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A Useful Equation for Gas Turbine Design

Article  in  Mechanical engineering (New York, N.Y.: 1919) · March 2018

DOI: 10.1115/1.2018-MAR-8

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 As the A Useful Equation for Gas
Turbine Design
Turbine “The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to
make complicated things simple.” [1]. Certainly we as engineers know this to
be the case!

Turns... With this clear statement in mind, I would like to go over a simple
mathematical equation that explains some gas turbine phenomena and
design in a straightforward and elegant way. This equation is written in
terms of the variables X1, X2 and X12, where 0≤X≤1.0 and X12 is given by

#33 March 2018 X12 = X1 + X2 – X1X2 (1)

I have come to call (1) a nonlinear superposition expression, since it is

composed of a sum of X1 and X2 (superpositioning) minus the nonlinear
product X1X2. A plot of X12 yields a segment of the surface of a hyperbolic
paraboloid, bounded by 0≤X≤1.0.

Combined Cycle Powerplant

Efficiency
One practical use of Eq. (1) results in an expression for the efficiency of a
combined cycle gas turbine/steam powerplant. The sketch in Fig. 1 shows a
Lee S. Langston, Professor Emeritus
schematic of a combined cycle powerplant consisting of a Brayton cycle (gas
University of Connecticut
turbine) whose exhaust provides energy to a Rankine cycle (steam turbine).
Mechanical Engineering Dept.
Using just the First Law of Thermodynamics and the definition of thermal
efficiency (useful energy output/costly energy input), the combined cycle
efficiency, ηcc, becomes (Horlock [2])

ηcc = ηB + ηR - ηBηR (2)

Where ηB = WB/Qin and ηR = WR/QBR are the thermal efficiencies of the Brayton
and Rankine cycles respectively. Thus ηcc is directly analogous to the general
nonlinear superposition equation given in (1).

Taking ηB = 40% and ηR = 30%, the sum minus the product in Eq. (2) yields ηcc =
58%, a value of combined cycle efficiency greater than either of the individual
efficiencies - - which is the secret of success of this modern power plant.

Film Cooling Effectiveness

Since at least the 1960s, film cooling, the use of air films bled from the
compressor and directed onto the external surfaces of superalloy turbine
airfoils and combustion liners, have been utilized by gas turbine designers.
This has allowed thermal efficiency enhancing turbine temperatures to be
dramatically increased, far above superalloy melting points.
The non-dimensional heat transfer variable e, (where 0≤e≤1.0) is called
the film cooling effectiveness. It is used by gas turbine designers to define
heat transfer coefficients for film cooling heat load calculations that are

52 | March 2018
 Source
Gas Turbine
ηB
Combined
Cycle
Efficiency
Heat Exchanger
ηcc
Steam Turbine
ηR
Sink
Figure 1: Schematic for a combined cycle gas turbine Powerplant
independent of gas temperature differences. In practice,
values of e start at 1.0 at the injection site, and decrease
rapidly downstream of coolant slots or rows of holes, due to
the strong turbulent dispersion of the film.
Thus, multiple film cooling rows, introduced by slots or rows
of holes mounted sequentially in a stream-wise direction may
be required. An additive method, first developed by Sellers [3]
has been widely used to account for values of e downstream
of multiple cooling film injections, treating the coolant as
confined stratified layers. Using the Sellers model, the
Heat load (reduced by film cooling)
1 2
Figure 2: Two cooling films injected into a turbine airfoil flow.
resulting film cooling effectiveness, e12 of two rows of slots or
holes (see Fig. 2) is given by
e12 = e1 + e2 – e1e2
where e1 and e2 are the values of e for each row individually.
The effect of a third row, e3, can be additively accounted by
treating (3) as one row and obtaining a like expression for e123,
and so on, for additional rows.
Thus, we see that (3), for gas turbine film cooling, has the
same nonlinear superposition form as Equ. (1).
V i e w p u b l i c a t i o
Engine Component Heat
Transfer Estimates
Qin
Frequently, one can use simple but exact one-dimensional
(1-D) heat conduction solutions to estimate the heat
WB loss or gain of gas turbine components under transient
conditions. These easy-to-use solutions are found in most
undergraduate heat transfer texts.
QBR Hot Exhaust
As an example, consider the case of estimating the amount
of heat transfer per unit span, Q, that occurs to a high
pressure compressor blade during an engine surge, relative
to its stored internal energy Qo (based on the surge gas
temperature, T∞). (A surge is the sudden reversal of flow in
Steam
the compressor, accompanied by a sudden rise in compressor
gas path temperatures [4].).
WR We consider a low cambered high compressor blade to be
modeled as a rectangular bar, with a chord of 2L1 and an
average thickness of 2L2 . The transient temperatures in this
2-D bar is then given by the product of the exact 1-D solutions
Qout
[5] of transient conditions in two infinite plates of thickness
2L1 and 2L2.
It follows [5] that the per unit span heat transfer to the
compressor blade, Q, is then given by
Q Q1 Q2 Q1 Q2
= + - (4)
Q0 Q01 Q02 Q01 Q02
where the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the 1-D exact solutions
for the two infinite plates. Again, (4) has the same form as (1).
Conclusion
In summary, we see that three widely different gas turbine
phenomena and design cases given by Equs. (2), (3) and (4),
all have the simple, nonlinear superposition form, given by
Equ. (1). The reader might try to find other situations that are
described by Equ. (1), assuredly making complicated things
simple, by mathematics!
References
1. Gudder, Stanley, Mathematics Department, University of Denver,
Colorado.
2. Horlock, J.H., 1992, Combined Power Plants, Pergamon Press.
3. Sellers, John P., Jr., 1963, “Gaseous Film Cooling with Multiple
Injection Stations”, AIAA Journal, Sept., Vol. 1, No. 9, pp. 2154-2155.
4. Langston, Lee S., 2017, “Out Through the Intake”, Mechanical
Engineering Magazine, April, pp. 36-41.
5. Langston, L.S., 1982, “Heat Transfer from Multidimensional Objects
Using One-Dimensional Solutions for Heat Loss”, International
(3) Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 149-150.
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