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The purpose of this thesis study is to assess the feasibility of using a fiber sorbent module system to remove t-butyl mercaptan (TBM), a common odorant, from pipeline grade natural gas. Odorants such as mercaptans are added to natural gas for safety reasons, but their combustion products are corrosive and decrease the lifetime of the turbines in which they are combusted. Therefore, it is desirable to remove the odorants to extend this lifetime. A TBM removal system attached to a 840 MW natural gas-fueled combined cycle power plant unit such as the one at Plant McDonough-Atkinson (Smyrna, GA) must process gas at a flow rate of approximately 180,000 standard cubic feet per minute. A single 85 MW GE 7EAQ gas turbine has a flow rate of approximately 15,000 standard cubic feet per minute, and will serve as the basis for a system design and process analysis study. The concentration of odorants in natural gas is typically 10 ppm or less. For the purposes of this study, the upper limit of 10 ppm TBM will be used. Zeolite 13X was selected as the model adsorbent for this study due to its high sorption capacity for mercaptans and its ease of incorporation into both fibers and pellets. Design calculations were performed to optimize and determine the feasibility of fiber modules for TBM removal, as well as assess their advantages over conventional pellet packed beds. An understanding of how critical parameters such as heat and mass transfer resistances, pressure drop, and capital and operating costs are affected by design specifications such as sorbent and bed dimensions, allows an optimal design for the needs of the model turbine to be found. Based on these design equations, a fiber sorbent module configuration that selectively and continuously removes TBM from natural gas is developed

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An experimental and theoretical study of the particle trajectories in a gas turbine intake has been presented. computer model was written to simulate a particle behaviour flight in a theoretical flow which was assumed to inviscid, irrotational and incompressible. The model is also on other assumptions which imposes several limitations the accuracy of the predicted results. These limitations the objectives of the experimental investigation of particle trajectories which was carried out in a 30.0 section of an axisymmetric helicopter inertial separator. The separator section was fully instrumented with pressure tappings to determine the near-wall flow condition. The flowfield at the central (vertical) plane of separator was also measured with a two spot laser anemometer. The dust particles used in the tests were the spherical ballotini and irregular quartz particles with diameter ranging f-rom 15.0 to 150.0 microns. These particles seeded locally into the separator at three initial positions. The restitution ratios for the quartz particle based on experimental data and the ballotini particle's were based on a simple relation, which was derived by and error matching of predicted and experimental results. The particle trajectories, velocities and angles in separator were measured at several stations using the anemometer. The measured results were compared with predicted values from the model which has been modified accept both the experimentally measured and inviscid flowfield. The particle shape factor was also included to account for the higher drag on the non-spherical particle. Further modification was also made to include the restitution ratios of the ballotini particle. Good agreement found between measured and predicted particle trajecto- velocities and angles for both the spherical and non- spherical particle. The trajectories of the large particles (>100. Oum) are ballistic' in nature which are governed by the inertia forces. The trajectories of the smaller particles are influenced by the both aerodynamic and inertia forces.

Gas turbines are used to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy. The thermal efficiency of the gas turbine is directly related to the turbine inlet temperature. The combustion and turbine technology has improved to such an extent that the operating temperature in the turbine inlet is higher than the melting temperature of the turbine material. Different techniques are used to cope with this problem. One of the most commonly used methods is internal cooling of the turbine blades. Conventionally air from the compressor is used for this purpose but due to higher heat capacity, steam can be used as coolant. This opens up the possibility to increase the gas temperature. In the case of a combined cycle power plant, its availability provides a good opportunity to be used as a coolant. The trailing edge of the gas turbine blades is an important region as it affects the aerodynamics of the flow. The aerodynamics demands a sharp and thin trailing edge to reduce profile losses. The conventional method is the release of a lot of cooling air though a slot along the airfoil trailing edge. However in the case of internal only cooling designs, the coolant is not allowed to leave the channel except from the root section to avoid mixing of the gas in the main flow path with the coolant and loss of cooling medium. The challenge is to design an inner cooling channel, with the cooling medium entering and leaving the blade at the root section, which reduces the metal temperatures to the required values without an increase of the profile losses and at acceptable cooling flow rate and pressure drop. This thesis presents Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) based numerical work concentrated firstly on the flow and heat transfer in two-pass rectangular channels with and without turbulator ribs. The aspect ratio of the inlet pass was reduced to accommodate more channels in the blade profile in chord-wise direction. Additionally, the divider-to-tip wall distance was varied for these channels. Their effect on heat transfer and pressure drop was studied for smooth as well as ribbed channels.  It was followed by a numerical heat transfer study in the trapezoidal channel. Different RANS based turbulence models were used to compare the numerical results with the experimental results. Further, new designs to enhance heat transfer in the channel’s side walls (named as trailing edge wall) were studied. These include the provision of ribs at the trailing edge wall only, inline arrangement of ribs at the bottom as well as at the trailing edge wall and a staggered arrangement of these ribs. The final study was a conjugate heat transfer problem with an aim to propose the best internal cooling channel design to reduce the metal temperature of the trailing edge surface for the given thermal and flow conditions. A number of different options were studied and changes were made to get the best possible channel design. The results show that for a two-pass rectangular channel (both smooth and ribbed), the reduction in inlet channel aspect ratio reduces the pressure drop. For a smooth channel the reduction in the width of the inlet pass does not affect the heat transfer enhancement at the inlet pass and outlet pass regions. In case of ribbed channels, heat transfer decreases at the tip and bend bottom with decrease in the width of the inlet pass. Among different turbulence models used to validate numerical results against experimental results for case of trapezoidal channel, the low-Re k-epsilon model is found to be the most appropriate. Using the turbulence model that yields results that are closest to the experimental data, the staggered arrangement of ribs at the trailing edge wall is found to have maximum thermal performance. The results from the conjugate heat transfer problem suggest using steam as coolant if it is available as it requires less mass flow rate to get similar wall temperature values as compared to air at similar thermal and flow conditions. It is also found that staggered arrangement of ribs is the best option compared to others to enhance heat transfer in trailing edge of the gas turbine blade with the pressure drop in the cooling duct in the acceptable range. / Gasturbiner används för att omvandla värmeenergi till mekanisk energi. Den termiska verkningsgraden för en gasturbin är direkt relaterad till turbinen inloppstemperatur. Förbrännings- och turbintekniken har förbättrats så mycket att gastemperaturen i turbininloppet är högre än smälttemperaturen för turbinmaterialet. Olika tekniker används för att hantera detta problem. En av de vanligaste metoderna är intern kylningen av turbinbladen. Konventionellt luft från kompressorn används för detta ändamål, men på grund av högre värmekapacitet kan ånga användas som kylmedel. Detta öppnar för möjligheten att höja gasens temperatur. Vid ett kombikraftverk, ger dess tillgänglighet ett bra tillfälle att användas som kylmedel.   Den bakre delen av turbinbladen är ett viktigt område eftersom geometrin påverkar strömningen. Aerodynamiken kräver en skarp och tunn bakkant för att minska profilförlusterna. Den konventionella metoden för kylning av denna är att släppa ut en stor mängd kylluft genom en spalt längs bakkanten. Men i fallet med enbart inre kylning får kylmediet inte lämna skovelprofilen i strömningskanalen utan endast genom rotsektionen för att undvika blandning av förbränningsluften i turbinens strömningskanal med kylmediet och förlust av kylmedium.   Utmaningen är att utforma en inre kylkanal, i vilken kylmediet kommer in och lämnar bladet i rotsnittet som är tillräckligt bra för att hålla metalltemperaturen på normala värden utan att öka profilförlusterna och med acceptabla kylluftflöden och tryckfall.   Denna avhandling består av ett Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) baserat numeriskt arbetet koncentrerat på strömning och värmeöverföring först i två-pass rektangulära kanaler med och utan turbulensalstrande ribbor. Geometrin för inloppspassagen reducerades för att ge utrymme för fler kylkanaler inom bladets profil i kordans riktning. Dessutom varierades mellanväggens avstånd till toppväggen. Effekten på värmeöverföring och tryckfall studerades för båda kanalerna. Därefter följde en numerisk studie av värmeöverföringen i liknande men trapetsformade kanaler. Olika RANS baserade turbulensmodeller användes för att jämföra numeriska och experimentella resultat. Vidare har nya konstruktioner för att förbättra värmeöverföringen i kanalens sidoväggar och bakkant studeras. Dessa inkluderar turbulensribbor på enbart bakkantsväggen samt ribbor på såväl sidoväggar som på bakkantsväggen i linje med och förskjutna mot varandra. Den slutliga studien var ett sammansatt värmeöverföringsproblem bakkantens yta för ett visst angivet tillstånd i form av värmebelastning, tryck, temperatur och flöden. Ett antal olika alternativ har studerats och modifierats för att bästa möjliga kanalutformningen.   Resultaten visar att för en två-pass rektangulär kanal (både släta och ribbade), minskar tryckfallet när inloppskanalens geometri reducerades. För en slät kanal påverkar inte den minskade bredden på inloppskanalen värmeöverförning i inlopps- och utloppskanalerna. Vid ribbade kanaler minskar värmeöverföring vid toppen och på toppväggen med minskad bredd på inloppskanalen. Av de olika turbulensmodeller som används för att validera numeriska resultat mot experimentella för fallet med trapetsformad kanal visade sig låg-Re k-epsilon modellen den mest lämpliga. Genom att använda den turbulensmodell som är närmast experimentella data visar det att geometrin med förskjutna ribbor på bakkantsväggen har maximal termiska prestanda. Resultaten från det sammansatta värmeöverföringsproblemet framhåller användning av ånga som kylmedium om den finns tillgänglig eftersom den kräver mindre massflöde för att få samma värden på väggtemperaturerna jämfört med luft vid samma termiska tillstånd. Det kunde också visas att förskjutna turbulensribbor är det bästa alternativet jämfört med andra för att öka värmeöverföringen i bakkanten av ett gasturbinblad med acceptabelt tryckfall i kylkanalen. / QC 20111108

An experimental investigation has been carried out into the mixing of a row of jets injected into a confined cross-flow. Measurements were made on a fully annular test facility, the geometry of the rig simulating that found in the dilution zone of a gas turbine combustion chamber. A small temperature difference of 44°C between the cross-flow and dilution fluid allowed the mixing characteristics to be assessed, with hot jets being injected into a relatively cold cross-flow at a jet to cross-flow momentum flux ratio of 4.0. The investigation concentrated on differences in the mixing of individual dilution jets, as indicated by the regularity of the temperature patterns around the cross-flow annulus. Despite the uniform conditions approaching the dilution holes there were significant differences in the temperature patterns produced by the dilution jets around the annulus.

The objective of this programme of research is to produce a method for assessing and optimising the performance of advanced gas turbine power plants for electricity generation within the Brazilian electric sector. With the privatisation of the Brazilian electric sector, interest has been given to the thermal plants and studies have been carried out along with the use of other alternative fuels rather than fossil fuels. Biomass is a fuel of increasing interest for power generation systems since it is clean and renewable. Essentially all biomass power plants in the Brazilian market today operate on a steam Rankine cycle, which has a poor efficiency. The Brazilian electricity market has paid attention on Biomass integrated gasification gas turbine (BIG/GT) combined cycle plants where solid biomass is gasified. A simple chemical model for representing the gasifier in the power plant is presented and optimisation of the gasification process has been applied. The method for assessing the performance of power plants takes into account not only energy, but it applies the exergy method, which uses the second law of thermodynamics and works out the destruction of energy inside plant components and energy losses rejected to atmosphere. A thermoeconomic model for assessing the power plant has also been described. The optimisation of the assessment method of power plants using exergy and thermoeconomics has been proposed based on genetic algorithms. This new technique has been fairly successful at solving optimisation problems and is easy to implement. The decision of applying genetic algorithms is due to the complexity of the mathematical model applied in the performance assessment of power plants. The assessment of combined cycles like gas / steam cycle, gas / air cycle, gas / steam / freon cycle, gas / air / freon cycle and chemically recuperated gas turbine have been investigated. The application of the overall assessment method helps to understand different and very expensive choices of power plants before making final decisions.

The rapid electrification through natural gas in Mexico; the interest of the country to mitigate the effects of climate change; and the opportunity for rolling out Enhanced Oil Recovery at national level requires an important R&D effort to develop nationally relevant CCS technology in natural gas combined cycle power plants. Post-combustion carbon dioxide capture at gas-fired power plants is identified and proposed as an effective way to reduce CO2 emissions generated by the electricity sector in Mexico. In particular, gas-fired power plants with carbon dioxide capture and the sequential combustion of supplementary natural gas in the heat recovery steam generator can favourably increase the production of carbon dioxide, compared to a conventional configuration. This could be attractive in places with favourable conditions for enhanced oil recovery and where affordable natural gas prices will continue to exist, such as Mexico and North America. Sequential combustion makes use of the excess oxygen in gas turbine exhaust gas to generate additional CO2, but, unlike in conventional supplementary firing, allows keeping gas temperatures in the heat recovery steam generator below 820°C, avoiding a step change in capital costs. It marginally decreases relative energy requirements for solvent regeneration and amine degradation. Power plant models integrated with capture and compression process models of Sequential Supplementary Firing Combined Cycle (SSFCC) gas-fired units show that the efficiency penalty is 8.2% points LHV compared to a conventional natural gas combined cycle power plant with capture. The marginal thermal efficiency of natural gas firing in the heat recovery steam generator can increase with supercritical steam generation to reduce the efficiency penalty to 5.7% points LHV. Although the efficiency is lower than the conventional configuration, the increment in the power output of the combined steam cycle leads a reduction of the number of gas turbines, at a similar power output to that of a conventional natural gas combined cycle. This has a positive impact on the number of absorbers and the capital costs of the post-combustion capture plant by reducing the total volume of flue gas by half on a normalised basis. The relative reduction of overall capital costs is, respectively, 9.1% and 15.3% for the supercritical and the subcritical combined cycle configurations with capture compared to a conventional configuration. The total revenue requirement, a metric combining levelised cost of electricity and revenue from EOR, shows that, at gas prices of 2$/MMBTU and for CO2 selling price from 0 to 50 $/tonneCO2, subcritical and supercritical sequential supplementary firing presents favourably at 47.3-26 $/MWh and 44.6-25 $/MWh, respectively, compared with a conventional NGCC at 49.5-31.7 $/MWh. When operated at part-load, these configurations show greater operational flexibility by utilising the additional degree of freedom associated with the combustion of natural gas in the HRSG to change power output according to electricity demand and to ensure continuity of CO2 supply when exposed to variation in electricity prices. The optimisation of steady state part-load performance shows that reducing output by adjusting supplementary fuel keeps the gas turbine operating at full load and maximum efficiency when the net power plant output is reduced from 100% to 50%. For both subcritical and supercritical combined cycles, the thermal efficiency at part-load is optimised, in terms of efficiency, with sliding pressure operation of the heat recovery steam generator. Fixed pressure operation is proposed as an alternative for supercritical combined cycles to minimise capital costs and provide fast response rates with acceptable performance levels.

abstract: Modern day gas turbine designers face the problem of hot mainstream gas ingestion into rotor-stator disk cavities. To counter this ingestion, seals are installed on the rotor and stator disk rims and purge air, bled off from the compressor, is injected into the cavities. It is desirable to reduce the supply of purge air as this decreases the net power output as well as efficiency of the gas turbine. Since the purge air influences the disk cavity flow field and effectively the amount of ingestion, the aim of this work was to study the cavity velocity field experimentally using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Experiments were carried out in a model single-stage axial flow turbine set-up that featured blades as well as vanes, with purge air supplied at the hub of the rotor-stator disk cavity. Along with the rotor and stator rim seals, an inner labyrinth seal was provided which split the disk cavity into a rim cavity and an inner cavity. First, static gage pressure distribution was measured to ensure that nominally steady flow conditions had been achieved. The PIV experiments were then performed to map the velocity field on the radial-tangential plane within the rim cavity at four axial locations. Instantaneous velocity maps obtained by PIV were analyzed sector-by-sector to understand the rim cavity flow field. It was observed that the tangential velocity dominated the cavity flow at low purge air flow rate, its dominance decreasing with increase in the purge air flow rate. Radially inboard of the rim cavity, negative radial velocity near the stator surface and positive radial velocity near the rotor surface indicated the presence of a recirculation region in the cavity whose radial extent increased with increase in the purge air flow rate. Qualitative flow streamline patterns are plotted within the rim cavity for different experimental conditions by combining the PIV map information with ingestion measurements within the cavity as reported in Thiagarajan (2013). / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Mechanical Engineering 2013

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