Work and efficiencies in turbine stages

Energy equation in various forms and the concepts discussed

for nozzles can employed for turbines
In turbines the difference is on account of the presence of
shaft work

Ideal and actual expansion process in turbine

In the isentropic process (1-2s), on account of work transfer

there is a drop in stagnation enthalpy and the entropy remains
same on account of isentropic process
The actual expansion process (irreversible adiabatic) 1-2, on
account of irreversibility there is an increase in entropy
Stagnation pressures at exit cannot be compared with initial
stagnation pressures because of the work transfer.
The actual work at the turbine can be determined from the
change in stagnation enthalpies at the entry and exit.

wa h01 h02

For perfect gas

Total to total Efficiency

Efficiency of turbine is ratio of actual to ideal work for the

same Pressure ratio (pr=p1/p2)
In turbines the actual work can be measured and the ideal work
is hypothetical and depends on the manner it is defined
If the ideal work is defined as the work obtained during the
isentropic expansion from the stagnation state O1 to O2s , then
the efficiency based on this is known as the total to total
efficiency

Here the KE of the gas at the exit is not considered as wasted

since it is contained in the term h02s ,
H02s = h2s + c2s2/2

wa
tt
ws

h01 h02
tt
h01 h02 s
T01 T02
tt
T01 T02 s

(8)

The stagnation pressure lines for p02s and p02 are different.
However the distance between them is small.
The stagnation pressure ratio is

This expression when substituted in eqn. 8

For given stagnation temperature, pressure ratio and efficiency

the output power at the shaft is

Total to static efficiency

Some turbines the KE of the out going jet is lost because it is

not used after the turbine
eg. Some turbine stages exhaust in to atmosphere or in a
closed space like condenser
In such case the ideal work is the work done between the states
O1 and 2s
The actual work remains the same as the before
The total to static efficiency is given by

If

Finite stage efficiency

A stage with finite pressure drop is a finite turbine stage.

In multi-stage turbines along with overall efficiency, the
efficiencies of individual stages are also important
Different stages with same pressure ratio located in different
regions in the h-s plane will give different values of work
output.
For a steady flow process
dw = -v dp
This implies that for the same pressure drop more work will be
done with higher values of v
At each stage the work done is proportional to the initial
temperature of the gas

Effect of reheat

Total expansion process 1-2 is divided in to four stages of the

same efficiency (st) and pressure ratio

Consider the overall efficiency of the expansion is T

Actual work during the expansion process 1-2 is
w a = T w s

If the isentropic or ideal work in the stages are ws1, ws2 , ws3
and ws4

The constant pressure lines in a h-s plane must diverge

towards right, therefore

This makes the overall efficiency of the turbine greater than

the individual stage efficiency.

T > st

The quantity ws / ws is known as the Reheat factor

This factor is always greater than unity
The effect depicted by T > st , is due to a thermodynamic
effect called Reheat
This does not imply any heat transfer to the stages from
outside
It is the reappearance of stage losses as increased enthalpy
during the constant pressure heating (reheating) processes AX,
BY, CZ, D2

Infinitesimal stage efficiency

Expanding the binomial expression on RHS and ignoring the

terms beyond the second

(9)

This differential equation is valid along the actual expansion

process.
On integration eqn. 9 yields,

(10)

This relation defines the actual expansion line in a finite stage

or a multistage machine between two given states
Here the value of infinitesimal or small stage efficiency (p) is
constant

The value of p must be determined to use the above eqn. 10

for a given expansion between two states.
Integrating eqn.9 between the given two states 1 and 2,

(11)

Irreversible adiabatic expansion process (the actual expansion

process) can be considered as equivalent to polytropic process
So eqn.11 can be written as

Equating the indices we have,

When p = 1, n = . The actual expansion line coincides with

the isentropic expansion and the above equations will be valid
for an isentropic process

The efficiency of a finite stage can be expressed in terms of

the small stage efficiency.

Variation of stage efficiencies with pressure

ratio at constant p