
S O T Ogaji ◽  
P Pilidis ◽  
R Singh ◽  
...  

In this article, various aspects of thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines are described and the impact on performance calculations and emissions predictions at aircraft system level is assessed. Accurate and reliable fluid modelling is essential for any gas turbine performance simulation software as it provides a robust foundation for building advanced multi-disciplinary modelling capabilities. Caloric properties for generic and semi-generic gas turbine performance simulation codes can be calculated at various levels of fidelity; selection of the fidelity level is dependent upon the objectives of the simulation and execution time constraints. However, rigorous fluid modelling may not necessarily improve performance simulation accuracy unless all modelling assumptions and sources of uncertainty are aligned to the same level. A comprehensive analysis of thermo-fluid modelling for gas turbines is presented, and the fluid models developed are discussed in detail. Common technical models, used for calculating caloric properties, are compared while typical assumptions made in fluid modelling, and the uncertainties induced, are examined. Several analyses, which demonstrate the effects of composition, temperature, and pressure on caloric properties of working media for gas turbines, are presented. The working media examined include dry air and combustion products for various fuels and H/C ratios. The uncertainty induced in calculations by (a) using common technical models for evaluating fluid caloric properties and (b) ignoring dissociation effects is examined at three different levels: (i) component level, (ii) engine level, and (iii) aircraft system level. An attempt is made to shed light on the trade-off between improving the accuracy of a fluid model and the accuracy of a multi-disciplinary simulation at aircraft system level, against computational time penalties. The validity of the ideal gas assumption for future turbofan engines and novel propulsion cycles is discussed. The results obtained demonstrate that accurate modelling of the working fluid is essential, especially for assessing novel and/or aggressive cycles at aircraft system level. Where radical design space exploration is concerned, improving the accuracy of the fluid model will need to be carefully balanced with the computational time penalties involved.


Author(s):  
Ronan M. Kavanagh ◽  
Geoffrey T. Parks

The STIG, HAT and TOPHAT cycles lie at the centre of the debate on which humid power cycle will deliver optimal performance when applied to an aero-derivative gas turbine and, indeed, when such cycles will be implemented. Of these humid cycles, it has been claimed that the TOPHAT cycle has the highest efficiency and specific work, followed closely by the HAT (Humid Air Turbine) and then the STIG (STeam Injected Gas turbine) cycle. In this study, the systems have been simulated using consistent thermodynamic and economic models for the components and working fluid properties, allowing a consistent and non-biased appraisal of these systems. Part 1 of these two papers focussed on the thermodynamic performance and the impact of the system parameters on the performance, part 2 studies the economic performance of these cycles. The three humid power systems and up to ten system parameters are optimised using a multi-objective Tabu Search algorithm, developed in the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre.


Author(s):  
Ronan M. Kavanagh ◽  
Geoffrey T. Parks

The STIG, HAT and TOPHAT cycles lie at the centre of the debate on which humid power cycle will deliver optimal performance when applied to an aero-derivative gas turbine and, indeed, when such cycles will be implemented. Of these humid cycles, it has been claimed that the TOPHAT cycle has the highest efficiency and specific work, followed closely by the HAT (Humid Air Turbine) and then the STIG (STeam Injected Gas turbine) cycle. In this study, the systems have been simulated using consistent thermodynamic and economic models for the components and working fluid properties, allowing a consistent and non-biased appraisal of these systems. Part 1 of these two papers focusses purely on the thermodynamic performance and the impact of the system parameters on the performance, part 2 will study the economic performance. The three humid power systems and up to ten system parameters are optimised using a multi-objective Tabu Search algorithm, developed in the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre.


Author(s):  
K. Mathioudakis ◽  
N. Aretakis ◽  
A. Tsalavoutas

The paper presents an analysis of the effect of changing the fuel on the performance of industrial gas turbines and examines the impact of such a change on methods used for engine condition assessment and fault diagnostics. A similar analysis is presented for the effects of water injection in the combustion chamber (which is usually done for reducing NOx emissions). First, the way of incorporating the effect of fuel changes and water injection into a computer model of gas turbine performance is described. The approach employed is based on the change of (a) working fluid properties, (b) turbomachinery components performance. The model is then used to derive parameters indicative of the “health” of a gas turbine and thus diagnose the presence of deterioration or faults. The impact of ignoring the presence of an altered fuel or injected water is shown to be of a magnitude that would render a diagnostic technique that does not incorporate these effects ineffective. On the other hand, employing the appropriate physical modeling makes the diagnostic methods robust and insensitive to such changes, being thus able to provide useful diagnostic information continuously during the use of a gas turbine.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 612-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Ulizar ◽  
P. Pilidis

This paper describes the performance analysis of a semiclosed-cycle gas turbine. The working fluid is carbon dioxide and the fuel is low heating value gas synthesized from coal. The objective of the machine is to produce clean electricity with the smallest efficiency penalty. First, the thermodynamic properties of the gases in the cycle were obtained as a function of temperature and pressure. Then two performance simulation codes were developed. These have the ability of simulating different configurations of open, closed, and semiclosed cycles. The first code was used for cycle optimization and the second for off-design studies. The design and off-design performances of the machine are predicted. The production of clean electricity will be at the expense of a lower efficiency compared with current equipment. Finally, some critical issues for the development of such a gas turbine are identified.


Author(s):  
Elias Tsoutsanis ◽  
Nader Meskin ◽  
Mohieddine Benammar ◽  
Khashayar Khorasani

In fossil fuel applications, such as air transportation and power generation systems, gas turbine is the prime mover which governs the aircraft’s propulsive and the plant’s thermal efficiency, respectively. Therefore, an accurate engine performance simulation has a significant impact on the operation and maintenance of gas turbines as far as reliability and availability considerations are concerned. Current trends in achieving stable engine operation, reliable fault diagnosis and prognosis requirements do motivate the development and implementation of real-time dynamic simulators for gas turbines that are sufficiently complex, highly nonlinear, have high fidelity and include fast response modules. This paper presents a gas turbine performance model for predicting the transient dynamic behavior of an aeroderivative engine that is suitable for both mechanical drive and power generation applications. The engine model has been developed in the Matlab/Simulink environment and combines both the inter-component volume and the constant mass flow methods. Dynamic equations of the mass momentum and the energy balance are incorporated into the steady state thermodynamic equations. This allows one to represent the engine model by a set of first order differential and algebraic equations. The developed Simulink model in an object oriented environment, can be easily adapted to any kind of gas turbine configuration. The model consists of a number of subsystems for representing the gas turbine’s components and the thermodynamic relationships among them. The components are represented by a set of suitable performance maps that are available from the open literature. The engine model has been validated with an established gas turbine performance simulation software. Time responses of the main variables that describe the gas turbine dynamic behavior are also included. The proposed gas turbine model with its dynamic simulation characteristics is a useful tool for development of real-time model-based diagnostics and prognostics technologies.


Author(s):  
Emmanuel O. Osigwe ◽  
Arnold Gad-Briggs ◽  
Theoklis Nikolaidis ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Suresh Sampath

One major challenge to the accurate development of performance simulation tool for component-based nuclear power plant engine models is the difficulty in accessing component performance maps; hence, researchers or engineers often rely on estimation approach using various scaling techniques. This paper describes a multi-fluid scaling approach used to determine the component characteristics of a closed-cycle gas turbine plant from an existing component map with their design data, which can be applied for different working fluids as may be required in closed-cycle gas turbine operations to adapt data from one component map into a new component map. Each component operation is defined by an appropriate change of state equations which describes its thermodynamic behavior, thus, a consideration of the working fluid properties is of high relevance to the scaling approach. The multi-fluid scaling technique described in this paper was used to develop a computer simulation tool called GT-ACYSS, which can be valuable for analyzing the performance of closed-cycle gas turbine operations with different working fluids. This approach makes it easy to theoretically scale existing map using similar or different working fluids without carrying out a full experimental test or repeating the whole design and development process. The results of selected case studies show a reasonable agreement with available data.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Michele Marconcini ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Massimiliano Maritano ◽  
Stefano Cecchi

In this work a numerical investigation of a four stage heavy-duty gas turbine is presented. Fully three-dimensional, multistage, Navier-Stokes analyses are carried out to predict the overall turbine performance. Coolant injections, cavity purge flows, and leakage flows are included in the turbine modeling by means of suitable wall boundary conditions. The main objective is the evaluation of the impact of gas modeling on the prediction of the stage and turbine performance parameters. To this end, four different gas models were used: three models are based on the perfect gas assumption with different values of constant cp, and the fourth is a real gas model which accounts for thermodynamic gas properties variations with temperature and mean fuel∕air ratio distribution in the through-flow direction. For the real gas computations, a numerical model is used which is based on the use of gas property tables, and exploits a local fitting of gas data to compute thermodynamic properties. Experimental measurements are available for comparison purposes in terms of static pressure values at the inlet∕outlet of each row and total temperature at the turbine exit.


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