1. Describe a simple gas turbine.

Answer:
A simple gas turbine has a compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine. The turbine
and the compressor are on the same shaft. The compressor raises the pressure of
atmospheric air and sends this air to the combustion chamber. Here, a fuel (oil, gas, or
pulverized coal) burns, raising the temperature and increasing the heat energy. The hot
gas in the turbine expands to develop mechanical energy, as expanding steam does in a
steam turbine. This simple unit has a thermal efficiency of about 20 percent.
An open-cycle gas turbine also takes air from the atmosphere and discharges exhaust to
the atmosphere. Open-cycle hookups differ in many ways, but the compressor inlet is
atmospheric and there is a relatively narrow range of best pressure ratios. This puts a
limit on the top-cycle pressure. These units can have a regenerator, intercooler, and other
refinements and can still be open-cycle gas turbines.
2. How does steam injection lower the NOx discharged to the atmosphere by a gas turbine?
Answer:
Adding steam in the combustion zone of the turbine lowers both the flame and gas
temperature, preventing up to 80% percent of uncontrolled NO x for mation.
3. How does the gas turbine use thermal energy?
Answer:
To know how gas turbines behave, we must understand the basic steps in the simple
cycle. Heat energy of tile fuel is converted into mechanical energy. The compressor and
the combustion chamber produce a high-energy working fluid that can be expanded in the
turbine. This develops mechanical energy similar to expanding steam in a steam turbine.
The volume of the working fluid is smallest at the compressor outlet, though its
temperature is higher than at the compressor inlet. High excess air ratio in the combustor
keeps air and gas temperatures below a maximum limit. At the turbine outlet, gas volume
is at maximum. The main elements of the gas-turbine plant must be proportional to
handle the flow of working fluid with minimum pressure loss through the system.
4. How is the efficiency of a modern gas turbine increased?
Answers:
Converting more heat energy to mechanical energy increases gas-turbine efficiency. One
way to do this is to raise the turbine inlet gas temperature, which, in turn, raises thermal
efficiency. At higher temperatures, the best efficiency occurs at the higher-pressure ratios.
Increasing the temperature of the gas also betters both the air rate and the work ratio.

The next step is to add a regenerator to transfer heat from the exhaust to compressed air.
The hotter air temperature recovered from waste heat cuts the fuel needed to bring the air
up to the turbine inlet temperature. Next, add an intercooler. Divide the compression.
The next step is to split the turbine in two and to place a combustor before each turbine.
The first combustor discharges high-temperature gas into the high-pressure turbine. As
the gas does work on the turbine rotor, both its pressure and temperature drop partly
expanded.
5. Sketch a single-stage-heated closed-cycle gas turbine and give the temperatures and
pressures it needs for full-load operation:
Answer:
Hot gases of 687C and 2400 kPa go into the high-pressure turbine from the combustor,
and exhaust goes from the low-pressure turbine at 443C and 670 kPa. Air enters the lowpressure compressor at 16F and 645 kPa and leaves at 58C and 2430 kPa.
6. To avoid condensation, what precautions are necessary for natural gas fuel that supplies a
gas turbine?
Answer:
Most gas turbines for industrial use is hooked up to pipeline -quality natural gas with
liquid fuel, usually no.2, as backup. The natural gas should go through water knockout
vessels before entering the gas turbine room. These vessels normally contain coalescing
and filtering elements. To avoid condensation, the natural gas temperature should be
maintained at least 10C above its dew point. Pockets must be avoided in pipe runs so
that condensate will not collect in low spots. Piping is usually stainless steel.
7. What are some conditions that require a gas turbine train trip?
Answer:
1. Trips are required for overspeed.
2. Low lube oil pressure.
3. High turbine exhaust temperature.
4. Excess vibration.
5. Flame failure in combustor.
6. Inlet air filter having high differential pressure.
7. Any initiation of fire protection around the unit.
8. What are some of the factors that may determine the service life of gas turbine
components?
Answer:
The manufacturers express this as used-up service life based on their methods of
calculating remaining life.

Factors to consider include:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

starts and stops

load and temperature swings
running hours
whether components have protective coatings
material creep strength
endurance limit for fatigue strength evaluation
method of blade cooling
effect of steam injection
erosion wear noted during inspections

This also includes hot gas metal oxidation. The trend is to convert many of these items to
equal a certain amount of actual running hours, adding them to the running hours, and
then comparing them to the manufacturer's predicted life. In this way, a decision is made
for a planned replacement before a failure can he expected. It is important for operators to
become familiar with the manufacturer's method of assigning remaining life because
operating practices influences many of these.
9. What are the basic components of a simple gas-turbine system?
Answer:
The basic components for a simple gas-turbine system include a compressor, combustor,
and the turbine. A rotating compressor draws in air from the atmosphere, pressurizes it,
and forces it into the combustor (the furnace) in a steady flow. Fuel forced into the air
burns, raising the temperature of the mixture of air and combustion products. This highenergy mixture then flows through the turbine, dropping in pressure and temperature as it
does work on the moving blades. The spent gases then leave at atmospheric pressure but
at high temperature. The turbine drives the compressor rotor through a shaft and also an
external load through the load coupling.
10. What are the main components of a gas turbine?
Answer:
1. air compressor
2. combuster
3. flue gas expander turbine
11. What gas is used in the SCR method of controlling NOx?
Answer:
Air-diluted ammonia vapor is injected into the flue gas stream before it enters the catalyst
units consisting of honeycomb-shaped ceramic material. These cells, with the ammonia
vapor, convert nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and water vapor for discharge into the
atmosphere.
12. What is a booster compressor?

Answer:
A booster machine compresses air or gas from a pressure above atmospheric to a still
higher pressure. Booster machines have many uses, especially in oil and gas fields and
related industries. Compression may be either single or multistage, depending upon the
ratio of compressions, horsepower, and gas analysis
13. What is combined-cycle cogeneration?
Answer:
A combined cycle using a gas turbine or diesel, usually driving a generator in which the
exhaust gases are directed to a waste heat-recovery boiler or heat-recovery steam
generator (HRSG). The steam from the HRSG is then directed to a steam turbo-generator
for additional electric power production. The use of the exhaust heat from a gas turbine
improves the overall thermal efficiency. In cogeneration, electric power is produced, but
part of the steam from the HRSG or from extraction from the steam turbine is used for
process heat, hence the term cogeneration-the simultaneous production of electric power
and process heat steam.
14. What is compression efficiency?
Answer:
Compression efficiency is the ratio of the work needed for ideal adiabatic compression
through a given pressure range to the work actually needed by the compressor.
15. What is engine efficiency?
Engine efficiency is the ratio of tile work actually developed by expanding hot gas in the
turbine through a given pressure range to the work that would be yielded for ideal
adiabatic expansion.
16. What is machine efficiency?
Answer:
For gas turbines, machine efficiency is the combined efficiencies of the compressor and
the turbine.
17. What is pressure ratio?
Answer:
It is the ratio of the highest pressure in a cycle to the lowest pressure. It is usually the
ratio of the highest pressure in the compressor discharge to the lowest pressure in the
compressor inlet.
18. What is the Brayton cycle?

Answer:
This is the basic gas turbine cycle of adiabatic compression of air in a compressor,
constant pressure burning in a combustor, followed by adiabatic expansion of the
working fluid in a turbine to produce mechanical power.
19. What is the effect of ambient temperature on gas turbine performance?
Answer:
Most designs are based on an air temperature of 16C entering the air compressor. In
general, unless preheating is used, the thermal efficiency will decrease about one
percentage point for each 7C rise in air inlet temperature.
20. What is the effect of creep on high-alloy material used in gas turbines?
Answer:
The high-alloy materials may show a loss of ductility at high temperature over a period
and thus becomes brittle and prone to cracking. The higher the temperature, the more
rapidly the material loses its strength and ductility.
21. What is thermal efficiency?
Answer:
Thermal efficiency is the percentage of the total fuel energy input that appears as the net
work output of the cycle.
22. What is work ratio?
Answer:
It is the ratio of the uct work output of the cycle to the total work developed in the turbine
or turbines.
23. What provisions in the layout of a combined-cycle should be considered?
Answer:
It is important to consider the use of a bypass stack that will permit operating the gas
turbo-generator in case of a forced outage on the HRSG or steam turbo-generator.
However, in certain states, such as California, also to be considered are NO limits that
require steam injection and loading to limit the exhaust temperature coming out of the
simple-cycle gas turbine so that they do not exceed jurisdictional limits.
24. Where may you expect to find thermal stress cracks in a gas turbine when snaking
internal inspections?

Answer:
Thermal stress cracks appear in those components, which are subjected to high
temperatures, such as combustors, entrance nozzle segments, and first stage blades, and
which have abrupt changes in stiffness or configuration that produce stress concentration.
25. Why are fuel considerations important in gas turbines?
Answer:
The products of combustion come in direct contact with turbine blading. This dictates using fuels
those produce combustion products that do not cause high-temperature corrosion or oxidation,
erosion, and deposition of ash on blades. Preferred are natural gas, properly prepared syngas, and
distillate oils. Most other liquid fuels require external treatment to remove harmful vanadium and
sodium. Vanadium pentoxide and sodium sulfate are the principal ash components formed at
higher temperatures. This ash adheres to blades and causes corrosion on the blades

1. A combined gas-vapor power cycle includes only the combination of a gas turbine with a steam
turbine.
a. true
b. false
2. Generator speed is controlled by:
a. number of windings and size of electromagnet
b. exciter circuit and field rheostat
c. steam turbine speed and the turbine governor *
d. expansion indicator and vibration sensors
e. pairs of poles and core material
3. A condenser is always under a negative (vacuum) pressure.
a. true
b. false
4. A condensing turbine requires a vacuum breaker. The vacuum breaker initiates one of the
following, should the vacuum start to fail on the condenser:
a. it will lower the cooling water flow to the condenser
b. it will increase the cooling water flow to the condenser
c. it will trip the turbine at a preset vacuum pressure
d. it will unload the electrical load in proportion to the vacuum change
e. it will increase the load on the condenser
5. A condensing turbine:
1. has a higher efficiency than a non-condensing turbine
2. has a lower efficiency than a non-condensing turbine
3. operates at less than atmospheric pressure
4. are mostly used in process plants
5. are mostly used in power generating stations

6. may be single or multi-stage machines

a.
b.
c.
d.

1, 4, 6
1, 3, 5 *
2, 3, 5
2, 5, 6