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Optimum gas turbine cycle for combined cycle

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ARTICLE in ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT APRIL 2008
Impact Factor: 4.38 DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2007.08.002

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Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Optimum gas turbine cycle for combined cycle power plant

A.L. Polyzakis a, C. Koroneos
b

b,*

, G. Xydis

a
Prefecture of Western Macedonia, Department of Public Works Administration, Epivaton 39, Ptolemaida 50200, Greece
Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 483, GR 54124,
Thessaloniki, Greece

Received 30 January 2006; received in revised form 17 January 2007; accepted 19 August 2007
Available online 1 October 2007

Abstract
The gas turbine based power plant is characterized by its relatively low capital cost compared with the steam power plant. It has environmental advantages and short construction lead time. However, conventional industrial engines have lower eciencies, especially at
part load. One of the technologies adopted nowadays for eciency improvement is the combined cycle. The combined cycle technology is now well established and oers superior eciency to any of the competing gas turbine based systems that are likely to be available
in the medium term for large scale power generation applications. This paper has as objective the optimization of a combined cycle power
plant describing and comparing four dierent gas turbine cycles: simple cycle, intercooled cycle, reheated cycle and intercooled and
reheated cycle. The proposed combined cycle plant would produce 300 MW of power (200 MW from the gas turbine and 100 MW from
the steam turbine). The results showed that the reheated gas turbine is the most desirable overall, mainly because of its high turbine
exhaust gas temperature and resulting high thermal eciency of the bottoming steam cycle. The optimal gas turbine (GT) cycle will lead
to a more ecient combined cycle power plant (CCPP), and this will result in great savings. The initial approach adopted is to investigate
independently the four theoretically possible congurations of the gas plant. On the basis of combining these with a single pressure Rankine cycle, the optimum gas scheme is found. Once the gas turbine is selected, the next step is to investigate the impact of the steam cycle
design and parameters on the overall performance of the plant, in order to choose the combined cycle oering the best t with the objectives of the work as depicted above.
Each alterative cycle was studied, aiming to nd the best option from the standpoint of overall eciency, installation and operational
costs, maintainability and reliability for a combined power plant working in base load. Several schemes are proposed for investigation. In
particular, four congurations were studied: simple cycle (SC), intercooled cycle (IC), reheated cycle (RH) and intercooled and reheated
cycle (IC/RH).
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Combined cycle; Gas turbine; Simple cycle; Intercooled cycle; Reheated cycle

1. Introduction
The gas turbine (GT) is known to feature low capital
cost to power ratio, high exibility, high reliability without
complexity [1], short delivery time, early commissioning
and commercial operation and fast startingaccelerating.
The gas turbine is further recognized for its better environ-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 231 0995968; fax: +30 231 0996012.
E-mail address: koroneos@aix.meng.auth.gr (C. Koroneos).

0196-8904/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2007.08.002

mental performance, manifested in the curbing of air pollution and reducing greenhouse gases [2].
Open cycle gas turbine engines exhaust higher grade
heat to the atmosphere, which can alternatively be used
to produce additional electric power via a steam cycle.
The combined cycle (CC) uses the exhaust heat from the
gas turbine engine to increase the power plant output
and boost the overall eciency to more than 50% [3,4],
substantially above that of the simple cycle and even higher
than that of supercritical pressure reheat steam power
plants. These combined cycle power plants (CCPP)

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

Nomenclature
CC
combined cycle
CCPP combined cycle power plants
DP
design point
g
eciency
EGT exhaust gas temperature
GT
gas turbine
HRSG heat recovery steam generator
HP
high pressure
IC/RH intercooled and reheated cycle
IC
intercooled cycle
IC/RH/HX intercooled, reheated and regenerative cycle
LP
low pressure

generate electric power at lower costs than that of conventional steam plants of the same rating [5].
Gas turbines in simple cycle (SC) mode have long been
used by utilities for limited peak power generation. In addition, industrial facilities use gas turbine units for on site
power generation, usually in combination with process
heat production, such as hot water and process steam. In
recent years, the performance of industrial gas turbines
has been improved, due to considerable investments in
research and development, in terms of fuel to electricity
conversion eciency, plant capacity, availability and reliability. The greater availability of fuel resources, such as
natural gas (NG), the signicant reduction in capital costs
and the introduction of advanced cycles, have also been a
success factor for increased deployment of gas turbines
for base load applications [5].
In the late eighties, natural gas prices fell and gas turbine technologies improved. The upsurge in the use of
industrial gas turbines is mostly focused on the CCPP
using the simple cycle for the GT. Combined cycle plants
reached thermal eciencies of more than 40% in the late
eighties, with the gure climbing to 50% for a general
electric (GE) plant opened in South Korea. Asea Brown
Boveri (ABB) announced plans for a 53% ecient combined cycle plant. It is thought that within the next decade and even by the turn of the century, it will be
possible to produce a CCPP with thermal eciencies
close to 60%. The current state of the art is 55% thermal
eciency [6,7].
Numerous investigations, as well as experience with
actual plants, have showed that the split of power output
between the gas turbine and the steam turbine of a combined cycle power plant should be approximately 2:1,
resulting in a gas turbine of 200 MW GT output, and
100 MW ST output with a total of 300 MW. The latest
developments of the major GT manufacturers are of that
order of magnitude, e.g., general electric: 9FA series
226.5 MW, A sea Brown Boveri: GT26 240 MW [6,7].

NG
OD
Rc
PT
RH
SC
sfc
CP
SP
Tstack
TET
XACT

natural gas
o design
overall pressure ratio
power turbine
reheated cycle
simple cycle
specic fuel consumption
specic heat
specic power
stack gas temperature
turbine entry temperature
wetness

2. Theoretical Brayton cycles and combined cycle

For years, the gas turbine has mainly been operated in a
simple cycle. Fig. 1a shows the temperatureentropy diagram of the basic isentropic Brayton cycle. It consists of
one stage of compression, a single heat input stage and simple expansion through a turbine. Possible additions to this
cycle are intercooling, reheat or a combination of these.
The various options are displayed in Fig. 1be. The dashed
heat rejection lines indicate that it is an open cycle, meaning that new working uid (i.e., air) and fuel are continuously put through the cycle. Although this is, by far, the
most common practice, closed gas turbine cycles where
the heat is supplied through a heat exchanger (so called
indirectly red cycles) are gaining renewed interest [1,8].
When considering a combined cycle including a gas turbine, the Rankine steam cycle is simply added underneath
the Brayton cycle, as shown in Fig. 2. The Brayton topping
cycle rejects its heat to the Rankine bottoming cycle to raise
steam, instead of directing it to the atmosphere as in the single cycle conguration. For obvious reasons, this principle
is called waste heat recovery and the steam raising device
substituting for the boiler of a conventional steam plant is
called the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG).
The combined cycle plant thermal eciency is dened
by
work outputCC
heat input GT
net GT work net ST work

fuel energy input into GT

gCC

Clearly, the eciency of the combined gas/steam cycle is

higher than that of the gas turbine by itself. However,
where the optimization of one cycle was relatively simple,
i.e., a matter of raising the mean temperature of heat reception and lowering that of heat rejection, the optimization of
the CC is a more complicated matter. To investigate this

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553

Fig. 1. Temperatureentropy diagrams of theoretical Brayton cycles: (a) SC, (b) IC, (c) RH, (d) IC/RH and (e) IC/RH/HX.

Fig. 2. Combined cycle: combination oi simple Brayton cycle and Rankine cycle.

issue further, the rst four potential (SC, IC, RH, IC/RH)
gas turbine topping cycles were analysed for their suitability for combined cycle application (Fig. 1).
The cycle incorporating intercooling, reheat and regeneration (IC/RH/HX) is not likely to be ecient in CC
application, despite the high GT eciency [9]. This is due
to the fact that the heat exchanger lowers the temperature
of the exhaust gases too much for the steam cycle to be of
suciently high thermal eciency.
A gas turbine simulation software program called TurboMatch has been used to simulate the performance of
the dierent cycles. This program has been developed and

rened over many years in the Department of Propulsion,

Power and Automotive Engineering of Craneld University [10]. It facilitates design point (DP) and o design
(OD) performance calculations of aero and industrial
engines of any layout. By means of codewords, various
pre-programmed routines, known as bricks, can be combined to build a model of the desired gas turbine. Basically,
the characteristics of each brick, representing an actual
component of the engine, are determined by several parameters that are relevant to the function of the component.
TurboMatch uses these data to simulate the interaction
of the dierent components of the modelled engine. It

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

generates output in terms of delivered engine thrust (when

modelling aero engines) or shaft power, specic fuel consumption etc. with details of the individual component performances and of the gas path parameters at various
stations within the machine.
The output performance parameters of the gas turbine
were input in a steam cycle calculation process. Gas turbine
eciency, exhaust gas mass ow and temperature and gas
turbine power output were combined with appropriate
steam data. A single pressure steam cycle was then simulated, the main outcomes being the steam power output,
steam cycle eciency and overall combined cycle eciency.
The single pressure level combined cycles are the simplest
form of combined cycle. Even with improvements made
for arriving at more complex systems, they still remain in
the market place. The following values were adopted for
the steam calculations:

Evaporator pinch point 30 K.

Minimum stack gas temperature 160 K.
steam turbine constant isentropic eciency 0.85.
Maximum
superheated
steam
temperature
650 C = 923 K and minimum exhaust gas temperature
(EGT) 550 C = 823 K.
Maximum boiler pressure 160 bar.
Minimum condenser pressure 0.03 bar.
The dryness fraction of the steam at the exit of the steam
turbine is an important parameter from a maintenance
point of view. When the dryness fraction is too low, generally dened as below 0.87 (87% dryness or 13% wetness), the last stage turbine blades suer excessive
erosion, which may lead to reduced eciency and maybe
even mechanical failure of the turbine.
An average constant value of specic heat (CP) of air
was adopted, in accordance with the following formula
800

C P 1020 420  e T m

Tm

EGT T stack
2

It was assumed that fresh, good quality river water was

available for cooling purposes. Hence, an open condensing
cycle was supposed, and a very low condenser pressure was
used.
For performance of the steam and combined cycle optimization, a computer model is used, so that changing
parameters could be investigated. Steam performance calculations can be calculated from the input of data taken
from existing engines or via the gas turbine engine module
of the TurboMatch. The steam plant model is based on
conservation of energy through the boiler. Steam mass ow
can be calculated from an energy balance across the evaporator and superheater section. With steam mass ow calculated and steam turbine eciencies known, the power
output can be calculated [11].
3. Simple cycle
The conguration of the engine is shown in Fig. 3.
The DP performance specications of the engine follow
those shown in Table 1, and they are similar to those given
by most important manufacturers.
The results from the design point calculations are shown
in Fig. 4. If operating the engine in open cycle, from this
plot of specic fuel consumption (sfc) versus specic power
(SP), it would be possible to select a suitable engine for a
particular application.

in which Tm is the mean gas temperature through the

boiler, given by

Fig. 3. Simple cycle GT layout. Brick and station vector model.

Table 1
GTs specications (design point, DP)

Ambient conditions
Intake eciency (%)
Compressor isentr. ec.
(%)
Fuel (NG) (MJ/kgr)
Combustion ec. (%)
Burner pressure loss (%)
Turbine isentropic ec.
(%)
TET (HPT, LPT and PT)
Turbine cooling air (%)
Exhaust pressure (atm)
Intercooler ec.
Interc. pres. loss

Simple cycle

Intercooled cycle

Reheated cycle

Interc./reh. cycle

15C = 288 K,
1 atm = 101 kPa
100
86

15C = 288K,
1 atm = 101 kPa
100
86

15C = 288 K,
1 atm = 101 kPa
100
86

15C = 288 K,
1 atm = 101 kPa
100
86

43
99
5
87

43
99
5
87

43
99
5
87

43
99
5
87

1288C = 1561 K
25
1.02

1288C = 1561 K
25
1.02
99%
0%

1288C = 1561 K
15, 10
1.02

1288C = 1508 K
15, 10
1.02
99%
0%

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

75
74

sfc (gr/MJ)

73
72
71

TET=1508 K
TET=1561 K
TET=1600 K
Rc=12
Rc=16
Rc=20

70
69
68
67
66
250

255

260

265

270

275

280

285

290

295

Specific Power (kW/(kgr/s))

Fig. 4. Simple cycle design point performance.

300
280
260

Power (MW)

240

Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C
Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

220
200
180
160

555

It can be seen that the power output decreases as TET is

reduced as would be expected. Varying the ambient temperature aects the power output. As the ambient temperature increases, the air density falls; hence, for a given TET,
the mass ow through the engine is reduced. As a consequence, the engine output power is lower. An increase in
altitude gives rise to the same result as can be seen in
Fig. 6. It is worth noting that these gures indicate a continued increase in power with reduced ambient temperatures and increased TET. In the real situation, this would
not be permitted due to stress limitations. Rotors and discs
will be mechanically designed to withstand momentary
overspeeds of up to 110% [11].
The variation of gGT versus TET for varying ambient
temperature and altitude gGT are shown in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively. It can be seen that the eciency reduces rapidly with a reduction in TET. Thermal eciency equates
to useful work output divided by heat input. Work output
is found to decrease more rapidly than the reduction in
heat input, and therefore, thermal eciency decreases.
However, when steam and gas cycles are combined to
ascertain the best combination, a suitable steam cycle must
also be considered. In Table 2, it can be seen that the

140
120

40

100
80
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600

Fig. 5. Power versus TET varying Tamb (SC).

220

35
Efficiency (%)

TET (K)

30
Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C

25

Tamb=15C

Power (MW)

200

Tamb=40C
20
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600

180

TET (K)
160

Fig. 7. Eciency versus TET varying Tamb (SC).

140
Altitude=500 m
Altitude=1500 m

120

36

Altitude=2500m

35

100
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600

34

Fig. 6. Power versus TET varying altitude (SC).

O design performance is determined to assess the

engines performance over the complete range of operating
conditions that the engine could experience. These include
varying the ambient temperature conditions (20, 0, 15,
40 C), altitude (500, 1500, 2500 m) and reducing the
TET to assess the engines performance at part load.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the variation of power versus TET
for varying ambient temperature and altitude, respectively.

Efficiency (%)

TET (K)

33
32
31
30
29
28

Altitude=2500 m
Altitude=1500 m
Altuitude=500 m

27
26
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600
TET (K)

Fig. 8. Eciency versus TET varying altitude (SC).

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Table 2
Selection of optimum simple cycle GT (TET = 1561 K)
RC,TOTAL

gGT (%)

SPGT (J/kgr)

Exh. ow (kgr/s)

EGT (K)

St. ow (kgr/s)

XACT (%)

gST (%)

PSTEAM (MW)

CCPP (MW)

gCCPP (%)

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
22
24
26

31.67
32.24
32.69
33.09
33.46
33.76
34.04
34.25
34.46
34.78
35.01
35.16

284900
285714
285714
285307
284697
283688
282486
280899
279330
275672
271592
267201

716.6
714.3
714.2
715.0
716.4
718.7
721.6
725.5
729.5
738.8
749.6
761.7

833.4
822.0
811.8
802.5
793.7
785.7
778.2
771.4
764.8
752.9
742.3
732.8

98.97
96.98
94.49
92.24
91.16
89.12
88.21
87.69
85.90
85.06
83.05
82.67

12.8
12.9
12.9
12.8
12.8
12.8
12.9
12.9
12.8
12.8
12.8
12.8

36.0
35.5
35.2
35.0
34.5
34.4
34.1
33.7
33.7
32.9
32.9
32.3

117.6
112.1
108.3
104.9
101.1
98.8
96.2
93.5
92.2
87.9
85.9
83.1

317.6
312.1
308.3
304.9
301.1
298.8
296.2
293.5
292.2
287.9
285.9
283.1

50.30
50.31
50.39
50.45
50.47
50.44
50.41
50.26
50.34
50.06
50.04
49.77

optimum pressure ratio (RC) for the CC occurs in the

region of 16.

TET=1561 K

78

Rc,total=9

76

4. Intercooled cycle

Fig. 9. Intercooled cycle GT layout. Brick and station vector model.

Rc,total=16

74
sfc (gr/MJ)

A gas turbine with one stage of intercooling inherently

contains two compression stages. One turbine can be used
to drive both compressors, with a second expansion stage
through a power turbine (PT) (two shaft conguration).
The conguration of the engine is shown in Fig. 9.
The DP performance specications of the engine follow
those shown in Table 1, and they are similar to those given
for the simple cycle. The results from design point calculations can be seen in Fig. 10. As the rst approach, in Fig. 9,
the RC,total is split.
The fact that the cycle in question incorporates intercooled compression implies that the GT contains two compression stages. For a given overall pressure ratio, if the
low pressure compressor (LPC) operates at a high pressure
ratio and the high pressure compressor (HPC), therefore,
operates at a relatively low pressure ratio, the exit temperature of the HPC will be relatively low, which means that,
to achieve a given TET, a lot of heat must be supplied in
the combustor, resulting in high fuel consumption. The
opposite is true for a small pressure rise in the LPC section
and a high pressure ratio in the HPC, namely this will
result in a lower fuel consumption. The latter conguration
can, therefore, be expected to be the more favourable one.
A range of overall pressure ratios was investigated with
equal pressure ratio splits. This should result [1,12] in the
highest eciency attainable with that particular overall
pressure ratio. Bases on this, pressure ratios ranging from
42 to 90 were selected for more detailed examination, i.e.,

Rc,total=12.6

72
70

RLPC rising
RHPC dropping

68
66
64
280

290

300
310
320
330
340
Specific Power (kW/(kgr/s))

350

360

Fig. 10. Intercooled cycle design point performance.

with various pressure ratio splits. Each data point constitutes a particular pressure ratio split between the LP and
HP compressors. From this plot, Fig. 10, it can be established that an overall pressure ratio of 74 gives the best performance in terms of specic fuel consumption. The
pressure ratio split that gives minimum sfc is found to be
RLPC = 3 and, consequently, RHPC = 24. This is very dierent from the thermodynamically ideal situation of
RLPC = RHPC = 8.5. The explanation for this lies in the fact
that the ideal case assumes perfect components. As soon as
component eciencies are introduced, the eciency rises as
the LP ratio drops.
As already mentioned, the gas turbine selection for CC
duty diers greatly from the optimum single cycle machine
presented above. The EGT of the latter is 300 C = 573 K.
This is far too low for ecient heat recovery in a steam bottoming cycle. Suce it to say that the overall pressure ratio
has to be much lower so as to end up with a much higher
EGT. Gas turbines with pressure ratios between 8 and 24
were simulated in TurboMatch, which brought the EGT
up to values of 500600 C (773873 K).
The choice of conguration will inuence the DP performance inasmuch as the number of components, and therefore, the cumulative losses induced by all the components,
as well as the complexity and inherent cost, varies from one
option to the other. As far as OD performance is con-

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190

Power (MW)

170
150
130
Altitude=500 m
Altitude=1500 m
Altitude=2500 m

110
90

70
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600
TET (K)

Fig. 12. Power versus TET varying altitude (IC).

40

Efficiency (%)

35

30
Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C

25

Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

20
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600
TET (K)

Fig. 13. Eciency versus TET varying Tamb (IC).

36
35
34
33
32
31
30
Altitude=2500 m

29

275

Altitude=1500 m

28

250

Altitude=500 m

27

225
Power (MW)

210

Efficiency (%)

cerned, it can be said that a multi-shaft machine, in general,

is more exible than a single shaft machine, because its gas
generator is allowed to operate at a dierent rotational
speed from that required for the PT. When the machine
is used for heavy duty base load power generation, the
PT speed is xed by the required frequency of the electric
output from the generator. A gearbox is not desirable,
for it would introduce additional cost and losses and negatively inuence the performance. An engine with a PT
obtains its power variation by varying the gas generator
speed. This means that torque (i.e., load output) changes
are inherently slow and dependent on rotor inertia, surge
margin and temperature limits. On the other hand, single
shaft engines can handle rapid load changes once synchronised, as the rotational speed will always remain
unchanged, and therefore, there is no rotor inertia to overcome. Furthermore, it has a higher resistance to speed
change in the case of an unexpected change in electric load
because of its high rotor inertia. Summarising, a single
shaft machine is more speed stable, and therefore, easier
to regulate, while at part load, a two shaft engine gives better performance [8,13].
As in the case of the simple cycle, OD performance simulation was performed. The simulation refers to the variation
of ambient temperature, altitude and TET (Figs. 1114).
Similar to the simple cycle, the optimum design point of
the GT alone is very dierent from the one eventually
selected for combined cycle duty (Table 3). There is an
optimum solution where neither the GT thermal eciency
nor the steam plant power output are the best achievable
but which yields optimum CC thermal eciency. The reason for this is the fact that when the eciency of a GT
drops, its exhaust gas temperature increases. The additional heat allows more steam to be generated in the
HRSG, thereby increasing the steam turbine power output.
It must also be noted that the selection of the more suitable
engine is taking into account the possible aerodynamic
problems that might occur in the GT compressor when
the overall RC is divided in an extremely unequal way
between the two compressors. From Table 3, it can be seen

557

200

26
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600

175

TET (K)

Fig. 14. Eciency versus TET varying altitude (IC).

150
125
100
75

Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C
Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

50
1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 1500 1525 1550 1575 1600
TET (K)

Fig. 11. Power versus TET varying Tamb (IC).

that the optimum pressure ratio (RC) for the CC occurs in

the region of 12.6.
5. Reheated cycle
A substantial increase in specic work output can be
obtained by splitting the expansion and reheating the gas

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Table 3
Selection of optimum intercooled cycle GT (TET = 1561 K)
RC,TOTAL

RC,LPC RC,HPC

gGT (%)

Exh. ow (kgr/s)

1.25 6.4
1.333 6
1.6 5
1.8 4.444
24
2.2 3636
2.5 3.2
2.83 2.83

29.33
29.4
29.48
29.42
29.31
29.14
28.85
28.49

715.2
707.1
688.3
679.8
673.9
670.4
667.9
667.7

10

1.25 8
1.5 6.667
1.725 5.8
25
2.25 4.444
2.5 4
2.75 3.636
3 3.333

31.53
31.75
31.76
31.64
31.46
31.23
30.97
30.69

12.6

1.26 10
1.4 9
1.575 8
2.1 6
2.52 5
3.15 4
3.55 3.55

16

1.25 12.8
1.6 10
28
2.4 6.667
3.2 5
3.6 4.444
44

EGT (K)

XACT (%)

PSTEAM (MW)

CCPP (MW)

gCCPP (%)

885
884
880
878
876
875
872
870

12.0
12.0
12.0
11.9
11.9
11.9
11.9
11.9

122.8
121.2
117.2
115.3
113.9
113.0
112.1
111.6

322.8
321.2
317.2
315.3
313.9
313.0
312.1
311.6

47.3
47.2
46.8
46.4
46.0
45.6
45.0
44.4

687.7
664.6
651.6
641.4
635.7
632.4
631.0
630.7

849.1
845.5
842.9
840.3
838.2
836.4
834.9
833.5

11.8
11.7
11.7
11.7
11.7
11.7
11.8
11.9

110.4
105.9
103.3
101.2
99.8
104.3
103.6
103.1

310.4
305.9
303.3
301.2
299.8
304.3
303.6
303.1

48.9
48.6
48.2
47.6
47.2
47.5
47.0
46.5

33.59
33.79
33.91
33.80
33.47
32.81
32.35

669.8
654.2
639.7
615.3
606.5
602.1
605.5

813.5
811.4
809.0
803.8
800.6
797.0
795.1

12.8
12.9
13.0
13.2
13.4
13.6
13.7

103.1
100.0
97.1
91.8
89.6
88.0
87.5

303.1
300.0
297.1
291.8
289.6
288.0
287.5

50.9
50.7
50.4
49.3
48.5
47.2
46.5

35.40
35.87
35.89
35.67
34.90
34.46
34.00

664.9
627.4
604.5
591.9
581.8
580.7
581.2

778.7
773.7
769.5
766.3
761,5.
759.6
758.0

14.5
14.8
15.0
15.1
15.4
15.5
15.6

91.5
84.9
80.6
78.1
75.5
74.8
74.5

291.5
284.9
280.6
278.1
275.5
274.8
274.5

51.6
51.1
50.4
49.6
48.1
47.4
46.7

between the high pressure and low pressure turbines. At the

same time, the thermal eciency of the GT will be reduced,
but on the other hand, the heat rejected to the HRSG
will be increased due to the increased exhaust gas temperature (EGT). The conguration of the engine is shown in
Fig. 15. As a rst approach, the RC,total is split.
The specications of the engine follow those shown in
Table 1. This makes the specications of the engine the
same as those of the state of the art, and it gives the opportunity of a comparison between the results of the design
project with the manufacturers specications. The results
from design point calculations can be seen in Fig. 16.
From the point of view of aerodynamical and mechanical design of the compressors, it is better to split the over-

all RC as equal as possible 7 7 rather than 35 1.4. This

is because the LPC will experience more severe surge
problems and the LPC is more sensitive in such sort of
problems than the HPC. On the other hand, even with
the split 7 7, variable guide vanes should be used for
both compressors (due to RC > 5 in both of them), but
the surge problems will not be so severe for the LPC as
previously. However, from the design point of view, the
higher is the LPC pressure ratio, the better is the eciency
[1,12,14].
Having decided on the design point, the next step is to
investigate the behaviour of the engine, how it would perform over a wide range of ambient temperatures, altitude
and dierent loads (TETs) (Figs. 1720).

Fig. 15. Reheated cycle GT layout. Brick and station vector model.

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

Rc,total=42
Rc,total=49
Rc,total=54

72

38
36

70

Efficiency (%)

sfc (gr/MJ)

40

TET=1561 K

74

68
RLPC dropping
RHPC rising

66

559

34
32
Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C
Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

30

64

28

62
240

260

280

300
320
340
360
Specifc Power (kW/(kgr/s))

380

400
26
1450

1475

1500

Fig. 16. Reheated cycle design point performance.

1525
TET (K)

1550

1575

1600

Fig. 19. Eciency versus TET varying Tamb (RH).

300
37
250

36

34
Efficiency (%)

Power (MW)

35
200

150
Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C
Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

100

50
1450

1475

1500

1525

1550

1575

1600

33
32
31
30
29

Altitude=2500 m

28

Altitude=1500 m

27

Altitude=500 m

26
1450

TET (K)

1475

1500

Fig. 17. Power versus TET varying Tamb (RH).

1525

1550

1575

1600

TET (K)

Fig. 20. Eciency versus TET varying altitude (RH).

210

ciency are included. It can be seen that the optimum pressure ratio (RC) for the CC occurs in the region of 49.

Power (MW)

190
170

6. Intercooled reheated cycle

150
130
Altitude=500 m
Altitude=1500 m
Altitude=2500 m

110
90
1450

1475

1500

1525
TET (K)

1550

1575

1600

Fig. 18. Power versus TET varying altitude (RH).

The selection of the appropriate engine is based on the

comparison of the performance of dierent GTs with
reheat engine, Based on the GT output simulation data,
steam single cycle calculations have been performed. In
Table 4, the overall results of the GT cycle, steam cycle
(steam ow, steam cycle eciency, steam wetness, steam
cycle power output) and the overall CCPP power and e-

There are several possible engine congurations corresponding to the IC/RH cycle. The one investigated here
is shown in Fig. 21.
The DP performance specications of the engine follow
those shown in Table 1, and they are similar to those given
for the simple cycle. The results from design point calculations can be referenced in Fig. 22.
Once the optimum IC/RH gas turbine was selected, the
analysis of the OD performance behaviour of the engine
was conducted. A wide range of operational conditions
(ambient temperature, altitude, TET) were investigated
(Figs. 2326).
Nonetheless, by assuming, for the sake of the comparison, that the overall pressure ratio was split into equal proportions between the two compressors, some trends can be
disclosed.
Firstly, as the overall pressure ratio increases, the gas
turbine eciency increases, and simultaneously, the EGT

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560

A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

Table 4
Selection of optimum GT with reheat (TET = 1561 K)
RC (overall)

RC,LPC RC,

30
42
42
49

15 2
11.05 3.8
14 3
11.66 4.2
12.25 4
22.27 2.2
13.5 4
14.25 4
16 4
21.33 3

54
57
64
64

HPC

gGT (%)

Exh. ow
(kgr/s)

EGT (K)

St. ow
(kgr/s)

XACT
(%)

gSTEAM
(%)

PSTEAM
(MW)

CCPP
(MW)

gCCPP
(%)

35.87
34.86
35.70
34.56
34.80
36.68
34.81
34.76
34.65
35.84

551.9
527.8
540.0
534.9
536.3
582.7
544.3
550.3
563.4
582.9

869.5
915.5
885.0
917.6
911.1
823.6
902.0
897.6
887.6
841.8

80.47
82.17
80.77
84.17
83.54
78.22
83.62
83.97
84.62
60.97

9.9
7.8
9.2
7.7
8.0
12.0
8.4
8.6
9.1
11.2

36.1
36.6
36.3
36.7
36.6
35.5
36.5
36.4
36.3
35.7

99.3
107.2
101.3
109.2
107.7
91.9
106.7
106.7
106.4
97.0

299.3
307.2
301.3
309.2
307.7
291.9
306.7
306.7
306.4
297.0

53.7
53.5
53.8
53.4
53.5
53.5
53.4
53.3
53.1
53.2

Fig. 21. Intercooled reheated cycle GT layout. Brick and station vector model.

67

210
Power (MW)

66
65
64

230

Rc,total=50
Rc,total=60
Rc,total=70

68

sfc (gr/MJ)

250

TET=1508 K

69

RLPC dropping
RHPC rising

63

190
170
150
Tamb=-20C

130

Tamb=0C

62
61
60
440

450

460
470
480
490
Specific Power (kW/(kgr/s))

500

510

Fig. 22. Intercooled reheated cycle design point performance.

110

Tamb=15C

90

Tamb=40C

70
1470

1490

1510

1530

TET (K)

Fig. 23. Power versus TET varying Tamb (IC/RH).

decreases. The two eects have contradictory inuences in

the CC eciency and tend to balance each other, producing a maximum at an intermediate value of pressure ratio.
Secondly, as the overall pressure ratio increase, specic
power increases and so does the CC eciency. This is valid
until a certain value of pressure ratio is reached, beyond
which the EGT reduction starts counteracting and the eciency begin to decrease. At the same time, the steam
power output continuously decreases as the pressure ratio
increases due to the diminishing of the exhaust gas mass
ow. On the other hand, if the overall pressure ratio is kept
constant at values lower than 50, the gas SP seems to play a
role in the CC eciency. This increases as the gas specic

power increases [15]. The reason for this is related to the

simultaneous increasing of the EGT, which means that
more heat was still available to be transformed into useful
power in the steam turbine.
For high values of overall pressure ratio, things were
rather dierent. In this case, a relationship between the
LP compressor pressure ratio and CC eciency was readily
visible. The lower is the LP pressure ratio, the higher is the
CC eciency. This tendency was valid independently of the
value of overall pressure ratio. Because a reheating system
was working at the inlet of the LP turbine, the EGT could
only be inuenced by the LP compressor pressure ratio.

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

of fuel consumption is not necessarily the engine that best

matches a steam cycle in a CCPP. The nal result of this
analysis was the selection of an IC/RG GT having a pressure ratio of 60 (4.5 13.33) and red at 1508 K (Table 5).

210

Power (MW)

190

170

7. Engine selection multi-criteria analysis

150
Altitude= 500 m
130

Altitude=1500 m
Altitude=2500 m

110
1470

1490

1510

1530

TET (K)

Fig. 24. Power versus TET varying altitude (IC/RH).

38

Efficiency (%)

37
36
35
34

Tamb=-20C
Tamb=0C
Tamb=15C
Tamb=40C

33
32
1470

1490

1510

1530

TET (K)

Fig. 25. Eciency versus TET varying Tamb (IC/RH).

40
39
38
37
36

Altitude=500 m
Altitude=1500 m

35
34
1470

Altitude=2500 m

1490

1510

The nal target of this work is the selection of the engine

with the best performance from the point of view of various technical and economical considerations. A number
of criteria were chosen to give an impression of the CC performance. The criteria that were employed for this study
were, in order of importance: [16,17]
1. Combined cycle eciency, indicative of long term profitability of the plant.
2. Cost, entailing the gas turbine layout and complexity
and its exhaust ow, which determines the size of the
steam plant.
3. GT eciency. A CCPP will usually operate on gas turbine alone until the steam plant is completed or during
steam system downtime.
4. Boiler pressure, which gives an indication of the steam
plant complexity and cost of GT.
5. TET, indicating the life and reliability/availability of the
gas turbine.
6. O design performance.

39

Efficiency (%)

561

1530

TET (K)

Fig. 26. Eciency versus TET varying altitude (IC/RH).

This means that as the LP pressure ratio decreased, the

EGT increased and, consequently, so did the CC eciency.
The simultaneous reduction in GT eciency could not mitigate the stronger eect of exhaust gas temperature.
The above outlined observations conrmed the initial
assumption that the best gas turbine from the stand point

Many other criteria can be mentioned such as EGT, exit

mass ow, maintenance, sale policy etc. The nal selection
was made using a matrix method employing weight factors.
Table 6 lists the main performance characteristics for the
cycles investigated. The next step is to compare this engine
with dierent cycles, engines specications of which are
similar.
The use of multi-objective optimization made the selection of the Brayton cycle most suitable for a combined
cycle. The technique consists in choosing the most salient
parameters that inuence the performance of the alternatives examined. Each of these characteristics is then compared on its own, for every alternative, and a score is
assigned to it on a common scale basis. The engine having,
at the end, the highest score, including all the criteria, is
deemed to be the most feasible for the successive stages
of the evaluation. The relative importance of each criterion
is represented by the adoption of an appropriate weighting
factor (Table 7).
The method is very sensitive to the weighting factors and
to the score assigned to each alternative for each criterion.
Therefore, it must be consider as a rst and delicate
approach to the selection. The nal result is very dependent
on the experience of the persons doing the analysis. In particular, the following procedure is adopted in this paper.
Table 7 shows the weight factors that were eventually
assigned to each of these criteria. Next, the cycles were
ranked for each of these criteria. In the case of points 1
and 3, the cycle with the best performance was given 100

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

Table 5
Selection of optimum intercooled reheated cycle GT (TET = 1508 K)
RC,TOTAL

RC,LPC RC,HPC

gGT
(%)

SPGT
(J/kgr)

Exh. ow
(kgr/s)

EGT
(K)

St. ow
(kgr/s)

XACT
(%)

gSTEAM
(%)

PSTEAM
(MW)

CCPP
(MW)

gCCPP
(%)

40

2 20
58
6.32 6.32
7 5.71
10 4

29.98
35.92
35.73
35.49
33.83

413,200
480,800
475,100
470,600
444,400

448.3
505.7
433.4
438.1
442.2

1059
874
842
829
789

1059
874
842
829
789

13
11.3
11.3
11.1
11.0

35.56
35.59
35.53
35.50
34.92

116.1
90.7
71.8
70.1
62.3

316.1
290.7
271.8
270.1
262.3

47.39
50.22
48.55
47.93
44.37

50

2 25
5 10
6.5 7.69
7.07 7.07
8 6.25

28.85
36.57
36.68
36.50
36.18

400,800
492,600
490,200
486,600
480,800

450.3
520.2
421.8
424.7
427.8

1077
871
831
820
804

1077
871
831
820
804

13.1
11.3
11.2
11.2
11.0

35.59
35.58
35.51
35.49
35.09

12.3
92.7
67.9
66.3
63.2

320.3
292.7
267.9
266.3
263.2

46.1
50.52
49.12
48.61
47.62

60

3 20
5 12
6 10
7.74 7.74
10 6

34.96
36.92
37.22
37.04
36.06

463,000
500,000
501,300
495,000
478,500

449.9
416.7
415.6
420.6
422.7

978
871
840
802
771

449.9
416.7
415.6
420.6
422.7

12.5
11
10.9
10.9
10.6

37.71
36.93
35.75
35.07
33.96

106.8
77.0
68.9
61.8
54.9

306.8
277.0
268.9
261.8
254.9

53.63
51.14
50.04
48.48
45.96

70

4 17.5
7 10
8.36 8.36
10 7
11 6.36
17.5 4

35.40
37.60
37.33
36.79
36.27
32.76

490,200
506,300
500,000
490,200
481,900
430,100

425.1
411.4
416.5
424.1
431.9
483.2

919
815
789
765
754
706

425.1
411.4
416.5
424.1
431.9
483.2

12
11.2
10.9
10.8
10.8
10.5

36.94
35.61
34.92
33.62
33.49
31.29

87.6
63.6
58.7
53.5
52.4
46.4

287.6
263.6
258.7
253.5
252.4
246.4

50.91
49.56
48.28
46.63
45.78
40.35

Table 6
Comparison of gas turbine cycles for CCPP

RC(overall) ()
Exh. ow (kgr/s)
gGT (%)
gST (%)
Boiler pressure (bar)
Cont. pressure (bar)
XACT (%)
CCPP power (MW)
gCCPP (%)

Simple cycle

Intercooler

Reheat

Interc./
Reh.

16
716.4
33.46
34.5
80
0.06
12.8
301.1
50.37

12.6
654.2
33.79
35.6
80
0.04
12.9
300.0
50.7

49
536
34.8
36.6
80
0.045
8
307.7
53.5

60
418.5
36.89
36.93
80
0.005
11
277
51.14

points and the others were scaled according to their relative

performance. The cost was evaluated by giving the cycle
with the simplest layout the highest points, simple cycle

10 points, IC 8 points, RH 6 points and IC/RH 4 points.

Then, these numbers were multiplied by factors expressing
the relative size of the steam plant. This factor was calculated by dividing the smallest mass ow by each exhaust
mass ow. The OD performance was taken into account
by giving 10, 9, 8 and 7 points to the IC/RH, IC, RH
and simple cycle gas turbines, respectively.
Finally, these rankings were all scaled to give the same
sum of all individual rankings for each column, i.e., 385.
They were then multiplied by the appropriate weight factor
and added for each cycle conguration. The cycle with the
most points is the most favourable according to this analysis. It is clear that the reheated gas turbine cycle emerges
as the most suitable cycle for the CCPP.
In the case of the GT with reheat, the problem lies in the
part load. The problem is located mainly with the LPC,
which is forced to go towards the surge line. There are

Table 7
Selection of optimum GT cycle for CCPP
gCC

Cost

gGT

Boiler pr.

5
0.074
94
6.92

OD perform.
6
0.038
79
3.01

Total

Rank
Weight factor
SC

1
0.296
94
27.88

2
0.222
115
25.54

3
0.185
93
17.15

IC

95
28.06

76
16.77

93
17.24

113
20.93

94
6.92

102
3.87

3
93.79

RC

100
29.60

123
27.29

96
17.83

90
16.74

94
6.92

90
3.44

1
101.82

96
28.30

71
15.80

102
18.91

91
16.75

104
7.69

113
4.30

4
91.75

IC/RH

4
0.185
90
16.74

TET

1.0
2
97.24

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A.L. Polyzakis et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 49 (2008) 551563

563

two solutions to that problem. The rst is to put bleed

ducts at the end of the LPC, extracting the excess amount
of air. This solution is simple and it has low initial cost but
reduces the thermal eciency of the GT, because power is
consumed to compress all the LPC air and some amount of
this compressed air simply goes away. The second, which is
also relatively simple and the more appropriate solution, is
to install at the inlet of the LPC variable guide varies. The
requirement of decreased non-dimensional mass ow and
higher surge margin is achieved without waste of energy.
The reheated GT cycle came out to be the most suitable
cycle for the CC application.

due to the high EGT = 911.1 K and steam ow =

83.54 kgr/s, resulting in the steam cycle eciency of
36.6% and the overall eciency of 53.5%. It is worth mentioning that a fraction of wetness of 8.0% is much lower
than the acceptable limit of 13%, which simply means
longer life for the installation. That parameter and also
the increased surge problems of the LPC, made the 14 3
GT reheated option not so attractive as the one that was
selected. The total power output is 307.7 MW, exceeding
the need of 300 MW and that gives the opportunity to
scale downwards since the size of the GT will decrease
costs.

9. Conclusions

References

Gas turbines will certainly play a major role in future

power generation and several well justied concepts have
been developed or are the subject of major feasibility studies. However, the combined cycle is now well established
and oers superior performance to any of the competing
systems that are likely to be available in the medium term
for large scale power generation applications. This work
contains an optimization analysis of four potential GT
cycles, namely single cycle (SC), intercooled cycle (IC),
reheated cycle (RH) and intercooled and reheated cycle
(IC/RH).
The design point and o design point performances of
the four cycles alone or in combination with the steam
cycle have been investigated. The three options, SC, IC
and RH perform very similarly OD. The thermal eciencies and specic power outputs are not the optimum values
they would be for GT cycle operation. Furthermore, the
IC/RH engine was run dierently from the IC one. When
the ambient temperature changes, it is prudent to assume
that the intercooler exit temperature changes simultaneously. Cooling is usually achieved with water or air
drawn from the environment, which will vary in temperature. This aspect was included in the IC gas turbine OD
simulation but not in the other two machines incorporating
intercooling. This explains the remarkably better performance of the latter two. At elevated ambient temperature,
the cooling water temperature would increase simultaneously. Consequently, the HP compressor inlet temperature would be higher than in the DP situation. This
adversely aects the gas turbine performance.
The optimum gas turbine cycle to operate in a combined
cycle power plant came out to be the reheated cycle. This is

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