CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH MECHANICAL

AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Thermal Engineering Laboratory

Exp#4-Operating Characteristics of a Gas Turbine Engine

Objective:
The main objective of this experiment is to determine the characteristics of a simple gas turbine engine.
The thermodynamic properties at each point of the Brayton cycle are calculated to permit complete
analysis of the cycle.

Turbine Characteristics:
The engine consists of a single stage radial compressor, a counter-flow annular combustor and a single
stage axial turbine which directs the combustion products into a converging nozzle for further expansion.
The engine produces a maximum trust of 40 lbf (178 N) and has a compression ratio of 2.5:1. The fuel
used to power the engine is kerosene with the lower heating value of 19000 Btu/lbm.

Instrumentation:
The sensors are routed to a central access panel and interfaced with data acquisition hardware and
software from National Instruments. The manufacturer provides the following description of the sensors
and their location.
The integrated sensor system (Mini-Lab) option includes the following probes: Compressor inlet
static pressure (P1), Compressor stage exit stagnation pressure (P02), Combustion chamber
pressure (P3), Turbine exit stagnation pressure (P04), Thrust nozzle exit stagnation pressure
(P05), Compressor inlet static temperature (T1), Compressor stage exit stagnation temperature
(T02), Turbine stage inlet stagnation temperature (T03), Turbine stage exit stagnation
temperature (T04), an thrust nozzle exit stagnation temperature (T05). Additionally, the system
includes fuel flow sensor and a digital thrust readout measuring real time thrust force based upon
a strain gage thrust yoke system.

Safety Notes:
1. Make sure you are wearing ear protection.
2. The SR-30 engine operates at high rotational speeds. Although there is a protective pane that separates
the engine from the operator, make certain that you do not lean too close to this pane.
3. Make sure the low-oil-pressure light goes off immediately after an engine start. If it stays on or comes
on at any time during the engine operation cut off the fuel flow immediately.
4. There is a vibration sensor whose indicator is to the far right of the operators panel. If this indicator
shows any activity (increase in voltage) shut-off the engine immediately.
5. If at any time you suspect something is wrong shut off the fuel immediately and notify the lab
instructor.
6. If the engine is hung (starts but does not speed up to idle speed of about
40,000 rpm) turn the air-start back on for a short while until the engine speeds up to about 30,000 rpm.
Then turn off the air-start switch.
MAKE SURE NEITHER YOU NOR ANY OF YOUR BELONGINGS ARE PLACED IN FRONT
OF THE INTAKE TO OR EXHAUST FROM THE ENGINE WHEN THE ENGINE IS
RUNNING.

Experimental Procedure:
1. Turn on the keyed master switch
2. Verify that the Turbine inlet temperature (TIT), the Exhaust gas temperature (EGT), and the RPM
panel meters are ON.
3. Move the engine power lever to the maximum power, full forward position to verify freedom of
movement throughout the full range of throttle operation
4. With the power lever full forward as in the previous step, verify that the throttle position flag
illuminates on the LCD display
5. The engine power lever may now be returned to the minimum power, full AFT position. This
verifies that the throttle functions correctly throughout the full range of motion. With the power
lever in maximum position, the LCD display should display RDY which indicates that the
MiniLab is ready for engine start.
6. Press the green START button to start the engine.
7. Open the PersonalDaqView software by double clicking on the pDaqView shortcut icon in
MiniLab folder located on the desktop and run the pre-programmed LabView VI for this lab. The
screen should display readings from all sensors. Review the readouts to make sure they are
working properly.
8. Make sure that the air pressure in the compressed-air-start line is at least 100 psia (not exceeding
120 psia).
9. Slowly open the throttle. Start taking data at about 45,000 rpm. Make sure that you allow the
engine time to reach steady state by monitoring the digital engine rpm indicator on panel. The
reading fluctuates somewhat so use your judgment.
10. Take data at three different engine speeds (45000, 60000 and 75000 rpm). You will use the data
to study how cycle and component efficiencies change with speed.
11. To record data, select Arm Trigger for disk recording button. Data will be saved in a file named
PDAQ.BIN located in C:\programFiles\pDaqView\Applications\DATA\PDAQ.BIN
12. After you are done taking data, turn off the fuel flow switch first.
13. Follow the instruction to convert the data from binary format to text file and store it in Excel
spreadsheet
14. Measure the barometric pressure (Note: Pabsolute = Patm + Pgage)

Required Calculations:
Perform the following analysis and calculations at each time selected (throttle setting)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Find the specific enthalpy at each point of the thermodynamic cycle

For compression stage, find specific work consumed by the compressor (1-2)
For combustion stage, find specific energy added by the fuel
For the turbine expansion, find the specific work of the turbine
Find the specific work done by the cycle
Find the thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle
Find the pressure ratio, and the ideal efficiency of the Brayton cycle. Compare the actual
efficiency with the ideal efficiency.
h) Draw the P-h diagram for the actual gas turbine cycle.
i) Find the compressor and the turbine efficiencies.
j) Calculate the air velocity at inlet to the compressor.

Note:
Where: P is the pressure in psig and is the density of air at compressor inlet
k) Calculate the volumetric flow rate of air entering the compressor.
Note:
Qo=AV
o
Where: Q is the volumetric flow rate, A is the inlet area=4.87 in2, and V is the velocity of air
l) Calculate the mass flow rate of the air entering the compressor.
m) Repeat calculations in steps j,k and l for air exiting the nozzle.
Note: at this location the area=3.88 in2
n) Calculated the Thrust generated at this location and operating condition.
o) Why is the calculated value of Thrust using pitot tube reading different than what is captured by
systems load cell thrust measurement? Which one do you think is more accurate?
p) Use the following equation to calculate the Mach number of the flow at this location and
operating condition.

Where: V is the air velocity, gc=32.174 ft.lbm/s2.lbf , k=1.4 and R=53.3 ft.lbf m/lb oR

Suggestions for Discussions

1. How does the cycle efficiency compare with the ideal Brayton cycle? With the Carnot cycle?
2. How does the component efficiency affect the cycle efficiency?
3. How do the component efficiencies you calculated based on your test data compare with those of
typical gas turbine engines?

Background Theory:
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a rotary engine that extracts energy
from a flow of combustion gas. It has an upstream compressor coupled to a downstream turbine,
and a combustion chamber in-between. (Gas turbine may also refer to just the turbine element.)
Energy is added to the gas stream in the combustor, where air is mixed with fuel and ignited.
Combustion increases the temperature, velocity and volume of the gas flow. This is directed
through a nozzle over the turbine's blades, spinning the turbine and powering the compressor.
Energy is extracted in the form of shaft power, compressed air and thrust, in any combination,
and used to power aircraft, trains, ships, generators, and even tanks.
The basic gas turbine cycle is named for the Boston engineer, George Brayton, who first
proposed the Brayton cycle around 1870. Now, the Brayton cycle is used for gas turbines only
where both the compression and expansion processes take place in rotating machinery. The two
major application areas of gas-turbine engines are aircraft propulsion and electric power
generation. Gas turbines are used as stationary power plants to generate electricity as stand-alone
units or in conjunction with steam power plants on the high-temperature side. In these plants, the
exhaust gases serve as a heat source for the steam. Steam power plants are considered externalcombustion engines, in which the combustion takes place outside the engine. The thermal energy
released during this process is then transferred to the steam as heat. The gas turbine first
successfully ran in 1939 at the Swiss National Exhibition at Zurich. The early gas turbines built
in the 1940s and even 1950s had simple-cycle efficiencies of about 17 percent. This was because
of low compressor and turbine efficiencies and low turbine inlet temperature due to metallurgical
limitations at the time. The first gas turbine for an electric utility was installed in 1949 in
Oklahoma as part of a combined-cycle power plant. It was built by General Electric and
produced 3.5 MW of power. In the early 1990s, General Electric offered a gas turbine that
featured a pressure ratio of 13.5 and generated 135.7 MW of net power at a thermal efficiency of
33 percent in simple-cycle operation. A more recent gas turbine manufactured by General
Electric uses a turbine inlet temperature of 1425C (2600F) and produces up to 282 MW while
achieving a thermal efficiency of 39.5 percent in the simple-cycle mode. Current low prices for
crude oil make fuels such as diesel, kerosene, jet-engine fuel, and clean gaseous fuels (such as
natural gas) the most desirable for gas turbines. However, these fuels will become much more
expensive and will eventually run out. Provisions must therefore be made to burn alternative
fuels.

Brayton Cycle Components:

Gas turbines usually operate on an open cycle, as shown in Figure 1. Fresh air at ambient
conditions is drawn into the compressor, where its temperature and pressure are raised. The highpressure air proceeds into the combustion chamber, where the fuel is burned at constant pressure. The
resulting high- temperature gases then enter the turbine, where they expand to the atmospheric
pressure through a row of nozzle vanes. This expansion causes the turbine blade to spin, which then
turns a shaft inside a magnetic coil. When the shaft is rotating inside the magnetic coil, electrical current
is produced. The exhaust gases leaving the turbine in the open cycle are not re-circulated.

Figure 1- An Open Cycle Gas Turbine Engine

The open gas-turbine cycle can be modeled as a closed cycle as shown in Figure 2 by utilizing the
air-standard assumptions. Here the compression and expansion process remain the same, but a constantpressure heat-rejection process to the ambient air replaces the combustion process.

Figure 2- A Closed Cycle Gas Turbine Engine

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The ideal cycle that the working fluid undergoes in this closed loop is called the Brayton cycle,
which is made up of four internally reversible processes:
1-2

Isentropic compression (in a compressor)

2-3

Constant pressure heat addition

3-4

Isentropic expansion (in a turbine)

4-1

Constant pressure heat rejection

The T-s and P-v diagrams of an ideal Brayton cycle are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3- T-s and P-v diagrams of an ideal Brayton cycle

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All four processes of the Brayton cycle are executed in steady flow devices so they
should be analyzed as steady-flow processes. When the changes in kinetic and potential energies
are neglected, the energy balance for a steady-flow process can be expressed, on a unit-mass
basis, as

(qinqout)+(winwout)= hexithinlet

Therefore, heat transfers to and from the working fluid are

Qin=h3h2=Cp(T3T2)
and

qout=h4h1=Cp(T4T1)

Then the thermal efficiency of the ideal Brayton cycle under the cold air-standard assumptions
becomes

th,Brayton

Processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic, and P2 =P3 and P4=P1. Thus,

Substituting these equations into the thermal efficiency relation and simplifying give

th,Brayton

Where

rp
is the pressure ratio and k is the specific heat ratio. Under the cold-air assumptions, the thermal
efficiency of an ideal Brayton cycle depends on the pressure ratio of the gas turbine and the
specific heat ratio of the working fluid (if different from air). The thermal efficiency increases
with both of these parameters, which is also the case for actual gas turbines.
In practice, friction, and turbulence cause:
1. Non-isentropic compression: for a given overall pressure ratio, the compressor delivery
temperature is higher than ideal.
2. Non-isentropic expansion: although the turbine temperature drop necessary to drive the
compressor is unaffected, the associated pressure ratio is greater, which decreases the
expansion available to provide useful work.
3. Pressure losses in the air intake, combustor and exhaust: reduces the expansion available
to provide useful work.
As with all cyclic heat engines, higher combustion temperature means greater efficiency. The
limiting factor is the ability of the steel, nickel, ceramic, or other materials that make up the
engine to withstand heat and pressure. Considerable engineering goes into keeping the turbine
parts cool. Most turbines also try to recover exhaust heat, which otherwise is wasted energy.
Recuperators are heat exchangers that pass exhaust heat to the compressed air, prior to
combustion. Combined cycle designs pass waste heat to steam turbine systems, and combined
heat and power (co-generation) uses waste heat for hot water production.
Mechanically, gas turbines can be considerably less complex than internal combustion piston
engines. Simple turbines might have one moving part: the shaft/compressor/turbine/alternativerotor assembly (see image above), not counting the fuel system.