ME : Mechanical Engineering

Thermodynamics – Steam Turbine

Lecture  7
1. In the Rankine cycle for a stem power plant the turbine entry and exit enthalpies are 2803 kJ/kg and
1800 kJ/kg, respectively. The enthalpies of water at pump entry and exit are 121 kJ/kg and 124 kJ/kg,
respectively. The specific steam consumption (in kg/kW.h) of the cycle is _________. [GATE-2017]

2. In a steam power plant operating on an ideal Rankine cycle, superheated steam enters the turbine at
3 MPa and 350 C. The condenser pressure is 75 kPa. The thermal efficiency of the cycle is ____ percent.
Given data: [GATE-2016]
3
For saturated liquid, at P = 75 kPa, hf = 384.39 kJ/kg, vf = 0.001037 m /kg, sf = 1.213 kJ/kg-K
At 75 kPa, hfg = 2278.6 kJ/kg, sfg = 6.2434 kJ/kg-K
At P = 3 MPa and T = 350C (superheated steam), h = 3115.3 kJ/kg, s = 6.7428 kJ/kg-K

3. Consider a Rankine cycle with superheat. If the maximum pressure in the cycle is increased without
changing the maximum temperature and the minimum pressure, the dryness fraction of steam after the
isentropic expansion will increase. [GATE-1995]

4. In a power plant, water (density = 1000 kg/m3) is pumped from 80 kPa to 3 MPa. The pump has an
isentropic efficiency of 0.85. Assuming that the temperature of the water remains the same, the
specific work (in kJ/kg) supplied to the pump is [GATE-2014-Set-1]
(A) 0.34 (B) 2.48 (C) 2.92 (D) 3.43

5. Which of the following statements regarding a Rankine cycle with reheating are TRUE?
(i) increase in average temperature of heat addition
(ii) reduction in thermal efficiency
(iii) drier steam at the turbine exit [GATE-2015-Set-2]
(A) only (i) and (ii) are correct (B) only (ii) and (iii) are correct
(C) only (i) and (iii) are correct (D) (i), (ii) and (iii) are correct

6. A thermal power plant operates on a regenerative cycle with a single open feedwater heater, as shown
in the figure. For the state points shown, the specific enthalpies are : h1 = 2800 kJ/kg and
h2 = 200 kJ/kg. The bleed to the feedwater heater is 20% of the boiler steam generation rate. The
specific enthalpy at state 3 is [GATE-2008]
Boiler
feed pump Boiler Turbine
Condenser
1
3 2

Open feedwater Condensate

heater extraction pump

(A) 720 kJ/kg (B) 2280 kJ/kg (C) 1500 kJ/kg (D) 3000 kJ/kg

GATE/ME/Thermodynamics/Pg.1
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Common Data for Question 7 and 8 :

The inlet and the outlet conditions of steam for an adiabatic steam turbine are as indicated in the figure. The
notations are as usually followed.
h1 = 3200 kJ/kg figure.
V1 = 160 m/s
Z1 = 10 m h2 = 2600 kJ/kg
P1 = 3 MPa V2 = 100 m/s
Z2 = 6 m
P2 = 70 kPa
7. If mass rate of steam through the turbine is 20 kg /s, the power output of the turbine (in MW) is
(A) 12.157 (B) 12.941 (C) 168.001 (D) 168.785 [GATE-2009]

8. Assume the above turbine to be part of a simple Rankine cycle. The density of water at the inlet to the
pump is 1000 kg / m3. Ignoring kinetic and potential energy effects, the specific work (in kJ / kg)
supplied to the pump is [GATE-2009]
(A) 0.293 (B) 0.351 (C) 2.930 (D) 3.510

Common Data for Question 9 and 10:

In a steam power plant operating on the Rankine cycle, steam enters the turbine at 4MPa, 350ºC and exits
at a pressure of 15kPa. Then it enters the condenser and exits as saturated water. Next, a pump feeds back
the water to the boiler. The adiabatic efficiency of the turbine is 90%. The thermodynamic states of water
and steam are given in the table.
State h(kJ kg1) s(kJ kg1K1) v(m3kg1)
Steam : 4Mpa, 350°C 3092.5 6.5821 0.06645
Water : 15kPa hf hg sf sg vf vg
225.94 2599.1 0.7549 8.0085 0.001014 10.02
h is specific enthalpy, s is specific entropy and v the specific volume; subscripts f and g denote saturated
liquid state and saturated vapour state.
9. The net work output (kJ kg1) of the cycle is [GATE-2010]
(A) 498 (B) 775 (C) 860 (D) 957

10. Heat supplied (kJ kg1) to the cycle is [GATE-2010]

(A) 2372 (B) 2576 (C) 2863 (D) 3092

11. The values of enthalpy of steam at the inlet and outlet of a steam turbine in a Rankine cycle are
2800 kJ/kg and 1800 kJ/kg respectively. Neglecting pump work, the specific steam consumption in
kg/kW-hour is [GATE-2011]
(A) 3.60 (B) 0.36 (C) 0.06 (D) 0.01

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 Thermodynamics (3)

Data for Question 12 and 13 are given below. Solve the problem and choose correct answers.
Consider a steam power plant using a reheat cycle as shown. Steam leaves the boiler and enters the
turbine at 4 MPa. 350C (h3 = 3095kJ/kg). After expansion in the turbine to 400kPa (h4 = 609kJ/kg), the
steam is reheated to 350C (h5 = 3170kJ/kg), and the expanded in a low pressure turbine to
10kPa (h6 = 2165kJ/kg). The specific volume of liquid handled by the pump can be assumed to be

12. The thermal efficiency of the plant neglecting pump work is [GATE-2004]
(A) 15.8% (B) 41.1% (C) 48.6% (D) 58.6%.

13. The enthalpy at the pump discharge (h2) is [GATE-2004]

(A) 0.33 Id/kg (B) 3.33 kJ/kg (C) 4.0 kJ/kg (D) 33.3 kJ/kg.

14. Consider an actual regenerative Rankine cycle with one open feed water heater. For each kg steam
entering the turbine, if m kg steam with a specific enthalpy of h1 is bled from the turbine, and the
specific enthalpy of liquid water entering the heater is h1 then h3 specific enthaply of saturated liquid
leaving the heater is equal to [GATE-1997]
(A) mh1-(h2-h1) (B) h1-m(h2-h1) (C) h2-m(h2-h1) (D) mh2-(h2-h1)

15. An ideal reheat Rankine cycle operates between the pressure limits of 10 kPa and 8 MPa, with reheat
being done at 4 MPa. The temperature of steam at the inlets of both turbines is 500°C and the
enthalpy of steam is 3185 kJ/kg at the exit of the high pressure turbine and 2247 kJ/kg at the exit of
low pressure turbine. The enthalpy of water at the exit from the pump is 191 kJ/kg. Use the following
table for relevant data.
Superheated steam temperature Pressure V h s
(°C) (MPa) (m3/kg) (kJ/kg) (kJ/kg.K)
500 4 0.08644 3446 7.0922
500 8 0.04177 3399 6.7266
Disregarding the pump work, the cycle efficiency (in percentage) is _______. [GATE-2014-Set-1]

16. Steam with specific enthalpy (h) 3214 kJ/kg enters an adiabatic turbine operating at steady state with
a flow rate 10 kg/s. As it expands, at a point where h is 2920 kJ/kg, 1.5 kg/s is extracted for heating
purposes. The remaining 8.5 kg/s further expands to the turbine exit, where h = 2374 kJ/kg.
Neglecting changes in kinetic and potential energies, the net power output (in kW) of the turbine is
________. [GATE-2014-Set-4]

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17. Steam enters a well insulated turbine and expands isentropically throughout. At an intermediate
pressure, 20 percent of the mass is extracted for process heating and the remaining steam expands
isentropically to 9 kPa.
Inlet to turbine: P = 14 Mpa, T = 560°C, h = 3486 kJ/kg, s = 6.6 kJ/(kg.K)
Intermediate stage: h = 2776 kJ/kg
Exit of turbine: P = 9 kPa, hf = 174 kJ/kg, hg = 2574 kJ/kg, sf = 0.6 kJ/(kg.K), sg = 8.1 kJ/(kg.K)
If the flow rate of steam entering the turbine is 100 kg/s, then the work output (in MW) is
__________. [GATE-2015-Set-1]

18. In a Rankine cycle, the enthalpies at turbine entry and outlet are 3159 kJ/kg and 2187 kJ/kg,
respectively. If the specific pump work is 2 kJ/kg, the specific steam consumption (in kg/kW-h) of the
cycle based on net output is ____________. [GATE-2015-Set-2]

19. The layout of a steam power plant working on the Rankine Cycle with single stage regeneration is
shown in figure. Assuming the exit stream from the regenerator to be saturated draw the
corresponding ideal cycle on a Mollier Chart and derive an expression for the thermal efficiency of
the cycle. [GATE-1989]

Boiler – B
Feed water heater – R
Pump – P

20. A power station produces 500 MW of power. Assuming a plant thermal efficiency of 33.3 per cent,
calculate the rate of cooling water flow required in tones per hour, if the rise of cooling water
temperature is to be restricted to 5C. The specific heat of the water used is 4.2 kJ/kg-K.
[GATE-1990]
21. In a single heater regenerative cycle, steam enters the turbine at 30 bar, 300C and condenser pressure
is 0.096 bar. The feed water heater is a direct contact type which operates at 5 bar. Draw flow and h-s
diagrams considering the condition of steam at entry to the heater in mixture region.
Calculate steam extracted from turbine to heater in kg per kg of steam flow and cycle efficiency. The
enthalpies of steam at different locations of the cycle are given in a table below. Pump work may be
neglected. [GATE-1991]
Entry to Entry to Entry to Exit from Exit from
Location
Turbine Heater Condenser Condenser heater
h (kJ/kg) 2993.50 2622.22 2056.39 188.45 640.23

22. In a steam power plant operating with simple Rankine cycle, the turbine is fed with steam at 100 bar
and 673 K. Determine the actual enthalpy and quality of the steam extracted at 14 bar if the turbine
stage efficiency is 90 per cent. [GATE-1992]

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 Thermodynamics (5)

23. In a single stage single row impulse turbine, the steam is entering at a velocity of 1200 m/s with a
nozzle angle of 20C and leaving the blade in the axial direction. The ratio of blade velocity to the
tangential (whirl) velocity of steam is 0.6. Sketch the velocity diagram and calculate.
[GATE-1993]

24. Dry saturated steam enters a frictionless adiabatic nozzle with negligible velocity at a temperature of
5000 kPa. The mass flow rate is 1 kg/s. Calculate the exit velocity of steam. [GATE-1995]
Properties of Steam
Specific Volume
Sat Temp. Sat. Press Enthalpy (kJ/kg) Entropy (kJ/kgC)
(m3/kg)
(C) (kPa)
Sat liq. Sat Vap. Sat liq. Sat Vap. Sat liq. Sat Vap.
300 8593 1345 2751 3.2552 5.7081 0.0014 0.0216
26.91 5000 1154.5 2794.2 2.9206 5.9735 0.0012 0.0394

25. A Rankine cycle operates between pressures of 80 bar and 0.1 bar. The maximum cycle temperature
is 600C. If the steam turbine and condensate pump efficiencies are 0.9 and 0.8, respectively,
calculate the specific work and thermal efficiency. Relevant steam table extract is given below:
[GATE-1998]

Specific Volume
P Bar TC Specific enthalpy kJ/kg Specific entropy kJ/kg.K
m3/kg
vf vg hf hfg hg sf sfg sg
0.1 45.84 0.0010103 14.68 191.9 2392.3 2584.2 0.6488 7.5006 8.1494
80 295.1 0.001385 0.0235 1317 1440.5 2757.5 3.2073 2.5351 5.7424

80 bar - 600C v 0.486

Superheat table h 3.642
s 7.0206

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GATE/ME/Thermodynamics/Pg.5