4025 Gas Turbine Perfor Eval PDF

Technical Training
Gas Turbine Performance

and Condition Evaluation
Student Workbook
Course No. 4025
4025
Student Workbook
Course No. 4025
Technical Training
Technical Training

Student Workbook
Course No. 4025
Solar Turbines Incorporated

P.O. Box 85376
San Diego, CA 92186–5376
Solar, Saturn, Centaur, Mars, Mercury, Taurus, Titan, SoLoNOx, and Turbotronic are
trademarks of Solar Turbines Incorporated. Cat and Caterpillar are trademarks of Caterpillar Inc.
Specifications subject to change without notice. Printed in the U.S.A.
PUBLICATION NUMBER: TR4025

PROPRIETARY NOTICE
The contents of this technical training instructions manual are proprietary
data of Solar Turbines Incorporated, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. This
material is protected under U.S. copyright law. All reproduction is prohibited
without the express written approval of Solar Turbines Incorporated.
© 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Solar Technical Training CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
1 LESSON 1: HOW A GAS TURBINE ENGINE WORKS

TERMINAL OBJECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.1
ENABLING OBJECTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.1
DESCRIBE THE COMPLETE GAS TURBINE ENGINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.2
BRAYTON CYCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.3
COMPRESSOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.5
VARIABLE GUIDE VANES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.10
PCD, BLEED VALVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.11
COMPRESSOR MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.12
COMBUSTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.14
FUEL INJECTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.15
PRIMARY ZONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.16
SECONDARY ZONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.17
COMBUSTOR COOLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.17
DILUTION ZONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.18
COMBUSTOR OUTLET TEMPERATURE, COT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.18
EFFECT OF FUEL-AIR RATIO ON FLAME TEMPERATURE . . . . . . . .. . 1.19
EMISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.20
COMBUSTION CONCEPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.21
SoLoNOx FUEL INJECTOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.25
GAS PRODUCER TURBINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.28
TURBINE STAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.29
FIRST STAGE TURBINE NOZZLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.30
COOLING AIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.31
FLOW CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.33
POWER TURBINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.34
STATION NUMBERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.36
SINGLE SHAFT ENGINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.37
TWO SHAFT ENGINE SCHEMATICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.38
SINGLE SHAFT (HED) ENGINE SCHEMATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.39
What is “HED”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.39
SINGLE SHAFT (CED) ENGINE SCHEMATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.39
What is “CED”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.39
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. v

CONTENTS Solar Technical Training
Chapter Page
2 LESSON 2: GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE CURVES

TERMINAL OBJECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1
ENABLING OBJECTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1
EXPLAIN HOW TO READ THE CURVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE CURVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
Nominal Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
Minimum Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
ACCURACY OF CURVES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CURVE FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3
IDENTIFY THE COMPRESSOR CURVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4
Gas Producer Speed (NGP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4
Pressure of Compressor Discharge (PCD). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5
IDENTIFY THE FUEL CURVES, AND ENGINE EFFICIENCY
TERMINOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
Fuel Consumption, LHV (Wf) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
What is Lower Heating Value (LHV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
Heat Rate, SFC, Thermal Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7
IDENTIFY THE TURBINE CURVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9
Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9
Optimum Power Turbine Speed (NPTopt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.10
IDENTIFY THE EXHAUST CURVES AND EXPLAIN WHAT THEY ARE
USED FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.13
Exhaust Temperature (T7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.13
Exhaust Flow (Wex) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.14
Exhaust Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.14
Exhaust Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.15
DESCRIBE SOLAR’S FOUR STANDARD CURVE SHEETS. . . . . . . . . . . 2.16
Sheet 1: Fuel Flow (Wf), Exhaust Flow (Wex), & Exhaust Temp
(T7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.16
Sheet 2: Full Load vs. Power Turbine Speed (NPT) . . . . . . . . . . 2.18
Sheet 3: Compressor Discharge Pressure (PCD) & Power
Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.20
Sheet 4: Gas Producer Speed (NGP) & Optimum Power Turbine
Speed (NPT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.22
Sheet 2: Generator Sets T5 & PCD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.23
3 LESSON 3: GAS TURBINE CONTROL STRATEGY

1. DEFINE TWO-SHAFT ENGINE NGP & T5 TOPPING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.2
GAS PRODUCER SPEED LIMIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.2
POWER TURBINE TEMPERATURE LIMIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.3
RATED TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.3
BASE T5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.4
T5 COMPENSATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.4
CONSTANT TRIT CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.4
vi © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

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1. DEFINE TWO-SHAFT ENGINE NGP & T5 TOPPING, CONTD

DEFINE NPT TOPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.7
2. EXPLAIN HOW GUIDE VANE ANGLE AFFECTS PERFORMANCE . . . . . .. . 3.8
When IGV is Closed:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.8
When IGV is Opened: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.8
Active Guide Vane Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.10
3. DEFINE SINGLE-SHAFT ENGINE T5 TOPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.12
OUTPUT POWER LIMITS, FULL LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.12
FULL LOAD LIMITS (TOPPING) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.13
4. DESCRIBE THE EFFECT OF EMISSIONS CONTROLS ON PART-LOAD
PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.14
2-SHAFT SoLoNOx CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.14
2-SHAFT SoLoNOx ENABLE/DISABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.15
1-SHAFT SoLoNOx CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.16
1-SHAFT SoLoNOx ENABLE/DISABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 3.18
4 LESSON 4: GAS TURBINE RATING CONSIDERATIONS

1. TIME BETWEEN MAJOR INSPECTIONS (TBI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.3
TBI vs. TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.4
OUTPUT POWER vs. TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.5
OUTPUT POWER vs. TBI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.6
2. NOMINAL & MINIMUM PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.7
NOMINAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.7
MINIMUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.7
MARGIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.7
OUTPUT POWER VS. ACCEPTANCE RATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.8
CONFIDENCE LEVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.9
3. GAS TURBINE MATCHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.10
ISO RATING CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.11
RATING POINT VS. MATCH POINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.11
4. TYPE OF DUTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.13
ISO CLASSES OF OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.13
ISO RANGES OF OPERATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.14
ANSI MODES OF OPERATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.15
TYPES OF GENERATOR SET DUTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.15
Continuous Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.16
Peaking Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.16
Standby Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.16
EFFECT OF TRIT ON OPERATING PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.17
IMPACT OF RATING CHANGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.19
“HIGH AMBIENT” RATING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 4.20
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. vii

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5 LESSON 5: PARAMETERS WHICH AFFECT PERFORMANCE

PRIMARY PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.2
1. INLET AIR TEMPERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.2
2. BAROMETRIC PRESSURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.4
3. DUCT LOSSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.7
INLET PRESSURE LOSS (Duct Loss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.7
EXHAUST BACKPRESSURE (Duct Loss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.9
4. OUTPUT SPEED (POWER TURBINE SPEED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.12
Optimum Power Turbine Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.12
5. GEAR LOSSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.18
OTHER PARAMETERS WHICH AFFECT PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.18
6. INLET AIR HUMIDITY (RELATIVE HUMIDITY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.19
7. TYPE OF FUEL, GAS OR LIQUID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.24
HEATING VALUE OF GAS FUEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.25
8. WATER INJECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.27
EFFECTS OF WATER INJECTION ON EMISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.27
EFFECTS OF WATER INJECTION ON PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.28
WATER INJECTION IN TWO-SHAFT ENGINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.28
IS THE ENGINE ON NGP OR T5 TOPPING? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.31
9. ACCESSORY GEAR POWER EXTRACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.32
On NGP Topping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.32
On T5 Topping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.32
10. COMPRESSOR AIR BLEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5.33
6 LESSON 6: MEASURING GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE

1. DESCRIBE ALL OF THE PARAMETERS THAT SHOULD BE MEASURED
DURING FIELD TESTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2
RECOMMENDED INSTRUMENTATION FOR GAS TURBINES . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2
GAS PRODUCER SPEED (NGP) & POWER TURBINE SPEED (NPT). . . . . 6.4
POWER TURBINE INLET TEMPERATURE (T5) COMPENSATED AND
UN-COMPENSATED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.5
PRESSURE OF COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE (PCD) . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.6
OUTPUT POWER (SHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.8
INLET AIR TEMPERATURE (T1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.10
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.11
INLET PRESSURE DROP (P0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.13
FUEL FLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.15
EXHAUST BACKPRESSURE (P7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.15
EXHAUST TEMPERATURE (T7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.17
INLET GUIDE VANE ANGLE (IGV). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.20
ADDITIONAL ACCESSORY POWER EXTRACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.21
COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE TEMPERATURE (T2). . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.21
MEASURING AIR FLOW IN THE FACTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.23
viii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

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RECOMMENDED INSTRUMENTATION FOR GAS TURBINES, CONTD

MEASURING AIR FLOW IN THE FIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.24
2. DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIELD AND FACTORY TEST
CELL TESTING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.25
FACTORY VS. FIELD TESTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.25
3. EXPLAIN AND QUANTIFY TESTING UNCERTAINTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.26
MARGINS AND UNCERTAINTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.27
HEAT BALANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 6.29
7 LESSON 7: PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION

1. DEFINE RECOVERABLE PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.2
KEEP INLET AIR CLEAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.3
AIR COMPRESSOR CONTAMINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.3
EFFECTS OF COMPRESSOR CONTAMINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.6
Single-Shaft Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.6
Two-Shaft Engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.6
2. DEFINE NON-RECOVERABLE PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION . . . . . . .. . 7.7
HOT CORROSION DAMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.7
TURBINE TIP RUBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.8
3. EXPLAIN TOTAL PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.10
TYPICAL TREND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.10
WHEN SHOULD YOU OVERHAUL? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.11
4. DEFINE INGESTIVE CLEANING AND WHEN IT SHOULD BE USED . . . . .. . 7.12
REASONS FOR INGESTIVE CLEANING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
Restore Engine Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
Maintain Engine TBI Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
Maintain Start Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
COMPRESSOR CLEANING REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
Operation and Maintenance Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
ES 9-62 Ingestive Cleaning Solar Turbine Engines . . . . . . . .. . 7.12
ES 9-62 Addendum 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
Service Bulletin 8.0/112D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
Service Bulletin 8.12/104 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
INGESTIVE CLEANING TECHNIQUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
On-Crank Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
On-Line Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
CLEANING FREQUENCY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.13
WHEN TO ON-CRANK CLEAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.14
ON-LINE CLEANING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.14
On-Line Cleaning Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.15
Avoid Sporadic On-Line Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.16
Ingestive Cleaning Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7.16
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8 LESSON 8: PERFORMANCE & CONDITION EVALUATION

1. DIAGNOSE ENGINE PROBLEMS BY ANALYZING KEY PERFORMANCE
PARAMETERS (PCD, T2, T7, NGP, IGV, T5 PROFILE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
THINGS THAT CAN GO WRONG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
Dirty Air Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
Accessory Gear Power Extraction, Tandems & Gas Cooler Fan
Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
Leaking Bleed Valve, SoLoNOx and Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
High T5 Spread, Inaccurate T5 Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
Low Power Turbine Speed, Higher T5/T3 Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2
OUTPUT POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3
FUEL CONSUMPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7
COMPRESSOR EFFICIENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.9
TURBINE EFFICIENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.12
LOSS OF GP TURBINE EFFICIENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.14
LOSS OF POWER TURBINE EFFICIENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.18
IGV ANGLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.19
T5 PROFILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.21
T5 PROFILE Universal.xls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.22
TRIT ESTIMATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.23
GTPERF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.25
CONDITION EVALUATION SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.27
2-SHAFT MECHANICAL DRIVE OR GENERATOR SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.27
SINGLE-SHAFT GENERATOR SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.28
ENGPERF PC PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.29
Example Problem #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.34
EXAMPLE PROBLEM #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.44
Taurus 60 6502, 59 Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.44
EXAMPLE PROBLEM #2, SHEET 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.45
EXAMPLE PROBLEM #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.51
Taurus 60 6502, 59 Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.51
2. DEMONSTRATE HOW TO USE MANUAL TREND PLOTTING TO EVALUATE
THE CONDITION OF THE ENGINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.57
PERFORMANCE TREND PLOTTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.57
OBJECTIVE OF TREND PLOTTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.57
3. USE THE PC PROGRAM TREND PLOTS OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE TO
EVALUATE ENGINE CONDITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.61
BASELINING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.63
CUMULATIVE SUM ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.64
CONDITION EVALUATION SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.66
TREND PLOT ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.66
When Should You Crank Wash? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.66
x © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

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3. USE THE PC PROGRAM TREND PLOTS OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE

TO EVALUATE ENGINE CONDITION, CONTD
When Should You Overhaul? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.66
EXAMPLE PROBLEM #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.67
9 LESSON 9: TT4000 DATA ANALYSIS

1. DEFINE ALL THE TERMS USED BY THE TT4000 CONDITION MONITOR
ENGINE PERFORMANCE SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2
TT2000 ENGINE PERFORMANCE DISPLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2
TT4000 ENGINE PERFORMANCE DISPLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
ACTUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
CORRECTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
NOMINAL or PREDICTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
DELTA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
DEFINITION OF TERMS FOR TWO-SHAFT MECHANICAL DRIVE
ENGINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
The Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
Power Corrected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
The Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
Power Predicted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5
Power Delta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5
T5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5
T5 Predicted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5
T5 DELTA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
FUEL FLOW Corrected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
FUEL FLOW Predicted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
FUEL FLOW DELTA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
PCD Corrected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
PCD Predicted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7
PCD delta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7
CONTAMINATION FACTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7
2. DEFINE TERMS FOR GENERATOR SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8
POWER Actual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.9
POWER Corrected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.9
The Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10
FULL LOAD POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10
RESERVE POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10
T5, PCD, and FUEL FLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10
3. EXPLAIN HOW TO PLOT PERFORMANCE TRENDS WITH THE CONDITION
MONITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.11
The Condition Monitoring Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.11
Sample Analog History Select, On Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.11
Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.12
Sample Analog History Select, Remote on the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
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Chapter Page
10 LESSON 10: GAS FUEL SUITABILITY PROPERTIES

1. DESCRIBE COMPOSITION OF A GAS MIXTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2
Molecular Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4
Atomic Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4
Molecular Weight Of Methane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5
Natural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5
Gram-Mol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.6
Pound-Mol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.7
Mol-Fraction Or Mol-Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.7
Molecular Weight Of A Gas Mixture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.7
Specific Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.8
Weight Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9
Mol Fraction To Weight Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9
Weight Percent To Mol Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9
WeightPercent.xls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.10
2. DESCRIBE THE PROPERTIES OF GAS FUELS THAT DETERMINE THEIR
SUITABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.12
DEW POINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.12
FlashCalc5.xls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.12
LOWER HEATING VALUE, LHV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.13
Wobbe INDEX (WI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.14
SULFUR CONTENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.15
3. CALCULATE THE COMPOSITION AND PROPERTIES OF THE MIXTURE OF
TWO OR MORE GAS STREAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.16
Mol PERCENT to Lb-Mols PER HOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.17
GasMix.xls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.18
APPENDIX
A GLOSSARY
xii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1.1 Equations for SHP and Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2
1.2 Equation Solved for SHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2
1.3 Brayton Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3
1.4 Equation for Thermal Efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4
1.5 Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5
1.6 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5
1.7 Compressor Rotor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
1.8 Archimede’s Screw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
1.9 Compressor Blades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7
1.10 Compressor Stators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8
1.11 Compressor Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9
1.12 Bernouli’s Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9
1.13 Variable Guide Vanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.10
1.14 Bleed Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.11
1.15 Compressor Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.12
1.16 Correction Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.12
1.17 Compressor Map With Operating Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.13
1.18 Combustor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.14
1.19 Combustor Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15
1.20 Fuel Injectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15
1.21 Fuel Injectors and Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.16
1.22 Primary Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.16
1.23 Secondary Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.17
1.24 Combustor Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.17
1.25 Dilution Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.18
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Figure Page
1.26 Combustor Outlet Temperature, COT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.18
1.27 Effect Of Fuel-Air Ratio On Temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.19
1.28 Emissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.20
1.29 Combustion Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.21
1.30 Lean-Premixed Fuel-Air Ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.22
1.31 Conventional and SoLoNOx Combustor Liners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.23
1.32 Conventional and SoLoNOx Fuel Injectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.24
1.33 SoLoNOx Fuel Injector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25
1.34 Low Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.26
1.35 High Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.27
1.36 Gas Producer Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.28
1.37 Turbine Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.29
1.38 First Stage Turbine Nozzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.30
1.39 Cooling Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.31
1.40 Cooled Nozzles and Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.32
1.41 Cooled Blade Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.32
1.42 Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature (TRIT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.33
1.43 Equation for Flow Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.33
1.44 Power Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.34
1.45 Typical Power Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.35
1.46 Station Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.36
1.47 Single Shaft Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.37
1.48 Two Shaft Engine Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.38
1.49 Two Shaft Engine With Gear Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.38
1.50 Single Shaft (HED) Engine Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.39
1.51 Single Shaft (CED) Engine Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.39
xiv © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

Figure Page
1.52 Complete Engine Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.40
2.1 Typical Performance Curve Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3
2.2 Gas Producer Speed (NGP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4
2.3 Pressure of Compressor Discharge (PCD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5
2.4 Fuel Consumption, LHV (Wf) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
2.5 Combustion Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
2.6 Heat Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7
2.7 Specific Fuel Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8
2.8 Thermal Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8
2.9 Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9
2.10 Optimum Power Turbine Speed (NPTopt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.10
2.11 Power vs, NPT at 59 Degrees F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.11
2.12 Power vs, NPT at Various Gas Producer Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.12
2.13 Power vs, NPT with Heat Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.12
2.14 Exhaust Temperature (T7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.13
2.15 Exhaust Flow (Wex) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.14
2.16 Exhaust Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.14
2.17 Equation for Exhaust Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.15
2.18 Typical Sheet 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.16
2.19 Typical Sheet 1 for SoLoNOx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.17
2.20 Typical Sheet 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.18
2.21 Typical Sheet 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.20
2.22 Typical Sheet 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.22
2.23 Typical Sheet 2 for Generator Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.23
3.1 Gas Producer Speed Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2
3.2 Power Turbine Temperature Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3
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Figure Page
3.3 Constant TRIT Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5
3.4 T5 Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5
3.5 Power vs. T1 curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6
3.6 NPT Topping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7
3.7 GP Turbine Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.9
3.8 Active Guide Vane Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.9
3.9 Active Guide Vane Control Schematic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.10
3.10 Full Load Power Without Active Guide Vane Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.11
3.11 Full Load Power With Active Guide Vane Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.11
3.12 Output Power Limits, Full Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.12
3.13 Full Load Limits (Topping) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.13
3.14 2-Shaft SoLoNOx Part-Load Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.14
3.15 2-Shaft SoLoNOx Enable/Disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.16
3.16 1-Shaft SoLoNOx Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.17
3.17 1-Shaft SoLoNOx Enable/Disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.18
4.1 Thermal Efficiency, Output Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2
4.2 Time to Stress Rupture vs. TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3
4.3 TBI vs. TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4
4.4 Output Power vs. TRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5
4.5 Output Power vs. TBI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6
4.6 Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7
4.7 Output Power vs. Acceptance Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8
4.8 Confidence Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9
4.9 Gas Turbine Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10
4.10 Rating Point vs. Match Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11
4.11 ISO Classes of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.13
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Figure Page
4.12 ISO Ranges of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.14
4.13 ANSI Modes Of Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.15
4.14 Generator Set Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.15
4.15 Effect of TRIT on Operating Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.18
4.16 Impact of Rating Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.19
4.17 High Ambient Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.20
5.1 Output Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2
5.2 Thermal Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2
5.3 Power and Heat Rate vs. Inlet Air Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3
5.4 Effects of Barometric Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4
5.5 Elevation Correction Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5
5.6 Delta Function of Barometric Pressure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5
5.7 Equation for Delta Function of Barometric Pressure in SI Units . . . . . . . . 5.6
5.8 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6
5.9 Effect of Inlet Pressure Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7
5.10 Percent Loss of Power From Inlet Pressure Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8
5.11 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure and Inlet Pressure Loss . . . . . . . 5.8
5.12 Effect of Exhaust Pressure Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9
5.13 Inlet and Exhaust Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.10
5.14 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure and % Inlet Loss and % Exhaust
Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.10
5.15 Equations for Lin & Lex (Inlet and Exhaust Loss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11
5.16 Optimum Power Turbine Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.12
5.17 Velocity Vectors at Optimum NPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.13
5.18 Velocity Vectors at Slower NPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.14
5.19 Velocity Vectors at Faster NPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.15
5.20 HP/Hpopt vs. NPT/NPTopt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.16
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Figure Page
5.21 HP/Hpopt vs. NPT/NPTopt Enlarged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17
5.22 Site Power at Off-Optimum NPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.17
5.23 Site Power With Gear Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.18
5.24 Psychrometric Chart For Air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.19
5.25 Molecular Weight of Air and Water Vapor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.19
5.26 Molecular Weight of Dry Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.20
5.27 Output Power on NGP Topping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.21
5.28 Equation for Output Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.21
5.29 Ratio Of Specific Heats of Air and Water Vapor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.22
5.30 Output Power on T5 Topping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.23
5.31 Type Of Fuel, Gas or Liquid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.24
5.33 Equation for SHP Function of Wa and Wf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.25
5.34 Output Power for Lower LHV Fuel Gas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.26
5.35 Effects of Water Injection on Emissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.27
5.36 Effects of Water Injection on Performance of a Single-Shaft Engine. . . . . . 5.28
5.37 Effects of Water Injection on Two-Shaft Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.30
5.38 Accessory Gear Power Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.32
5.39 Compressor Air Bleed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.33
6.1 Recommended Instrumentation For Gas Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2
6.2 NGP and NPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4
6.3 Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
6.4 Pressure Compressor Discharge (PCD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7
6.5 Combustor Borescope Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7
6.6 Borescope Port Pressure Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8
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Figure Page
6.7 Dynamometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8
6.8 Gas Compressor Performance, Power Consumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.9
6.9 Inlet Air Temperature (T1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.10
6.10 Digital Pressure Gage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.11
6.11 Typical Analog Barometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.11
6.12 Digital Barometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.12
6.13 Inlet Pressure Drop (P0). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.13
6.14 P0 Permanent Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.14
6.15 P0 Water Manometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.14
6.16 Exhaust Backpressure (P7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.15
6.17 P7 Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.16
6.18 T7 Thermocouples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.17
6.19 Exhaust Temperature (T7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.18
6.20 T7 Thermocouple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.19
6.21 Inlet Guide Vane Angle (IGV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.20
6.22 Compressor Discharge Temperature (T2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.22
6.23 Measuring Air Flow in Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.23
6.24 Measuring Air Flow in Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.24
6.25 TCMU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.27
6.26 TCMU + SPMU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.28
6.27 TCMU + SPMU + FMU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.28
6.28 Heat Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.29
6.29 Equation for Heat Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.29
7.1 Photo of Dirty Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2
7.2 Clean Compressor Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3
7.3 Contaminated Compressor Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4
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Figure Page
7.4 Recoverable Performance Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5
7.5 Turbine Blade After 5000 Hours Service In High Sulfur Environment . . . . . 7.7
7.6 First Stage Turbine Blades with Hot Corrosion Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7
7.7 Turbine Tip Rubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.8
7.8 Non-Recoverable Performance Degradation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.9
7.9 Typical Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.10
7.10 On-Line Cleaning vs. On-Crank Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.15
8.1 Output Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4
8.2 Gas Producer Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5
8.3 Gas Producer Speed Data Point Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6
8.4 Fuel Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7
8.5 Fuel Consumption Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.8
8.6 Equation for Compressor Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.9
8.7 PCD Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.10
8.8 Brayton Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.11
8.9 Equation for Turbine Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.12
8.10 Turbine Temperature Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.13
8.11 Loss of GP Efficiency Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.14
8.12 Full Load New Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.15
8.13 Full Load Weak Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.16
8.14 T5 Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.17
8.15 Loss of PT Efficiency Temperature Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.18
8.16 IGV Angle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.19
8.17 Effect of IGV Angle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.20
8.18 Good T5 Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.21
8.19 Skewed T5 Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.22
xx © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

Figure Page
8.20 Plot of Turbine Temperature Ratio vs. Pressure Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.23
8.21 TRIT Estimator Input Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.24
8.22 TRIT Estimator Output Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.24
8.23 GTPERF Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.25
8.24 Engperf Order Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.30
8.25 Engperf Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.31
8.26 Engperf Engineering Units Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.31
8.27 Engperf Site Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.32
8.28 Engperf Full-Load Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.32
8.29 Engperf Part-Load Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
8.30 Engperf Actual Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
8.31 Engperf TT4000 Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.34
8.32 Gas Producer Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.35
8.33 Equation for HPsite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.35
8.34 Equations for Correction Factors from Lesson 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.36
8.35 Elevation Correction Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.36
8.36 Optimum Power Turbine Speed Look Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.37
8.37 Fuel Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.38
8.38 Fuel Consumption at Site Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.39
8.39 T5 Look Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.40
8.40 PCD Look Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.41
8.41 PCD at Site Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.41
8.42 Example Problem #1 Engperf Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.43
8.43 Example Problem #1 Engperf Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.43
8.44 Example Problem #2 Sheet 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.45
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Figure Page
8.48 Example Problem #2 Engperf Data Point Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.50
8.50 T5 Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.56
8.51 Manual Data Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.58
8.52 PCD Manual Trend Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.59
8.53 T5 Manual Trend Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.59
8.54 PC Program Trend Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.61
8.55 Example Engperf Trend Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.61
8.56 Baselining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.63
8.57 Example Engperf Cumulative Sum Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.65
8.58 Example Problem #4 Engperf Trend Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.71
8.59 Example Problem #4 Engperf CuSum Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.72
9.1 TT2000 Two-Shaft Engine Performance Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2
9.2 TT4000 Two-Shaft Engine Performance Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
9.3 TT2000 Single-Shaft Engine Performance Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8
9.4 TT4000 Single-Shaft Engine Performance Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.9
9.5 Sample Analog History Select, On Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.11
9.6 Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.12
9.7 Sample Analog History Select, Remote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
9.8 Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen, Remote. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
10.1 C5H12 Pentane Structure Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2
10.2 n-C5H12 n-Pentane Structure Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2
10.3 i-C5H12 iso-Pentane Structure Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3
10.4 neo-C5H12 neo-Pentane Structure Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3
xxii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

Figure Page
10.5 List of Natural Gas Constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4
10.6 Atomic Weight of Several Pure Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5
10.7 Molecular Weight of Methane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5
10.8 Common Hydrocarbon Constituents of Natural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5
10.9 Other Constituents of Natural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.6
10.10 Molecular Weight of Natural Gas Constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.6
10.11 Equation for Molecular Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.7
10.12 Molecular Weight of Mixture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.8
10.13 Molecular Weight of Mixture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.8
10.14 Mol Fraction to Weight Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9
10.15 Weight Percent To Mol Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.9
10.16 WeightPercent.xls MOL% to WT% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.10
10.17 WeightPercent.xls WT% to MOL% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.11
10.18 FlashCalc5.xls Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.12
10.19 Combustion Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.13
10.20 Table of Lower Heating Value (LHV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.14
10.21 Equation for Lower Heating Value (LHV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.14
10.22 Equations for Wobbe Index (WI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.15
10.23 Calculate the Mixture of Gas Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.16
10.24 Mol Percent to Lb-Mols per Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.17
10.25 GasMix.xls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.18
10.26 GasMix.xls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.19
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxiii

Solar Technical Training INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This is a technical training course intended for
engineers, owners, operators and field service
personnel of turbomachinery desiring an in-depth
knowledge of gas turbine performance evaluation, to
determine the condition of their equipment.
Knowing the condition of your turbomachinery is
necessary to maximize production and revenue, and to
minimize fuel consumption and costs.
This course builds on a foundation of basic engine
theory, thermodynamics, and aerodynamics and
expands that knowledge to practical, useful
performance and condition evaluation applications.
It provides the knowledge required to interpret
the performance curves to predict what the
turbomachinery performance should be, measure
and calculate what the performance actually
is, and compare actual to predicted to evaluate
turbomachinery condition. In addition to learning how
to do the calculations, students will receive software
tools to do those calculations and track the relative
performance of their turbomachinery over time.
Students will receive a CD containing references
and various different software tools that can
immediately be put to use. Students will become
proficient at predicting, measuring, and evaluating
the performance of their turbomachinery.
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxv

INTRODUCTION Solar Technical Training
This is a four and one-half day course, with

twenty-four hours of instruction and hands-on
problem solving. Students will learn in one week what
it would take years of experience to learn.
xxvi © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

LESSONS
1. How a Gas Turbine Engine Works
2. Performance Curves
3. Control Strategy
4. Rating Considerations
5. Parameters Which Affect Performance

6. Measuring Performance
7. Performance Degradation
8. Performance & Condition Evaluation
9. TT4000 Data Analysis
10. Gas Fuel Suitability Properties
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This is an entry to intermediate level engineering

course designed for engineers, operation and
maintenance technicians, managers, field service
personnel, and others who are responsible for
the purchase, operation, maintenance, condition
monitoring and evaluation of turbomachinery.
This course has equations, calculations, and hands
on computer based problem solving. Familiarity with
turbomachinery is recommended.
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxvii

COURSE CD
Included with this student workbook is a CD

containing reference documents and software tools to
do the calculations taught in this course.
CD References
• Additional Accessory Power Extraction.xls
• CS 048 Performance Evaluation Gas

Turbines.pdf
• ES 1972 Field Testing Gas Turbine Engines.pdf

• ES 2269 Engine Condition Monitor Spec.pdf
• ES 9-62M Ingestive Cleaning Solar Turbine

Engines.pdf
• ES 9-98M Fuel Suitability Spec.pdf

• In Sight Brochure.pdf
• PIL153 Gas Turbine Engine Service Interval

Definitions.pdf
• PIL162 Recommendations for Sourcing Handling

Storage and Treatment of Fuels.pdf
• PIL176 Siloxanes in Fuel Gas.pdf
• SB 8-0-112e Ingestive Cleaning.pdf
• SB 8-12-104a Ingestive Cleaning.pdf

• TTS 138 Field Performance Testing Kurz
Brun.pdf
• TTS 57 Optimizing the Efficiency of Gas Turbine

Compressor Packages Odom.pdf
xxviii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

CD Toolbox
• Engperf6_Demo.xls
• Factor.xls
• Flash Calc5.xls
• Gas Mix.xls
• PipeSize.XLS
• T5 Profile Universal.xls
• Uncertainty ES1973.xls
• Weight Percent.xls
COURSE FOCUS
This course has just enough theory for the student to

understand the subject matter, no more. It is the
intent of this course to provide only the practical
information you will need to evaluate the performance
and condition of your turbomachinery.
Equations are presented only to demonstrate how

the PC software calculations are done, but no hand
calculations will be done.
PC software tools are provided to perform the

calculations, these are the tools you will use to do
your own performance and condition evaluation after
the course is over.
There will be several hands-on example problems to

solve during this course, so you will get practice using
the software tools.
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxix

ENGINEERING UNITS
Many authors present equations with multiple

constants for engineering units, such as English, SI,
and Metric. This is an attempt to satisfy everyone in
the world. However, it makes for a busy, confusing
text and still does not suit everyone in the world
because there are many variations and combinations
of engineering units.
At this time, this course is written in American/English
units only. It is planned to add additional engineering
units later if the need arises. However, there are no
hand calculations required in this course, equations
are presented only to demonstrate how the PC
software on the CD does the calculations. Therefore
there is no need to present equations with multiple
engineering units constants.
The design of all the PC programs on this course CD is

to perform all the calculations in American/English
(Solar preferred) engineering units and buffer the
input and output information to suit the user. Each
PC program has a SELECT UNITS feature that
allows the user to choose any combination of units
desired. The PC program converts the input data
to American/English units, does the calculations in
American/English units, and converts the output
data to the users’ preferred units. Therefore the PC
programs on this course CD are truly international.
xxx © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many individuals have worked on the development

of this course, and I wish to acknowledge their
contributions:
Al Criqui encouraged the creation of this course,

and created the model for it.
Leon Sapiro led the way with his course and

provided his Troubleshooting Logic for Gas
Compressors.
John Mason wrote the model for Jeopardy.ppt.
Roger Gatti managed the course development.
Beth McClellan created the student workbook in

SGML format.
Allan Knox created the new graphics.
Cheryl Leedom, the “producer”, made this course

possible.
Derek Young trained the trainer.

Rainer Kurz provided PowerPoint slides for
engine cleaning.
Gail Mullikin provided gas turbine performance
curves and data.
Patrick Reybroeck, Tony Cobb, Bob Graf and

Jerry Hammer provided case studies from the
field for example problems.
Thank you all,
Fred Odom
April 2007
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxxi

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xxxiii

xxxiv © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

Solar Technical Training LESSON 1: How a Gas Turbine Engine Works
LESSON 1: How a Gas Turbine Engine Works
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Describe how a gas turbine engine works.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain what the compressor does.
2. Explain what the combustor does.

3. Explain what the gas producer turbine does.
4. Explain what the power turbine does.
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 1.1

LESSON 1: How a Gas Turbine Engine Works Solar Technical Training
DESCRIBE THE COMPLETE GAS TURBINE ENGINE
Figure 1.1 Equations for SHP and Q
Output power is equal to the mass flow of air times

the enthalpy change.
What is enthalpy? It is the internal energy of the air
and products of combustion.
From heat transfer we know that heat (or energy or

work, Q) is equal to mass flow times specific heat
times the temperature change.
Substituting, we have output power equal to mass flow

of air times specific heat of the air and the products of
combustion times the temperature change from where
work begins to be extracted to exhaust.
Figure 1.2 Equation Solved for SHP
1.2 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

BRAYTON CYCLE
Figure 1.3 Brayton Cycle
A simple-cycle gas turbine engine follows the Brayton

cycle.
A simple-cycle gas turbine is a gas turbine with no

recuperator, intercooling, etc.
The Brayton cycle starts at some inlet condition of
pressure and enthalpy. Because the working fluid is
always the same, air, we can assume that enthalpy
and temperature are proportional, so the Brayton
cycle starts at some inlet pressure and temperature.
In the COMPRESSION process, pressure is increased,
and the temperature increases some amount
proportional to the efficiency of the compressor.
In the COMBUSTION process fuel (energy) is added
and ignited, and the temperature is increased
much more. There is a small pressure drop in the
combustion process.
In the EXPANSION process the pressure is reduced,
and the temperature drops as well, inversely
proportionally to the efficiency of the turbine.

Note that the enthalpy drop of the expansion process

is equal to the enthalpy rise of the compression
process. The work produced by expansion is just
enough to drive the compression process.
But the pressure is still higher than the inlet pressure,
so more expansion is available. The work (pressure
and temperature drop) produced is proportional to the
efficiency of the turbine, and is the net output power
of the cycle.
The temperature (enthalpy or energy) at the end of
the expansion process (when the pressure is back
down to the inlet pressure) is higher than the inlet
temperature. This excess energy can be recovered if
desired, in the form of exhaust heat recovery.
The output power of a gas turbine engine is

proportional to:
— The mass flow of air.
— The specific heat of the products of combustion.
— And the temperature drop from where work

begins to be extracted from the air, to the
exhaust.
Figure 1.4 Equation for Thermal Efficiency
The efficiency of a gas turbine engine is proportional

to:
— The engine compression ratio.

— The ratio of specific heats of air.

A gas turbine engine is a rotating machine. It rotates

on a shaft.
Figure 1.5 Shaft
COMPRESSOR
On that shaft is a compressor, like a fan.
Figure 1.6 Compressor

But it is a very sophisticated fan, with many stages for

a high compression ratio. Depending upon the design,
the discharge pressure could approach 300 psig.
Figure 1.7 Compressor Rotor

Think of this compressor as an Archimedes screw.
The purpose of the Archimedes screw is to move and

raise water. The faster the screw turns, the greater
the mass flow of water. For air, the denser the air at
the inlet, the greater the mass flow (Wa). So, higher
compressor speed, and/or denser air at the inlet yields
more mass flow and thus more engine output power.
Figure 1.8 Archimede’s Screw
The compressor blades, unlike an ordinary fan, are

very efficient because each blade is an airfoil, just like
the wing of an airplane.

Not only does each blade fan the air along, it also lifts
the air to a higher pressure with the airfoil.
Figure 1.9 Compressor Blades
Between each stage of rotating blades, is a set of

stationary airfoils called stators. The purpose of the
stators is to direct the flow of air into the next rotating
stage in the optimum direction, and to convert velocity
energy into pressure energy.

Figure 1.10 Compressor Stators
In a compressor stage the working fluid is accelerated

by the rotor and then decelerated by the stator. The
pressure rise is derived by converting the velocity
energy imparted by the rotor into static pressure rise
through the deceleration in each stator.

Figure 1.11 Compressor Stage
The flow area of the stator is larger than the flow

area of the rotor, so the velocity of air decreases
in the stator.
Bernouli’s equation shows that the sum of the static
pressure (Ps) and the velocity energy is a constant, so
if the velocity is decreased, then the static pressure
must increase.
Figure 1.12 Bernouli’s Equation

VARIABLE GUIDE VANES

The first few stages of the compressor control the air
flow. The rear stages control the pressure ratio.
The first few stages of the compressor usually have

moveable stators called variable guide vanes. The
angle of these variable guide vanes can be changed to
open or close the flow area. By modulating the variable
guide vanes more closed, the airflow is reduced and
thus the power required to drive the compressor is
reduced. This is used during start up to avoid surge
and reduce the required size of the starter motor.
The first stage stators are called “inlet guide vanes,”

or IGV. The position of the variable guide vanes
is indicated on the IGV, and for this reason the
terms variable guide vanes and “IGV” are often used
interchangeably.
Figure 1.13 Variable Guide Vanes

PCD, BLEED VALVE

The pressure at the discharge of the compressor is
called “PCD”, for pressure of compressor discharge.
At the discharge of the compressor is a bleed valve.

This bleed valve dumps some of the compressed air
overboard during start up to keep the PCD and thus
pressure ratio low, to avoid surge.
Figure 1.14 Bleed Valve

COMPRESSOR MAP
The compressor map is intended to represent
compressor operation at all conditions. The map
consists of pressure ratio as a function corrected
mass flow with lines of corrected speed and efficiency
islands. Corrected flow and speed mean corrected
to reference conditions of inlet air temperature and
pressure by the equations shown.
Figure 1.15 Compressor Map
Figure 1.16 Correction Equations
Solar compressor maps are based on reference

inlet conditions of 59F and 14.696 psia (sea level).
Corrected speed lines represent mass flow pumping
capacity. At reference conditions different speed lines
represent changes in mechanical speed. At conditions
other than reference, corrected speed lines relate the
performance to a point of aerodynamic similarity.
For example, at increased ambient temperatures the
density of the air is decreased and therefore the
mass flow at a given mechanical speed is decreased.

The compressor efficiency islands represent areas of

constant compressor efficiency as a function of speed
and pressure ratio which basically sets the amount
of work required to provide a certain mass flow. The
dashed line across the top of the map is the surge limit.
Figure 1.17 Compressor Map With Operating Lines
The surge line and operating line are illustrated on

this compressor map. The control logic is setup to
avoid surge. We have two mechanisms to avoid surge.
The first one is the variable guide vanes on the front
stages. The second is the bleed valve. The variable
guide vanes can be used to shift the operating line of
the engine to a lower pressure ratio thus avoiding
surge. The variable guide vanes are also closed during
starting to reduce the mass flow and thus the size
of the starter motor. This is because if the they are
closed the compressor will pump less mass flow and
thus consume less energy.
The bleed valve is also used to avoid surge. By opening

the bleed valve, which is at the back of the compressor,
the pressure ratio can be further reduced. Bleed is
used during starting to avoid the knee of the surge
limit. The operating line at this point of the map is
too close to surge to use variable guide vanes alone,
so bleed is also required. Also, the bleed valve can be
rapidly opened if some event occurs which suddenly
pushes the engine toward surge.

COMBUSTOR
Out of the compressor we have air at high pressure.
And the temperature is also high, in the area of
700-850F. This hot air is put into a combustion
chamber where fuel (energy) is added and ignited.
Out of the combustor comes very hot air at high

pressure.
Figure 1.18 Combustor

This is what a typical combustor chamber (called a

combustor liner) looks like. It has openings in the
front end (the dome) for several fuel injectors. And
it has thousands of little holes for air to enter the
combustor for combustion and cooling.
Figure 1.19 Combustor Liner
FUEL INJECTORS
This is what typical fuel injectors look like.
Figure 1.20 Fuel Injectors

They go into the openings in the front of the combustor

liner.
Figure 1.21 Fuel Injectors and Liner
PRIMARY ZONE
Some of the air enters the combustor at the front,

going through the fuel injectors and combustion air
holes in the liner.
This air mixes with the fuel in the Primary Zone and
burns at a very high temperature.
Figure 1.22 Primary Zone

SECONDARY ZONE
As the air flows along the combustor, more air enters
through holes in the wall of the liner to complete
combustion of all the fuel.
This area is called the “Secondary Zone”.
Figure 1.23 Secondary Zone
COMBUSTOR COOLING
More air is used to flow along the walls of the liner,
keeping the metal walls cooler than the burning fuel
and air inside the combustor.
Figure 1.24 Combustor Cooling

DILUTION ZONE
But the products of combustion after all of the fuel
is burned is still too hot for the metal turbine parts
downstream.
So additional air is brought into the combustor to cool
the hot air to the desired temperature.
This air is called “Dilution Air”.
Figure 1.25 Dilution Zone
COMBUSTOR OUTLET TEMPERATURE, COT

These are typical temperatures in a conventional
combustor. Secondary air at around 750 degrees mixes
with primary zone air at around 3600 degrees to blend
to 1900 degrees at the combustor outlet.
Figure 1.26 Combustor Outlet Temperature, COT

EFFECT OF FUEL-AIR RATIO ON FLAME

TEMPERATURE
Fuel-air ratio is the mass ratio of fuel to air present
during combustion. When all the fuel is combined with
all the free oxygen in the combustion chamber, the
mixture is chemically balanced and this fuel-air ratio
is called the stoichiometric mixture. At that mixture
the flame temperature is the hottest. For mixtures
richer than stoichiometric the flame temperature is
cooler and all of the fuel is not burned, so there are
unburned hydrocarbons left over. For mixtures leaner
than stoichiometric the flame temperature is also
cooler, all of the fuel is burned, and there is excess air
left over. The leaner the mixture, the cooler the flame
temperature. But if the mixture gets too lean the
flame temperature will get so cool that it will cease to
burn. This is called “lean extinction” or “flame-out”.
Figure 1.27 Effect Of Fuel-Air Ratio On Temperature

EMISSIONS
Richer fuel-air mixture in the primary zone causes
hotter flame temperature, and leaner mixture causes
cooler flame temperature. Hotter flame temperature
creates higher concentration of NOx (oxides of
nitrogen, which causes smog). And cooler flame
temperature creates higher concentration of CO
(carbon monoxide).
As illustrated in this figure, operation at the correct

fuel-air ratio is essential for achieving low emissions
of both pollutants.
Figure 1.28 Emissions

COMBUSTION CONCEPTS
In conventional combustion fuel is injected into the
primary zone of the combustor where it mixes with
air at a high fuel/air ratio and burns at around 3600
degrees F. The mixture is not homogeneous, some
areas are richer (higher fuel-air ratio) and some areas
are leaner (lower fuel-air ratio.) The richer areas burn
hotter and the leaner areas burn cooler. So the hot
areas must be even hotter than the average primary
zone temperature. These hotter than average areas
produce even more NOx (oxides of nitrogen.)
Figure 1.29 Combustion Concepts
A different combustor design, “lean-premixed”, mixes

the fuel and air in a preswirler before it enters into the
primary zone. The “lean” means it operates at a lower
fuel/air ratio so it burns cooler. The “remixed” means
that because it has a more homogeneous mixture (no
hot spots) it further reduces the creation of NOx. At
Solar this lean-premixed combustor design is named
“SoLoNOx”.

SoLoNOx combustion has the same secondary air and

combustor outlet (COT) temperatures as conventional
combustion, but the primary zone temperature is
much cooler, in the neighborhood of 2800 degrees F.
Lean-premixed combustion reduces emissions by
operating at low flame temperatures close to the lean
extinction limit (flame-out.) To compensate for being
too close to flame-out for stable operation at all loads,
additional controls are added to manage fuel and
air flow within the combustor to maintain engine
turn-down and transient capability.
Figure 1.30 Lean-Premixed Fuel-Air Ratio

“Conventional” combustion is the older design, with

little attempt to lower NOx emissions.
“SoLoNOx” combustion is the modern lean pre-mix
design which is designed for low NOx emissions.
Because the SoLoNOx combustion burns cooler

than conventional combustion, there must be
more residence time to complete combustion, so
the SoLoNOx combustor liner is larger than the
conventional.
Figure 1.31 Conventional and SoLoNOx Combustor Liners
And, to make room for the pre-mixing, the SoLoNOx

fuel injectors are larger than the conventional fuel
injectors.
Because of this, most conventional combustors can

have more fuel injectors than SoLoNOx combustors.
A disadvantage of having fewer fuel injectors is a
greater temperature difference between hot and cold
spots in the liner.

Figure 1.32 Conventional and SoLoNOx Fuel Injectors

SoLoNOx FUEL INJECTOR

Figure 1.33 is an example of a SoLoNOx lean-premix
fuel injector. The lean pre-mixed fuel and air pass
through the annulus. Through the center of the fuel
injector is the pilot passage, where unmixed fuel
passes into the primary zone. The purpose of the pilot
is to maintain stability (keep the combustion from
flaming out) during transients and at very low loads
(less than 50% load.) The percentage of pilot fuel
to main fuel is adjusted by the control system as a
function of load and transient level. Higher pilot flow
increases stability, but at the expense of higher NOx.
So, at high stable loads the pilot flow is reduced to the
minimum possible (usually about 1.5%) to minimumze
NOx.
Figure 1.33 SoLoNOx Fuel Injector

Figure 1.34 is a photograph of the primary zone at the

exit of a fuel injector, with low pilot. The pilot is only
slightly richer than the main fuel flow, so it burns
only slightly hotter than the rest of the primary zone.
However, this low pilot is not capable of maintaining
combustion during transients or at very low loads.
Figure 1.34 Low Pilot

Figure 1.35 is a photograph of the primary zone at the

exit of a fuel injector, with high pilot. The pilot is
much richer than the main fuel flow, so it burns hotter
than the rest of the primary zone, and is capable
of maintaining combustion during transients and
at low loads.
Figure 1.35 High Pilot

GAS PRODUCER TURBINE

Next on the shaft is the Gas Producer Turbine
(GP). This is like a windmill being blown upon by
the hot compressed air from the combustor. The
hot compressed air makes the GP turbine rotate,
driving the compressor that compressed the air in the
beginning of the cycle.
Figure 1.36 Gas Producer Turbine

TURBINE STAGE
In a turbine the working fluid is accelerated and
turned to provide a high tangential velocity through
the stator (also called a nozzle). The flow is then
turned back and decelerates through the rotor. It is
the change in angular momentum that provides the
torque. The flow path opens through the gas turbine
to account for the decreasing density and to maintain
near constant axial velocity.
Figure 1.37 Turbine Stage
The output power of a gas turbine engine is

proportional to:
- The mass flow of air.

- The specific heat of the products of combustion.
- And the temperature drop from where work

begins to be extracted from the air, to the
exhaust.
Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature (TRIT) is the

temperature at the point where work begins to be
extracted from the air. The output power of the engine
is proportional to TRIT . . . higher TRIT yields higher
power. There is a maximum allowable (Rated) TRIT,

above which the life of the engine would be reduced.

“Full-load” is when the engine is operated at Rated
TRIT.
FIRST STAGE TURBINE NOZZLE
The first stage turbine nozzle is exposed to the full

combustor outlet temperature, and thus its metal
temperature will reach combustor outlet temperature
at the center of the flow path. To keep the metal
temperature from being that hot, and thus having
reduced life, some of the turbine parts are cooled.
Figure 1.38 First Stage Turbine Nozzle

COOLING AIR
Some of the air that does not go into the combustor
(5-20% of the inlet air flow) goes around the combustor
and is used to keep the metal parts cooler than the
hot gasses flowing around and through them, to
prolong the life of those metal parts. This air is called
“Cooling Air”.
Figure 1.39 Cooling Air
In the 1st stage GP turbine nozzle, just ahead of the

1st stage GP turbine rotor, some of the cooling air
mixes with the hot air at COT from the combustor.
This results in a mixed air temperature slightly cooler
than COT (30-100 degrees F).

Cooling air enters inside these parts at the base,

travels through the part keeping it cooler than the hot
gas flowing around it, and exits the part at the trailing
edge. You can see the exit holes at the trailing edges.
Figure 1.40 Cooled Nozzles and Blade

Figure 1.41 is a model showing the flow path of the
cooling air in a 1st stage turbine rotor blade.
Figure 1.41 Cooled Blade Model

TRIT is at the entrance to the 1st stage GP turbine

rotor, and is slightly (30-100 degrees F) cooler than
COT because the lower temperature air that cooled
the first stage turbine nozzle mixes with the air from
the combustor outlet.
Figure 1.42 Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature (TRIT)
FLOW CAPACITY
The flow of fluid through a restriction behaves
according to the equation for flow capacity, Q in Figure
1.43. The flow capacity of any restriction is directly
proportional to the flow area of that restriction. This
equation explains how changing engine conditions
change PCD:
• Increasing area reduces upstream pressure, PCD

(opening bleed valve).
• Increasing mass flow increases upstream
pressure, PCD (higher compressor speed and
mass flow).
• Increasing the temperature increases the
upstream pressure, PCD (higher load).
Figure 1.43 Equation for Flow Capacity

POWER TURBINE
After the gas producer turbine is the power turbine.
There is a pressure and temperature drop across the
GP turbine, but there is still a lot of energy in the hot
gas coming out. That hot gas blows upon the power
turbine, producing output power in the form of a
rotating shaft. This rotating shaft power is used to
drive the driven equipment . . . compressor, pump,
or generator.
Figure 1.44 Power Turbine
This shows a “two-shaft” gas turbine engine. The

free power turbine speed can be different than the
gas producer speed. The speed of the power turbine
is a balance of the energy put into it from the hot
gas out of the gas producer, and the load on it from
the driven equipment. The two-shaft gas turbine
engine is well suited for driving variable speed driven
equipment such as compressors and pumps, because it
can deliver full power over a wide range of rotating
speeds. This engine configuration is known as a
“Mechanical Drive”.
There is also a pressure and temperature drop

across the power turbine. The pressure drops to
barometric pressure (same as the inlet pressure) but
the temperature out of the power turbine is still very

hot (700-1100 degrees F). This hot exhaust gas can

be routed to many different types of heat recovery
equipment (heaters, boilers, dryers, etc.)
This is what a typical power turbine looks like.
Figure 1.45 Typical Power Turbine

STATION NUMBERING
Solar uses station numbers to designate different
locations within the gas turbine engine.
1 is the inlet of the compressor.
2 is the discharge of the compressor.

3 is the inlet of the gas producer turbine.
5 is the inlet of the power turbine.
7 is the exhaust, the exit of the power turbine.
Figure 1.46 Station Numbering

SINGLE SHAFT ENGINE

Gas turbine engines also are made in a single-shaft
design. With a single-shaft gas turbine the power
turbine is physically connected to the gas producer
turbine, so they both rotate at the same speed. The
single-shaft gas turbine engine is well suited for
driving constant speed driven equipment such as
electrical generators.
Figure 1.47 Single Shaft Engine
Single-shaft gas turbine engines have the advantage

of having the inertia of the gas producer as well as
the power turbine maintaining a constant speed for
steady electrical frequency control.

TWO SHAFT ENGINE SCHEMATICS
This is a schematic of a simple cycle two-shaft gas

turbine engine driving a centrifugal gas compressor.
Figure 1.48 Two Shaft Engine Schematics
Sometimes the gas compressor needs to rotate either

faster or slower than the power turbine is able to
rotate, so a speed increasing or decreasing gear is
used.
Figure 1.49 Two Shaft Engine With Gear Schematics

SINGLE SHAFT (HED) ENGINE SCHEMATIC

This is a schematic of a single-shaft gas turbine
engine driving an electrical generator through a speed
reduction gearbox. Generator drives almost always
require a speed reduction gear because generators
operate much slower than gas turbine engines.
Figure 1.50 Single Shaft (HED) Engine Schematics
What is “HED”?
This configuration is known as a “Hot End Drive”

(HED) because the driven equipment is mounted on
the exhaust, or hot, end of the gas turbine engine.
A hot end drive engine can be either a single-shaft or a
two-shaft configuration.
SINGLE SHAFT (CED) ENGINE SCHEMATIC
Figure 1.51 Single Shaft (CED) Engine Schematics
What is “CED”?
More commonly for generator drives, the driven

generator is mounted on the inlet, or cold, end of the
gas turbine engine. This configuration is known as a
“Cold End Drive” (CED).

In order to get the power from the power turbine to

the driven generator, the cold end drive can only be in
a single-shaft configuration. This is what the complete
gas turbine engine actually looks like.
Figure 1.52 Complete Engine Drawing

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “Enthalpy”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is the output power of a gas turbine engine

proportional to?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine

proportional to?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What does the Compressor do?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. Mass flow of air is proportional to what two

things?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. What does the Combustor do?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

7. Lower Primary Zone Temperature reduces _____

but increases _____ and _________.
8. What does the Gas Producer Turbine do?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. What is TRIT?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. What does the Power Turbine do?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
11. What is the advantage of a two-shaft vs. a

single-shaft engine?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
12. What is the advantage of a single-shaft vs. a

two-shaft engine?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
13. Is a Hot End Drive (HED) a single-shaft or

two-shaft engine?
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “Enthalpy”?
The internal energy of a substance
2. What is the output power of a gas turbine engine

proportional to?
Mass flow of air, specific heat of air, and

temperature drop from TRIT
3. What is the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine

proportional to?
Engine (turbine) pressure ratio and ratio of

specific heats of air
4. What does the Compressor do?
Increases the pressure and temperature

of air
5. Mass flow of air is proportional to what two

things?
Gas producer speed (NGP) and the density

of air at the inlet
6. What does the Combustor do?
Mixes fuel with the compressed air and

increases the temperature

7. Lower Primary Zone Temperature reduces NOx

but increases CO and oscillations.
8. What does the Gas Producer Turbine do?
Provides the power to drive the compressor
9. What is TRIT?
Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature
10. What does the Power Turbine do?
Provides the power to the driven equipment
11. What is the advantage of a two-shaft vs. a

single-shaft engine?
It can deliver full-load output power with a

variable output power turbine speed
12. What is the advantage of a single-shaft vs. a

two-shaft engine?
It has high inertia to maintain a constant

speed and electrical frequency.
13. Is a Hot End Drive (HED) a single-shaft or

two-shaft engine?
Either one



Solar Technical Training LESSON 2: Gas Turbine Performance Curves
LESSON 2: Gas Turbine Performance Curves
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Use all of the gas turbine performance curve
formats to determine the predicted performance of a
new-and-clean engine at sea level and no losses:
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain how to read the curves.
2. Identify the compressor curves.
3. Identify the turbine curves.

4. Identify the fuel curves, and engine efficiency
terminology.
5. Identify the exhaust curves and explain what

they are used for.
6. Describe Solar’s four standard curve sheets.

LESSON 2: Gas Turbine Performance Curves Solar Technical Training
EXPLAIN HOW TO READ THE CURVES
GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE CURVES
The manufacturer provides performance curves

predicting what the performance of an average,
new-and-clean engine should be.
These curves are almost always based on operation at

sea level, with no parasitic losses. To determine the
predicted performance at site conditions, corrections
must be made.
Nominal Performance
“Nominal” means fleet average or expected
performance from a new-and-clean engine in factory
test.
Curves are usually based upon “Nominal”.
In factory test your engine will be nominal, slightly

better than nominal, or slightly poorer than nominal
(usually +/- 3% in power.)
Once placed into operation, performance will gradually

degrade over time.
Minimum Performance
“Minimum” is short for “Minimum Factory Acceptance

Test Level”.
All engines leave factory test equal to or better than

“Minimum”.
“Minimum” almost always only applies to output
power and thermal efficiency. All other parameters are
expected to be Nominal.
ACCURACY OF CURVES
Performance curves are for reference only. The

manufacturer makes no guarantees of any
performance curve. However, at full-load expect most
curves to be accurate +/- 3%.
Accuracy at part-load usually is not as good as at

full-load.

But the manufacturer’s curves are the only source of

predicted performance, which is how a new-and-clean
engine should be performing.
TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CURVE FORMAT
Figure 2.1 Typical Performance Curve Format

This is a typical format for a gas turbine performance
curve. The abscissa (X-axis) is Inlet Air Temperature,
the temperature of the air entering the compressor.
The ordinate (Y-axis) is Output Power at sea level and
no losses. The output power at sea level and no losses
is called the “Output Power Parameter”.
For a two-shaft mechanical drive engine this is the
power from the power turbine available for the driven
equipment.
For a generator set this is the power out of the driven
generator, after the gearbox and generator efficiencies
have been considered.

IDENTIFY THE COMPRESSOR CURVES
Gas Producer Speed (NGP)
Figure 2.2 Gas Producer Speed (NGP)
This example curve for a two-shaft engine shows

lines of constant Gas Producer Speed (NGP). You can
either see what the output power SHOULD BE for a
new-and-clean engine at a given inlet air temperature
and NGP, or what the NGP SHOULD BE for a
new-and-clean engine at a given inlet air temperature
and output power parameter. The same method of
reading is used on curves of all other parameters in
this format.

Pressure of Compressor Discharge (PCD)
Figure 2.3 Pressure of Compressor Discharge (PCD)
This curve predicts what the Pressure of Compressor

Discharge (PCD) SHOULD BE for a new-and-clean
engine at a given inlet air temperature and output
power parameter. The output power and the PCD
are at sea level and no losses. To find what the PCD
should be at actual site conditions, some corrections
must be made.

IDENTIFY THE FUEL CURVES, AND ENGINE

EFFICIENCY TERMINOLOGY
Fuel Consumption, LHV (Wf)
Figure 2.4 Fuel Consumption, LHV (Wf)

This curve shows what the fuel consumption should
be for a new-and-clean engine, at sea level and no
losses. To find the predicted fuel consumption at site
conditions, corrections for barometric pressure and
inlet duct loss must be made.
Fuel consumption is in units of energy per unit of

time, based upon Lower Heating Value (LHV).
What is Lower Heating Value (LHV)
Figure 2.5 Combustion Equation
This is a simplified combustion equation, showing the

burning of methane fuel. Methane (CH4) combines
with Oxygen (O2) and forms Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
and Water Vapor (H2O). The amount of heat released
by the fuel when it is burned is measured two ways:

Higher (Gross) Heating Value (HHV) includes the heat

of vaporization of the H2O formed, lower heating
value (LHV) does not.
If you burned the fuel inside your house in an open
flame gas heater, it would create water vapor in the
air inside your house. If that water vapor condensed,
perhaps on a glass of ice water, it would release
energy in the amount of its heat of vaporization. That
released heat energy would benefit you by warming
the air inside your house. This is why the gas company
charges you for natural gas based on the gross, or
higher, heating value.
But in the gas turbine the water vapor created in the

combustion process does not condense, it goes out the
exhaust to the atmosphere. So the gas turbine cannot
utilize the heat of vaporization of that water vapor.
This is why all forms of gas turbine fuel consumption
and efficiency are based on lower heating value, not
higher heating value.
Lower heating value is expressed in units of the heat

content of the fuel per unit of mass.
For example:
- BTU per pound mass
- BTU per Standard cubic foot
- kilo Joules per kilogram

- kilo Joules per Normal cubic meter
Heat Rate, SFC, Thermal Efficiency

“Heat Rate” is energy consumption per unit of output
power. It is a way of expressing fuel efficiency.
Figure 2.6 Heat Rate

“SFC” is “Specific Fuel Consumption”. It is very

similar to heat rate, but is in units of fuel mass flow
per unit of output power.
Figure 2.7 Specific Fuel Consumption

Thermal efficiency is the ratio of the heat rate or SFC
of a perfectly efficient engine to the heat rate or SFC
of this engine, expressed as a percentage.
Figure 2.8 Thermal Efficiency

IDENTIFY THE TURBINE CURVES
Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5)
Figure 2.9 Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5)
This curve predicts what the power turbine inlet

temperature (T5) should be for a new-and-clean engine
at any given inlet air temperature and output power
parameter. The output power is at sea level and no
losses, but the T5 is for any site conditions.

Optimum Power Turbine Speed (NPTopt)
Figure 2.10 Optimum Power Turbine Speed (NPTopt)
This curve shows what the optimum power turbine

speed (NPTopt) is expected to be at any given inlet air
temperature and output power parameter. Optimum
power turbine speed requires no corrections to site
conditions.
Optimum Power Turbine Speed is the speed at which

the power turbine is most efficient. As you can see, it is
a function of inlet air temperature and load. The power
turbine can rotate faster or slower than its optimum
speed, there will just be a slight loss of efficiency and
thus output power and thermal efficiency if it does.

Figure 2.11 Power vs, NPT at 59 Degrees F
Here is a different curve format. This shows output

power vs. power turbine speed rather than vs. inlet
air temperature. This shows the effect of power
turbine speed on output power at one single inlet
air temperature.
You can not use this curve format for part-load

predictions.
This curve is for full-load (at NGP or T5 limit) ONLY.
This just shows the effect of off-optimum power

turbine speed at full-load, along the limit line.

Figure 2.12 Power vs, NPT at Various Gas Producer Speeds
This is the same curve, but for several gas producer

speeds. This shows the effect of off-optimum power
turbine speed on full load power for a range of gas
producer speeds.
Figure 2.13 Power vs, NPT with Heat Rate

This curve is very similar to Figure 2.12, but instead
of lines of NGP, it shows full-load power for a range of
inlet air temperatures.
This also shows lines of constant heat rate.

This curve can NOT be used to find part-load heat

rate. It is still only for full-load, it shows the effect of
off-optimum NPT on power and heat rate at full load.
IDENTIFY THE EXHAUST CURVES AND EXPLAIN

WHAT THEY ARE USED FOR
Exhaust Temperature (T7)
Figure 2.14 Exhaust Temperature (T7)
This curve shows what the exhaust temperature (T7)

should be for a new-and-clean engine at any given
inlet air temperature and output power parameter.
The output power is at sea level and no losses, but the
T7 is at any site conditions of barometric pressure and
inlet duct loss. But the T7 at site conditions is affected
slightly by exhaust duct loss and off-optimum power
turbine speed.

Exhaust Flow (Wex)
Figure 2.15 Exhaust Flow (Wex)

This curve shows what the Exhaust Flow (Wex) should
be for a new-and-clean engine. The output power
and exhaust flow are at sea level and no losses. The
exhaust flow at site conditions must be corrected for
barometric pressure and inlet duct loss. This curve
and the previous curve for T7 are used to predict how
much exhaust heat can be recovered.
Exhaust Heat
Figure 2.16 Exhaust Heat
Exhaust heat is the amount of energy that can be

extracted from the gas exiting the gas turbine engine.
It is proportional to the mass flow of exhaust gas (inlet

air flow + fuel mass flow - leakage ~0.25%), and the
specific heat of the exhaust gas (in American units
~0.26 BTU/lbm/Deg F), and the temperature drop
across the heat recovery equipment.

Exhaust Velocity
Figure 2.17 Equation for Exhaust Velocity
Environmentalists often need to know the velocity

of the exhaust gas exiting the engine, so they can
calculate how far the pollutants will travel. But
they don’t know how to calculate it, so they ask the
performance guys.
Exhaust velocity is the actual volumetric flow rate

divided by the area of the exhaust duct at the exit.
Actual volumetric flow rate is the Standard volumetric

flow rate corrected for actual flowing pressure and
temperature. Exhaust gas is so close to barometric
pressure that the compressibility factor is very near to
1.0, and may be neglected. And Standard volumetric
flow rate is just another way of expressing mass flow,
so we can find it knowing the exhaust mass flow.
And finally area for a round exhaust duct is pi times

radius squared.
You need not do this calculation by hand, it can be

done with the utility program PipeSize.xls found on
the course CD in the TOOLBOX directory.

DESCRIBE SOLAR’S FOUR STANDARD

CURVE SHEETS
Sheet 1: Fuel Flow (Wf), Exhaust Flow (Wex),

& Exhaust Temp (T7)
This is a typical performance curve as it appears in

the Operation & Maintenance Manual. It shows
lines of constant fuel flow, exhaust flow, and exhaust
temperature as well as the full-load limit line.
Figure 2.18 Typical Sheet 1

This is primarily a sales proposal curve because it

tells the prospective customer just about everything
they need to know to evaluate the performance of this
engine compared to other engines:
- How much power it can produce at full-load
- How much fuel it will consume
- How much exhaust heat can be utilized

This is usually Sheet 1 of a set of 4.
Figure 2.19 Typical Sheet 1 for SoLoNOx

What is going on with this curve? What is that band of

wavy lines at approximately 50% load?
That is the transition area between low emissions
mode and high emissions mode for a SoLoNOx engine.
This will be explained in a later lesson, Control
Strategy.
Sheet 2: Full Load vs. Power Turbine Speed (NPT)

This is the power vs. power turbine speed curve

shown before.
This curve also is primarily a proposal curve.
It shows a prospective customer the expected power

and heat rate AT FULL-LOAD for a range of inlet air
temperatures and a range of power turbine speeds.
It also shows the optimum power turbine speed at

full load.
This curve is usually Sheet 2 of a set of 4.

Sheet 3: Compressor Discharge Pressure (PCD)

& Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5)
This is primarily a condition evaluation curve. This

one shows lines of constant PCD and T5, the two most
important parameters for evaluating the condition
of an engine.
This curve shows what PCD and T5 should be for a

new-and-clean engine.

If the measured PCD is lower than what this curve

says it should be, then the compressor is not in
new-and-clean condition.
If the measured T5 is higher than this curve says it
should be, then the gas producer turbine is not in
This is usually Sheet 3 of a set of 4.

Sheet 4: Gas Producer Speed (NGP) & Optimum

Power Turbine Speed (NPT)
This curve also is primarily for condition evaluation.

It shows what the gas producer speed should be for
a new-and-clean engine, and it shows the optimum
power turbine speed.
Optimum power turbine speed is used to calculate

off-optimum power turbine speed loss.

If the actual gas producer speed is slower than this

curve says it should be, the gas producer turbine is not
in new-and-clean condition.
This is usually sheet 4 of a set of 4.
Sheet 2: Generator Sets T5 & PCD
Figure 2.23 Typical Sheet 2 for Generator Sets
For single-shaft generator sets, there is no gas

producer speed curve, and there is no optimum
power turbine speed curve, so this T5 and PCD curve
becomes Sheet 2 of a set of 2.

NOTES:

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “Nominal”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is ”Minimum”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. How accurate are the curves?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What is “Output Power Parameter”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is “Heating Value” of a fuel?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. What is “Heat Rate”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
7. What is “Specific Fuel Consumption”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What is “Thermal Efficiency”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

9. Can you use PCD, Wf, and Wex directly as read

from the curves?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. Can you use NGP, T5, and NPTopt directly as

read from the curves?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
11. Can you use Sheet 2, Output Power vs. Power

Turbine Speed for part load performance?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “Nominal”?
Fleet average or expected performance of a

new-and-clean engine in the factory test
2. What is ”Minimum”?
Minimum Factory Acceptance Level, power

and thermal efficiency
3. How accurate are the curves?
Usually +/- 3% for power and thermal

efficiency at full-load, the tolerance is
more than that for part-load and other
parameters
4. What is “Output Power Parameter”?
Output power at sea level and no losses
5. What is “Heating Value” of a fuel?
Heat Content of a fuel / Unit of Mass
6. What is “Heat Rate”?
Fuel energy consumption / unit of engine

output power
7. What is “Specific Fuel Consumption”?
Fuel mass flow / unit of engine output

power

8. What is “Thermal Efficiency”?
The percent of fuel input energy that is

converted into output power
9. Can you use PCD, Wf, and Wex directly as read

from the curves?
No, they must be corrected to site

conditions
10. Can you use NGP, T5, and NPTopt directly as

read from the curves?
Yes
11. Can you use Sheet 2, Output Power vs. Power

Turbine Speed for part load performance?
No, it is for full-load only



Solar Technical Training LESSON 3: Gas Turbine Control Strategy
LESSON 3: Gas Turbine Control Strategy
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Describe how the controls affect the full-load and
part-load performance of the engine.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Define Two-Shaft Engine NGP & T5 Topping.
2. Explain how guide vane angle affects

performance.
3. Define Single-Shaft Engine T5 Topping.
4. Describe the effect of emissions controls on

part-load performance.

LESSON 3: Gas Turbine Control Strategy Solar Technical Training
1. DEFINE TWO-SHAFT ENGINE NGP & T5 TOPPING
GAS PRODUCER SPEED LIMIT

This shows, for a two-shaft engine, the output power
vs. inlet air temperature at various gas producer
speeds (NGP). The maximum NGP (usually 100%
NGP), is the maximum allowable continuous speed
that the gas producer can rotate with adequate safety
margin, so the gas producer cannot be allowed to
go any faster.
Therefore, the maximum power this engine can

produce, at sea level and no losses, is at maximum
gas producer speed.
Figure 3.1 Gas Producer Speed Limit

POWER TURBINE TEMPERATURE LIMIT

This shows, for a two-shaft engine, the output power
vs. inlet air temperature at various power turbine inlet
temperatures (T5). The maximum T5 is the maximum
allowable operating temperature at the power turbine
inlet to have adequate time between major inspections
(overhaul), so it cannot be allowed to go any hotter.
Therefore, this is the maximum power this engine can

produce, at sea level and no losses.
Figure 3.2 Power Turbine Temperature Limit
RATED TRIT
Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature (TRIT) is the

temperature at the point where work begins to be
extracted from the air. The output power of the engine
is proportional to TRIT. Higher TRIT yields higher
power. There is a maximum allowable (Rated) TRIT,
above which the life of the engine would be reduced.
Full-load is when the engine is operated at Rated

TRIT.

BASE T5
Base T5 is the T5 limit set point value that causes the
engine to operate at Rated TRIT.
On the package we cannot measure TRIT, it is too hot

for reasonable thermocouple life. So we measure the
engine operating temperature at the Power Turbine
Inlet (T5).
But in the factory test cell we can calculate TRIT, so

we know what the T5 is when the engine is at Rated
TRIT. The T5 at Rated TRIT is known as Base T5 or
T5 Base. Each engine has its own unique Base T5.
T5 COMPENSATION
For engines of the same model and rating it is
convenient to have one common value of T5 at full load.
The control system adds or subtracts a constant

amount from the measured average T5, so that it
displays the common T5 value when operating at
Base T5.
The amount added or subtracted is called T5

Compensation.
• T5setpoint = Common T5 Display at Full Load

• T5compensation = T5setpoint - Base T5
• T5display = T5average + T5compensation
CONSTANT TRIT CONTROL
The slope of a constant T5 line is steeper than the

slope of a constant TRIT line.
On hot days when on T5 topping, this causes the

engine to run cooler than Rated TRIT, reducing power
slightly.
But, knowing the relationship between T5 and TRIT,

we can calculate what the T5 should be to yield Rated
TRIT at any given T1.

Figure 3.3 Constant TRIT Control
This shows a typical bias that is added to Base

T5 when the T1 is warmer than 59 degrees F. This
calculated bias is called “T5 Offset”. By adding this
bias to the Base T5, we effectively have a constant
TRIT control, producing more power than a constant
T5 control.
T5 Control Limit = Base T5 + Compensation + T5

Offset
Figure 3.4 T5 Offset

Whether constant TRIT control or constant T5 control,

whether two-shaft or single-shaft, the predicted power
at full-load (on topping) is plotted on all of the power
vs. T1 curves.
Figure 3.5 Power vs. T1 curve

DEFINE NPT TOPPING

There are four different parameters that could control
the NGP:
• NGP setpoint, the command for more or less

power given by the operator or process controller.
• NGP topping, which prevents the engine from

going faster than maximum continuous speed.
• T5 topping, which prevents the engine from

running hotter than rated Base T5 (rated TRIT).
• NPT topping, which slows NGP thus reducing
power, if the power turbine approaches a speed
over its maximum continuous speed.
NPT topping is a safety control, to prevent a power
turbine overspeed in case of some upset condition such
as low gas compressor suction pressure.
Figure 3.6 NPT Topping

2. EXPLAIN HOW GUIDE VANE ANGLE AFFECTS PERFORMANCE

• For two-shaft engines NGP is not held fixed
by any outside force.
• NGP is free to move faster or slower as conditions

change.
• At a given T5, opening the inlet guide vanes

(IGV) slows NGP down.
• At a given T5, closing the IGV speeds NGP up.
When IGV is Closed:
Inlet area is reduced, thus air mass flow is

reduced.
Lower air flow reduces PCD and the work
performed and power required by the compressor.
Lower PCD reduces T5 and thus fuel flow.
T5 topping adds more fuel to get T5 back to

set point.
So the NGP speeds up, offsetting the reduced air
flow of the closed IGV.
The result is almost the same air flow, fuel flow,
TRIT, output power . . . just higher NGP.
There are slight differences due to a change of

compressor efficiency, because the operating
point is at different place on the compressor
curve.
When IGV is Opened:

Inlet area is opened, thus air mass flow is
increased.
Higher air flow increases PCD and work

performed and power required by the compressor.
Higher PCD increases T5 and thus fuel flow.

T5 topping reduces fuel to get T5 back down
to the set point.

So the NGP slows down, offsetting the increased

air flow of the opened IGV.
The result is about the same air flow, fuel flow,
TRIT, and output power, just slower NGP.
Figure 3.7 GP Turbine Efficiency
The efficiency of the gas producer turbine increases

with increasing speed.
Figure 3.8 Active Guide Vane Control
We also know that on hot days the two-shaft engine is

on T5 topping, and thus the NGP is less than 100%.

Active Guide Vane Control
If on hot days, when the engine is on T5 topping and

below 100% NGP, we modulate the IGV more closed
to speed the NGP back to 100%, the GP turbine will
be more efficient. There is very little difference in air
mass flow because the increased speed is offset by
the more closed IGV. But because the GP turbine is
more efficient, there is additional power available
to the power turbine, so the engine produces more
output power.
Figure 3.9 Active Guide Vane Control Schematic
This is a control schematic showing how the IGV is

modulated as a function of Corrected NGP. “Corrected”
means corrected for inlet air temperature to some
common inlet air temperature, usually 59 degrees F.
As the NGP is slower and/or the T1 is hotter, the IGV

is modulated more closed, speeding the NGP back to
approximately maximum continuous speed.
This control logic is used on Solar’s larger two-shaft

engines (Taurus 60 and larger.)

Figure 3.10 Full Load Power Without Active Guide Vane Control
Here you see the full-load output power on T5 topping

when NGP is allowed to drop.
Figure 3.11 Full Load Power With Active Guide Vane Control
And this is the full-load output power on T5 topping
with active IGV control keeping the NGP at maximum
continuous speed.

3. DEFINE SINGLE-SHAFT ENGINE T5 TOPPING
OUTPUT POWER LIMITS, FULL LOAD

This shows both the NGP limit and the T5 limit.
Figure 3.12 Output Power Limits, Full Load

FULL LOAD LIMITS (TOPPING)

A single-shaft engine can operate at maximum T5
(Base T5) at all inlet air temperatures, because there
is no NGP limit, the speed is held constant by the
generator.
Whereas a two-shaft engine is limited by either T5 or
NGP, whichever is lower. On cold days, the two-shaft
engine is limited to the NGP limit, so it cannot reach
the T5 limit.
You can see that for a given engine, the single-shaft
design can produce more power on cold days than the
two-shaft design, because it can run to T5 topping, it
does not have to reduce T5 to keep from overspeeding
the gas producer.
Figure 3.13 Full Load Limits (Topping)

4. DESCRIBE THE EFFECT OF EMISSIONS CONTROLS

ON PART-LOAD PERFORMANCE
2-SHAFT SoLoNOx CONTROLS
In SoLoNOx low emissions mode, if the operating

temperature gets too cool, CO gets too high and the
combustor will oscillate or flame out. At part-load,
reduced NGP, the operating temperature gets
cooler . . . too cool. On two-shaft engines the SoLoNOx
controls modulate the bleed valve open, dumping air
from PCD to overboard, reducing the air flow through
the turbine. This makes the engine have to run hotter
at that NGP to produce the same power, thus reducing
CO and oscillations.
In this curve format it is easily seen that the T5 stays

fairly constant and PCD drops rapidly down to about
92% NGP on a 59 degree F day, then T5 drops rapidly
at lower loads. This is because below 92% NGP the
controls go out of SoLoNOx low emissions mode, so the
bleed valve returns to the closed position.
Figure 3.14 2-Shaft SoLoNOx Part-Load Performance

2-SHAFT SoLoNOx ENABLE/DISABLE

SoLoNOx is only intended to control emissions above
50% load, and low emissions are only guaranteed
above 50% load. For 2-shaft mechanical drives, a
convenient, accurate power measurement is not
available. So, a fixed gas producer speed (NGP), is
used to trigger low emissions mode on or off. But
a fixed NGP does not give exactly 50% load over
the range of inlet air temperatures, so the NGP at
50% load on a 0 deg F day is chosen to define low
emissions mode enable/disable point throughout the
range of inlet air temperatures. To prevent control
instability, the NGP at which low emissions mode
is activated during acceleration is about 1-2% NGP
higher than the NGP used to deactivate low emissions
mode during deceleration. The intent is to stay in
low emissions mode at loads approximately 50% or
lower for inlet air temperatures warmer than 0 deg F.
This insures that the emissions guarantee range is
met, but could have the undesirable effect of causing
combustion instability at very low loads while still
in low emissions mode.
New very low NOx engines are being shipped with
a variable NGP SoLoNOx enable/disable setpoint.
This makes the transition from high emissions to
low emissions closer to 50% load at all inlet air
temperatures.

Figure 3.15 2-Shaft SoLoNOx Enable/Disable
1-SHAFT SoLoNOx CONTROLS
NGP is held constant by the generator. At part load,

reduced power, the operating temperature gets cooler .
. . too cool. SoLoNOx controls modulate the IGV more
closed, reducing the air flow through the engine. This
makes the engine have to run hotter at that load,
reducing CO and oscillations.
In this curve format it is easily seen that the T5 stays
constant down to about 50% load on a 59 degree F day,
then drops rapidly at lower loads.
And PCD drops rapidly from 100% to 50% load, but

then jumps back up below 50% load. This is because
below 50% load the controls go out of SoLoNOx low
emissions mode, so the IGV returns to the full open
position.

Figure 3.16 1-Shaft SoLoNOx Controls

1-SHAFT SoLoNOx ENABLE/DISABLE

For generator sets, an algorithm for full load output
power is established as a function of inlet air
temperature and site elevation. The controls keep
the engine in low emissions mode down to 45% of
that calculated full load on gas fuel, and 75% of that
calculated full load on liquid fuel. Some newer very
low NOx engines may be set to stay in SoLoNOx low
emissions mode even lower than 75% load on liquid
fuel.
Figure 3.17 1-Shaft SoLoNOx Enable/Disable

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “Rated TRIT”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is “Base T5”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is “T5 Compensation”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What is “Topping”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is “Constant TRIT Control”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. What is “NPT Topping”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
7. What happens if SoLoNOx Primary Zone

Temperature gets too cool?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. How does a two-shaft SoLoNOx engine keep

part-load temperature up?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

9. How does a single-shaft SoLoNOx engine keep

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. At a given T5, what happens to NGP when the

IGV is moved more closed?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
11. What is “Active Guide Vane Control”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “Rated TRIT”?
The maximum allowable TRIT, above which

the life of the engine would be reduced
2. What is “Base T5”?
The T5 at Rated TRIT
3. What is “T5 Compensation”?
Adding or subtracting some amount to Base

T5 to have a common T5 setpoint when at
rated TRIT (full-load).
4. What is “Topping”?
The upper limit of either T5, NGP or NPT,

whichever is lower
5. What is “Constant TRIT Control”?
Biasing the T5 Control Limit higher with

increasing T1 to approximate a constant
TRIT
6. What is “NPT Topping”?
Limiting fuel flow when NPT approaches

maximum allowable, to prevent power
turbine overspeed

7. What happens if SoLoNOx Primary Zone

Temperature gets too cool?
CO gets too high and oscillations might

occur
8. How does a two-shaft SoLoNOx engine keep

Modulate the bleed valve open to dump

some air overboard
9. How does a single-shaft SoLoNOx engine keep

Modulate the IGV closed to lower air flow
10. At a given T5, what happens to NGP when the

IGV is moved more closed?
NGP will increase
11. What is “Active Guide Vane Control”?
Modulation of the IGV on warm days to

maintain maximum NGP



Solar Technical Training LESSON 4: Gas Turbine Rating Considerations
LESSON 4: Gas Turbine Rating Considerations
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Describe how rated full-load performance and
expected overhaul life is established.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain how Time Between Inspections is
determined.
2. Describe the difference between Nominal &

Minimum Performance.
3. Explain Gas Turbine Matching.

4. Explain how the Type of Duty Affects
Performance Ratings.

LESSON 4: Gas Turbine Rating Considerations Solar Technical Training
In the ideal cycle, thermal efficiency is a function of

compression ratio. Higher compression ratio yields a
higher gas turbine thermal efficiency.
Figure 4.1 Thermal Efficiency, Output Power
The output power of the ideal cycle at a given ambient

temperature is a function of compression ratio, total
mass flow, and maximum cycle temperature. Higher
compression ratio, greater air mass flow, and higher
cycle temperature yield greater output power.
In the real cycle, actual component efficiencies also

affect the overall cycle efficiency and output power.
Other factors, including cooling and sealing losses,

heat loss to surroundings, auxiliary loads, and other
external variables also affect thermal efficiency and
output power in the real cycle.

1. TIME BETWEEN MAJOR INSPECTIONS (TBI)

As TRIT increases, hot section components operate
at higher metal temperatures, which reduces the
Time Between Major Inspections. Time Between
Major Inspections is designated as TBI, and is also
sometimes designated Time Between Overhauls
(TBO). The distinction between a major inspection and
an overhaul is that critical life-limited parts are only
replaced if necessary at a major inspection, but are
manditorily replaced at an overhaul because they
have reached their operating hours life limit.
Because hot section materials are life limited by stress
at high temperature, there are limitations on the
maximum temperatures for a given TBI.
Figure 4.2 Time to Stress Rupture vs. TRIT

Time to Stress Rupture is a function of temperature,
and decreases rapidly at higher temperatures.
TBI is a function of time at TRIT and the rate of

temperature change during transients, such as
start-up and shut-down.
The creep or stress rupture limit is established by the

material properties as a function of their stress level
and operating temperature.

TBI vs. TRIT
In addition to metal operating temperature, other

factors must be considered: including fuel type, fuel
quality, and frequency of start/stop cycles.
Assuming the quality of the fuel is maintained in

accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements, the
expected TBI for a given gas turbine can be expressed
as a function of TRIT, fuel type, and average run
time per start.
Continuous duty applications typically have long run

times between starts and, thus, log many operating
hours with relative few start/stop cycles.
For example, a gas turbine exposed to many starts,

such as a peaking unit which is started daily, will
exhibit a shorter TBI than a continuous duty unit
when operated at the same TRIT.
Figure 4.3 TBI vs. TRIT

OUTPUT POWER vs. TRIT

As rated TRIT is increased, the output power of the
gas turbine engine increases.
Figure 4.4 Output Power vs. TRIT

OUTPUT POWER vs. TBI

But also as rated TRIT is increased, Time Between
Inspections (TBI) decreases exponentially. So the
manufacturer must establish the rated TRIT to give
the most output power but without reducing TBI
below customer expectations.
Figure 4.5 Output Power vs. TBI

2. NOMINAL & MINIMUM PERFORMANCE
NOMINAL
“Nominal” performance is the expected performance of

an average gas turbine. The statistical data on the
entire fleet of factory-tested units is used to determine
the nominal performance.
MINIMUM
“Minimum” performance is the manufacturer’s

“Minimum Factory Acceptance Level”. This is the
level of performance which is the manufacturer’s
production quality control acceptance criterion in
the standard factory production test. Minimum
performance is set below nominal to allow for normal
manufacturing and testing tolerances.
MARGIN
“Margin” is the percent difference between nominal

and minimum performance.
Figure 4.6 Margins

OUTPUT POWER VS. ACCEPTANCE RATE

The performance of the tested population can be
plotted versus acceptance rate. The manufacturer
can use this to predict what the factory acceptance
rate will be at any given level of performance. The
minimum factory acceptance level is established based
upon the manufacturer’s desired factory acceptance
rate.
For new designs or rating changes, there is a 50%

chance that the true nominal of the future large
population will be lower than the average of the initial
small sample. In statistics terminology, we say there is
a 50% confidence level that the true nominal will be
lower than the average of the initial small sample.
If the manufacturer lowers the value of performance

that is predicted, he increases his confidence that
the predicted performance will actually be met or
exceeded.
Figure 4.7 Output Power vs. Acceptance Rate

CONFIDENCE LEVEL
Figure 4.8 shows the results for a small sample at
a confidence level of 85%. Until a number of gas
turbines are built and tested, the manufacturer should
either lower the predicted value of performance, or
else take the risk of a lower acceptance rate. After a
number of units have been tested, the performance
rating prediction may be adjusted, if necessary, to
reflect the true nominal performance of the actual test
results. So, initial performance rating predictions for
prototypes or uprates should be conservative to assure
that the predictions will in fact be achieved. And, the
larger the population of tested units is, the greater
is the manufacturer’s confidence that the predicted
performance will be met.
Figure 4.8 Confidence Level

In the factory, if the measured power and thermal
efficiency meets or exceeds the minimum factory
acceptance level, the unit is accepted. If not,
adjustments can be made while the engine is on the
test stand to bring the performance into acceptance
level. If this cannot be achieved, the test data can
be used to quickly determine the problem. Then
necessary corrective actions can be taken, and the unit
is retested with minimum schedule impact.

Guaranteed performance is not necessarily the same

as minimum. Minimum performance can only be
guaranteed if the factory acceptance test is used as
the proof of performance.
3. GAS TURBINE MATCHING

For a two-shaft gas turbine with fixed turbine nozzle
geometry, the nozzle design can be selected which
will give the rated speed, TRIT, output power, and
thermal efficiency at a selected inlet air temperature.
That specific design is said to be “matched” for
that particular ambient temperature because the
design flows, speeds, temperatures, pressures, and
efficiencies are all achieved by a specific matching of
the aerodynamic components.
A two-shaft gas turbine can utilize various specifically

sized power turbine nozzles with different vane angles
and flow areas. This enables it to be optimized for the
particular climate in which it will be operated.
Each match has the same materials and operates at

exactly the same speed and temperature limits, and
thus the same stress levels and metal temperatures.
Therefore, there is no impact on the maintenance
interval due to ambient temperature matching.
Figure 4.9 Gas Turbine Matching

ISO RATING CONDITIONS

The rating point can be established for gas turbine
performance at specified ambient conditions, inlet and
exhaust losses, type of fuel, etc.
The International Standards Organization (ISO)
defines its standard conditions as:
• Inlet Air Temperature: 15C (59F)
• Barometric Pressure: 760 mmHg (14.7 psia)

• Relative Humidity: 60%
This has become a standard rating point for comparing

gas turbines of various manufacturers and designs.
RATING POINT VS. MATCH POINT
Two-shaft gas turbines with fixed turbine geometry

may have a match point significantly different from
the ISO rating point.
Here is the performance plotted for an ISO match

and a hot day match engine. In a hot climate, for
example, the gas turbine may be matched to achieve
its optimum performance at an ambient temperature
of 50C, rather than the ISO rating of 15C.
Figure 4.10 Rating Point vs. Match Point

As you can see, an engine matched for hot ambient

temperatures exhibits lower output power capability
at ISO conditions than an ISO match engine. However,
on a 50C day the hot day match engine has greater
output power and better thermal efficiency than the
ISO match engine.
Therefore, if your expected average site conditions

are significantly different from ISO conditions, the
ISO rating of a gas turbine may not be an adequate
guideline for comparison.

4. TYPE OF DUTY
The TBI of a gas turbine engine is affected by the
amount of time it runs and the frequency of start-stop
cycles.
ISO CLASSES OF OPERATION
The International Standards Organization (ISO)

defines the hours of operation per year as “Classes
of Operation”.
ISO defines these classes as:
• Base Load, 8760 hours per year

• Mid-Range, 6000 hours per year
• Peak Load, 2000 hours per year

• Reserve Peak, <100 hours per year
Figure 4.11 ISO Classes of Operation

ISO RANGES OF OPERATION

ISO also defines the frequency of start-stop cycles
as Ranges of Operation.
The ranges of operation are:
• Range IV, fewer than 25 starts per year

• Range III, fewer than 100 starts per year
• Range II, up to 500 starts per year
• Range I, over 500 starts per year
Figure 4.12 ISO Ranges of Operation

ANSI MODES OF OPERATION

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
defines the type of duty two ways:
• Base Mode is 8000 hours per year and 800

hours per start
• Peak Mode is 1500 hours per year and 10 hours

per start
Figure 4.13 ANSI Modes Of Operation
TYPES OF GENERATOR SET DUTY
The TBI of a gas turbine generator package is

significantly affected by the type of duty. The Solar
definitions of type of duty are: Continuous, Peaking,
and Standby Duty.
Figure 4.14 Generator Set Duty

Continuous Duty
The Continuous Duty unit is used as the prime source
of power, with typical operating time ranging from
1000 to 8000 hours per year. If the unit does not
operate in parallel with the electrical utility grid, the
unit only generates enough power to satisfy the load
demand. The load is typically less than the rated
power of the gas turbine, so it operates below rated
TRIT. A unit supplying power for an offshore platform
is an example of this application.
If the continuous duty unit does operates in parallel

with the electrical utility grid, the unit operates a
full load and maintains rated TRIT all of the time,
regardless of ambient temperature.
Peaking Duty
The Peaking Duty unit is employed to effectively
reduce usage of the normal power source during high
demand periods. It typically starts once a day and
operates about 400 to 1000 hours per year in parallel
with the normal power source. The peaking unit is
operated at higher TRIT and thus higher output
power than a continuous duty unit.
Typical TBI of a peaking unit is about one-fourth that

of a continuous duty unit. The TBI of peaking units is
less than that of continuous duty units, but because it
operates fewer total hours, the maintenance cost per
year is about the same.
Standby Duty
The Standby Duty unit will be operated as a backup

to, and will not operate in parallel with, a normal
source of power. Typical operation ranges from 10 to
100 hours per year with one start per week. Because
hours of actual operation at rated load and rated TRIT
are low, it is economical to operate Standby units at
higher TRIT and, thus, greater output power than
continuous duty or peaking units.

The estimated TBI is much less than that of

continuous duty units. However, experience shows
that standby units rarely need the first major
inspection because they do not accumulate enough
total operating hours.
EFFECT OF TRIT ON OPERATING PARAMETERS
The manufacturer can change the rated TRIT

depending upon the duty requirement. The effects of
changing rated TRIT are:
Higher Rated TRIT:

• More Output Power
• Higher Efficiency
• More Exhaust Heat

• Shorter Maintenance Interval
• Higher Maintenance Cost /kW-hr

Lower Rated TRIT:
• Less Output Power
• Lower Efficiency
• Less Exhaust Heat
• Longer Maintenance Interval
• Lower Maintenance Cost /kW-hr

Figure 4.15 summarizes the economic evaluation

of a cogeneration installation which utilizes all of
the generated electrical power and exhaust heat. An
increased rated TRIT yields a decreasing maintenance
interval, greater output power, better thermal
efficiency, and more exhaust heat.
Figure 4.15 Effect of TRIT on Operating Parameters
Even though the operating and maintenance cost

increases, the net cash flow also increases up to some
optimum point. In this case, increasing the TRIT of
the turbomachinery gives a net result of increased
cash flow down to about a 12000 hour maintenance
interval.
The optimum maintenance interval for your

application could vary, and is affected by your fuel
cost, your generated power cost, and other economic
assumptions. But the important point to remember
is that the longest maintenance interval is not
necessarily the optimum one financially.

IMPACT OF RATING CHANGES
For applications which do not require a constant

output power, there may be an economic advantage of
generating additional output power and exhaust heat,
at the expense of shorter maintenance intervals. This
additional maintenance expense may be overcome by
the increased cash flow or operating profit.
Some applications require higher output power

and exhaust heat than the gas turbine base rating
produces. For these applications, the TRIT may be
increased to produce the required power. In many
cases, doing this has a positive effect on your cash flow
and thus improves your return on investment.
Figure 4.16 Impact of Rating Changes

“HIGH AMBIENT” RATING

A “High Ambient Rating” is a control system
modification which combines topping below continuous
duty TRIT on cold days, and above continuous duty
rating on hot days. Unlike matching of two-shaft
engines, a high ambient rating has no hardware
modifications to the engine. The purpose of the high
ambient rating is to produce more output power on
hot days by giving up some output power on cold
days, all without affecting the overall Time Between
Inspections (overhaul life.) The TBI is not affected
because the shorter life when operated up to Standby
Rating on hot days is offset by the longer life when
operated below Continuous Duty TRIT on cold days.
The High Ambient Rating can be used on either
single-shaft or two-shaft engines.
Figure 4.17 High Ambient Rating

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “TBI”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is a “Major Inspection”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is an “Overhaul”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What happens to output power when TRIT is

increased?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What happens to TBI when TRIT is increased?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. If Solar increases “Minimum” acceptance test

level power, what happens to factory test success?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

7. What is two-shaft gas turbine engine matching?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. If an engine runs more hours per year, what

happens to overhaul frequency?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. If an engine starts and stops more often, what

_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. What are three generator set rating levels?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
11. What is a “High Ambient Rating”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “TBI”?
Time Between Major Inspections
2. What is a “Major Inspection”?
Complete in-shop disassembly, parts

replaced as-needed
3. What is an “Overhaul”?
Complete in-shop disassembly, mandatory

replacement of critical parts based on total
accumulated hours
4. What happens to output power when TRIT is

increased?
It increases
5. What happens to TBI when TRIT is increased?
It decreases
6. If Solar increases “Minimum” acceptance test

level power, what happens to factory test success?
It will decrease

7. What is two-shaft gas turbine engine matching?
Changing the area of the 3rd stage turbine

nozzle to change the T1 where rated TRIT
and NGP occur at the same time
8. If an engine runs more hours per year, what

It increases, must overhaul more often
9. If an engine starts and stops more often, what

It increases, must overhaul more often
10. What are three generator set rating levels?
Continuous, Peaking, and Standby Duty
11. What is a “High Ambient Rating”?
A control system modification which over

fires on hot days and underfires on cold
days to give more power on hot days
without reducing overall TBI



Solar Technical Training LESSON 5: Parameters Which Affect Performance
LESSON 5: Parameters Which Affect Performance
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Calculate the predicted performance of a gas turbine
engine at site conditions.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain the effect of changing inlet air
temperature.
2. Explain the effect of barometric pressure.

3. Explain how duct losses affect performance.
4. Explain the effect of power turbine speed.
5. Explain how gear loss affects performance.

6. Explain the effect of relative humidity.
7. Explain the effect of changing gas fuel

composition.
8. Explain the effect of water injection.

9. Describe the effect of accessory power extraction.
10. Describe the effect of bleed air on performance.

LESSON 5: Parameters Which Affect Performance Solar Technical Training
PRIMARY PARAMETERS
Primary Parameters Which Affect Performance:
• Inlet air temperature
• Barometric pressure
• Inlet pressure loss

• Exhaust backpressure
• Output speed (power turbine speed)
• Gear losses
1. INLET AIR TEMPERATURE

Higher compressor speed, and/or denser air at the
inlet yields more inlet air mass flow. At full-load the
NGP and/or T5 is on topping, so speed cannot be
increased. But as T1 gets cooler, the inlet air becomes
denser, increasing mass flow, so the engine produces
more power. Conversely, as T1 gets warmer, the inlet
air becomes less dense and the engine produces less
power.
Figure 5.1 Output Power
As inlet air temperature gets warmer, the air mass

flow is lower and that in turn causes the pressure
ratio to be lower. Lower pressure ratio causes the
thermal efficiency to decrease, or heat rate to increase
as T1 increases.
Figure 5.2 Thermal Efficiency

The result is that output power goes down with

increasing T1, and heat rate goes up with increasing
T1
Figure 5.3 Power and Heat Rate vs. Inlet Air Temperature

2. BAROMETRIC PRESSURE
At higher site elevations, the average barometric
pressure is lower, so the air is less dense than at sea
level. At a given NGP this reduces inlet air mass flow
and thus output power. But because the barometric
pressure is reduced at both the exhaust and inlet,
engine pressure ratio is unchanged, so thermal
efficiency is unchanged.
Figure 5.4 Effects of Barometric Pressure
As barometric pressure goes down, it goes down an

equal amount at the inlet and exhaust of the engine.
Because the pressure at the air inlet is lower, the
density of the air is lower, and thus the mass flow is
lower at a given NGP. But at a given NGP the pressure
ratio of the engine is the same, so PCD goes down the
same PERCENTAGE as inlet barometric pressure.
Since the pressure ratio does not change, the thermal
efficiency does not change.

The curve in Figure 5.5 is primarily for proposal

purposes. Delta (δ) is the ratio of barometric pressure
at a site elevation over barometric pressure at sea
level. This shows how the AVERAGE barometric
pressure changes with site elevation, so corrections to
the sea level, no loss curve data may be made.
Figure 5.5 Elevation Correction Factor
In American engineering units 29.92 is the average

barometric pressure at sea level, in inches of mercury.
However, at any site elevation the actual barometric
pressure will fluctuate with the weather, so using a
barometer is better than estimating the barometric
pressure from this curve or these equations.
Figure 5.6 Delta Function of Barometric Pressure

In S.I. units 101.35 is the average barometric pressure

at sea level in kPa (kilo Pascals).
Figure 5.7 Equation for Delta Function of Barometric Pressure in SI Units
These equations in Figure 5.8 show that barometric

pressure directly affects air flow (Wa), pressure of
compressor discharge (PCD), power (HP), and fuel
flow (Wf); all by the same amount. Heat rate is fuel
flow divided by power, and both fuel flow and power
are affected the same amount by changing barometric
pressure, so heat rate (and thus thermal efficiency)
is not affected by barometric pressure. So, going to a
higher site elevation simply makes the engine smaller
(less powerful) but not any less efficient.
Figure 5.8 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure

3. DUCT LOSSES
INLET PRESSURE LOSS (Duct Loss)
There is a pressure loss of the inlet air flowing through

the filter and silencer. This pressure loss has the
same effect as lower barometric pressure: it reduces
Wa, PCD, SHP, and Wf. And it has a secondary effect
of making the inlet pressure lower than the exhaust
pressure, thus reducing the engine pressure ratio.
This lower pressure ratio further reduces power
and also reduces thermal efficiency. A 1% reduction
in engine inlet pressure due to barometric pressure
causes exactly a 1% reduction in output Wa, SHP,
PCD, Wf. But a1% reduction in engine inlet pressure
due to inlet duct pressure loss causes a 1% loss of
thermal efficiency and almost a 2% reduction in power.
Inlet pressure loss lowers the pressure (and thus the

density and mass flow) at the air inlet. The lower mass
flow lowers output power and PCD. But the exhaust
pressure remains unchanged so the engine pressure
ratio is lower, and thus thermal efficiency is lower.
Figure 5.9 Effect of Inlet Pressure Loss

The loss curve in Figure 5.10 shows that for a 1% drop

of absolute pressure in the air inlet, there will be a
2% loss of output power.
Figure 5.10 Percent Loss of Power From Inlet Pressure Drop

These equations show that a percentage of absolute
pressure drop in the air inlet reduces air flow, PCD,
and fuel flow (Wf) all by the same percentage, but it
reduces output power twice as much. Since output
power goes down twice as much as fuel flow, heat rate
must go up, and it goes up the same percentage as
the inlet pressure loss.
Figure 5.11 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure and Inlet Pressure Loss

EXHAUST BACKPRESSURE (Duct Loss)

Exhaust backpressure caused by ducting, silencer,
boiler, etc. has the effect of reducing turbine pressure
ratio. Just like the secondary effect of inlet pressure
loss, this reduces power and thermal efficiency. The
effect of a 1% exhaust pressure increase is about a 1%
reduction of thermal efficiency and a 1% reduction
in power.
If there is backpressure on the turbine, the absolute

pressure at the exhaust of the turbine goes up. But
PCD does not change, so turbine pressure ratio goes
down. Lower turbine pressure ratio means lower
turbine temperature drop, so power goes down. But
the fuel flow remains the same so heat rate goes up by
the same percentage as the backpressure increase.
Figure 5.12 Effect of Exhaust Pressure Loss

This loss curve in Figure 5.13 shows that for a 1%

increase of absolute pressure in the exhaust, there will
be a 1% loss of output power.
Figure 5.13 Inlet and Exhaust Losses

Exhaust duct loss (backpressure) does not affect air
flow (Wa), pressure of compressor discharge (PCD), or
fuel flow (Wf). But it does affect output power (HP)
by the same percentage as the change in absolute
exhaust pressure. Since power goes down but fuel flow
does not, the heat rate goes up by the same percentage
as the change in absolute exhaust pressure.
Figure 5.14 Site Parameters at Barometric Pressure and % Inlet

Loss and % Exhaust Loss

Substituting terms for simplicity. Let’s call Figure

5.15 the “output power corrected to site conditions
formula”.
Figure 5.15 Equations for Lin & Lex (Inlet and Exhaust Loss)

4. OUTPUT SPEED (Power Turbine Speed)
Optimum Power Turbine Speed
On a TWO-SHAFT engine there is an optimum power

turbine speed. This is the speed at which the power
turbine is most efficient. This optimum NPT is a
function of inlet air temperature and output power.
The power turbine is free to rotate faster or slower
than its optimum speed, but if it does, there is a slight
loss of power.
Figure 5.16 Optimum Power Turbine Speed
Figure 5.16 shows the velocity vectors of the power

turbine. The three airfoils represent rotating blades of
the power turbine.
We can draw a velocity vector in the direction of the

rotating blades, with a length proportional to the
velocity of the blades (proportional to NPT). We can
also draw a velocity vector in the direction of the hot
gas flowing through the power turbine, with a length
proportional to the velocity of the hot gas (proportional
to NGP).

We plot those two velocity vectors together, and plot

a resultant vector between them. This resultant
vector is in the direction of the hot gas relative to
the rotating blades.
In this case the resultant vector is exactly parallel
to the pressure side of the blades. This is the most
efficient direction, and represents the optimum power
turbine speed for that hot gas velocity (NGP).
Figure 5.17 Velocity Vectors at Optimum NPT

If the rotating blades move at a slower velocity (slower

NPT) at the same hot gas velocity (same NGP), the
resultant vector direction changes to impinge upon the
pressure side of the blades. This requires the hot gas
to change direction once it reaches the blades. This
change of direction consumes energy and reduces the
efficiency of the process, resulting is less energy being
transferred to the blades, thus less output power.
Figure 5.18 Velocity Vectors at Slower NPT

If the rotating blades move at a faster velocity (faster

NPT) at the same hot gas velocity (same NGP), the
resultant vector direction changes to no longer be
parallel to the pressure side of the blades. This
requires the hot gas to change direction once it reaches
the blades. This change of direction reduces the
efficiency of the process, resulting is less energy being
transferred to the blades, thus less output power.
Q. What happens to the energy that no longer

gets transferred to the blades?
A. It stays in the hot gas, and goes up the exhaust

in the form of hotter exhaust gas temperature.
Figure 5.19 Velocity Vectors at Faster NPT

The loss of power due to off-optimum power turbine

speed can be expressed as a parabola. The abscissa
(X-axis) is the ratio of actual NPT to optimum NPT.
The ordinate (Y-axis) is the ratio of actual output
power to the output power at optimum NPT (the power
we read from the curves). This loss of power is with no
change in NGP and thus fuel consumption, so there is
also an equal percentage loss of thermal efficiency.
Figure 5.20 HP/Hpopt vs. NPT/NPTopt
This is the same parabola, just with the scales

adjusted for better readability. Notice that for minor
deviations from optimum NPT (say +/- 10%) there is
not a significant loss of power (~2%). But as the actual
NPT gets farther and farther away from optimum
NPT, the loss of power increases more rapidly. So
normal operating power turbine speeds at or near
optimum power turbine speed cause very little, if any,
loss of power. But if the operating power turbine speed
is significantly different than the optimum power
turbine speed there could be a considerable loss of
power and thermal efficiency.

Figure 5.21 HP/Hpopt vs. NPT/NPTopt Enlarged
The loss parabola can be expressed algebraically as

shown here. The HP/HPopt factor from either the
curve or this equation is then added to the output
power corrected to site conditions formula.
Figure 5.22 Site Power at Off-Optimum NPT

5. GEAR LOSSES
If a speed increasing or decreasing gearbox is needed
(we only use one if absolutely necessary), it has some
losses due to friction and windage. Therefore the
efficiency of a gearbox is slightly less than 100%.
Depending upon the design, gear ratio, and rotating
speed of the gears the efficiency will be somewhere
between 96 and 97%. So we add another loss factor to
the output power corrected to site conditions formula.
Figure 5.23 Site Power With Gear Efficiency
OTHER PARAMETERS WHICH AFFECT PERFORMANCE

• Inlet air humidity
• Type of fuel, gas or liquid

• Heating value of gas fuel
• Water injection
• Accessory gear power extraction

• Compressor air bleed
These all have an effect on engine performance, but

have a more subtle effect and are not simple to correct
for like the primary factors.

6. INLET AIR HUMIDITY (Relative Humidity)

This is a psychrometric chart for air. It shows how
much water vapor can exist in air at any given
temperature.
Figure 5.24 Psychrometric Chart For Air
Specific humidity is the mass concentration (mass of

water per mass of air) of water vapor in air. As the
air temperature increases, the air can hold a greater
concentration (higher specific humidity) of water
vapor.
The maximum amount of water vapor that will

remain in air is known as 100% relative humidity.
The humidity of air can vary from dry (0% relative
humidity) to saturated (100% relative humidity).
The molecular weight of dry air is 28.967 and the

molecular weight of water vapor is 18.
Figure 5.25 Molecular Weight of Air and Water Vapor

If there is water vapor in the air mixture the molecular

weight of the mixture is less than 28.967 and the more
water vapor in the air (higher relative humidity and/or
higher temperature) the lighter the air mixture. So,
humid air is less dense than dry air.
Figure 5.26 Molecular Weight of Dry Air

For a two-shaft gas turbine engine running on NGP
topping (constant speed), as the humidity increases
the air density, and thus output power, decreases. At
higher inlet air temperatures there is more difference
in air density and output power between 0% and
100% relative humidity, because the air holds more
water vapor (higher specific humidity) at higher
temperatures.

Figure 5.27 Output Power on NGP Topping
The output power is proportional to the mass flow and

the specific heat of air.
Figure 5.28 Equation for Output Power

The ratio of specific heats for dry air is relatively

constant. But the ratio of specific heats of water vapor
increases with increasing temperature. Therefore a
mixture of humid air has increasing ratio of specific
heats with increasing temperature. This causes the
GP turbine to produce more power at the same TRIT
or T5.
Figure 5.29 Ratio Of Specific Heats of Air and Water Vapor

When running on T5 topping, a two-shaft gas turbine

engine produces more power at higher humidity. That
additional power increases the NGP and thus air
flow, partially offsetting the decrease of air mass flow
caused by air being less dense at higher humidity. So,
the effect of relative humidity of the inlet air on a
two-shaft gas turbine engine full-load output power
depends upon whether it is on NGP topping or T5
topping. Higher relative humidity DEcreases power
when on NGP topping, but INcreases power when
on T5 topping.
Figure 5.30 Output Power on T5 Topping

7. TYPE OF FUEL, GAS OR LIQUID

Figure 5.31 shows the full-load limit for gas fuel
and liquid fuel. The specific heat of the products of
combustion of liquid fuel are not quite as high as
those for gas fuel. So the enthalpy drop across the GP
turbine is not quite as much on liquid fuel as on gas
fuel, resulting in slightly (~2-3%) lower output power.
In addition, liquid fuel produces a higher luminescence

inside the combustor liner which causes the liner
metal walls to be hotter than with gas fuel. For this
reason, some engines have a lower Rated TRIT on
liquid fuel than on gas fuel, to provide acceptable
combustor liner life on liquid fuel. And, some SoLoNOx
ratings have a lower rated TRIT on liquid fuel to keep
NOx below limits. When the Rated TRIT for liquid
fuel is lower than for gas fuel, the full-load output
power could be significantly lower.
Figure 5.31 Type Of Fuel, Gas or Liquid

HEATING VALUE OF GAS FUEL

We know that the output power is equal to the mass
flow of air times the enthalpy drop. But this is not
perfectly correct.

The mass flow through the GP and PT turbines is
actually the mass flow of air PLUS the mass flow
of fuel.
Figure 5.33 Equation for SHP Function of Wa and Wf
For a given TRIT the engine requires a certain

amount of fuel input ENERGY. But different gas fuel
compositions have different heat content per unit of
mass, expressed as LHV.
LHV = Heat Content / Unit of Mass

For lower LHV gas fuel, more mass of fuel must
be put into the engine, and thus it produces
MORE power
For higher LHV gas fuel, less mass of fuel must

be put into the engine, and thus it produces
LESS power.
For Lower LHV, because of the additional power

produced by the GP turbine, the T3 is cooler to
produce the same compressor work and thus
NGP.

At a given NGP the T3 and T5 are cooler, and the

control system adds more fuel to get back up to the T5
topping set point, this creates still more output power.
Figure 5.34 Output Power for Lower LHV Fuel Gas

8. WATER INJECTION
Water injection into the combustor is used to quench
the peak temperature in the primary zone, thus
reducing NOx. A side effect is higher CO. The injected
water also affects performance.
EFFECTS OF WATER INJECTION ON EMISSIONS
Water injection decreases NOx but INcreases carbon

monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC).
As the rate of water injection (Water to Fuel Ratio) is
increased, NOx continues to decrease approximately
linearly, but CO and UHC begin to increase more
rapidly. The water adds mass flow to the GP turbine.
The water also increases the specific heat (enthalpy) of
the products of combustion going into the GP turbine
which reduces TRIT and T5. The control system
increases the fuel flow to get T5 back up to the T5
topping set point. These give the GP turbine more
power. But additional fuel is required to evaporate the
water, so fuel flow must increase even more than
power is increased.
Figure 5.35 Effects of Water Injection on Emissions

EFFECTS OF WATER INJECTION ON PERFORMANCE
Figure 5.36 shows the effect of water injection on a

single-shaft engine. Increasing the water/fuel ratio
increases the power linearly, and it increases the fuel
consumption even more. So the thermal efficiency
decreases with increasing water injection rate.
Figure 5.36 Effects of Water Injection on Performance of a Single-Shaft Engine
WATER INJECTION IN TWO-SHAFT ENGINES
The effect of water injection on two-shaft engines is

similar to the effect on single-shaft engines, but varies
depending upon the topping mode.
On NGP Topping:
At constant inlet conditions (same T1), the

compressor cannot absorb any more power or it
would overspeed, so the GP cannnot produce
any more power. So the control system must
reduce fuel flow to reduce TRIT to keep the NGP
at topping. The effect on the power turbine is
higher mass flow, higher enthalpy, but lower
inlet temperature resulting in only slightly more
output power

On T5 Topping:
At constant inlet conditions (same T1), the

additional power going into the GP turbine drives
the NGP faster. The effect on the power turbine
is much higher mass flow, higher enthalpy, at the
same inlet temperature resulting in significantly
more output power
Either NGP or T5 Topping:
The overall engine thermal efficiency is lower

(worse), because the energy used to evaporate
the injected water is not recovered in the GP
or PT turbines.

Figure 5.37 shows the effects of water injection on

two-shaft engines. The solid lines show the effects
when on T5 topping, and the dashed lines show the
effects when on NGP topping.
NGP stays constant when on NGP topping, but
INcreases when on T5 topping.
T5 and thus TRIT stays constant when on T5 topping,

but DEcreases when on NGP topping.
Output power INcreases slightly when on NGP

topping, but INcreases significantly when on T5
topping. And heat rate INcreases slightly on either
NGP topping or T5 topping.
Figure 5.37 Effects of Water Injection on Two-Shaft Performance

IS THE ENGINE ON NGP OR T5 TOPPING?

All of these things affect the operation of the engine,
so it is sometimes difficult to know whether it is being
limited by NGP or T5:
• Inlet air temperature changes
• Active guide vane control modulating NGP

• Constant T3 control modulating T5
• Switching from T5 to NGP topping as the

amount of water injection increases
• Different IGV full-open stop for water injection

• Changes in inlet air relative humidity
• Changes in gas fuel composition
So whether the engine is on NGP topping or T5

topping may not be obvious, thus the effects of water
injection and/or accessory power extraction on engine
performance may not be obvious.

9. ACCESSORY GEAR POWER EXTRACTION

Additional accessory gear drive power extraction
(AHP) is required for larger lube oil pumps, seal oil
pumps, and hydraulic power take-off pumps. On
single-shaft engines the effect of AHP is one-to-one,
one unit of power extracted reduces the output power
by one unit of power.
For two-shaft engines AHP always slows the NGP,

because of the increased power required to drive the
pumps. The effect of AHP on engine output power can
be positive or negative, depending upon whether the
engine is on NGP or T5 topping.
Figure 5.38 Accessory Gear Power Extraction
On NGP Topping
The NGP topping control senses that NGP has slowed
below topping, so it increases fuel to get NGP back
up to topping.
The increased fuel increases TRIT and T5. Now the
engine is running at the same NGP, and thus air flow,
but a hotter TRIT, so it produces more output power.
On T5 Topping
The AHP slows NGP,T5 remains on topping, so there

is no change to fuel flow or TRIT. Now the engine is
running at a slower NGP, and thus lower air flow, at
the same TRIT, so it produces less output power.
For conventional engines which are on NGP topping

on cold days and T5 topping on warm days, additional
AHP will increase power on cool days and reduce
power on warm days.

10. COMPRESSOR AIR BLEED

Air is sometimes bled overboard from the compressor
discharge, to be used for air filter cleaning, instrument
air, or for SoLoNOx part-load emissions control. The
effect of bleed air is to reduce the mass flow going to
the GP turbine, thus reducing the power produced by
the GP turbine and ultimately the output power of
the engine. Bleed air is usually intermittent, so not
of much concern.
Figure 5.39 Compressor Air Bleed

NOTES:

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. When inlet air temperature increases, what

happens to thermal efficiency?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. At higher elevations barometric pressure is

lower, so output power is ________ and thermal
efficiency is _________ .
3. What five parameters are affected by barometric

pressure?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. A 1% reduction in engine inlet pressure due to

inlet duct pressure loss causes a __% loss of
thermal efficiency and almost a __% reduction
in output power.
5. The effect of a 1% exhaust pressure increase

is a __% reduction of thermal efficiency and a
__% reduction in power.
6. Optimum power turbine speed is a function of

___________ and _________________.
7. Typical efficiency of parallel shaft speed

increasing gearbox is ___ to ___ %.

8. With higher relative humidity on hot days,

output power increases when on ___ topping, and
decreases when on___ topping.
9. Output power on liquid fuel is lower than on gas

fuel because of what two reasons?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. Additional accessory gear power extraction

decreases engine output power when on ____
topping, and increases output power when on
____ topping.
11. How does air bleed overboard affect engine

output power?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. When inlet air temperature increases, what

happens to thermal efficiency?
It decreases, because mass flow is lower

and thus engine pressure ratio is lower
2. At higher elevations barometric pressure is

lower, so output power is lower and thermal
efficiency is the same.
3. What five parameters are affected by barometric

pressure?
Wa, PCD, SHP, Wf, and Wex
4. A 1% reduction in engine inlet pressure due to

inlet duct pressure loss causes a 1 % loss of
thermal efficiency and almost a 2 % reduction
in output power.
5. The effect of a 1% exhaust pressure increase is

a 1% reduction of thermal efficiency and a 1%
reduction in power.
6. Optimum power turbine speed is a function of

Output Power and Inlet Air Temperature.
7. Typical efficiency of parallel shaft speed

increasing gearbox is 96 to 97%

8. With higher relative humidity on hot days,

output power increases when on T5 topping, and
decreases when on NGP topping.
9. Output power on liquid fuel is lower than on gas

fuel because of what two reasons?
1) The specific heat of the products of

combustion of liquid fuel is lower
2) sometimes the rated TRIT for liquid fuel

is lower than for gas fuel
10. Additional accessory gear power extraction

decreases engine output power when on T5
topping, and increases output power when on
NGP topping.
11. How does air bleed overboard affect engine

output power?
It reduces air mass flow through the GP

and PT turbines



Solar Technical Training LESSON 6: Measuring Gas Turbine Performance
LESSON 6: Measuring Gas Turbine Performance
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Measure and calculate all of the performance
parameters necessary to determine the actual gas
turbine performance:
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe all of the parameters that should be
measured during field testing.
2. Describe the differences between field and

factory test cell testing.
3. Explain and quantify testing uncertainty.

LESSON 6: Measuring Gas Turbine Performance Solar Technical Training
1. DESCRIBE ALL OF THE PARAMETERS THAT SHOULD BE

MEASURED DURING FIELD TESTING
Figure 6.1 Recommended Instrumentation For Gas Turbines
RECOMMENDED INSTRUMENTATION FOR GAS TURBINES

Typical gas turbine packages contain the minimum
amount of instrumentation to operate the engine
safely. The measured parameters usually found in the
control system are gas producer speed (NGP), power
turbine speed (NPT), power turbine inlet temperature
(T5), and pressure of compressor discharge (PCD.)
Some modern package control systems also have inlet
air temperature (T1) for calculating the T5 Offset for
constant TRIT control.
However, additional measured data is required

to completely evaluate the performance and
thus the condition of a gas turbine engine. This
additional data must be obtained with additional
instrumentation. This additional instrumentation
can be either permanently installed on the package
or temporary test instruments. In addition to the
measured data from the control system, the minimum
additional measured parameters for evaluating
engine performance and condition are: barometric

pressure (Pbaro), inlet pressure drop (P0), exhaust

backpressure (P7), shaft output power (SHP), fuel flow
(Wf) and fuel lower heating value (LHV). With this
additional data the measured site performance can
be corrected to sea level and no losses for comparison
to the performance curves in the Operation &
Maintenance Instructions (OMI) or the optional
engine performance display screen in the control
system. This will allow the comparison of output
power and heat rate to guarantee values if desired.
More additional data can also be taken to perform

a more complete performance and condition
evaluation. This data includes inlet guide vane angle
(IGV), accessory power extraction (AHP), exhaust
temperature (T7), compressor discharge temperature
(T2), and air inlet housing throat pressure (P1).

GAS PRODUCER SPEED (NGP) & POWER

TURBINE SPEED (NPT)
Package instrumentation for NGP and NPT must

be and are, very accurate for safe control of the
engine. Frequency signals are obtained on each rotor
from transducers mounted at a spline or gear which
transmit the blade or tooth passing frequency to the
control system. Knowing the exact count of the blades
or teeth where the transducer is mounted, the speed
(RPM) can be very accurately calculated. The package
NGP and NPT display values are verified with a
vibration spectrum analyzer during commissioning, so
they can be assumed to be quite accurate enough for
performance and condition evaluation.
Figure 6.2 NGP and NPT

POWER TURBINE INLET TEMPERATURE (T5)

COMPENSATED AND UN-COMPENSATED
All Solar engines have multiple T5 thermocouples
installed in the engine for safe control. There are
from six to seventeen thermocouples depending on
the engine model. The T5 thermocouple leads are
harnessed for protection from heat and damage and
routed to an electrical junction box (J-box) on the
package skid. From the J-box each individual T5
thermocouple measurement is routed to the control
system, where they are converted to temperature
and can be displayed. All of the individual T5 values
are averaged, and the average T5 is used for control
of the engine.
Figure 6.3 Power Turbine Inlet Temperature (T5)

However, all of the T5 temperature values in the
control system are compensated, either with a resistor
or with software. And, that compensation will be
variable with T1 for packages with constant TRIT
control. The T5 values as measured are designated as
“Raw T5”, and the compensated values are designated
as “Compensated T5”.

The control system compensation value must be

known or calculated to know the difference between
raw T5 and compensated T5. All the performance
curves to which measured T5 is compared to are based
on compensated T5, so for most performance and
condition evaluation compensated T5 is all we need to
know. But for the rare occurrences when we will be
re-establishing Base T5 we will need to know raw T5.
To confirm the T5 values in the control system, the T5

J-box can be opened and each thermocouple measured
directly with a hand-held meter.
PRESSURE OF COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE (PCD)
All package control systems have a PCD measurement.

However, the source of that PCD measurement is
usually located somewhere in the PCD plumbing in
the skid beneath the engine. If that PCD pressure tap
is located away from the engine in a flowing tube,
the pressure reading will be lower than actual PCD
inside the engine. In the photo in Figure 6.4 the PCD
pressure measurement (the silver flex tube) has
been connected to a tee in one of the engine PCD
tubes feeding buffer air to a bearing (red insulated
tube). If that bearing has a high buffer air flow rate,
the pressure in the tube will be lower than the PCD
pressure inside the engine. However, in this photo
the tee connection is close enough to the engine that
even if there is a substantial flow through the buffer
air tube it will not lower the PCD pressure reading
enough to cause any significant errors.

Figure 6.4 Pressure Compressor Discharge (PCD)
All Solar engines have one or more borescope openings

in the combustor housing, where PCD should be
measured. However, being a borescope opening, it
requires a special fitting to connect tubing to a gauge
or pressure transducer.
Figure 6.5 Combustor Borescope Port

Figure 6.6 Borescope Port Pressure Fitting
OUTPUT POWER (SHP)
In the factory test of two-shaft engines, a

dynamometer (dyno) is used to absorb the output
power. The dyno is free to rotate in its trunion
bearings, but is held in a fixed position by a load cell.
Knowing the force on the load cell and the radius
where the load cell is attached, the torque produced
by the power turbine can be calculated. That torque
along with the measured rotational speed are used to
very accurately calculate output power.
Figure 6.7 Dynamometer

Figure 6.8 Gas Compressor Performance, Power Consumed
In the field there is no dynamometer, so the most

common way of calculating output power is by
calculating the power absorbed by the gas compressor
or compressors, and dividing by an assumed gearbox
efficiency if any. This power is calculated with the
simplified compression equations or appropriate
equation of state (EOS), and is accurate enough for
trend plotting. If the permanent instrumentation
is calibrated and maintained regularly, and if the
gas compressor pressure ratio and thus temperature
ratio is not very low, this “measured” output power is
also accurate enough for performance and condition
evaluation of the gas turbine engine. In fact it is
usually all there is for output power data, so it has to
be used as-is. We just need to take the measurement
uncertainty into consideration when doing the
analysis.
Occasionally a package will have a torque meter on

the power turbine output drive shaft. If so, this can
be used to calculate the output power just like with a

dynamometer in the factory test. But torque meters

are expensive and cumbersome to calibrate and
maintain, so they are rare.
INLET AIR TEMPERATURE (T1)
Either a temporary or permanent package T1

instrument should be located in the air inlet ducting,
and should be accurate enough for performance and
condition evaluation. It must be located downstream
of any cooler or heater, if any, and must not be in direct
sunlight. For temporary field testing, a hand-held
thermometer in the shade beneath the air inlet filter
is usually accurate enough.
Figure 6.9 Inlet Air Temperature (T1)

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE
Figure 6.10 Digital Pressure Gage
Figure 6.11 Typical Analog Barometer

Figure 6.12 Digital Barometer
In order to convert from measured gage pressure to

absolute pressure, we need to know the barometric
pressure. It is important to use an accurate barometric
pressure for engine performance analysis.
There are several ways to obtain the barometric

pressure: Average barometric pressure varies with site
elevation, the higher the site elevation the lower the
average barometric pressure. If the site elevation is
known, the average barometric pressure can be looked
up from tables. But this is only the average barometric
pressure, it can vary significantly from the average
depending upon the weather.
If there is an airport nearby at about the same

elevation, it can supply the current barometric
pressure, but what the airports use is corrected to sea
level, it is not the actual barometric pressure. If you
use an airport barometric pressure, you must correct
it from sea level to your site elevation.
Analog barometers are inexpensive and relatively
accurate. So it is best to get a barometer for your
engine performance analysis. Modern digital pressure
gages can also measure absolute barometric pressure,
but are more expensive than conventional analog
barometers.

INLET PRESSURE DROP (P0)

All Solar engines have a 1/2 NPT plug located in the
upper right rear (aft looking forward) quadrant of the
air inlet collector. This opening has a 1/16 de-burred
hole drilled through the wall of the collector, and is
there for the purpose of measuring static pressure
(P0). The static pressure at that location will be
slightly lower than barometric pressure (a vacuum).
The difference between barometric pressure and P0
is the pressure drop of the air inlet system (ducting,
cooler, filter, silencer, etc.)
Figure 6.13 Inlet Pressure Drop (P0)

The P0 pressure can be measured as an absolute
pressure, or as a differential from barometric pressure.
It can be a permanent measurement using a pressure
transducer, or a temporary test measurement using a
slack-tube water manometer. The differential between
P0 and barometric pressure is usually about 4 inches
of water column (4 H2O).

Figure 6.14 P0 Permanent Connection
Figure 6.15 P0 Water Manometer

FUEL FLOW
Fuel consumption is not usually a part of the gas
turbine engine package. It must be installed off-skid
in the customer’s piping. Fuel flow measurement is
not always available, but if it is available the data is
included in the TT4000 control system.
In addition to the fuel flow rate, the Lower Heating
Value (LHV) of the fuel must also be known. The LHV
is usually very constant, so the LHV can be a constant
in the control system. But if the LHV fluctuates, an
on-line chromatograph might be employed. Or, if the
LHV fluctuates slowly, the constant value in the
control system could be changed manually.
EXHAUST BACKPRESSURE (P7)
Accurate measurement of P7 is much more difficult

than P0 because of the very significant turbulence in
the exhaust duct. Depending upon where the static
pressure tap is located, a single P7 reading could vary
significantly. A single P7 pressure measurement is
essentially useless, and could even lead to incorrect
conclusions about the performance and condition of
the engine. If P7 is to be measured, it must be done
in multiple locations and averaged. This photo shows
three of eight P7 pressure measurement locations
in a test cell.
Figure 6.16 Exhaust Backpressure (P7)

Rather than attempt to measure P7 in the field,

it is usually more accurate to calculate or estimate
the pressure drop in the exhaust system using the
geometry of the exhaust system and piping pressure
drop calculations (PipeSize.xls).
Some ingenious techniques have been used in the field
to measure P7. Figure 6.18 shows some tee fittings
which have been bored out to accept T7 thermocouples.
The T7 thermocouples are installed in the exhaust
duct as usual. The leg of the tees are pneumatically
connected to the pressure inside the exhaust duct, so
they serve as P7 pressure taps. High temperature
tubing shown in Figure 6.17 (plastic tubing will melt)
is used to connect each P7 pressure tap to a valve
manifold, which in turn is connected to a single
pressure gage or manometer. The multiple (at least
four) P7 measurements can be recorded individually
and arithmetically averaged (recommended), or all the
manifold valves can be opened and the pressures will
be averaged pneumatically.
Figure 6.17 P7 Manifold

Figure 6.18 T7 Thermocouples
EXHAUST TEMPERATURE (T7)
The exhaust temperature (T7) is almost never

included in the package control instrumentation. And
T7 is not normally used for performance and condition
evaluation, unless we need to estimate or calculate
TRIT for purposes of re-establishing Base T5. When
T7 data is needed, there are four plugged 1 NPT ports
in the exhaust duct transition section, directly after
the engine exhaust collector. These ports are for the
purpose of installing temporary test thermocouples to
measure T7.

Figure 6.19 Exhaust Temperature (T7)

Because of the significant amount to turbulence and

stratification in the exhaust duct, one T7 measurement
is not enough. At least four are necessary to obtain a
reasonable average T7 temperature.
This is a typical 1/4” Type K thermocouple used for
measuring T7. It is at least 12 in length to have an
insertion depth well into the exhaust duct to minimize
convective and radiation losses to the inner wall of
the exhaust duct, thus reading lower than actual T7
gas temperature.
Figure 6.20 T7 Thermocouple

INLET GUIDE VANE ANGLE (IGV)

The IGV angle can be instrumented, and in fact is
instrumented in some factory test cells. But it usually
must be read manually. Some engines, like the Solar
Mars, have an IGV angle scale and pointer right
on the engine. Other engines must have a special
temporary or permanent IGV angle tool installed
to read the IGV angle.
On older packages the IGV angle is not very important,

because at full load it is always at its full-open stop
position. But for newer engines with active guide
vane control, the IGV modulates during full load
operation, and thus becomes a very important piece of
information for evaluating the condition of the engine.
Figure 6.21 Inlet Guide Vane Angle (IGV)

ADDITIONAL ACCESSORY POWER EXTRACTION

“AHP” is Accessory Horse Power, the amount of power
consumed by the accessory pump(s).
“AAHP” is Additional Accessory Horse Power the

amount on the package which is more than in the
engine green run test cell, and thus more than is
included in the performance curves.
On the course CD, in the References directory,

there is a file named Additional Accessory Power
Extraction.xls. It is a tabulation by part number of
the AHP and AAHP required by most of the accessory
gear driven pumps that Solar uses. The greater the
value of AAHP, the more effect it will have on engine
performance. If the AAHP is significantly large, the
predicted performance curves should be replotted
to reflect the amount of additional accessory power
extraction.
COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE TEMPERATURE (T2)
T2 is only used for calculating the compressor

efficiency. Compressor efficiency is a good measure of
compressor condition, however it is not as sensitive
to contamination as output power and pressure of
compressor discharge (PCD), so it is seldom used
in the field.
All Solar engines have 3, 4, or 6 1/2 NPT (“National
Pipe Thread”) ports in the compressor housing at
the compressor diffuser, just before the combustor
housing. These ports are used temporarily in the
factory test to measure T2 for calculating compressor
efficiency and as part of the TRIT calculation. The
temperature can vary circumferentially around the
engine, so the temperature at all of the T2 ports
around the engine is measured and averaged to obtain
the most representative average T2 value. After the
factory test, the T2 thermocouples are removed and
the ports are plugged.
Except for very modern SoLoNOx packages with
Tpz (“Temperature of Primary Zone”) control, T2
instrumentation is almost never installed on the
package. If T2 is to be measured in the field, at least

three of the ports evenly spaced around the engine

should be used. The T2 thermocouples must have
the correct insertion depth to have the tip of the
thermocouple in the middle of the flowing air stream
in the compressor diffuser. Each different engine
model has its own unique T2 insertion depth, which
must be obtained from engine drawings.
If temporarily measuring T2 for a field performance

test, you should have spare 1/2 NPT plugs and a 1/2 NPT
tap for chasing the threads in the ports because the
plugs often gaul and are destroyed during removal.
Figure 6.22 Compressor Discharge Temperature (T2)

MEASURING AIR FLOW IN THE FACTORY

In the factory test cell, inlet air flow is measured using
a facility venturi. This venturi can accurately measure
the air flow within 1%. This measured air flow is used
in the TRIT calculation in the factory test cell. In
addition, the pressure in the throat, P1, of the air inlet
housing (which is nozzle shaped like the venturi) is
measured in the factory test cell and recorded. P1 is
measured in four static pressure taps equally spaced
around the circumference of the air inlet housing.
Figure 6.23 Measuring Air Flow in Factory

MEASURING AIR FLOW IN THE FIELD

The P1 data, along with the venturi measured air flow
and the absolute pressure in the air inlet housing, can
be used to produce a flow capacity vs. pressure drop
calibration curve for that engine’s air inlet housing.
This curve is only produced by special request to Solar
for that serial number engine. With this calibration
curve and its curve-fit equation, by measuring P1 in
the field, a reasonably accurate air flow measurement
can be made.
For normal performance and condition evaluation

in the field, air flow data is of little use. But for
sophisticated field performance tests, which attempt
to reproduced factory test cell capabilities, this air
flow measurement is useful and valuable.
Figure 6.24 Measuring Air Flow in Field

2. DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIELD AND

FACTORY TEST CELL TESTING
FACTORY VS. FIELD TESTING
In the factory, engine output power is measured

directly with a dynamometer. In the field output power
must be measured by making a heat balance around
the driven gas compressor(s), which has a higher
testing uncertainty than factory testing.
Because of significant temperature profiles, TRIT
cannot be directly measured accurately, it can be
calculated more accurately. This calculation requires
a measurement of air flow, which is easily done in
the factory test cell.
It is not usually practical to measure the gas
turbine air flow in the field. Therefore, there is some
additional uncertainty whether the engine is actually
operating at the rated TRIT.
The standard approach for conducting factory tests is
to operate the gas turbine at the same aerodynamic
conditions of speed and TRIT as would occur at the
rated conditions. These same aerodynamic conditions
of speed and TRIT are known as “Corrected”
conditions. This will result in both the compressor
and the turbine being at the correct point on their
efficiency curves. If the unit is not tested at the
corrected conditions, then it is not tested at the same
point on its efficiency curve as the rated point.
In the factory, the speed of a single-shaft generator

set can be adjusted. When interconnected to the grid,
single-shaft gas turbine generator sets must operate
at synchronous speed, so they cannot be tested at the
corrected speed of the rated point.
Factory vs. Field Testing
FACTORY FIELD
- Direct Power Measurement - Indirect, Heat Balance
- Measured Air Flow - Estimated Air Flow
- At Corrected Speed - At Synchronous Speed

3. EXPLAIN AND QUANTIFY TESTING UNCERTAINTY

A significant part of the margin between nominal and
minimum is due to testing uncertainty.
Testing uncertainty includes instrumentation

precision, or random error. This is the accuracy of
the measurement of the performance parameter in
question, such as output power or fuel flow. Repeated
measurements do not always, and are not expected to,
agree exactly. There are always numerous small effects
which cause random scatter of the measured data.
Testing uncertainty also includes precision of the
measured set-point. This is the accuracy of the
measurement of the control parameter, such as TRIT.
Just as there is random error in measurement of
the performance acceptance parameter, there is also
random error in the measurement of the control
parameter. So, there is some uncertainty of being
exactly at the specified operating condition.
Testing uncertainty also includes measured parameter

variation with time. This is the time variation in either
the measured performance parameter or the set-point.
And, testing uncertainty also includes instrument bias

or fixed error from calibration. This is an unknown
error due to calibration accuracy. This effect is noticed
when testing in different locations such as another
test cell or in the field.
Experience shows that total test uncertainty in the

factory may be as high as 2.6%. However, factory
testing is almost always zero negative tolerance
testing in which the minimum factory acceptance
value includes any test uncertainty. In other words,
the manufacturer assumes the responsibility for
the test uncertainty in the performance rating.
So, minimum performance includes not only the
engine-to-engine manufacturing variations but also
the uncertainty of the standard factory test. For
a non-standard factory test such as simulation of
site conditions, the test uncertainty is even higher.
This creates the possibility of having a unit exceed
minimum performance requirements, but appear to
be deficient because of test uncertainty. This requires

that the margin be increased to prevent rejection

of a gas turbine which actually meets minimum
requirements.
MARGINS AND UNCERTAINTIES
The next four figures show typical margins and testing

uncertainties for a gas turbine being tested in the field.
There is factory test cell measurement uncertainty,
abbreviated as TCMU, of about 2.6% This is the
uncertainty due to the factory testing alone.
Figure 6.25 TCMU

And, there is set-point measurement uncertainty,
abbreviated as SPMU, of about 1.7%. This is the
additional uncertainty over and above the factory test
uncertainty, and when statistically combined with the
TCMU, gives a total margin of 3.1%.

Figure 6.26 TCMU + SPMU
When combining multiple margins statistically, the

square root of the sum of each individual margin
squared is used.
And, there is field measurement uncertainty,
abbreviated as FMU, of about 3%. When statistically
combined with the first two, this gives a total margin
of 4.3%.
Figure 6.27 TCMU + SPMU + FMU

• Always consider the testing uncertainty.

• Don’t condemn an engine that appears only
1-2% low.
• You could be wrong! It might actually be

acceptable.
HEAT BALANCE
One method of analyzing the measurement
uncertainty of a gas turbine performance test is to
calculate the Heat Balance. Draw a thermodynamic
envelope around the entire gas turbine, and identify
all energy entering the envelope and all energy exiting
the envelope. Energy in this case can be in the form of
fuel heating value, output power, or mass flow of air
times the enthalpy of air at that temperature.
Figure 6.28 Heat Balance
Figure 6.29 Equation for Heat Balance
Heat balance is the sum of all the energy exiting the

thermodynamic envelope divided by the sum of all the
energy entering the envelope.

Energy out is proportional to:
• HP (output power)
• Wex * T7 (exhaust heat)

• Wb * T2 (bleed air dumped overboard)
• Parasitic losses (air leakage, lube oil cooling,

heat radiation, etc.)
Energy in is proportional to:

• Wf * LHV (fuel energy)
• Wa * T1 (energy in inlet air)
If the performance test data has a heat balance

very near 1.0, (typically 0.97 to 1.01) that indicates
that the data is relatively accurate. In other words,
everything adds up. But if the heat balance is low
or high, that indicates some error or errors in the
measured data. Heat balance is a good way to estimate
the measurement uncertainty of a performance test.
Heat balance is always calculated in factory tests
and thorough field tests that attempt to reproduce
factory test capability.

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. ES ____ Typical Field Test Agenda for Solar

Gas Turbine Engines
2. What are the eight most important parameters

to measure?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. PCD should be measured where?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. Measure raw or compensated T5 to compare to

the curves?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. For mechanical drives, how is output power

measured?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. If measured, exhaust temperature (T7) and

pressure (P7) should be measured in how many
different locations?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

7. What are two ways to measure IGV angle?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What are three advantages of factory testing

over field testing?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. What is “Heat Balance”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. ES 1972 Typical Field Test Agenda for Solar

Gas Turbine Engines
2. What are the eight most important parameters

to measure?
NGP, NPT, T5, PCD, SHP, T1, Pbaro, P0
3. PCD should be measured where?
As close as possible to the engine
4. Measure raw or compensated T5 to compare to

the curves?
compensated
5. For mechanical drives, how is output power

measured?
By a heat balance around the driven

compressor or pump
6. If measured, exhaust temperature (T7) and

pressure (P7) should be measured in how many
different locations?
four

7. What are two ways to measure IGV angle?
1) Visually or
2) PECC actuator feedback
8. What are three advantages of factory testing

over field testing?
1) Direct power measurement
2) Measured air flow
3) At corrected speed
9. What is “Heat Balance”?
Energy OUT / Energy IN



Solar Technical Training LESSON 7: Performance Degradation
LESSON 7: Performance Degradation
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Describe how and why the performance of a gas
turbine engine degrades over time.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Define recoverable performance degradation.
2. Define non-recoverable performance degradation.

3. Explain total performance degradation.
4. Define ingestive cleaning and when it should

be used.

LESSON 7: Performance Degradation Solar Technical Training
1. DEFINE RECOVERABLE PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION

The primary parameters which affect performance are:
• Inlet air temperature
• Barometric pressure
• Inlet pressure loss
• Exhaust backpressure
• Output speed (power turbine speed)
• Gear losses
And there is one more very important one

CONTAMINATION
Figure 7.1 shows how dirty a compressor can get. And
the sooty deposits are heavier on the front stages
than the back stages. The front stages control the
flow rate of air, whereas the rear stages have more
control on the pressure ratio. So contamination of the
front stages has more effect on airflow, which in turn
reduces pressure ratio.
Figure 7.1 Photo of Dirty Compressor

KEEP INLET AIR CLEAN

The quality of the inlet air filtration system is the
most effective way to minimize contamination.
• Use an inlet filtration system suitable for the

environment
• Locate air inlet away from:

— Other turbine exhaust outlets
— Diesel exhausts
— Oil tank vents

• Keep air inlet shielded from ocean spray
• No leaks in inlet filter house and ducting, inspect

semi-annually
The required air quality is described in Solar’s

Specification ES9-98, which is located in the
References directory of the course CD.
AIR COMPRESSOR CONTAMINATION
Clean compressor stators and blades have their

original, efficiency airfoil shape, smooth surfaces, and
full width flow passages allowing full design flow
capacity.
Figure 7.2 Clean Compressor Blade

Contaminated compressor stators and blades have

their airfoil shape deformed so they are less efficient
and provide less lift. The surfaces are rougher so
the frictional pressure drop is higher. And the flow
passages are narrower so the flow capacity of the
compressor is lower, thus moving less mass flow at
the same speed. All of these combine to reduce the air
flow and pressure ratio. The reduced air flow reduces
power, and the reduced pressure ratio reduces PCD,
which in turn decreases thermal efficiency.
Figure 7.3 Contaminated Compressor Blade

Performance degradation from contamination builds

up over engine operating hours. The longer the engine
runs the more the power is reduced and heat rate is
increased due to contamination.
Figure 7.4 Recoverable Performance Degradation

EFFECTS OF COMPRESSOR CONTAMINATION
Single-Shaft Engine
Full Load
• PCD decreases
• Power decreases
• Thermal efficiency decreases

Part Load
• T5 increases
Two-Shaft Engine
On Ngp Topping
• T5 increase (power will not decrease)

On T5 Topping
• NGP decreases
• PCD & power decrease more than single-shaft

Part load (at a given NGP)
• PCD & power decrease

• T5 increases

2. DEFINE NON-RECOVERABLE PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION

Of course you would never allow this to happen to
your engines, but it can happen. Corrosion, erosion,
tip rubs, and other mechanical deformation of blades,
stators, and clearances are obviously detrimental to
the performance of the engine.
Figure 7.5 Turbine Blade After 5000 Hours Service In High Sulfur Environment
HOT CORROSION DAMAGE

These photos show first-stage turbine blades that
have sustained extreme hot corrosion damage after
operating for a few thousand hours with high
quantities of sulfur in the fuel.
Similar damage can occur after a few hours of
operation with water for NOx control which does not
meet manufacturer specifications.
Figure 7.6 First Stage Turbine Blades with Hot Corrosion Damage

TURBINE TIP RUBS

Figure 7.7 shows the first stage turbine tip shoes that
sustained heavy rubs. The tip shoes have an abradable
coating which is softer than the turbine blades, so
light rubs do not damage the blades. But heavy rubs
like these cut through the abradable coating into the
parent metal of the tip shoes and that also wears the
tips of the blades down. The effect of blades worn
shorter and tip shoes worn more open is more turbine
tip clearance, which significantly reduces the pressure
drop across the turbine. Less pressure drop means less
enthalpy drop, which reduces power.
Rubs like these could be caused by excessive vibration

or uneven thermal expansion or contraction between
the turbine case and rotor, caused by rapid starts
or shutdowns.
Figure 7.7 Turbine Tip Rubs
Some Causes of Non-Recoverable Degradation

Corrosion, Bad Fuel, Air, or Water
Mineral Deposits, Bad Air or Water

Foreign Object Damage, Internal or External
Tip Rubs
Combustor Liner Fatigue

Excessive Temperature Profile

Fuel Injector Failure
Overfiring (control malfunction)
Other Causes of Low Performance
Dirty Air Compressor, Is it REALLY Clean?

Additional Accessory Power Extraction,
Tandems, gas cooler fan drives, etc.
Leaking Bleed Valve, Particularly SoLoNOx

Air Inlet Distortion, Close inlet ducting elbow
Very Low Power Turbine Speed, Higher T5/T3

ratio
The lost material from corrosion, erosion, and tip rubs

cannot be replaced until the next overhaul, so the
performance lost is non-recoverable. Non-recoverable
performance degradation builds up relatively rapidly
at first, and not so rapidly after the first few thousand
hours of operation. The reason for this is that tip
clearances can only open up so much and after that
nothing will open them any more.
Figure 7.8 Non-Recoverable Performance Degradation

3. EXPLAIN TOTAL PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION
TYPICAL TREND
Figure 7.9 shows a typical trend of the combination

of recoverable and non-recoverable performance
degradation. In the first few thousand hours, at a
constant T5, PCD and output power drop 1 to 2%.
At that time a crank wash was used to remove
the recoverable contamination, PCD and power
incrementally improved, but not quite back to
the original levels. This pattern of performance
degradation continues in a saw-tooth trend fluctuating
with periodic crank washes throughout the life of
the engine. Thus the total performance degradation
fluctuates throughout the life of the engine, but with
the general trend being toward poorer performance.
At some point the performance will degrade to the
point where it is economical to overhaul the engine to
regain the original performance and thus operating
revenue and fuel efficiency.
Figure 7.9 Typical Trend

WHEN SHOULD YOU OVERHAUL?

5-15% Loss Of Power?
• Depends upon your site economics
• Lower Power = Loss of production, lost revenue

• Increased Fuel Consumption - Increased Expense
When lost revenue and increased expense exceeds

the cost of an overhaul.

4. DEFINE INGESTIVE CLEANING AND WHEN IT SHOULD BE USED

“Ingestive cleaning” is the removal of accumulated
contamination from the internals of a gas turbine
engine by the introduction of a water based cleaning
product in to the engine, normally via the engine’s
combustion air inlet.
Ingestive cleaning only cleans the air compressor, but
that is where most of the contamination is.
REASONS FOR INGESTIVE CLEANING
Restore Engine Performance
Reduced air compressor air flow results in reduced

output power, reduced PCD and decreased fuel
efficiency.
Maintain Engine TBI Life
Fouled engine requires higher firing temperature

for given load.
Maintain Start Reliability

Compromised compressor increases possibility of
hung start. Reduced air compressor efficiency raises
turbine’s self-sustaining speed so more starting power
is needed.
COMPRESSOR CLEANING REFERENCES
Operation and Maintenance Manual
Specific instructions for compressor cleaning can be

found in the Operation and Maintenance Manual.
ES 9-62 Ingestive Cleaning Solar Turbine Engines
The controlling document to define cleaning

requirements, located in the References directory
of the course CD.

ES 9-62 Addendum 1
Adds approved, commercially available cleaning
products
Service Bulletin 8.0/112D

Summarizes ES 9-62, located in the References
directory of the course CD.
Service Bulletin 8.12/104
Revises recommendations for buffering during crank

wash, located in the References directory of the course
CD.
INGESTIVE CLEANING TECHNIQUES
On-Crank Cleaning
Engine operation at maximum speed obtainable on
starter alone with fuel and ignition deactivated.
On-Line Cleaning
Engine fired and operating at any power level ranging

from idle (no load) to full rated power and load.
Abrasive cleaning must not be used on any Solar
gas turbine engines. Abrasive cleaners, such as
Carboblast, walnut shells, pecan shells or rice, are not
recommended for use in Solar’s gas turbines. Use of
abrasive cleaners can cause plugging of cooling air
passages in nozzles and blades, resulting in loss of
cooling air and thermal degradation of the component.
Abrasive cleaners may also have a detrimental effect
on compressor coating.
CLEANING FREQUENCY
Frequency and type of cleaning is based on site
experience and economics. Appropriate intervals
for both on-crank and on-line cleaning should
be determined by recording and trending engine
performance degradation. Cost of the maintenance
outage versus that of continued operation with
compromised performance must also be considered.

Every site is different, even adjacent engines can

be different.
Cleaning should be frequent enough to prevent
excessive contamination buildup. One should not
delay cleaning so long that contamination becomes
impossible to remove completely by on-crank cleaning.
WHEN TO ON-CRANK CLEAN

Single-Shaft and Two-Shaft Engines on T5 Topping:
• 2.5% loss of PCD
• 5% loss of power (power measurement may be

difficult on two-shaft engines, so PCD may be the
only measure.)
Two-shaft engines on NGP Topping:

• 2.5% increase of T5 (power will not decrease.)
Compressor efficiency is not a strong indicator of

compressor contamination. The contamination affects
the mass flow rate, and thus PCD and power, more
than compressor efficiency.
ON-LINE CLEANING
On-line cleaning extends intervals between on-crank
cleaning.
• It must be applied systematically beginning

with a clean engine.
• It cannot be used as only cleaning method.

• It is not as effective as on-crank cleaning.
• Great care must be taken in salt-laden

atmosphere.
On-line cleaning is effective only over first few stages

of the compressor because the water evaporates
toward the middle of the compressor when the
temperature exceeds the boiling point. But these
stages collect the most contamination so on-line
cleaning is still useful.

Figure 7.10 On-Line Cleaning vs. On-Crank Cleaning
On-line cleaning prevents contamination from

building up as fast, so it extends the time between
on-crank cleanings, thus reducing downtime.
On-Line Cleaning Considerations
Take care to initially evaluate effectiveness of on-line

cleaning program:
• Determine baseline trend.

• Evaluate fouling and select on-line product.
• Perform crank wash.

• Begin on-line program with two day interval.
• Review performance trend.
• Confirm crank wash restores performance to

as-new.
• Reduce on-line cleaning frequency if possible.
On-line cleaning intervals should be determined by

observing the effectiveness in restoring performance.
On-line cleaning is best suited to remove the initial
buildup of contamination from already clean airfoils.
If the airfoils become significantly fouled between
on-line cleaning intervals, cleaning will be less
effective. Initial on-line cleaning interval should be
at most 48 hours of operation. Performance should
then be evaluated to determine the effect of each
cleaning operation, and overall rate of performance

degradation. After completing an on-crank cleaning,

the on-line cleaning interval can be increased to 72
hours of operation. If no significant difference in
on-line cleaning effectiveness is observed, the interval
may be increased again by 24 hours. Typically, the
maximum interval for an effective on-line cleaning
program is no more than 96 hours of operation.
Avoid Sporadic On-Line Cleaning
• Especially in salt-laden atmosphere.
• Concentrated salt deposits can accumulate in the

air compressor.
• On-line cleaning will then send slug of salt to
the turbine.
• The slug acts as catalyst for other contaminants
provoking corrosive reaction.
• Frequent, even daily, on-line water washing may

be necessary to prevent build-up of salt deposits
in the air compressor.
Ingestive Cleaning Summary

• Removes contamination from air compressor.
• Restores performance, maintains TBI and start

reliability.
• Should be based on site experience, use 5%

power rule of thumb for determining need to
clean engine.
• Techniques available are on-crank or on-line
cleaning.
• On-line extends the interval between on-crank
cleanings.
• On-line cleaning in environments that contain

salt needs special care.
• On-line cleaning must be systematic, not

sporadic.

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “Recoverable” performance degradation?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What are three effects of compressor

contamination on a single-shaft or two-shaft
engine on T5 topping?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is an additional effect of compressor

contamination on a two-shaft engine on T5
topping?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What are two effects of compressor

contamination on a two-shaft engine on NGP
topping?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is “Non-Recoverable” performance

degradation?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

6. What is “Total” performance degradation?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
7. What are three reasons to do ingestive cleaning?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What are two ways to do ingestive cleaning?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. On T5 topping, when should single-shaft and

two-shaft engines be crank washed?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. On NGP topping, when should two-shaft engines

be crank washed?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
11. What is the purpose of On-Line ingestive

cleaning?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “Recoverable” performance degradation?
Contamination that can be removed by

ingestive cleaning
2. What are three effects of compressor

contamination on a single-shaft or two-shaft
engine on T5 topping?
PCD decreases, Power decreases, Heat Rate

increases
3. What is an additional effect of compressor

contamination on a two-shaft engine on T5
topping?
NGP decreases, further reducing output

power
4. What are two effects of compressor

contamination on a two-shaft engine on NGP
topping?
T5 increases (power will not decrease)
Heat Rate increases
5. What is “Non-Recoverable” performance

degradation?
Physical damage such as corrosion, erosion

or tip rubs

6. What is “Total” performance degradation?
The sum of recoverable and

non-recoverable degradation
7. What are three reasons to do ingestive cleaning?
Restore performance, Maintain TBI life,

Maintain start reliability
8. What are two ways to do ingestive cleaning?
On-Crank cleaning (crank wash) and

On-Line cleaning
9. On T5 topping, when should single-shaft and

two-shaft engines be crank washed?
2.5% loss of PCD and/or 5% loss of Power
10. On NGP topping, when should two-shaft engines

be crank washed?
2.5% Increase of T5 (Power will not

decrease)
11. What is the purpose of On-Line ingestive

cleaning?
On-Line Cleaning Extends Intervals

between On-Crank Cleaning



Solar Technical Training LESSON 8: Performance & Condition Evaluation
LESSON 8: Performance & Condition Evaluation
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Compare actual performance to predicted performance
of a new-and-clean engine to evaluate engine
condition.
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Diagnose engine problems by analyzing key
performance parameters (PCD, T2, T7, NGP,
IGV, T5 Profile).
2. Demonstrate how to use manual trend plotting

to evaluate the condition of the engine.
3. Use the PC program trend plots of engine

performance to evaluate engine condition.

LESSON 8: Performance & Condition Evaluation Solar Technical Training
1. DIAGNOSE ENGINE PROBLEMS BY ANALYZING KEY

PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS (PCD, T2, T7, NGP, IGV, T5 Profile)
THINGS THAT CAN GO WRONG
Dirty Air Compressor
Dirty Air Compressor, is it really clean? Just washing

the compressor does not mean it is clean enough.
Inspect the compressor to be sure it is really clean. To
get the compressor clean enough, the flow of crank
wash product must be high enough to slow down the
starter motor.
Accessory Gear Power Extraction, Tandems

& Gas Cooler Fan Drives
On hot days gas producer power extraction can slow
the NGP down as much as 2 1/2 % depending upon how
much accessory gearbox power is being extracted.
Special performance curves with the effects of the
additional gas producer power extraction can be
obtained from Solar via special request.
Leaking Bleed Valve, SoLoNOx and Others
Check the bleed valve for leakage. If it is leaking the

bleed valve ducting will be hotter (approximately T2)
than when it is not leaking. A leaking bleed valve, not
uncommon on SoLoNOx engines, reduces GP turbine
air flow and thus power.
High T5 Spread, Inaccurate T5 Measurement

A high difference between the hottest and coolest T5
thermocouples (“spread”) can cause the T5 average
calculation to be incorrect, so when the engine is on T5
topping it might not really be operating at Base T5.
Low Power Turbine Speed, Higher T5/T3 Ratio
Significantly low NPT can affect the T5/T3 ratio, so

when on T5 topping the engine will not be at rated
TRIT, so power will be lower than predicted at that
power turbine speed.

OUTPUT POWER
Output power, if known, is a good measure of the

overall condition of the engine. By comparing the
measured power to the power predicted by the curves
for a new-and-clean engine, you can determine the
relative overall condition of the engine. If the power is
about as predicted, that is a good indication that the
engine is in good condition. If the power is more than a
few percent lower than predicted, that is an indication
that the engine condition has deteriorated. And the
greater the percentage measured power is lower than
predicted power, the greater the deterioration.
Output power could be low due to recoverable and/or

non-recoverable degradation of the compressor, or due
to degradation of the gas producer turbine or power
turbine. It is not possible to determine where the
degradation is from power alone, other parameters
such as PCD and T5 can perhaps give an indication of
where within the engine the degradation is.

Figure 8.1 Output Power
There are a few different ways to compare output

power:
If the engine is on NGP or T5 topping, going to the

full load topping line on the performance curve
at the prevailing T1 tells what the sea level, no
loss power should be for a new-and-clean engine.
For a single-shaft engine this is good enough. For
a two-shaft engine the curves assume what the
NGP is for a new-and-clean engine, but the NGP of

a deteriorated engine could be different, probably

slower. So using the predicted output power from
the full load line will predict too much power for the
actual NGP of the deteriorated engine.
For two-shaft engines, a better way to obtain predicted
output power is to enter the curves at the prevailing
T1 and the actual NGP of the operating point, whether
the engine is on topping or not (full load or part load.)
This will tell what the output power should be for a
new-and-clean engine at that NGP. Remember this
output power value, it will be used later to look up
predicted fuel consumption, PCD, T5, etc.
If the predicted output power and the operating point

are plotted versus gas producer speed (NGP) at the
prevailing T1, a more useful plot is obtained. Also
plotted is what the NGP is predicted to be at full
load topping.
Figure 8.2 Gas Producer Speed

This example plot tells two things:
If the engine is on either NGP or T5 topping and the

operating point is not at the full load NGP dashed
vertical line, then the engine is running slow. Running
slow is an indication of a weak or deteriorated engine.
Running slow or not, if the operating point is below the
predicted power for a new-and-clean engine, that is
another indication of engine performance degradation.
The slower the NGP and the farther below the
predicted power the operating point is, the greater the
deterioration of the condition of the engine.
Figure 8.3 Gas Producer Speed Data Point Plot

FUEL CONSUMPTION
Knowing the sea level, no loss output power for the
actual NGP and T1 of the operating point, the curves
can be used to find the predicted fuel consumption of a
Comparing the actual fuel consumption (if known,
often it is not measured) to the predicted fuel
consumption gives another indication of engine
condition. This comparison must be made at
comparable conditions, either at sea level and no
losses, or at site conditions. If the comparison is
made at sea level and no losses the measured fuel
consumption at site conditions must be corrected to
sea level and no losses. If the comparison is made at
site conditions the predicted fuel consumption from
the curve must be corrected to site conditions.
Because this fuel consumption comparison is being

made at a given output power, it is actually a heat rate
or thermal efficiency comparison.
Figure 8.4 Fuel Consumption

Plotting the predicted fuel consumption and the

measured fuel consumption versus NGP at the
prevailing T1 makes the comparison graphically, and
is easier to see. In this example the fuel consumption
at the operating NGP is higher than predicted. This
indicates that the engine is not as efficient as a
Degradation of gas turbine engines sometimes causes

a loss of output power but not a loss of efficiency. In
those cases this format plot would show the operating
power below the prediction, but the operating fuel
consumption at the prediction.
Figure 8.5 Fuel Consumption Data Point Plot

COMPRESSOR EFFICIENCY
Compressor efficiency is proportional to the pressure
ratio (PCD/P1) and the temperature rise across the
compressor (T2 - T1). For a constant compressor
efficiency, if the pressure ratio increases the
temperature rise must also increase.
Figure 8.6 Equation for Compressor Efficiency

For a given pressure ratio (PCD/P1) and T1, higher
temperature rise (higher T2) means lower compressor
efficiency.
Conversely, lower temperature rise (lower T2) means
higher compressor efficiency. If T2 compared to
predicted T2 at the same operating conditions is
increasing, that means compressor efficiency is
decreasing, thus the condition of the compressor is
deteriorating.
However,T2 is seldom measured in the field, only
during sophisticated performance tests.
But PCD is measured and known and can be
compared to the predicted PCD from the curves for a
new-and-clean engine. However, the curves assume
what the NGP would be for a new engine, and a
damaged or dirty compressor could have a different
NGP, and thus a different PCD.

Another way to evaluate compressor condition would

be to plot PCD vs. corrected NGP and compare to
predicted PCD from the curves. This will take into
account any changes in actual NGP and/or T1. An
even easier way would be to plot PCD vs. actual NGP
for the prevailing T1, and compare actual to predicted.
A trend of decreasing PCD at a given NGP is a strong

indicator of deteriorating compressor condition.
Figure 8.7 PCD Data Point Plot

Decreasing PCD has the effect of lowering the
pressure drop, and thus the temperature drop and
enthalpy drop, across the GP turbine. This reduces
the power produced by the GP turbine. The slope of
the compression path is steeper than the GP turbine
path, so the power consumed by the compressor does
not decrease as much as the power produced by the
GP turbine, so the gas producer must slow down. This
slower NGP further reduces air flow and thus the total
output power of the engine.

The NGP is slower, but the T5 is constant (on T5

topping). So the engine also runs hotter than it should
for that NGP. So, a dirty compressor not only causes a
PCD lower than a new-and-clean engine, but it also
makes NGP slightly slower and T5 slightly higher.
If a dirty compressor is the only problem, a thorough
crank wash will restore PCD, NGP, and T5 to their
original conditions.
Figure 8.8 Brayton Cycle

TURBINE EFFICIENCY
Overall turbine efficiency is proportional to the
pressure ratio (P7/PCD) and the temperature drop
across the turbine (T3 - T7).
For a constant turbine efficiency, if the pressure ratio
decreases the temperature drop must also decrease.
For a given pressure ratio and T3, higher temperature
drop (lower T7) means higher turbine efficiency.
Conversely, lower temperature drop (higher T7) means
lower turbine efficiency.
If T7 compared to predicted T7 for a new-and-clean

engine at the same operating conditions is increasing,
that means turbine efficiency is decreasing, thus the
condition of the turbine is deteriorating.
Figure 8.9 Equation for Turbine Efficiency

This plot shows typical temperatures at the three

main stations in the turbine section of the engine. T5
and T7 are measured. T3 (TRIT) is calculated in the
factory test cell, and may be estimated or calculated in
the field if enough measured data is available.
Figure 8.10 Turbine Temperature Plot

LOSS OF GP TURBINE EFFICIENCY

This is what would happen to the turbine
temperatures if something damaged the gas producer
(GP) turbine. In this example assume that F.O.D.
or tip rubs have increased the tip clearance of the
gas producer turbine. With increased tip clearance
the area of the turbine is larger. So at the same air
flow (same NGP) the pressure drop, and thus the
temperature drop, across the gas producer turbine
will decrease.
Figure 8.11 Loss of GP Efficiency Plot

The average T5 is measured and known. And
the engine is controlled to T5 topping. So for the
temperature drop to decrease, T3 (TRIT) must
decrease. T3 is usually only known in the factory
test. In the field T3 is usually not known, but can
be estimated or calculated if enough measured data
is available.
When controlled on T5 topping, increased GP turbine

tip clearance (or any other physical damage) will
reduce the GP turbine pressure drop and temperature
drop, thus reducing TRIT and GP turbine power. This
results in a decrease of NGP which decreases power
even more. This is why a two-shaft engine is more
sensitive to GP turbine damage than a single-shaft

engine. A single-shaft engine does not slow down

when GP turbine efficiency decreases, a two-shaft
engine does.
When GP turbine efficiency decreases, the
temperature drop decreases. At a constant T5 (on T5
topping) TRIT will be cooler, so power decreases. In
other words, the engine will produce less output power
at the same T5. So the lines of constant T5 will move
downward on the curve.
Here is a plot of the T5 and NGP topping limits for
a new-and-clean engine. This engine is matched at
about 59 degrees. When T1 is cooler than the match
T1, the engine is on NGP topping and T5 decreases
more and more as T1 decreases. When T1 is warmer
than the match T1, the engine is on T5 topping and
NGP decreases more and more as T1 increases.
Figure 8.12 Full Load New Engine

This plot shows the lines of constant T5 having moved
downward on the curve. Now, instead of being on NGP
topping when T1 is cooler than the match T1, it is on
T5 topping. This is known as “early topping”.
On hot days the output power decreases significantly,
because of decreased GP turbine efficiency and also a
decrease of NGP and thus air flow.

But on cold days the output power does not decrease

as much, or not even at all. But for the same output
power the T5 is hotter, so the engine burns more fuel,
and thus the heat rate is higher (thermal efficiency
is lower.)
Figure 8.13 Full Load Weak Engine
Another way of evaluating GP turbine condition would

be plotting T5 versus corrected NGP and comparing
to predicted. Or even easier, plot T5 versus actual
NGP for the prevailing T1.
When T5 is hotter than predicted at a given NGP,

that is an indication of a damaged GP turbine. This
condition is sometimes referred to as “running hot
and slow”.
In this example the operating point (the cursor) is

above the predicted T5 for the NGP on a 59 deg F T1
day. And, the NGP is below full-load gas producer
speed. This is running hot and slow.

Figure 8.14 T5 Data Point Plot
When a two-shaft engine is on T5 topping, as the

engine condition deteriorates the GP power will
decrease so the NGP will decrease. A trend of
decreasing NGP when on T5 topping is a strong
indicator of deteriorating engine condition.
A trend of decreasing NGP when on T5 topping, or

a trend of increasing T5 when on NGP topping, are
strong indicators of deteriorating engine condition.

LOSS OF POWER TURBINE EFFICIENCY
This is what would happen to the turbine

temperatures if something damaged the power turbine
(PT). In this example assume that F.O.D. or tip rubs
have increased the tip clearance of the power turbine.
With increased tip clearance the area of the turbine
is larger. So at the same air flow (same NGP) the
pressure drop, and thus the temperature drop, across
the power turbine will decrease.
The average T5 is measured and known. If T7 is
measured (usually it is not) it can be compared to the
predicted T7 for a new-and-clean engine from the
curves. If the T7 at a given T5 is hotter than the curves
predict, that is an indication of loss of power turbine
efficiency. However, not only is T7 not often measured,
loss of power turbine efficiency is not very common.
The power turbine runs much cooler than the GP
turbine so it is more robust and less prone to damage.
Figure 8.15 Loss of PT Efficiency Temperature Plot

IGV ANGLE
When the IGV is moved more CLOSED:
• Air flow (WA) DEcreases
• Gas producer speed (NGP) INcreases if T5 is

held constant
• Turbine rotor inlet temperature (TRIT) and T5
DEcrease if NGP is held constant
When the IGV is moved more OPEN:
• Air flow (WA) INcreases

• Gas producer speed (NGP) DEcreases if T5 is
held constant
• Turbine rotor inlet temperature (TRIT) and T5

INcrease if NGP is held constant
Figure 8.16 IGV Angle

In the factory test cell, the IGV is adjusted to raise or
lower NGP so that rated NGP occurs at rated TRIT
and rated T1. That IGV angle is known as the full open
IGV angle. It is stamped on the engine nameplate, and
physical and electrical stops are set so that the IGV
cannot be opened more than the full open IGV angle.
Normally, during high load operation (> ~95% load),

the IGV is at the full open stop.
When the engine is on NGP topping on cold days, the
IGV needs to be more open to keep TRIT up to rated
TRIT. But the IGV cannot be opened more than the
full open stop, so TRIT decreases.

When the engine is on T5 topping on hot days, the

IGV needs to be more closed to keep NGP up to rated
NGP. But because the IGV remains at the full open
stop, NGP decreases.
But on packages with active guide vane control, on
hot days the IGV angle is modulated more closed to
maintain maximum NGP. And as engine condition
deteriorates, the active guide vane control will
continue to modulate the IGV more closed to keep
NGP at its maximum. Therefore, NGP cannot be used
to evaluate engine condition on two-shaft engines
with active guide vane control. Instead, the IGV must
be monitored.
Figure 8.17 Effect of IGV Angle

On cold days, opening the IGV will increase air flow
and TRIT at the same NGP, so power increases.
On hot days, closing the IGV will increase NGP and
air flow at the same T5 (TRIT), so power increases.
The guide vane angle tells the condition of the engine.
A weak engine needs a more closed guide vane angle

to reduce air flow to match Rated TRIT and Rated
NGP. This could be caused by a weak compressor, or a
weak GP turbine, or both.
So, the trend of IGV angle is an indicator of overall

engine condition.
A trend of decreasing IGV angle at a given NGP or T5
is an indicator of deteriorating engine condition.

T5 PROFILE
The circumferential profile of the individual T5

readings can be plotted in Excel as a radar chart, like
the one seen here. If this is done when the engine
is new and clean you will have a baseline profile to
compare to later. This baseline profile should be
taken when the engine is at or near T5 topping for
consistent comparisons later. The T5 circumferential
profile of any gas turbine engine is not perfectly
round. It will have a unique shape depending upon
the number of fuel injectors and the number of T5
thermocouples. If the number of T5 thermocouples is
not an even multiple of the number of fuel injectors,
some of the T5 thermocouples will be directly down
stream of a fuel injector (hotter), and some will be
between fuel injectors (cooler). Also, the condition
of each individual fuel injector will determine the
temperature downstream, some fuel injectors will be
hotter or cooler than others.
Figure 8.18 Good T5 Profile

In the example below, the baseline is dark and the

current T5 profile is light. Notice that the current
T5 profile is much hotter than the baseline at
thermocouples 6 and 7 near fuel injectors 4 and 5.
This indicates that something has changed inside the
engine to make that section much hotter. It could be
something wrong with fuel injectors 4 and 5, it could
be some change to the combustor liner, or it could be a
change to the GP turbine cooling in that area.
Figure 8.19 Skewed T5 Profile
Swapping fuel injectors 4 and 5 with fuel injectors

11 and 12 would be an experiment to see if the fuel
injectors are the cause. If that does not restore the T5
profile back to the baseline, then something more
serious must be wrong. If this hot spot is allowed to
persist, it will have further detrimental effects to
the combustor liner and GP turbine nozzles, causing
additional damage and premature failure.
T5 PROFILE Universal.xls
T5 Profile Universal.xls is located on the course CD in

the Toolbox directory. It is a handy Excel spreadsheet
for plotting the T5 circumferential profile of most
Solar gas turbine engines. The T5 profile plots shown
above were generated with T5 Profile Universal.xls.

TRIT ESTIMATOR
TRIT usually cannot be calculated in the field because

there is usually no air flow measurement. But TRIT
can be estimated within about +/- 10 degrees F with a
Solar tool called TRIT Estimator. TRIT Estimator is
only available to Solar service representatives, it is
not available to Solar customers.
TRIT is calculated in the factory test cells. Data

from the factory test cells for many engines of the
same model and rating can be plotted as overall
turbine temperature ratio (TRt, T3/T7) versus overall
turbine pressure ratio (PRt, PCD/P7). A smooth curve
through this data is curve fitted to yield an equation
for turbine temperature ratio as a function of turbine
pressure ratio.
Figure 8.20 Plot of Turbine Temperature Ratio vs. Pressure Ratio

In the field, if additional measurements of barometric
pressure and P7 are made, using PCD from the control
panel the turbine pressure ratio can be calculated.
Then, with the additional measurement of T7 (at
least 3 are required for a reasonable average) the
TRIT can be estimated.

Figure 8.21 TRIT Estimator Input Page
The TRIT Estimator tool has one screen where the

engine rating, package control system, and the
engineering units are defined.
Figure 8.22 TRIT Estimator Output Page

On the second screen the measured operating

conditions of barometric pressure, PCD, Raw T5,
%NGP, %NPT, P7, and T7 are entered.
TRIT Estimator estimates TRIT, compares it to the
standard or rated TRIT for that engine rating, and
calculates a Base T5.
This tool can be used in the field by Solar

representatives to establish a new Base T5 for engines
that have had fuel injectors replaced, field repair or
field overhaul, or just severe GP turbine deterioration.
GTPERF
GTPERF is the name of the computer program used in
the factory test cells to reduce the engine performance
data. It requires inputs of inlet air mass flow, fuel flow,
T2 and T7, so it cannot usually be used in the field.
However, for sophisticated field performance tests
which either measure or estimate these input values,
GTPERF is a useful tool. GTPERF is only available to
Solar engineers who have been trained to use it.
Figure 8.23 GTPERF Screen

With the minimum required input values, GTPERF

calculates all of the output values needed to do a
complete performance and condition evaluation,
including:
• TRIT
• Heat Balance
• Heat Rate
• Compressor Efficiency
• Turbine Efficiency
• Base T5

CONDITION EVALUATION SUMMARY
2-SHAFT MECHANICAL DRIVE OR GENERATOR SET
Full Load or Part Load:

1. Look up predicted parameters at T1 and NGP
2. Compare actual to predicted:
LOW OK HIGH
PCD Weak Compressor +/- 2.5%
Weak Engine (even if
T5 +/- 15 F
power is OK)
Power (if available) Weak Engine +/- 5%
Efficiency (if available) Weak Engine +/- 5%
T7 (if available) +/- 15 F Weak Engine
T2 (if available) +/- 15 F Weak Compressor
IGV (active IGV control) Weak Engine 2 degrees
Measured output power for a compressor set or

mechanical drive is not always available. But NGP
data is always available. So, to be consistent you
should always use T1 and NGP to look up predicted
power, fuel consumption, PCD, T2, T5, and T7 for
comparison to actual measured values.

SINGLE-SHAFT GENERATOR SETS
Full Load or Part Load:

1. Look up predicted parameters at T1 and
Corrected Power (measured output power
corrected to sea level and no losses).
2. Compare actual to predicted:
LOW OK HIGH
PCD Weak Compressor +/- 2.5%
T5 +/- 15 F Weak Engine
Efficiency (if available) Weak Engine +/- 5%
T7 (if available) +/- 15 F Weak Engine
T2 (if available) +/- 15 F Weak Compressor
Accurate measured output power is always available

for generator sets, both single-shaft and two-shaft.
Using T1 and Corrected Power to look up predicted
values of NGP, fuel consumption, PCD, T2, T5, and
T7 is a direct lookup from the curves and thus is
preferred over NGP.
NGP is not a variable for single-shaft engines, so

it cannot be used for look up of predicted values.
For two-shaft generator sets either corrected power
or NGP could be used for look ups. NGP is used for
two-shaft mechanical drives because output power
measurement is not always available. But output
power measurement is always available for generator
sets, so it should be used instead of NGP.

ENGPERF PC PROGRAM
You can order from Solar Technical Training, for a
very modest cost, a PC program which does the curve
lookups, correction calculations, and trend plotting for
you. This PC program is named Engperf.
Included on the course CD, in the Toolbox/Engperf6
directory, is Engperf6_DEMO.xls. This is the Engperf
program with only two engine ratings included, one
two-shaft mechanical drive, and one single shaft
generator set.
Figure 8.25 shows what the main input/output screen
looks like. By clicking the macro buttons on the right
side you can setup Engperf to your needs.

Figure 8.24 Engperf Order Form

Figure 8.25 Engperf Main Screen

For example, you can choose the engineering units
you want to use for inputs and outputs. If you save
Engperf, your chosen engineering units will be the
default units until you change them again.
Figure 8.26 Engperf Engineering Units Selection

You select the rating of your engine, then enter the site
conditions. Engperf calculates the predicted (SHOULD
BE for a new-and-clean engine) performance at site
conditions.
You can choose between Minimum and Nominal
performance.
Figure 8.27 Engperf Site Conditions
Engperf plots the full-load performance at site

conditions, not just at sea level, no-losses.
Figure 8.28 Engperf Full-Load Plot
Engperf also has part-load plots.

Figure 8.29 Engperf Part-Load Plot
You enter the actual performance of your engine,

as measured at site conditions. This data is either
entered manually or linked to other Excel workbooks.
Then Engperf compares actual performance to
predicted performance at site conditions. Engperf
expresses the comparisons as a percentage.
Figure 8.30 Engperf Actual Values
Engperf plots the operating point in this format.

For two-shaft engines it displays the predicted
performance for four parameters (T5, Power, PCD,
and Fuel Consumption) as a function of actual NGP at
the prevailing T1.

Figure 8.31 Engperf TT4000 Data Point Plot
For generator sets it plots T5, PCD, and Fuel versus

Output Power at the prevailing T1.
Also plotted are the actual measured values of
each parameter, and the full-load NGP or Power.
This makes it easier to see at-a-glance how the
actual measured performance compares to predicted
performance.
Example Problem #1
Mars 13002, 59 Match
T1 = 80 deg F Elevation = 1500 feet
DP inlet = 4 inches H2O DP exhaust = 4 inches H2O
NGP = 102% NPT = 79%
Gear Ratio = 1.500 Gas Comp Power = 8525 hp
Fuel Flow = 82 mmBTU/hr PCD = 165 Psig
T5 = 1275 deg F (on topping)
Is this engine OK?

Figure 8.32 Gas Producer Speed
For a two-shaft engine, the values of the predicted

output power parameter (power at sea level and no
losses) should be looked up from the curve sheet 4 at
T1 and NGP.
In this example the sea level, no loss output power is

10500 hp at T1 = 80 F and NGP = 102%.
Note that the Mars maximum continuous NGP is
103.6%, so in this example it is running slower than
maximum even though it is on T5 topping. The curves
are always based on nominal performance, so this
10500 hp is nominal, not minimum.
Figure 8.33 Equation for HPsite

These are some of the correction equations from
Lesson 6. We will use these to calculate the output
power at site conditions (HPsite) from the 10500 hp
output power at sea level, no losses.

Figure 8.34 Equations for Correction Factors from Lesson 6
Figure 8.35 Elevation Correction Factor

Since there is no barometric pressure specified, we
must approximate the barometric pressure from
the standard elevation correction factor curve for
all engines. In this example delta (δ) at 1500 feet
elevation is 0.95.
To calculate the inlet and exhaust losses in units
of power, first calculate the barometric pressure in
inches H2O.
Pbarom = .95 * 407 = 387 inches H2O (barometric

pressure at sea level is 29.92 inches Hg, or 407 inches
H2O).
The inlet pressure loss expressed as a percentage is

simply the inlet loss over barometric pressure in the
same units.

%InLoss = 100 * 4 / 387 = 1.03% and the inlet loss in

units of power is 2 times the inlet percentage loss
times the sea level, no loss power.
Lin = 10500 * 2 * 1.03 / 100 = 216 HP
The exhaust pressure loss expressed as a percentage

is simply the inlet loss over barometric pressure in the
same units.
%ExhLoss = 100 * 4 / 387 = 1.03% and the exhaust loss

in units of power is 1 times the exhaust percentage
loss times the sea level, no loss power.
Lex = 10500 * 1 * 1.03 / 100 = 108 HP
Figure 8.36 Optimum Power Turbine Speed Look Up
To calculate the off-optimum NPT loss, first look up

the optimum NPT (NPTopt) from the curve Sheet 4
at the intersection of T1 = 80 F and Output Power
Parameter = 10500. In this example NPTopt is 88%.
Inserting the values for actual NPT and NPTopt into

the off-optimum NPT equation, HP/Hpopt = 0.99.
HP/HPopt = 1 - ( 79 / 88 - 1 )2 = 0.99

The 1.5 speed increasing gearbox is usually a parallel

shaft box. The efficiency of parallel shaft gearboxes
is usually between 96 and 97%, so assume the gear
efficiency is 0.96.
Inserting all the correction values into the equation
for predicted site output power (HPsite), HPsite =
9172 hp.
HPsite = .96 * ( .99 * ( .95 * 10500 - 216 - 108)
And the ratio of actual site power over predicted site

output power, HP/HP = .93.
HP/HP = 8525 / 9172 = .93

This means actual power is 7% lower than predicted
for a new-and-clean engine.
Is this OK?
If the engine left the factory at minimum (3% lower

than nominal), and there is a 4% output power testing
uncertainty, then this engine could be in like-new
condition. But it is not likely that both of these would
occur on the same engine, so it is probable that this
engine has lost some power.
Figure 8.37 Fuel Consumption

Just as NPTopt was looked up from the curves,

sea level, no loss fuel consumption is found on
Sheet 1 at the intersection of T1 = 80 F and 10500
output parameter. In this example Wfsealevel is 88
mmBTU/hr.
Figure 8.38 Fuel Consumption at Site Conditions
Inserting the correction factors into the equation for

fuel consumption at site conditions (WFsite), WFsite =
82.7 mmBTU/hr.
WFsite = ( .95 - 1.03 / 100 ) * 88 = 82.7 mmBTU.hr

And the ratio of actual fuel consumption over
predicted fuel consumption (WF/WF) is 0.99.
WF/WF = 82.0 / 82.7 = .99
This means the engine is consuming slightly less fuel

than a new-and-clean engine is predicted to consume
at T1 = 80 F and NGP = 102%.
Is this OK?
NO. Even though the fuel consumption is slightly
lower (better) than predicted, the output power is
significantly lower (7% worse) than predicted, so the
heat rate is about 6% higher (thermal efficiency 6%
lower) than predicted.

Figure 8.39 T5 Look Up
T5 is found on Sheet 3 the same as NPTopt and

WFsealevel were found, at the intersection of T1 =
80F and 10500 hp output power at sea level, no losses
output power parameter.
In this example sea level, no loss T5 is predicted to be

1230 degrees F at T1 = 80 F and NGP = 102%.
There is no correction of T5 to site conditions, T5
is always the same at site conditions as it is at sea
level, no losses.
In this example T5 actual over predicted T5 is 1.04.
T5/T5 = 1275 / 1230 = 1.04

This means the engine is running 45 degrees F hotter
than a new-and-clean engine is predicted to run at T1
= 80 F and NGP = 102%.
Is this OK?
NO. An engine running hotter than predicted is an

indication of poor engine condition.

Figure 8.40 PCD Look Up
PCD is found on Sheet 3 the same as T5 was found,

at the intersection of T1 = 80 F and 10500 hp output
power parameter. In this example sea level, no loss
PCD is predicted to be 195 psig at T1 = 80 F and
NGP = 102%.
Figure 8.41 PCD at Site Conditions
Inserting the correction factors into the equation for

PCD at site conditions (PCDsite), PCDsite = 183 psig.
PCDsite = ( .95 - 1.03 / 100 ) * 195 = 183 Psig
The ratio of actual PCD at site conditions over

predicted PCD at site conditions (PCD/PCD) = .90.
Is this OK?
NO. PCD 10% lower than predicted is a sure indication
of poor compressor performance, and could have
effects on NGP, T5, and output power also.

In summary:
HP/HP = 8525 / 9172 = .93
WF/WF = 82.0 / 82.7 = .99

T5/T5 = 1275 / 1230 = 1.04
PCD/PCD = 165 / 183 = .90
Is this engine in good condition?

NO. PCD is very low and might be causing the low
NGP, high T5 and low output power.
What should be done?
Give it a good crank wash and test again.

If PCD improves, and NGP, T5 and output power also
improve, a dirty compressor was the problem.
If PCD improves, NGP, T5 and output power will also

improve somewhat. But if they do not improve as
much percentage as PCD improved, there is probably
some deterioration of the GP turbine as well.
If PCD does not improve, either you did not do a

thorough crank wash or there is some physical
damage or other non-recoverable degradation in the
compressor.
This is how Engperf looks for this example problem.

All the input and output data is on one screen. Site
conditions are manually input, and the predicted
values are looked up and corrected to site conditions
by Engperf. Notice that Engperf has been configured
for nominal performance, to agree with the example
using the curves. The percent differences between
actual and predicted output power, fuel consumption,
PCD and T5 are displayed in the lower right corner.
There are slight differences in the predicted values
between Engperf and the curves, this is caused by
slightly in-exact manual curve reading.

Figure 8.42 Example Problem #1 Engperf Screen
The TT4000 Plot screen of Engperf makes it easy to

see the relative condition of the engine at a glance. In
this example, the engine is on T5 topping but NGP
is not up to the speed it should be at full load on the
80 degree F day. And at the 102% NGP it is actually
running, the T5 is hotter than it should be, the power
is lower than it should be, PCD is significantly lower
than it should be, and fuel consumption is about as
it should be.
Figure 8.43 Example Problem #1 Engperf Data Point Plot

EXAMPLE PROBLEM #2
Taurus 60 6502, 59 Match
T1 = 59 deg F
Elevation = 1000 feet
DP inlet = 4 inches H2O
DP exh = 4 inches H2O

Gear Ratio = N/A
NGP = 99%
NPT = 90%
Gas Comp Power = 5325 hp
Fuel Flow = 49 mmBTU/hr

PCD = 132 Psig
Is this engine OK?

This example problem is for the student to solve
manually using the curves. Below are Sheets 1, 3, and
4 for the Taurus 60 6502 engine.
The student is expected to find the predicted sea level,

no loss values of power, T5, PCD, and fuel consumption
from the curves, and manually correct them to site
conditions for comparison to the actual values. Then
an assessment of engine condition should be made.

EXAMPLE PROBLEM #2, SHEET 1
Figure 8.44 Example Problem #2 Sheet 1



NOTES:

Now the student is expected to analyze the same

example problem #2 using Engperf_DEMO.xls.
Using the copy of Engperf6_DEMO.xls on the course
CD in the Engperf6 directory, enter the data for
site conditions and read the predicted values of
performance at site conditions. Then enter the actual
values of performance and read the deviations from
predicted.

Figure 8.48 Example Problem #2 Engperf Data Point Plot
Then look at the TT4000 Plot screen, and evaluate the

condition of this example engine is it in good condition?
NGP is just slightly lower (~1%) than it should be on
the 59 deg F day on T5 topping. This could be caused
by additional accessory gear power extraction, or a
dirty compressor, or a slightly worn GP turbine.
T5 is slightly (~1.3%) high for the actual operating
NGP.
PCD is 4% lower than it should be at this NGP, an

indication of a dirty compressor.
Power is almost 7% lower than it should be for a

minimum engine.
And fuel consumption is about what it should be

for this NGP, but since power is low by almost 7%,
thermal efficiency is low by that same percentage.
It is likely that a dirty air compressor is causing all of
these performance shortfalls. It is recommended to
do a thorough crank wash and test it again to see if
PCD, NGP, T5, and power improve.

EXAMPLE PROBLEM #3
Taurus 60 6502, 59 Match

T1 = 11 deg F
Elevation = 4000 feet

DP inlet = 4 inches H2O
DP exh = 4 inches H2O
Gear Ratio = N/A

NGP = 100%
NPT = 86%
Gas Comp Power = 5700 hp

Fuel Flow = 51 mmBTU/hr
PCD = 132 Psig

Is this engine OK?
This example problem is for the student to solve using

Engperf6_DEMO.xls.
The student is expected to enter the data for
site conditions and read the predicted values of
performance at site conditions. Then enter the actual
values of performance and read the deviations from
predicted. Then an assessment of engine condition
should be made.

NOTES:

NOTES:

NOTES:

Is this engine OK?

NGP, PCD, and power are all about right. But T5 and
fuel consumption are too high.
Even though this engine is producing predicted power

and PCD at predicted NGP, it is not in good condition.
At this cold T1 the engine should be on NGP topping,

not on T5 topping. This is “early T5 topping”, being on
T5 topping at a T1 substantially cooler than the 59 deg
F match T1. NGP should be 100%, which it is, but T5
is 50 degrees F hotter than it should be at this T1, and
it is burning too much fuel because of it. So the engine
is making power, but at a lower thermal efficiency.
The cold T1 is making this weak engine look as if it

is in good condition, the only apparent problem is
excessive fuel consumption. However, in the summer
this engine will still be on T5 topping, but the NGP
and thus output power will be substantially lower
than they should be.
The PCD is about what it should be at this NGP and
T1, that indicates that the compressor is in good
condition. So the high T5 indicates a weak GP turbine.
This engine needs an overhaul, and that will be very
apparent next Summer.

Figure 8.50 T5 Limit
Instead of staying at the NGP limit on hot days, it

cannot go over T5 topping so it must follow the T5
limit to hot days. Then the engine will produce much
less output power than it should.

2. DEMONSTRATE HOW TO USE MANUAL TREND PLOTTING TO

EVALUATE THE CONDITION OF THE ENGINE
PERFORMANCE TREND PLOTTING
Plotting the relative performance of your gas turbine

engine allows you to know the condition of your engine.
Knowing the condition of your gas turbine engine is
necessary to optimize your maintenance planning and
maximize the performance of your turbomachinery to:
• Maximize production and revenue, and minimize
maintenance and fuel consumption costs.
• Minimize maintenance and fuel consumption

costs.
OBJECTIVE OF TREND PLOTTING
• Plot predicted performance curves.
• Calculate predicted performance.

• Compare actual performance to predicted
performance.
• Plot trends of comparisons.
• Use trend plots to evaluate engine condition.

Figure 8.51 Manual Data Log

Originally there was only the manual method of
engine condition evaluation. Actual data (PCD, T5,
etc.) was logged manually.
Predicted data at sea level, no-losses was looked up
from the curves in the O&M Manual, and manually
corrected to site conditions.
The variation of actual data from predicted data was
calculated.

Figure 8.52 PCD Manual Trend Plot
The variations between actual and predicted are

plotted over time. When the PCD variation drops
enough, it is time for a crank wash.
Figure 8.53 T5 Manual Trend Plot

When the T5 variation increases enough, it is time for

an overhaul.
This is a good way to monitor and evaluate the engine
condition, but it has limitations:
• It is cumbersome and time consuming, thus

sparse or limited data is recorded.
• Reading curves manually, and doing manual

corrections is prone to errors.
• There is enough difficulty that most owners give
up and don’t do it any longer.

3. USE THE PC PROGRAM TREND PLOTS OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE

TO EVALUATE ENGINE CONDITION
Figure 8.54 PC Program Trend Data
The ADD THIS TREND DATA TO TREND PLOT

Engperf macro adds the deviations to the trend plot of
deviations versus engine hours. Be sure to update the
value of engine hours before you run this macro.
Figure 8.55 Example Engperf Trend Plot
The deviations from Minimum or Nominal are plotted

vs. engine hours.

From this trend plot you can see how much the
relative performance has degraded over time, and
know the relative condition of your engine, and plan
your maintenance for the optimum time.
In this example T5 and NGP have remained relatively
constant, but PCD deviation from minimum (actual
PCD over predicted PCD) has dropped about 12% from
7000 hours to 14000 hours. Along with PCD, power has
dropped about 8%, and thermal efficiency about 12%.
There also appears to have been an incremental drop
of PCD, power, and thermal efficiency at around
10800 hours.
The measured performance parameters are never
exactly as the curve predicts, not even when the
engine is first operated. There are engine-to-engine
performance variations and there is measurement
inaccuracy and uncertainty. Some parameters could
be higher than the curve predicts, and some could
be lower than predicted.
This causes the initial deviations to be something

other than zero, which makes interpreting the trend
plot more difficult.

BASELINING
A method called baselining adds or subtracts the

initial deviation value from all of the deviation values
of each parameter so that the trend plot starts at
zero. This is simply offsetting the entire trend plot a
fixed amount, moving it higher or lower, so that the
initial point is at zero. Baselining is not absolutely
necessary, but it is handy for making the trend plot
easier to interpret.
The BASELINE TREND macro button will force all
the current deviations to zero. This should be done
only for a new or overhaul installation or when a
field repair is done. Once all the deviations are
baselined, they will all be zero at the current engine
hours. Clicking this macro button again, will reverse
or undo the baselining.
Once you have seen the trend plot and are satisfied
with the current input(s) of trend data, you must save
the trend data to a file with the SAVE TREND DATA
TO FILE macro button. If you don’t save the trend
data to file, once you exit Engperf the new trend data
you have input will be lost.
Figure 8.56 Baselining

CUMULATIVE SUM ANALYSIS

Plots of raw engine performance trends are not
particularly easy for detecting trends because trends
are often obscured by the general data scatter.
Statistical techniques should be used for this, one of
which is Cumulative Sum (CuSum).
An example of a CuSum calculation is shown here.
The principle is that as engine hours are accumulated,
a cumulative sum is made of the difference between
the value of a given parameter (often PCD deviation
from minimum) and an arbitrary datum (usually close
to the average of that parameter). For this case, the
datum, deviation from minimum, is chosen as zero (0).
The cumulative sum is plotted vs. engine hours.
Datum =0
Hours Contamination Dirrerence CuSum
Factor
100 Value 1 Diff 1 = Value 1 - Datum Sum (Diff 1: Diff 1)
200 Value 2 Diff 2 = Value 2- Datum Sum (Diff 1: Diff 2)
n00 Value n Diff = Value n- Datum Sum (Diff 1: Diff n)

CuSum plots are used to detect trends in relative

performance of an engine. The CuSum plot can
identify changes in trends which are not visible in
an ordinary plot of a specific parameter (e.g. PCD
deviation from minimum). The absolute value of the
cumulative sum of each parameter is not meaningful,
but inflections in the curve indicate exactly when a
change in the trend occurred.
In this example, there is a clear change in slope of

the CuSum of PCD, Power and Thermal Efficiency
at 10584 hours, which is difficult to detect from
observation of the simple trend plot of the same
data. It can be concluded that some event occurred
at or about 10584 hours that adversely affected the
PCD and thus the power and thermal efficiency. The
magnitude of the deterioration can be determined by
averaging the results before and after the change.
Figure 8.57 Example Engperf Cumulative Sum Plot

CONDITION EVALUATION SUMMARY

Condition Evaluation Summary:
• Calculate predicted performance of a

• Plot predicted performance curves.

• Compare actual performance to predicted
performance.
• Plot trends of comparisons.
• Use trend plots to evaluate engine condition.
TREND PLOT ANALYSIS
When Should You Crank Wash?
When you should crank wash depends upon your site

economics, but some rules-of-thumb are:
Single-Shaft and Two-Shaft Engines on T5 Topping:

• 2.5% Loss of PCD.
• 5% Loss of Power.
Two-Shaft Engines on NGP Topping:

• 2.5% Increase of T5 (Power will not decrease).
When Should You Overhaul?

5-15% Loss of Power?
• Depends Upon Your Site Economics.
• Lower Power = Loss of Production, Lost Revenue.

• Increased Fuel Consumption = Increased
Expense.
• When lost revenue and increased expense

exceeds the cost of an overhaul.

EXAMPLE PROBLEM #4
This is a student solved example problem.
Taurus 60 6502S
Hours 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
T1 61 72 81 85 83 91 84 deg F
ELV 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 feet
DPIN 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Inch H2O
DPEX 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 %
NPT% 90 85 82 79 80 75 80 %
NGP 99.7 99.1 98.6 98.2 98 97.8 97.6 %
POWER 5900 5500 5150 4900 4875 4610 4740 hp
FUEL 51 48 46 46 45.8 44.6 45 mmBTU/hr
PCD 137 132 127 124 123.5 115 116 psig
T5 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 deg F
Using Engperf6_DEMO.xls:
1. Go to TREND DATA tab, and erase all the
existing data to start a new project.
2. On the INPUT_OUTPUT tab enter each of these

seven data points, adding each one to the trend
plot as it is entered.
3. Examine the trend plot and CuSum plot to

evaluate the condition of this engine.
4. Each student team will give the class their

opinion of engine condition, and what might have
happened between 2000 and 2500 hours.

NOTES:

NOTES:

NOTES:

This engine was gradually losing PCD and power like

most engines do for the first 2000 hours. Then there
was an incremental drop of PCD between 2000 and
2500 hours, without a corresponding drop of NGP
or power.
What could have happened to make PCD drop
significantly without affecting NGP or power?
Figure 8.58 Example Problem #4 Engperf Trend Plot
The CuSum plot confirms an incremental drop of

PCD at 2000 hours.
If there was some compressor contamination or

damage causing the drop of PCD, that contamination
or damage would have certainly caused NGP to be
slower than a new-and-clean engine. And output
power would have dropped also. So this trend plot
is telling us that something strange has happened,
such as PCD measurement error. Perhaps someone
adjusted or changed the PCD pressure transmitter
sometime between 2000 and 2500 hours . . . check the
maintenance log.

Figure 8.59 Example Problem #4 Engperf CuSum Plot

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What two parameters are used to look up the

predicted output power of a two-shaft CS/MD?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What two parameters are used to look up all the

other performance parameters of a two-shaft
CS/MD?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What two parameters are used to look up all of

the performance parameters of a Generator Set
(single-shaft)?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What is the strongest indicator of decreasing

compressor efficiency?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is the strongest indicator of deteriorating

two-shaft engine condition when on T5 topping?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________


two-shaft engine condition when on NGP
topping?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
7. What does a trend of decreasing IGV at a given

NGP on a two-shaft engine mean?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What are three things a change of T5

circumferential profile indicates?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. What is the objective of trend plotting?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. When should an engine be overhauled?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What two parameters are used to look up the

predicted output power of a two-shaft CS/MD?
T1 and NGP
2. What two parameters are used to look up all the

other performance parameters of a two-shaft
CS/MD?
T1 and Output Power parameter at

measured NGP
3. What two parameters are used to look up all of

the performance parameters of a Generator Set
(single-shaft)?
T1 and Corrected Output Power (at sea

level, no losses)
4. What is the strongest indicator of decreasing

compressor efficiency?
A trend of decreasing PCD at a given NGP

two-shaft engine condition when on T5 topping?
A trend of decreasing NGP and/or Output

Power


two-shaft engine condition when on NGP
topping?
A trend of increasing T5 (power will not

decrease)
7. What does a trend of decreasing IGV at a given

NGP on a two-shaft engine mean?
An indication of deteriorating engine

condition
8. What are three things a change of T5

circumferential profile indicates?
Fuel injector damage, or combustor liner

damage, or T5 thermocouple damage
9. What is the objective of trend plotting?
To observe changes in relative performance

over engine hours
10. When should an engine be overhauled?
When lost revenue and increased expense

exceeds the cost of an overhaul, or
when power has dropped 15%, or when
production can no longer be met (any of
these)



Solar Technical Training LESSON 9: TT4000 Data Analysis
LESSON 9: TT4000 Data Analysis
Terminal Objective
Describe how to use the TT4000 condition monitor to
evaluate engine condition:
Enabling Objectives
1. Define all the terms used by the TT4000
condition monitor engine performance screen.
2. Define the terms for generator sets.

3. Explain how to plot performance trends on the
TT4000.

LESSON 9: TT4000 Data Analysis Solar Technical Training
1. DEFINE ALL THE TERMS USED BY THE TT4000 CONDITION

MONITOR ENGINE PERFORMANCE SCREEN
TT2000 ENGINE PERFORMANCE DISPLAY
The same information that is obtained from the

engine performance curves is available (optionally for
additional price) in the Turbotronic control system.
The performance curve data is stored in the computer
and the real-time operating data from the package
instruments is used to calculate where the operating
point is on the curve. In order to calculate engine
output power, the optional gas compressor map
display must also be purchased.
This shows the engine performance screen of the older

TT2000.
Figure 9.1 TT2000 Two-Shaft Engine Performance Display

TT4000 ENGINE PERFORMANCE DISPLAY

This shows the engine performance screen of the
current TT4000 system.
Four parameters are monitored: POWER, T5, FUEL

FLOW, and PCD.
Figure 9.2 TT4000 Two-Shaft Engine Performance Display
ACTUAL
“ACTUAL” means: As-measured values at site

conditions
CORRECTED
“CORRECTED” means: Actual values corrected to sea
level, no losses. The measured actual data is corrected
to sea level, no losses so it can be compared to the
predicted data from the performance curves.
NOMINAL or PREDICTED
“NOMINAL” means: Nominal performance from the

curves at sea level, no losses. This was used on older
condition monitor systems. Current condition monitor
systems display minimum performance from the
curves and it is designated as “PREDICTED”. Either

one is the predicted performance of a new-and-clean

engine, what the performance SHOULD BE if the
engine is in good condition.
DELTA
“DELTA” means: Corrected minus Predicted
DEFINITION OF TERMS FOR TWO-SHAFT

MECHANICAL DRIVE ENGINES
The Map
The map is a reproduction of the performance curve
contained in the O&M manual. It is not displayed at
site conditions because to re-calculate and update the
entire map for actual barometric pressure, duct losses
and power turbine speed would take a considerable
amount of computer time, which would increase and
compromise the response time of the safety controls.
There is a real-time cursor located at the running
operating point. For both two-shaft and single-shaft
engines, the cursor is located at the intersection
of measured output power (corrected to sea level,
no-losses) and inlet air temperature (T1). For
two-shaft mechanical drive engines the output power
is obtained from the gas compressor performance
display. For generator sets the output power is
obtained from the generator voltage and current.
Power Corrected
This is the power calculated from the gas compressor
screen (actual output power at the shaft) or generator
terminal output power, corrected to sea level, no loss
conditions. This correction is calculated using the
site elevation stored as a k-value, measured inlet
pressure drop, an assumed exhaust backpressure, and
measured power turbine speed.
The Cursor
The cursor is located at the intersection of inlet air

temperature (T1) and Power Corrected.

The full load line (the red line) indicates where the
cursor should be if the engine is on topping (either T5
or NGP, whichever prevails at that T1). If the cursor
is on the red full load line while the engine is on full
load topping, that means that the engine is in good
condition. If the cursor is below the red full load line
while the engine is on full load topping, that means
the engine is producing less than full load power.
An increasing distance of the cursor below the red
full load line while on topping indicates increasing
degradation of the engine condition.
Power Predicted
This is the sea level, no-loss power found by entering

the curves at actual NGP and Engine Inlet Air
Temperature (T1). (NGP is not displayed on the map,
but data is in the file for the computer to read). This
is the sea level, no-loss power that a new-and-clean
engine should produce at that NGP and T1.
Power Delta
This is Power Corrected minus Power Predicted.
Power Delta should be plotted versus engine operating
hours to see the trend of change, if any. A negative
Power Delta indicates the engine is not producing
as much power as a new-and-clean engine at that
NGP. An increasing negative Power Delta indicates
increasing engine condition deterioration.
T5
Actual T5, as measured. The reason this is not named
“T5 Corrected”, like the other measured parameters,
is because no correction to sea level no-loss conditions
is required for T5.
T5 Predicted
T5 from the curves at the prevailing T1 and Power

Predicted. It is what the T5 is expected to be for a
new-and-clean engine at that T1 and NGP.
For some SoLoNOx engines, T5 is not displayed. This

is because the lines of T5 near and around the 50%
load transition area are very crooked and result in
incorrect data for T5 Predicted being obtained.

T5 DELTA
T5 Actual minus T5 Predicted. T5 DELTA should

be plotted versus engine operating hours to see the
trend of change, if any. A positive T5 DELTA indicates
the engine is running hotter than a new-and-clean
engine at that T1 and NGP. An increasing T5 DELTA
indicates increasing engine condition deterioration.
FUEL FLOW Corrected

The measured fuel flow, converted to heat or energy
flow, and corrected to sea level, no-loss conditions.
The conversion to heat or energy flow is done using
a Lower Heating Value (LHV) value which is stored
as a program constant. This LHV constant should
be updated if the gas fuel composition changes
significantly.
FUEL FLOW Predicted
This is the sea level, no-loss fuel flow found by

entering the curves at Engine Inlet Air Temperature
(T1) and Power Predicted. This is what the fuel flow
of a new-and-clean engine is expected to be at that
T1 and NGP.
FUEL FLOW DELTA
FUEL FLOW Corrected minus FUEL FLOW

Predicted. FUEL FLOW DELTA should be plotted
versus engine operating hours to see the trend of
change, if any. A positive FUEL FLOW DELTA
indicates the engine is consuming more fuel than
a new-and-clean engine at that T1 and NGP. An
increasing FUEL FLOW DELTA indicates increasing
engine condition deterioration.
PCD Corrected
Actual measured PCD, corrected to sea level, no-loss
conditions.

PCD Predicted
This is the sea level, no-loss PCD found by entering
the curves at Engine Inlet Air Temperature (T1)
and Power Predicted. This is what the PCD of a
new-and-clean engine is expected to be at that T1
and NGP.
PCD delta
PCD corrected minus PCD Predicted.
CONTAMINATION FACTOR
(PCD Corrected - PCD Predicted) / PCD Predicted

A percentage which indicates the effect of
contamination on the PCD. CONTAMINATION
FACTOR should be plotted versus engine operating
hours to see the trend of change, if any. A negative
CONTAMINATION FACTOR indicates the engine
is producing lower PCD than a new-and-clean
engine at that T1 and NGP. An increasing negative
CONTAMINATION FACTOR indicates increasing
engine condition deterioration.

2. DEFINE TERMS FOR GENERATOR SETS

This is a typical engine performance display of a
single-shaft or two-shaft generator set in the TT2000
condition monitor system.
Figure 9.3 TT2000 Single-Shaft Engine Performance Display

This is a typical engine performance display of a

single-shaft or two-shaft generator set in the TT4000
condition monitor system.
Figure 9.4 TT4000 Single-Shaft Engine Performance Display
POWER Actual
This is actual measured generator output power at the

generator terminals, at site conditions.
POWER Corrected
This is the Power Actual, corrected to sea level, no loss

conditions. This correction is calculated using the site
elevation stored as a k-value, measured inlet pressure
drop, and an assumed exhaust backpressure.
There is no Predicted Power for generator sets. Power

Corrected is used to look up the Predicted T5, PCD,
and fuel consumption.

The Cursor
The cursor is located at the intersection of inlet air

temperature (T1) and Power Corrected.
The full load line (the red line) indicates where the
cursor should be if the engine is on T5 topping. If the
cursor is on the red full load line while the engine is
on full load T5 topping, that means that the engine
is producing full load power, and is thus in good
condition. If the cursor is below the red full load line
while the engine is on full load topping, that means
the engine is producing less than full load power. An
increasing distance of the cursor below the red full
load line while on T5 topping indicates increasing
degradation of the engine condition.
FULL LOAD POWER
Predicted sea level, no loss power from the curves at

topping and the prevailing T1. This is the amount of
power the engine should be producing at that T1 if
it is in new-and-clean condition.
RESERVE POWER
Full load output power minus current operating

point corrected output power. Reserve power is the
predicted amount of additional sea level, no loss power
that a new-and-clean engine could produce if it was
on T5 topping.
T5, PCD, and FUEL FLOW
For generator sets, Predicted T5, PCD, and Fuel Flow

are looked up from the curves using Corrected Power
instead of Predicted Power. T5, PCD, and Fuel Delta
are calculated the same as for a two-shaft engine . . .
Corrected minus Predicted.

3. EXPLAIN HOW TO PLOT PERFORMANCE TRENDS

WITH THE CONDITION MONITOR
The Condition Monitoring Process
1. Measure the actual data (power, T5, fuel flow,

PCD). These are named "Actual" values.
2. Correct the actual data to sea level, no-loss

conditions. These are named "Corrected" values
(there is no correction for T5).
3. Read power, T5, fuel flow, and PCD from the

curve at the actual T1 and Power Corrected.
These are named "Predicted" values.
4. Subtract "Predicted" values from "Corrected"
values. These are named "Delta" values.
5. Plot trends of the "Delta" values to determine
how the engine condition changes over time.
Sample Analog History Select, On Site
When on site, to plot the deltas of power, T5, fuel flow,

PCD or contamination factor over time, select them
from the Analog History screen.
Figure 9.5 Sample Analog History Select, On Site

Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen

Then they may be plotted over time, with the time
period selectable by you.
By examining how much these deltas have changed

over time, you can determine the relative condition of
your engine compared to when it first started.
This is how the Turbotronic condition monitor engine

condition evaluation works.
Figure 9.6 Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen

Sample Analog History Select, Remote on the Internet

From remote on the internet, to plot the deltas of
power, T5, fuel flow, PCD or contamination factor over
time, select them from the Historical Analyzer screen.
Figure 9.7 Sample Analog History Select, Remote
Figure 9.8 Sample Analog History Trend Display Screen, Remote

NOTES:

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is “ACTUAL”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is “CORRECTED”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is “PREDICTED” (or “NOMINAL”)?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What is “DELTA”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is a “CS/MD”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. Where is the cursor on a CS/MD or a Generator

Set map display?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

7. What is “Engine Contamination Factor”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What is “Full-Load Power” on a Generator Set

map display?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. What is “Reserve Power” on a Generator Set

map display?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is “ACTUAL”?
As-measured at site conditions
2. What is “CORRECTED”?
Actual corrected to sea level, no losses
3. What is “PREDICTED” (or “NOMINAL”)?
From the curve at sea level, no losses
4. What is “DELTA”?
Corrected minus Predicted
5. What is a “CS/MD”?
Two-shaft compressor set or mechanical

drive
6. Where is the cursor on a CS/MD or a Generator

Set map display?
At the intersection of measured T1 and

Corrected Output Power (measured output
power corrected to sea level, no losses)

7. What is “Engine Contamination Factor”?
(PCD corrected - PCD predicted) / PCD

predicted -or- PCD Delta expressed as
a percentage
8. What is “Full-Load Power” on a Generator Set

map display?
Predicted sea level, no loss power from

the curves at topping and the prevailing
T1. This is the amount of power the engine
should be producing at that T1 if it is in
9. What is “Reserve Power” on a Generator Set

map display?
Full load output power minus current

operating point corrected output power.
Reserve power is the predicted amount of
additional sea level, no loss power that a
new-and-clean engine could produce if it
was on T5 topping.



Solar Technical Training LESSON 10: Gas Fuel Suitability Properties
LESSON 10: Gas Fuel Suitability Properties
TERMINAL OBJECTIVE
Describe and calculate the physical and
thermodynamic properties of natural gas mixtures:
ENABLING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe composition of a gas mixture.
2. Describe the properties of gas fuels that

determine their suitability.
3. Calculate the composition and properties of the
mixture of two or more gas streams.

LESSON 10: Gas Fuel Suitability Properties Solar Technical Training
1. DESCRIBE COMPOSITION OF A GAS MIXTURE

A hydrocarbon is an organic chemical compound that
is comprised only of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H)
atoms.
Figure 10.1 C5H12 Pentane Structure Diagram

This hydrocarbon molecule has 5 carbon atoms and
12 hydrogen atoms, so it is designated as C5H12.
It is named Pentane meaning 5 carbon atoms. We
abbreviate or nickname it “C5”.
Figure 10.2 n-C5H12 n-Pentane Structure Diagram
Hydrocarbon chains that are completely linear are

called normal alkanes. These are given the prefix
n-, although this is often omitted. We abbreviate or
nickname it “nC5”. The prefix n- is usually only used to
distinguish it from other molecule structures with the
same number of carbon and hydrogen atoms, such as:

Figure 10.3 i-C5H12 iso-Pentane Structure Diagram
Hydrocarbon chains that contain a carbon atom

connected to three other carbon atoms are given the
prefix iso-. We abbreviate or nickname it “iC5”.
Figure 10.4 neo-C5H12 neo-Pentane Structure Diagram

Hydrocarbons that contain a carbon atom connected
to four other carbon atoms are given the prefix neo-.
These molecules have the same chemical formula
(C5H12), but a different arrangement in each case, so
we call them isomers. These isomers of pentane have
different chemical reactivity and properties because
of their different molecular arrangements. There are
many different combinations and arrangements of
carbon and hydrogen atoms, creating many different
hydrocarbon molecules.

Figure 10.5 List of Natural Gas Constituents
This is a list of almost all of the hydrocarbons and

other constituents found in natural gases. The lightest
hydrocarbon is methane, CH4, containing only one
carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.
Molecular Weight
Molecular weight is the weight of a molecule of a

substance. It is the sum of the atomic weights of the
atoms making up the molecule. The molecular weight
may be calculated from the molecular formula of the
substance.
Atomic Weight
Atomic weight or atomic mass is the mass of a single
atom of a pure component at rest. The atomic mass is
sometimes used synonymously with relative atomic
mass, average atomic mass and atomic weight;
however, these differ subtly from the atomic mass.

Figure 10.6 Atomic Weight of Several Pure Components
Molecular Weight Of Methane
Figure 10.7 Molecular Weight of Methane

The molecular weight (the weight of one molecule) of a
substance is simply the sum of the number of atoms of
each pure component times the atomic weight of that
pure component.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons and other

constituents.
Figure 10.8 Common Hydrocarbon Constituents of Natural Gas
These are the most common hydrocarbons that are

found in natural gasses. Ethylene and Propylene are
seldom seen in common natural gases.

Figure 10.9 Other Constituents of Natural Gas
These are most of the other constituents that are

found in natural gases. Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen
are the most common, small amounts are found in
almost all natural gases. Almost all natural gases also
contain trace amounts of sulfur, either as Hydrogen
Sulfide or as Sulfur Dioxide.
Figure 10.10 Molecular Weight of Natural Gas Constituents

This is a list of the molecular weights of all of the most
common constituents of natural gas.
Gram-Mol
A Gram-Mol is the amount of substance having the
same weight (in grams) as its molecular weight
(gms/MW). A mol always has the same number of
molecules, Avagadro’s number, 6.022×1023.

Avagadros Law: Equal volumes of gases, at the same

temperature and pressure, contain the same number
of particles, or molecules. Thus a mol is a measure of
volume at standard temperature and pressure. Thus,
the number of molecules in a specific volume of gas is
independent of the size or mass of the gas molecules.
As an example, equal volumes of molecular hydrogen
and nitrogen would contain the same number of
molecules, but have different weights.
Pound-Mol
A pound-mol is similar to a gm-mol, except it is the
amount of substance having the same weight (in
pounds) as its molecular weight (lbs/MW). One lb-mol
= 379.49 standard cubic feet (standard means @ 60ºF
and 14.696 psia.)
Mol-Fraction Or Mol-Percent
Mol-Fraction (Mol-Frac) is the volumetric portion

of each constituent of a natural gas mixture, with
the sum of mol percents of all the constituents of
the mixture adding to 1.0. If methane comprises 90
volumetric percent of a natural gas mixture, the
mol-fraction of methane is 0.9. Mol-Percent is the
volumetric portion of each constituent of a natural
gas mixture, with the sum of mol percents of all the
constituents of the mixture adding to 100. If methane
comprises 90 volumetric percent of a natural gas
mixture, the mol-percent of methane is 90.
Molecular Weight Of A Gas Mixture
The Molecular Weight of a gas mixture is the sum of

the products of mol-fractions of each constituent times
the molecular weight of that constituent.
Figure 10.11 Equation for Molecular Weight
Xi = Mol Frac of Constituent i

MWi = Molecular Weight of Constituent i

Figure 10.12 Molecular Weight of Mixture
This shows the mol- percent of each constituent of

a typical natural gas mixture. Also shown is the
molecular weight of each constituent.
Figure 10.13 Molecular Weight of Mixture

Here the mol-percent of each constituent has been
replaced with the mol-fraction of that constituent, and
the mol fraction times the molecular weight of each
constituent has been calculated. The sum of all the
mol-fractions must add up to 1.0000. The sum of the
products of mol-fraction times the molecular weight
of each constituent is the Molecular Weight of the
mixture, in this example 17.4300.
Specific Gravity
“Specific Gravity” of a gas is its molecular weight
relative to the molecular weight of air. Specific gravity
is the molecular weight of that gas divided by the
molecular weight of air (28.964). The specific gravity
of our example natural gas mixture is its molecular
weight (17.43) divided by 28.964 = 0.6018.

Weight Percent
Weight percent is the mass portion of each constituent

of a natural gas mixture. If methane comprises 90
mass percent of a natural gas mixture, the weight
percent of methane is 90.
Mol Fraction To Weight Percent
Figure 10.14 Mol Fraction to Weight Percent

To calculate the weight percent of each constituent
from the mol fraction, multiply the weight of each
constituent (that constituent’s mol fraction times
its molecular weight) by 100 to go from fraction to
percent, then divide by the molecular weight of the
entire mixture. The sum of the weight percents of each
constituent must add up to 100.
Weight Percent To Mol Percent
Figure 10.15 Weight Percent To Mol Percent
To calculate the mol percent of each constituent

from the weight percent, multiply the volume of
each constituent (that constituent’s weight percent

divided by its molecular weight) by 100 to go from

fraction to percent, then divide by the volume of the
entire mixture. The sum of the mol percent of each
constituent must add up to 100.
WeightPercent.xls
This handy program (Excel workbook) converts mol%

to weight% and weight% to mol%. It also calculates
the molecular weight and specific gravity of the
natural gas mixture, as well as other properties of
the gas mixture.
Figure 10.16 WeightPercent.xls MOL% to WT%
This shows the screen of WeightPercent.xls converting

mol percent to weight percent.

Figure 10.17 WeightPercent.xls WT% to MOL%
This shows the screen of WeightPercent.xls converting

weight percent to mol percent.

2. DESCRIBE THE PROPERTIES OF GAS FUELS THAT

DETERMINE THEIR SUITABILITY
DEW POINT
Hydrocarbon liquids in a gas fuel system can destroy a

gas turbine engine. ES 9-98, Solar’s fuel suitability
specification, says fuel gas must be at least 50 F
warmer than its dew point to prevent condensation
of liquids in the fuel system of the engine. The dew
point is the temperature at which liquids begin to
condense at that pressure.
How can you calculate the dew point of your fuel gas?
A “Flash Calculation” is the calculation of the

vapor-liquid ratio of a gas mixture. If you iterate
a flash calculation, varying the temperature until
the vapor liquid ratio just increases to 1.0000, that
temperature is the dew point of the gas mixture.
FlashCalc5.xls
This Excel workbook performs a flash calculation and

has an option to determine the dew point of a natural
gas mixture.
Figure 10.18 FlashCalc5.xls Table
Shown here is an example of the FlashCalc5.xls

screen, where the user has entered the gas composition
in mol percent and a pressure of 900 psia, and selected
the dew point calculation. The program has calculated

a temperature of 20 degrees F to yield a vapor-liquid

ratio of exactly 1.0000, so 20 degrees F is the dew
point for this gas mixture at 900 psia. FlashClac5.xls
has also calculated various gas properties for this
mixture composition.
LOWER HEATING VALUE, LHV
Figure 10.19 Combustion Equation
Methane combines with Oxygen and forms Carbon

Dioxide and Water Vapor. The amount of heat released
by Methane is measured two ways: Higher (Gross)
Heating Value (HHV) includes the heat of vaporization
of the H2O formed. Lower Heating Value (LHV)
does not.
LHV = Heat Content / Unit of Mass
• BTU / lbm
• BTU / Scf
• kJ / kg
• kJ Nm3

Shown in Figure 10.20 is the lower heating value,

LHV, of the most common constituents of natural
gases.
Just like molecular weight, the lower heating value,
LHV, is calculated as the sum of the products of mol
fractions of each constituent times the LHV of that
constituent.
Figure 10.20 Table of Lower Heating Value (LHV)
Figure 10.21 Equation for Lower Heating Value (LHV)

Xi = Mol Frac of Constituent i
LHVi = LHV of Constituent i
Wobbe INDEX (WI)
The Wobbe Index (WI) is used to account for changes

in gas fuel density and heating value. WI relates
relative heat input to a gas fuel supply system of
fixed geometry at a constant gas supply pressure.
There is the simple Wobbe index, and the temperature
corrected Wobbe index.

The Wobbe index is used to design the gas fuel supply

system. Higher Wobbe index fuels require smaller flow
passages, and lower Wobbe index fuels require larger
flow passages to get the same amount of energy into
the combustion system with the same pressure drop.
Figure 10.22 Equations for Wobbe Index (WI)

Where:
• LHV = Lower Heating Value (BTU/scf)
• SG = Specific Gravity
• T R = Temperature R
Solar’s standard gas fuel system is designed for WI =

1220 +/- 10%
• If your fuel gas WI < 1100, you need a larger gas

fuel system, e.g. larger pipes and fuel injectors.
• If your fuel gas WI > 1340, you need a smaller
gas fuel system, e.g. orifices in the fuel injectors.
SULFUR CONTENT
A high concentration of Sulfur in the fuel causes

sulfidation corrosion of the first stage turbine nozzles
and blades. ES 9-98 limits the sulfur content of fuels
to a maximum of 1% by weight for most engines
(liquid fuel SoLoNOx limit is 0.5%). 1% by weight is
based on a liquid fuel LHV = 18380 BTU/lbm. Gas fuel
sulfur limit = 1% * LHV / 18380.

3. CALCULATE THE COMPOSITION AND PROPERTIES OF THE

MIXTURE OF TWO OR MORE GAS STREAMS
Occasionally we need to calculate the blended
mixture composition of two or more different gas
streams. If we know the standard volumetric flow
rate and the composition of the individual streams,
we can calculate the composition of the blend of the
two or more streams. For each constituent of each
stream, multiply the standard volumetric flow rate
of the entire stream times the mol percent of that
constituent. Then the sum of those products divided
by the total standard volumetric flow rate of all the
streams is the mol percent of that constituent in the
blended mixture of all the streams.
Figure 10.23 Calculate the Mixture of Gas Streams

Mol PERCENT to Lb-Mols PER HOUR

To convert from mol percent to mols per hour, first
calculate the standard volumetric flow rate of each
constituent in the blended stream. This is done by
multiplying the total standard volumetric flow rate
of the blended stream times the mol fraction (mol
percent / total mol percent) of that constituent in
the blended stream. Then multiply the standard
volumetric flow rate times 109.81 to convert from
mmSCFD to lb-mols/hour.
Figure 10.24 Mol Percent to Lb-Mols per Hour

GasMix.xls
This Excel workbook calculates the mixed composition
of up to four different streams of natural gas, and
calculates the gas properties of each input stream and
the mixed stream. It also identifies any fuel suitability
limits exceeded.
Figure 10.25 GasMix.xls
This is an example of the GasMix.xls screen. The user

has entered two different flow rates of two different
gas compositions, and GasMix.xls has calculated the
composition of the mixture in both mol percent and
moles per hour. It has also calculated the temperature
of the blended stream.

Figure 10.26 GasMix.xls
GasMix.xls has also calculated various fuel suitability

and gas properties for each feed stream as well as the
final blended stream. It also compares the blended
stream fuel suitability properties to ES 9-98 limits,
and flags any which are out of specification limits.

NOTES:

STUDENT ACTIVITY
1. What is a “Hydrocarbon”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What is “Molecular Weight”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. What is a “Pound-Mol”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. What is “Mol Fraction”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What is Weight Percent?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
6. What is Specific Gravity?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

7. What is “Lower Heating Value”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What is “Dew Point”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. What is “Wobbe Index”?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
10. What is the maximum amount of Sulfur allowed

in fuel?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

NOTES:

NOTES:

ANSWER KEY
1. What is a “Hydrocarbon”?
An organic chemical compound that is

comprised only of carbon (C) and hydrogen
(H) atoms
2. What is “Molecular Weight”?
The weight of a molecule of a substance,

the sum of the atomic weights of the atoms
making up the molecule
3. What is a “Pound-Mol”?
The amount of a substance having the same

weight (in pounds) as its molecular weight
4. What is “Mol Fraction”?
The volumetric portion of each constituent

of a natural gas mixture
5. What is “Weight Percent”?
The mass portion of each constituent of a

natural gas mixture
6. What is “Specific Gravity”?
The molecular weight of a gas divided by

the molecular weight of air (28.964)

7. What is “Lower Heating Value”?
Heat Content / Unit of Mass
8. What is “Dew Point”?
The temperature at which a vapor mixture

begins to condense to liquid
9. What is “Wobbe Index”?
Lower heating value divided by the square

root of specific gravity
10. What is the maximum amount of Sulfur allowed

in fuel?
ES 9-98 limits the sulfur content of fuels

to a maximum of 1% by weight for most
engines (liquid fuel SoLoNOx limit is 0.5%)



Solar Technical Training GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
TURBINE GLOSSARY
Nomenclature Definition Lesson
1
% ExPress Percent change of exhaust absolute pressure 5
%1InPress Percent change of inlet absolute pressure 5
AAHP Additional accessory gear power extraction 5
Acceptance rate Percentage of engines passing factory acceptance test 4
ACFM Actual cubic feet per minute, volumetric flow rate 2
Active IGV control Modulating the IGV as a function of T1 to maintain a constant, maximum 3
NGP
AHP Accessory gear power extraction 5
Atomic weight The mass of a single atom at rest, also clled atomic mass 10
Base T5 The measured T5 when the engine is operated at rated TRIT 3
Baselining Setting the deviation from predicted to zero at the beginning of a 8

comparision period
Bleed valve A valve in the combustor housing used to vent compressor air overboard 3
4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. A.1

GLOSSARY Solar Technical Training
CED Cold End Drive engine design, driven equipment located at the engine 1
inlet end, must be single-shaft
CH4 Methane 2
CO Carbon Monoxide 1
CO2 Carbon dioxide 2
Confidence level Statistical means of biasing predicted nominal based upon a small 4
sample of tested engines
Constant TRIT Biasing T5 topping as a function of T1, to maintain a constant TRIT 3

control
Contamination (PCD corrected - PCD predicted) / PCD predicted 10

factor
Continuous duty Typical operating time ranging from 1000 to 8000 hours per year 4
Conventional Combustion design which injects raw fuel directly into the primary zone 1
COT Combustor Outlet Temperature 1
Cp Specific heat of a fluid: Energy/unit of mass/temperature degree 1
CS/MD Tas Turbine compressor set or mechanical drive engine 9
Cumulative sum A statistical method used to identify inflections in trends 8
δ Elevation correction factor, Pbaro / Pref 5
Dew point The temperature at which a vapor mixture begins to condense to liquid 10
1h Change of enthalpy 5
1T Temperature change (drop or rise) 1
Early T5 topping Running hotter than a new-and-clean engine, causing it to be on T5 8

topping on cold days
Engperf Software available to Solar reps and customers to calculate relative 8

perfomance and plot trends of relative performance over time
A.2 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

Enthalpy, h The internal energy of a fluid 1
Entropy, s Path of a perfectly efficient process on a pressure-enthalpy diagram 1
ETAc Compressor efficiency 8
ETAtoa Turbine overall efficiency 8
F/A ratio Fuel / Air mass ratio 1
Flow capacity The geometric area of a duct or nozzle 1
Full Load power Predicted sea level, no loss power from the curves at topping and the 10
prevailing T1
g Acceleration of gravity 1
Genset Gas turbine generator set package 8
GP Gas Producer 1
Gram-mol The amount of substance having the same weight (in grams) as its 10
molecular weight (gms/MW)
GTPERF Software used in Solar test cells to reduce all gas turbine engine 8
performance data
H2O Water (vapor) 2
Heat balance All energy in / all energy out of a thermodynamic envelope around the 6
engine
Heat Rate Fuel energy consumption / output power (Wf/SHP) 2
HED Hot End Drive engine design, driven equipment located at the engine 1
exhaust end, either single-shaft or two-shaft
ηgear Gearbox efficiency 5
High ambient Control system design which biases T5 topping higher on hot days, and 4
rating lower on cold days

Hot day match Two-shaft engine matched for a higher T1, yielding more power on hot 4
days and less power on cold days
HP Shaft Horse Power, power produced or delivered to the driven equipment 1
HPopt Output power at optimum NPT 5
ηth Thermal efficiency 1
Hydraulic The diameter of a circle that yields the same area as a different 2
diameter, Dh geometric shape
Hydrocarbon An organic chemical compound that is comprised only of carbon (C) and 10
hydrogen (H) atoms
IGV Inlet Guide Vane(s) 1
Ingestive cleaning Removal of accumulated contamination from the internals of a gas 7

turbine engine by the introduction of a water based cleaning product into
the engine, normally via the engine’s combustion air inlet
ISO International Standards Organization 4
ISO conditions 15 degrees C, 760 mm Hg, 60% relative humidity inlet conditions 4
k Ratio of specific heats (Cp/Cv) 1
Lean Low fuel/air ratio, burns cooler 1
Lean-Premixed Combustion design which mixes fuel and air before the primary zone, 1
and operates leaner (cooler)
Lex Exhaust loss, expressed in units of power 5
LHV Lower Heating Value of fuel, in units of energy / mass or standard volume 2
Lin Inlet loss, expressed in units of power 5
m Mass flow of a fluid 1
M or m Mass flow 1

Major inspection Complete engine disassembly, reassembly and test, optional parts 4
replaced if needed due to condition
Margin Percentage difference between nominal and minimum 4
Matching Changing the T1 at which rated TRIT and NGP occurs on a two-shaft 4
engine, by changing the area and angle of the PT inlet nozzle
Minimum Minimum factory acceptance level of power and thermal efficiency 2
mmBTU/hr Million BTU per hour 8
Molecular weight The atomic weights of the atoms making up a molecule of a substance 10
Mol-Fraction The volumetric portion of each constituent of a natural gas mixture 10
MWex Molecular weight of exhaust gas 2
Ncorrected Rotational speed corrected to reference inlet temperature and pressure 1
NGP Gas producer speed 2
Nominal Fleet average or expected power and thermal efficiency from a 2

new-and-clean engine in the factory test
NOx Oxides of nitrogen 1
NPT Power turbine speed 2
NPTopt Optimum power turbine speed, a function of output power and inlet air 2
temperature
O2 Oxygen 2
On-Crank Engine operation at maximum speed obtainable on starter alone with 7

cleaning fuel and ignition deactivated
On-Line cleaning Engine fired and operating at any power level ranging from idle (no load) 7
to full rated power and load
Overhaul Complete engine disassembly, reassembly and test, mandatory parts 4

replaced upon operated hours

P0 Static gage pressure at engine inlet 6
P1 Static gage pressure at the throat of the air inlet housing, used for 6
measuring air flow
P7 Exhaust pressure, the pressure at engine station 7 2
Pbaro Barometric pressure 1
PCD Pressure at Compressor Discharge 1
Peaking duty Typically starts once a day and operates about 400 to 1000 hours per 4
year
Pilot A percentage of fuel injected directly into the primary zone, to burn hotter 1
to maintain combustion stability
Pound-mol The amount of a substance having the same weight (in pounds) as its 10
molecular weight
Power parameter Output power corrected to sea level, no losses 2
Pref Reference pressure 1
Primary zone Area of a combustor where combustion begins and the temperature is 1
highest
Ps Static pressure 1
Pstd Standard pressure, for calculating standard volumetric flow rate 2
PT Power Turbine 1
Pz Primary zone 1
Q Heat transferred 1
Qex, Exhaust heat The amount of energy that can be recovered from the exhaust gas, Qex 2
= Wex * Cp * ( T7 - Tsink)
ρ Density 1

Rated NGP NGP that the engine is designed to operate to deliver full-load output 4
power
Rated TRIT Maximum allowable TRIT, above which the life of the engine would be 3
reduced
Rc Compression ratio 1
Relative humidity Percentage of saturated water vapor in air, function of air temperature 5
Relative A measured performance parameter compared to (divided by) its 8

performance prediction, at the same operating conditions
Reserve power The predicted amount of additional sea level, no loss power that a 10
new-and-clean engine could produce if it was on T5 topping
Rich High fuel/air ratio, burns hotter 1
SCFM Standard cubic feet per minute, standard volumetric flow rate 2
SFC Specific Fuel Consumption, in units of fuel mass or standard volumetric 2

flow / output power
SHP Shaft Horse Power, power produced or delivered to the driven equipment 1
Simple Cycle A simple-cycle gas turbine engine follows the Brayton cycle: no 1
recuperator, no intercooling, etc.
SoLoNOx Solar’s lean-premixed combustion design 1
Specific gravity The molecular weight of a gas divided by the molecular weight of air 10
(28.964)
Specific humidity Mass of water vapor / mass of dry air 5
Standby duty Operates as a backup to, and will not operate in parallel with, a normal 4
source of power
Stress rupture Failure of a metal part caused by time at stress 4
T/C Thermocouple, device for measuring temperature 2
T1 Inlet air temperature 2

T2 Temperature at compressor discharge, engine station 2 6
T3 TRIT, temperature at engine station 3 5
T5 Temperature at station 5 of the engine, usually where the temperature 2

measuring thermocouples are located
T5 compensation An amount added or subtracted from the measured average T5 so that it 3

displays that common T5 value when operating at Base T5
T5 profile A plot of the individual T5 thermocouple readings around the engine 8
T5 spread Highest T5 thermocouple reading minus the lowest T5 thermocouple 8

reading
T5/T3 ratio T5 absolute / T3 absolute 8
T7 Exhaust temperature, temperature at station 7 of the engine 2
Tamb Ambient temperature 1
TBI Time Between (major) Inspections 4
Thermal The percentage of fuel energy input that is converted to output power 2
efficiency
Tip rub Abrasion of coating and parent metal from the tips of blades and tip 7
shoes, opening the clearance between
Topping Upper limit of NGP, T5, or NPT (whichever prevails) 3
Tref Reference temperature 1
TRIT Turbine Rotor Inlet Temperature, the point in the cycle where work begins 1
to be extracted from the fluid
TRIT Estimator Software used by Solar reps to estimate TRIT based on measured T7 8
and turbine pressure ratio
Tsink Sink temperature, the temperature downstream of exhaust heat recovery 2

equipment
Tstd Standard temperature, for calculating standard volumetric flow rate 2

TT4000 Actual As-measured, at site conditions 9
TT4000 Corrected Actual, corrected to sea level and no losses 9
TT4000 Delta Corrected minus predicted 9
TT4000 Historical Software available from Solar to select and plot data from TT4000 .log 10
Data Analyzer files
TT4000 Nominal From the Nominal curve at sea level and no losses
TT4000 Predicted From the Minimum curve at sea level and no losses 9
UHC Unburned HydroCarbons 5
V Velocity 1
Vex Velocity of exhaust gas 2
W or w Weight flow (same as mass flow) 2
W/F ratio Water / combustible Fuel mass ratio 5
Wa or WA Mass flow of air 1
Wb Bleed air mass flow 6
Wcorrected Mass flow corrected to reference inlet temperature and pressure 1
Weight percent The mass portion of each constituent of a natural gas mixture 10
Wex Exhaust mass flow 2
Wf Fuel flow, in units of energy / time 2
Wobbe Index Relates relative heat input to a gas fuel supply system of fixed geometry 10
at a constant gas supply pressure

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Technical Training

Gas Turbine Performance

Gas Turbine Performance

Solar Turbines Incorporated

PUBLICATION NUMBER: TR4025

© 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1 LESSON 1: HOW A GAS TURBINE ENGINE WORKS

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. v

2 LESSON 2: GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE CURVES

3 LESSON 3: GAS TURBINE CONTROL STRATEGY

vi © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

1. DEFINE TWO-SHAFT ENGINE NGP & T5 TOPPING, CONTD

4 LESSON 4: GAS TURBINE RATING CONSIDERATIONS

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. vii

5 LESSON 5: PARAMETERS WHICH AFFECT PERFORMANCE

6 LESSON 6: MEASURING GAS TURBINE PERFORMANCE

viii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

RECOMMENDED INSTRUMENTATION FOR GAS TURBINES, CONTD

7 LESSON 7: PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. ix

8 LESSON 8: PERFORMANCE & CONDITION EVALUATION

x © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

3. USE THE PC PROGRAM TREND PLOTS OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE

9 LESSON 9: TT4000 DATA ANALYSIS

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xi

10 LESSON 10: GAS FUEL SUITABILITY PROPERTIES

xii © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. 4025

1.1 Equations for SHP and Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2

1.2 Equation Solved for SHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2

1.3 Brayton Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3

1.4 Equation for Thermal Efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4

1.5 Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5

1.6 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5

1.7 Compressor Rotor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6

1.8 Archimede’s Screw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6

1.9 Compressor Blades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7

1.10 Compressor Stators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8

1.11 Compressor Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9

1.12 Bernouli’s Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9

1.13 Variable Guide Vanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.10

1.14 Bleed Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.11

1.15 Compressor Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.12

1.16 Correction Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.12

1.17 Compressor Map With Operating Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.13

1.18 Combustor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.14

1.19 Combustor Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15

1.20 Fuel Injectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15

1.21 Fuel Injectors and Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.16

1.22 Primary Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.16

1.23 Secondary Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.17

1.24 Combustor Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.17

1.25 Dilution Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.18

4025 © 2008 Solar Turbines Incorporated. All rights reserved. xiii

1.26 Combustor Outlet Temperature, COT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.18

1.27 Effect Of Fuel-Air Ratio On Temperature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.19

1.28 Emissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.20

1.29 Combustion Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.21

1.30 Lean-Premixed Fuel-Air Ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.22

1.31 Conventional and SoLoNOx Combustor Liners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.23

1.32 Conventional and SoLoNOx Fuel Injectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.24

1.33 SoLoNOx Fuel Injector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25

1.34 Low Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.26

1.35 High Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.27