369
Chapter 11
Power Gas Turbines
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
E. Dick, Fundamentals of Turbomachines, Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications 109,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9627-9_11
Abstract A gas turbine is a turbomachine composed of a compressor part, a part with
heat supply to the compressed gas and a turbine part in which the hot gas expands.
The present chapter discusses gas turbines for mechanical power generation. These
are machines with an outgoing shaft, meant to drive a load. The largest market
sector of such machines is electrical power generation, but machines for driving
compressors and pumps in industrial plants and for driving large vehicles and ships
also are examples. We discuss the working principles of the components of power
gas turbines in the present chapter. As electric power generation is the largest sector
of application, we choose components of such machines for illustrations. The main
purpose of the chapter is the discussion of the overall performance of power gas
turbines. Performance analysis is a matter of thermodynamic modelling and is not
strongly linked to a particular application.
11.1 General Concept and Components
11.1.1 Definition of a Gas Turbine
The general definition of a gas turbine is given above. Figure 11.1 shows a scheme
of a gas turbine with an outward shaft driving a load. The machine is thus intended
for mechanical power generation. The general term for such a machine in the present book is power gas turbine, but this term does not universally refer to the broad
category of gas turbines with an outgoing shaft. The most likely is that the term
is understood as a gas turbine driving a generator in an electric power plant. Gas
turbines for power plants form the largest market sector of gas turbines with an
outgoing shaft. They also are the biggest machines with power nowadays (2014) up
to 450 MW. There is no unique term to indicate gas turbines for power plants. They
are sometimes called land-based gas turbines, but the term industrial gas turbine is
applied as well. The term industrial gas turbine for power generation is sometimes
used with the purpose to distinguish from industrial gas turbines for mechanical
drive, which form a second subcategory. This term refers to a gas turbine in an
industrial plant driving a rotating machine requiring high power. Mostly this is a
compressor. Less common is drive of a big pump. Power gas turbines are further
Chapter 11
Power Gas Turbines
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
E. Dick, Fundamentals of Turbomachines, Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications 109,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9627-9_11
Abstract A gas turbine is a turbomachine composed of a compressor part, a part with
heat supply to the compressed gas and a turbine part in which the hot gas expands.
The present chapter discusses gas turbines for mechanical power generation. These
are machines with an outgoing shaft, meant to drive a load. The largest market
sector of such machines is electrical power generation, but machines for driving
compressors and pumps in industrial plants and for driving large vehicles and ships
also are examples. We discuss the working principles of the components of power
gas turbines in the present chapter. As electric power generation is the largest sector
of application, we choose components of such machines for illustrations. The main
purpose of the chapter is the discussion of the overall performance of power gas
turbines. Performance analysis is a matter of thermodynamic modelling and is not
strongly linked to a particular application.
11.1 General Concept and Components
11.1.1 Definition of a Gas Turbine
The general definition of a gas turbine is given above. Figure 11.1 shows a scheme
of a gas turbine with an outward shaft driving a load. The machine is thus intended
for mechanical power generation. The general term for such a machine in the present book is power gas turbine, but this term does not universally refer to the broad
category of gas turbines with an outgoing shaft. The most likely is that the term
is understood as a gas turbine driving a generator in an electric power plant. Gas
turbines for power plants form the largest market sector of gas turbines with an
outgoing shaft. They also are the biggest machines with power nowadays (2014) up
to 450 MW. There is no unique term to indicate gas turbines for power plants. They
are sometimes called land-based gas turbines, but the term industrial gas turbine is
applied as well. The term industrial gas turbine for power generation is sometimes
used with the purpose to distinguish from industrial gas turbines for mechanical
drive, which form a second subcategory. This term refers to a gas turbine in an
industrial plant driving a rotating machine requiring high power. Mostly this is a
compressor. Less common is drive of a big pump. Power gas turbines are further