TURBOMACHINES

(ME252)

Credits -3

1
 Syllabus

• Apply thermodynamic concepts to understand the

working of turbomachines

• Understand the working of gas turbine plant

components and analyse their performance 2
 Syllabus (cont.)

• Analyse the steam power plant cycles

• Design steam nozzles and steam turbines. 3

 Reading resources
1. Ganesan, V., Gas Turbines 3/e, Tata McGraw Hill Book
Company, New Delhi, 2010.

2. Vasandani, V.P. and Kumar, D.S., Treatise on Heat

Engineering, Chand and Co Publishers, New Delhi, 2011.

Video lectures

Lecture series on Turbomachinery Aerodynamics by Prof. Bhaskar

Roy and Prof. A M Pradeep IIT, Bombay. For more details on NPTEL
visit http://nptel.ac.in
4
 Evaluation scheme
Marks Tentative dates

Assignments 10 1st assign. due

(2) date 02 Oct
2nd assign. due
date 20 Nov
Minor 1 10 Sept 28 - Oct 3
Minor 2 10 Nov 16 - Nov 20
Mid semester 30 Oct 15 - Oct 22
exam

End semester 40 Dec 14 – Dec 21

exam 5
 Turbomachines
• “Turbo” has originated from Latin word “Turbinis” and this
means “which spins”

• Turbomachines transfer energy to/from the fluid through

dynamic action of rotating blades. Turbomachines modifies
the enthalpy of working fluid.

• Turbomachinery is an important application area for

engineers.

• Solution to turbomachinery problems require a thorough

understanding of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and
other allied subjects like gas dynamics and heat transfer.
6
 Classification

 Based on mode of energy transfer

- shaft power fluid e.g. pumps, fans, compressors
[Power absorbing devices]
- fluid shaft power e.g. steam, gas, hydraulic turbines
[ Power producing devices]

7
 Classification (cont.)

 Based on working medium

- deals with liquids in general (water in particular). e.g.
hydraulic turbines, pumps
- deals with vapour and gases in general and air in particular
e.g. gas turbines, steam turbines, compressor, blower, fan

8
 Classification (cont.)
 Based on type of flow
- Incompressible flow : liquid and gas at low Mach number
(hydo-turbomachines, blowers, fans)
- compressible flow: gas at high Mach number (> 0.3) or 5%
change in density e.g. high-speed pressure-ratio compressors,
steam and gas turbines

9
 Classification (cont.)
 Based on the direction of flow
- irrespective of fluid type, turbomachines are classified as
axial, radial and mixed flow ones depending on the path
taken by the flow

• When the path of the through-flow is

wholly or mainly parallel to the axis
of rotation, the device is termed an
axial flow turbo-machine. E.g.
Compressor of turbojet engine, fans,
Kaplan turbine 10
• When the path of the through-flow
is wholly or mainly in a plane
perpendicular to the rotation axis,
the device is termed a radial flow
turbo-machine.

• Mixed flow turbo-machines are widely

used. The term mixed flow refers to the
direction of the through-flow at rotor
outlet when both radial and axial
velocity components are present in
significant amounts.
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Terminology

12
in AinVin  out AoutVout

13
pressure rise 14 kPa

pressure rise 14-69 kPa

Pressure rise > 69 kPa

14
 Prime movers
• Prime movers are the primary source of mechanical energy
or power. They are often called “driving equipment”.

• Human mussel

• Trained animals

Time
• Wind mill
• Water mill
• Machines • Steam engine
• Steam turbine plant
• Diesel engine
• Gasoline engine
• Gas turbine
15
• Electric motor
 Prime movers
• In 19th century the important prime mover for power
generation and marine applications is steam turbine

• Primary disadvantage is the need of high-temperature and

high-pressure steam

- Involves a bulk and expensive steam-generation

equipment (a boiler or nuclear reactor)

• What if the steam generation part is eliminated and hot

gases are directly used???
- Diesel engine, gasoline engine, Gas turbine unit
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 Operation of gasoline
engine

Piston

Cylinder

17
 A simple gas turbine
• In the 20th century only intense efforts have been made to design and
development of efficient gas turbine units

• To produce power from a turbine through an expansion a pressure

ration is needed.

• The first necessary step in the cycle of a gas turbine plant must be
compression of the working fluid.

• if no losses, power developed by turbine is equal to power consumed

by the compressor

• Power developed by turbine can be increased by raising the inlet

temperature of turbine

• One way to do is by burning fuel in the compressed air

18
A simple gas turbine
Heat addition Expansion process

Compression process Heat rejection

Brayton cycle
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 Performance of gas turbine

Depends on

- Efficiencies of various components

(compressor efficiency up to 90 %)

- inlet temperature of the turbine (up to 1500 K)

(limited by the strength of the material)

- high pressure ratios (20:1)

20
Advantages of gas turbines

• High power-to-weight ratio

• Absence of reciprocating parts (reduces

vibration and balancing problem)

• High reliability

• Low lubricating-oil consumption

 Combustion systems
• Constant-volume type
- higher thermal efficiency
- combustion is intermittent
- discontinued after initial attempts
due to mechanical difficulties

• Constant-pressure type
- combustion is continuous
- no valves are needed
- used in present gas turbines
Turbojet engine

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24
 Some points about gas turbines
• Compression, combustion and expansion occur in
different components
• Each part can be designed, tested and developed
separately
• Additional components can be added to increase
the power output and thermal efficiency
- more compressors with intercoolers
- more turbines with reheat combustion
chambers 25
 Basics of heat transfer
Thermodynamics deals
• Amount of heat transferred
• Amount of work done
• Final state of the system

Heat transfer tells us

• How (by which mechanism) heat is transferred
• At what rate heat is transferred
• Temperature distribution within the body

26
 Heat transfer
• Heat transfer is
energy in transit
due to temperature
difference

• If there exists a
temperature
difference in a
medium or between
media, heat transfer
must occur.
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• The transfer of energy
as heat is always from
the higher temperature
medium to the lower-
temperature one.

• Heat transfer stops

when the two mediums
reach the same
temperature. 28
Heat transfer processes or modes

Conduction

Convection

Radiation

29
 Conduction
• Conduction refers to the heat transfer process that occurs in a
stationary medium due to temperature gradient

• It maybe viewed as the transfer of energy from the more energetic

particles of a substance to the adjacent less energetic particles due to
interaction between the particles

30
 Mechanism of heat conduction

• In liquids and gases

- conduction is due to collisions and diffusion of

molecules during their random motion.

• In solids

- energy transfer is due to vibration of the atoms in

a lattice or due to the free movement of electrons.
 Heat transfer rate = heat flow per unit
time

Fourier’s law is based on experimental evidence 32

 Thermal conductivity
• Thermal conductivity: The rate of heat transfer through a unit
thickness of the material per unit area per unit temperature
difference.

• The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to

conduct heat.

• A high value for thermal conductivity indicates that the material is a

good heat conductor, and a low value indicates that the material is

a poor heat conductor or insulator.

(In general)
k of solid > k of liquid > k of gas 33
The range of
thermal
conductivity of
various
materials at
room
temperature.

34
The variation of the
thermal conductivity
of various solids,
liquids, and gases
with temperature.
Thermal Diffusivity
• tells how fast heat diffuses through a
material

cp Specific heat, J/kg · °C: Heat capacity

per unit mass
cp Heat capacity, J/m3·°C: Heat capacity
per unit volume

• The larger the thermal diffusivity, the

faster the propagation of heat into the
medium.
• A small value of thermal diffusivity
means that heat is mostly absorbed by
the material and a small amount of heat
is conducted further.
 Convection
Heat transfer due to convection involves the energy
exchange between a surface and an adjacent fluid
when they are at different temperatures

37
The faster the fluid motion,
the greater the convection
heat transfer.

In the absence of any bulk

fluid motion, heat transfer
between a solid surface
and the adjacent fluid is by
pure conduction.

38
39
40
 (Newton’s Law of Cooling)

A - area normal to
direction of heat transfer;
h - convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

h is an experimentally determined parameter 41

42
 Radiation
• Heat transfer due to radiation involves transfer of energy due to
electromagnetic waves or photons (no medium required)

• In fact, heat transfer by radiation is fastest (at the speed of light) and it
suffers no attenuation in a vacuum. This is how the energy of the sun
reaches the earth.
43
 Eb   Ts4 (W / m 2 ) Stefan–Boltzmann law

 = 5.670  108 W/m2 · K4 Stefan–Boltzmann constant

Blackbody: The idealized surface that emits

radiation at the maximum rate.

Heat flux emitted

Eb   T s
4
(W / m ) 2
by real surfaces

Emissivity  : A measure of how closely

a surface approximates a blackbody for
which  = 1 of the surface. 0   1.

• Blackbody radiation represents the

maximum amount of radiation that can be
emitted from a surface at a specified
temperature.

• Irrespective of the source, we designate the

rate at which all radiation incident on a unit area
of the surface as the irradiation G 44
• Net radiation heat transfer:
The difference between the
rates of radiation emitted by
the surface and the radiation
absorbed.
• The determination of the
net rate of heat transfer by
radiation between two
surfaces is a complicated
matter since it depends on
 the properties of the
surfaces
 their orientation relative to
each other
 the interaction of the
medium between the
surfaces with radiation
• Radiation is a dominant
mode of heat transfer at
high temperatures
• When a surface is completely enclosed by
a much larger (or black) surface at
temperature Tsurr separated by a gas (such
as air) that does not intervene with
radiation, the net rate of radiation heat
transfer between these two surfaces is
given by
qrad   As Ts4  Tsurr 
4
(W )
E
G
Radiation heat transfer between a
surface and the surfaces surrounding it. 45
Key points about modes of
heat transfer

46
Numerical

47
Surface emissive power, E

Irradiation, G

48
 Heat loss, q = qconv + qrad

the pipe to the radiation exchange

room air by convection between pipe and walls

The heat loss per unit length is

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