DOI 10.

1007/s10749-014-0522-x
Power Technology and Engineering Vol. 48, No. 4, November, 2014

THERMAL POWER PLANTS

THERMAL TESTS OF A 280 MW GAS-TURBINE UNIT

G. G. Olkhovsky,1 Yu. A. Radin,1 N. E. Tuz,1 and V. A. Melnikov1

Translated from Élektricheskie Stantsii, No. 5, May 2014, pp. 19 – 24.

Test results are reported for a modern gas-turbine unit at a power plant as part of a steam-gas power generating
unit. The rated power and efficiency of the gas-turbine unit under the plant operating conditions range from
250 MW and 37.5% for an ambient temperature of +28°C to 290 MW and 39% at –10°C and below. The cor-
responding gas temperatures at the inlet to the turbine (ISO standard) are 1230 and 1185°C. At half load, the
specific heat flow rate increases by 17% and the heat flow rate with no load is 0.23 times that at full load. High
efficiencies of the turbine machinery were obtained during the tests, with the highest efficiencies of the com-
pressor and turbine at a level of 89%. At loads of 50 – 100% the combustion chamber operates without
underfiring, essentially without CO formation, and with NOx emissions below 50 mg/m3. The CO emissions
are much higher during no-load operation.
Keywords: power; efficiency; temperature; pressure; flow rate; compressor; turbine; combustion chamber;
air; fuel; load; gas-turbine unit; operating mode.

The PGU-410 steam-gas unit in the power generating
unit at the Nevinnomyssk GRÉS (State Regional Electric
Power Plant) includes an AGT5-4000F gas-turbine unit
(Siemens AG), a boiler-utilizer from CMI ENERGY, and a
two-cylinder condensation steam turbine with intermediate
steam superheat that consists of high pressure and low/me-
dium pressure turbine modules (Siemens ITAB).
Structure and operating mode of the gas-turbine unit.
The gas-turbine unit consists of a single-shaft single-housing
assembly intended for direct drive of an electric generator
with air-water cooling.
The main performance indicators of the gas-turbine unit
for 100% (nominal) load and the contract design external
conditions are given below:
Air temperature at compressor inlet, °C . . . . . . . . . . +9.1
Barometric pressure (abs.), kPa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97.8
Relative humidity of air, %. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Grid frequency, Hz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Inlet resistance, kPa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.7
Outlet resistance, kPa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6
Power at generator terminals, MW . . . . . . . . . . . . 277.2
Electric power for in-house needs, kW . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Mass flow rate of gases at outlet, kg/sec . . . . . . . . . . 680
Outlet gas temperature, °C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569.7
1 JSC “All-Russian Institute of Thermal Engineering,” Moscow, Russia;
e-mail: vti@vti.ru
The gas-turbine unit consists of a 15-stage compressor
for compressing 680 kg/sec of atmospheric air to 1.8 MPa.
The blades in the flow-through section of the compressor are
profiled with controllable diffuser settings. The rotor disks of
the compressor are coupled to the disks of the turbine by a
central tie rod through a cylindrical insert.
They are centered among themselves and with the tie rod
through a serrated toothed union. The guides for the first nine
stages are mounted in the compressor housing, and the last
six, in the inner yoke. The inlet guide of the compressor,
which is rotatable, is mounted in the inlet housing that forms
the diffuser inlet to the flow-through section and serves as a
support for the front support-thrust bearing of the turbine
group.
The fuel burns in an annular combustion chamber with
24 burners capable of burning natural gas and liquid diesel
fuel. The walls of the flame duct of the combustion chamber
are protected from the flame by ceramic and metal plates.
The gas burns after it has been mixed with excess air at a
moderate, uniform temperature in the combustion zone and
negligible amounts of nitrogen oxides are produced.
The design of the blades of the four-stage turbine take
spatial effects into account, with internal air cooling in stages
1 – 3. Film cooling of the blades and ceramic thermal barrier
coatings are used in the first two stages. The working blades
are single-crystal cast.

288
1570-145X/14/4804-0288 © 2014 Springer Science + Business Media New York
Thermal Tests of a 280 MW Gas-Turbine Unit 289

The design of the turbine group rotor makes it possible to çGTU, %

1
use air at full and intermediate pressure to supply it over sep- 40
arate channels for cooling the disks and working blades of Nel, MW
37
the different turbine stages. ÄQcc, MW 2 300
Air extraction takes place after different stages of the 780
compressor: through the housing (two outtakes) for cooling 740
of the stator components of the turbine and inside the rotor 700 250
3
for cooling of the disks and working blades of the turbine. G1c, kg/sec
660 4
The flows of cooling air inside the common compressor rotor 740
and turbine are organized with the aid of two concentric 690
ducts. The places where air is extracted in the compressor are
chosen to ensure minimal pressure drops prior to the places 640
Q2t, MW
where it is mixed with combustion products. 5
480
The rotor of the turbine group rests on two extreme bear-
ings located in the zones close to atmospheric pressure; there
400 100

Degree of opening of inlet guide, %

are no bearings in the zone with maximal pressures and tem-
peratures.
The housing of the turbine group is made with a horizon-
tal feedthrough.
The gases depleted in the turbine are removed through a
long axial diffuser along an axial gas duct into the boiler-uti-
lizer. The electrical generator is connected at the side of the
compressor.
The gas-turbine unit and the electrical generator, together
with the exhaust gas duct, occupy an area of 60 × 30 m.
The nominal power of the gas-turbine unit varies with
the outside air temperature at the compressor inlet. It in-
creases when the temperature is reduced.
The power is regulated over roughly 40 to 100% of nom-
inal by coordinated changes in the air flows through the com-
pressor (using the inlet director apparatus) and the fuel with a
roughly constant temperature of the spent gases from the
gas-turbine unit.
For loads from 0 to 40% with the inlet guide of the com-
pressor fully covered, the gas-turbine unit power changes
only as a result of changes in the fuel flow rate. Here the gas
flow rate at the outlet changes little; its temperature falls rap-
idly with unloading and also depends on the air temperature
at the compressor inlet.
The gas-turbine unit is started with its own electrical
generator operating in a synchronous motor mode from a
static frequency converter — a thyristor starter.
Fuel is ignited in the combustion chamber at the rotation
frequency of the gas-turbine unit, about 400 rpm. The starter
continues to operate until the rotation frequency has reached
about 1800 rpm. In addition, the starter ensures rotation of
the gas-turbine unit for ventilation of the gas-air duct of the
gas-turbine unit and the boiler-utilizer, as well as for flushing
of the compressor. The gas-turbine unit gains load after its
generator is connected to the grid at a rate of 13 MW/min.
The main fuel for the gas-turbine unit is natural gas in
accordance with State Standard GOST 5542–87 [1].
Test results. Figure 1 shows the nominal performance
indicators of the gas-turbine unit for different outside tem-
peratures t1c and the design barometric pressure of 97.8 kPa
for the Nevinnomyssk plant. These were attained with auto-
6
t1t, °C 90
1250 7
t2t, °C
600 80
1150
8
500
–20 –10 0 10 20 30
t1c, °C
Fig. 1. Parameters and performance of the gas-turbine unit (GTU)
as functions of ambient temperature t1c: 1, çGTU, %; 2, electrical
power Nel, MW; 3, heat flow into combustion chamber ÄQcc, MW;
4, air flow to compressor inlet G1c, kg/sec; 5, enthalpy of spent
gases in turbine Q2t, MW; 6, degree of opening of inlet guide, %;
7 and 8, gas temperature at turbine inlet and outlet, t1t and t2t, re-
spectively.
matic control of the system after full (or up to the gas-turbine
unit power) opening of the compressor inlet guide.
When the outside air temperature was reduced from 30 to
–20°C, the temperature of the gases in the turbine fell
monotonically from 1230 to 1185°C at the inlet (calculated
in accordance with the standard of ref. 2) and from 590 to
540°C at the outlet.
The gas-turbine power increases from approximately
250 MW for t1c = 30°C to 290 MW for t1c = –6°C, below
which the inlet guide begins to shut and the gas-turbine
power is kept constant.
The efficiency of the gas-turbine unit increases over the
entire range of outside temperatures from 37 to 39% as t1c
falls from 30 to –6°C and more slowly at lower temperatures,
reaching 39.3% at –20°C.
The corresponding rates of heat flow introduced with
the fuel into the combustion chamber increase with a reduc-
tion in the outside temperature from 30 to –6°C somewhat
more slowly than the gas-turbine power; at lower tempera-
tures they decrease slightly. The enthalpy of the spent gases
290 G. G. Olkhovsky et al.

çGTU, % t1t, °C
40
1 1200 2
1

30 ÄQcc; Q2t, MW
1100
3
20 700
1000

4 t2t, °C
10 600 600
2 900

G1c, kg/sec

Degree of opening of inlet guide, %

0 500 700 500
6
5

400 7
600 400
3

300 500 100

9
200 400 8 50
10

100
0 100 200 300
Nel, MW
Fig. 2. Efficiency and heat flow rate as functions of load Nel on the
gas-turbine unit: 1, gas-turbine unit efficiency çGTU, %; 2, fuel heat
flow rate into combustion chamber ÄQcc, MW; 3, enthalpy of gases
spent in turbine Q2t, MW.
in the gas-turbine unit decreases very slightly with a change
in the outside temperature from 30 to –6°C; afterwards, it
also decreases.
The air (combustion product) flow rate in the gas-turbine
cycle increases up to t1c = –6°C. It reaches a maximum of
730 – 735 kg/sec. As the inlet guide begins to close the air
flow decreases slightly and then is held constant at a level of
710 kg/sec.
At the standard ambient temperature (15°C) and baro-
metric pressure (101.3 kPa) the gas-turbine power is
282 MW, for an efficiency of 38.2%. In comparing these data
with the catalog values, it should be noted that they have
been determined with pressure drops at the inlet and outlet of
the gas-turbine unit, which reduce its power by 1.6 – 2.2%
and increase the specific heat flow rate by 1.3 – 1.5%. With-
out these pressure drops, the gas-turbine power would be
288 MW, for an efficiency of 38.7%.
Figure 2 shows the gas-turbine efficiency, rate of fuel
heat flow into the combustion chamber, and enthalpy of the
spent gases as functions of the gas-turbine load. The latter
two are linear.
The spread in the points on the ÄQcc = f (Nel) line is
small. This indicates an essentially constant fuel heat flow
0
0 100 200 300
Nel, MW
Fig. 3. Parameters and performance indicators of the gas-turbine
unit as functions of load Nel: 1 – 3, temperature of gases at turbine
inlet t1t (°C) for outside temperatures t1c £ –14°C; t1c » 0°C; and
t1c ³ 20°C; respectively; 4 – 6, temperature of gases at turbine outlet
t2t (°C) for outside temperatures t1c £ –14°C; t1c » 0°C; and
t1c ³ 20°C; respectively; 7, gas flow rate at compressor inlet G1c,
kg/sec; 8 – 10, degree of opening of compressor guide (%) for
outside temperatures t1c £ –14°C; t1c » 0°C; and t1c ³ 20°C, re-
spectively.
rate into the combustion chamber over the entire range of
ambient temperatures.
The Q2t = f (Nel) line is characterized by a greater spread
in the points that reaches ±4%. This spread reflects the influ-
ence of the ambient temperature. Lower values of the
enthalpy occur at low negative temperatures and higher val-
ues, at high positive temperatures.
The heat flow rate into the combustion chamber extrapo-
lated to no-load operation is 175 MW (approximately 23% of
the flow rate at the maximum load of 290 MW).
At half power, the gas-turbine efficiency falls to 32%, or
0.83 times the nominal value.
The variation in the operating parameters of the gas-tur-
bine unit with load is illustrated in Fig. 3.
The load dependence of the air flow rate within the inlet
guide control range is satisfactorily described by a single
curve. The spread of the points relative to this curve does not
exceed ±2.2%, while the position of the inlet guide for a
given power (load) can vary from fully (100%) open to 60%
Thermal Tests of a 280 MW Gas-Turbine Unit 291

çc
çc, % 1.0
90
1 Gc
1.0 0.9 4
86

0.9 0.8 5
82
ðc
Gc 0.8 1.0
1.08
2
0.7 0.9
6
1.04

ðc 0.6 0.8
1.00 20
3
0.7
18

0.6
16
a b
0.5
0.95 1.00 1.05 nc 0 50 100
Degree of opening of inlet guide, %

Fig. 4. Variation in the compressor performance characteristics with the reduced rotation frequency Gc (a) and the degree of opening of the inlet
guide (b ): 1, efficiency çc, %; 2, reduced air flow Gc; 3, degree of pressure increase ðc; 4, relative efficiency hc; 5, relative reduced flow rate Gc;
6, relative degree of pressure increase pc.

open (Fig. 3, curves 8 and 10 ), depending on the outside air
temperature.
The air flow rate for operation close to full closure of the
inlet guide (for loads of 110 – 125 MW) is 420 – 460 kg/sec
(0.61 – 0.62 times the maximum flow rate for the same am-
bient conditions). Accordingly, the pressure of the air at the
compressor outlet and of the gases at the turbine inlet de-
creases to 1.05 – 1.13 MPa.
The change in the gas-turbine load within the inlet guide
control range (from 110 – 125 and 260 – 290 MW) takes
place at a constant temperature for the gases after the turbine
(Fig. 3). The values of this temperature are not unique; they
vary with the ambient air temperature from roughly 590°C
for t1c = 30°C to roughly 540°C for t1c = –20°C.
Since the gas flow through the turbine, the gas pressure
at the inlet, and the heat drop in it decrease as the load is re-
duced, the temperature of the gases at the turbine inlet does
not remain constant. It falls from 1180 – 1230°C for nominal
loads to 1040 – 1095°C for the loads corresponding to clo-
sure of the inlet guide, with lower values observed in the
winter and higher, in the summer (Fig. 3). The lines corre-
sponding to the same ambient temperatures are essentially
equidistant.
Further unloading of the gas-turbine unit with a constant
(closed) position of the inlet guide is accompanied by a rapid
drop in the temperature of the gases in the turbine; however,
it was not possible to obtain sufficient experimental data un-
der these conditions.
The dependences of the compressor efficiency, its re-
duced flow rate, and the degree of increase in the pressure for
the calculated (open) position of the inlet guide on the re-
duced compressor rotation frequency n c (n c = 288 T1c ,
where 288 is the standard ambient temperature (K) [2] and
T1c (K) is the actual ambient temperature during the tests) are
plotted in Fig. 4a. When n c is raised from 0.97 to 1.06 (the
ambient air temperature falls from 30 to –20°C), the maxi-
mum compressor efficiency decreases from 89 to 84%.
The minimum efficiencies decrease from 79.5% for n c =
= 0.985 to 76.0% for n c = 1.035.
Within this range of reduced rotation frequencies, the
maximum reduced compressor flow rates increase by 5.5%
and the degrees of compression increase from 17.3 to 19.7.
The effect of the position of the inlet guide on the per-
formance of the compressor is illustrated in Fig. 4b. When
the inlet guide is closed, the relative (to the corresponding
maximum efficiencies, reduced flow rate, and degree of
compression for the same reduced frequencies and a closed
inlet guide) efficiencies of the compressor decrease to hc =
= 0.88 (by 12%), the reduced flow rate, to Gc » 0.6 (by
40%), and the degree of compression, to pc » 0.51 (by al-
most a factor of 2). When the inlet guide is more than 50%
292 G. G. Olkhovsky et al.

the air and fuel flow rates at the combustion chamber inlet
90
and the air pressure at the combustion chamber inlet with
control of the gas-turbine unit for partial loads is regulated so
çt, %

85 that there is very little change in the operation of the combus-

80
0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
u/c0, rel. u.
Fig. 5. Turbine efficiency as a function of the velocity ratio u/c0.
open the drop in compressor efficiency is comparatively
small: hc ³ 0.98.
For one rotating wheel (just the inlet guide apparatus)
these changes in the air flow rate are a good result.
The efficiency of the turbine in the working range varies
roughly from 89% for operation close to nominal and
(u/c0)avg » 0.62 (where u is the tangential velocity (m/sec) at
the average radius of the turbine blades and c0 (m/sec) is the
velocity of the gas flow corresponding to the average
isentropic drop in the heat in a turbine stage) to 87.5% for
loads of 110 – 125 MW and (u/c0)avg » 0.7 (Fig. 5).
The reduced turbine flow rate is the same for all operat-
ing modes.
The temperature increase of the medium in the combus-
tion chamber and the average excess air coefficient are plot-
ted as functions of the electrical load in Fig. 6a. The ratio of
tion chamber (ÄTcc and áavg) for loads above 200 MW; e.g.,
the fuel/air ratio by only 2 – 3%.
The nitrogen oxide NOx emissions are in the
25 – 55 mg/m3 range and there is essentially no CO in the
combustion products under these operating conditions
(Fig. 6b ).
For lower loads and increases in the temperature of the
medium in the combustion chamber by less than 770°C
(Nel < 170 MW, average excess air coefficient á > 3.2), CO
does show up in the combustion products. Its concentration
increases to 200 – 300 mg/m3 for Nel = 115 – 120 MW and
exceeds 1000 mg/m3 for Nel < 70 – 80 MW (Fig. 6b). The
NOx emissions remain at a level of 30 mg/m3 under these
conditions.
The resistance of the filters installed for cleaning the air
drawn in from the atmosphere ranges from 0.13 – 0.23 kPa
for Nel » 120 MW to 0.40 – 0.45 kPa for nominal loads. The
higher values are for summer operation and the lower, for
winter operation. This variation is explained by the different
positions of the inlet guide for a given load during summer
and winter operation (Fig. 3).
The actual pressure losses in the intake line are higher by
the amount of the resistance of the air duct from the filter
chamber to the compressor, in which noise suppressants are

Ätcc, °C äPcc , %
800 1 5

60
[NOx], mg/m3

700 4 40

30
600 2 3

0
áav 710 750 790 830
Ätcc, °C
500 5
300

400 3 4
[CO], mg/m3

200

3 100

a b
0
100 200 300 710 750 790 830
Ätcc, °C
Nel, MW

Fig. 6. Operating conditions (a) and emission characteristics (b ) of the combustion chamber: 1, rise in the temperature of the medium in the
combustion chamber Ätcc, °C; 2, pressure drop in the combustion chamber äPcc, %; 3, average excess air coefficient áavg; b, concentrations
(mg/m3) of nitrogen oxides [NOx] and carbon monoxide [CO] in the combustion products.
Thermal Tests of a 280 MW Gas-Turbine Unit
also installed. It was not possible to measure this resistance
directly. It is estimated to double the pressure loss at the fil-
ters.
The excess pressure at the turbine outlet depends more
uniquely on the load and ranges from 1 – 3 kPa in the regu-
lated range for the gas-turbine unit.
The measured resistance of the combustion chamber is
comparatively small, at 35 – 60 kPa for an air pressure of
11 – 18 MPa at the inlet. The relative pressure losses äPcc =
= ÄPcc/P2c in the working range are somewhat higher when
the load is reduced and are at an average of 3.4%. For loads
of 70 and 50 MW, they increase to 3.9 and 4.3%, respec-
tively (Fig. 6a).
The total pressure losses in the gas-turbine cycle at high
loads are on the order of 7%. When the load is reduced to
120 MW, these losses fall to 4.8 – 5.0%.
293
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and
Science of the Russian Federation (government contract
14.516.11.0032 of March 22, 2013, “Creation of a steam-gas unit
based on a foreign gas-turbine unit with a steam turbine and elec-
trical section of domestic design and manufacture, with an effi-
ciency greater than 60% and an installed power of more than
1000 MW in a double-unit configuration and of more than 500 MW
in a single-unit configuration.”
REFERENCES
1. State Standard GOST 5542–87. Natural Fuel Gases for Indus-
trial and Municipal Purposes. Technical Conditions [in Rus-
sian].
2. ISO 2314:2009. Gas Turbines. Acceptance Tests.