Faculty of Engineering

MECH3402
Engineering Thermodynamics

L3: Gas Power Cycles

Dr. Match Wai Lun Ko

Department of Mechanical Engineering
The University
The University of Hong Kong - of Hong Kong
Faculty of Engineering
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[email protected]
 Ideal gas and enthalpy

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 Heat capacity varies with T

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 Isentropic

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 Isentropic

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 Isentropic - constant c(T)
Assume constant specific heat

Isentropic process: s = 0

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 Isentropic - Variable cp(T)

Instead of performing these laborious integrals each time we have a new process, it
is convenient to perform these integrals once and tabulate the results. For this
purpose, we choose absolute zero as the reference temperature and define a function

The standard state entropies are found in Tables A-17 for air on a mass basis and Tables
A-18 through A-25 for other gases on a mole basis. When using this variable specific
heat approach to finding the entropy change for an ideal gas, remember to include the
pressure term along with the standard state entropy terms--the tables don’t warn you to
do this.

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 Variable cp(T)

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 Isentropic - Variable cp(T)
Isentropic process: s = 0

If we are given T1, P1, and P2, we find so1 at T1, calculate so2, and then determine from
the tables T2, u2, and h2.

When air undergoes an isentropic process when variable specific heat data are required,
there is another approach to finding the properties at the end of the isentropic process.
Consider the entropy change written as

or

The quantity exp(so/R) is defined as the relative pressure Pr

Note that the relative pressure Pr is a dimensionless quantity that is a function of

temperature only since so depends on temperature alone. Therefore, values of Pr can be
tabulated against temperature.

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 Isentropic - Variable cp(T)
Sometimes specific volume ratios are given instead of pressure ratios. This is particularly
the case when automotive engines are analyzed. In such cases, one needs to work with
volume ratios. Therefore, we define another quantity related to specific volume ratios for
isentropic processes. This is done by utilizing the ideal-gas relation and Eq. 7–49:

The quantity T/Pr is a function of temperature only and is defined as relative specific
volume vr

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 Example

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 Efficiency

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 Carnot cycle
The Carnot cycle was introduced in Chapter 6 as the most
efficient heat engine that can operate between two fixed
temperatures TH and TL. The Carnot cycle is described by
the following four processes.

Carnot Cycle
Process Description
1-2 Isothermal heat addition
2-3 Isentropic expansion
3-4 Isothermal heat rejection
4-1 Isentropic compression

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 Carnot cycle

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 Carnot cycle
• Note the processes on both the P-v and T-s diagrams. The areas under the
process curves on the P-v diagram represent the work done for closed
systems. The net cycle work done is the area enclosed by the cycle on the
P-v diagram. The areas under the process curves on the T-s diagram
represent the heat transfer for the processes. The net heat added to the cycle
is the area that is enclosed by the cycle on the T-s diagram. For a cycle we
know Wnet = Qnet; therefore, the areas enclosed on the P-v and T-s diagrams
are equal. T
 th , Carnot  1  L
TH
• We often use the Carnot efficiency as a means to think about ways to
improve the cycle efficiency of other cycles. One of the observations about
the efficiency of both ideal and actual cycles comes from the Carnot
efficiency: Thermal efficiency increases with an increase in the average
temperature at which heat is supplied to the system or with a decrease in the
average temperature at which heat is rejected from the system.

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 Power cycle

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 Ideal cycle

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 Gas power cycles
• Our study of gas power cycles will involve the
study of those heat engines in which the working
fluid remains in the gaseous state throughout the
cycle. We often study the ideal cycle in which
internal irreversibilities and complexities (the
actual intake of air and fuel, the actual combustion
process, and the exhaust of products of combustion
among others) are removed.
• We will be concerned with how the major
parameters of the cycle affect the performance of Wnet
heat engines. The performance is often measured  th 
in terms of the cycle efficiency. Qin

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 Internal Combustion Engine
• Below is an eight-cylinder, four stroke internal combustion engine.

Photo from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter
Photo by M. Boles nal_combustion_engine

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 Air-standard assumptions
• In our study of gas power cycles, we assume that the
working fluid is air, and the air undergoes a
thermodynamic cycle even though the working fluid
in the actual power system does not undergo a cycle.
• To simplify the analysis, we approximate the cycles
with the following assumptions:
• The air continuously circulates in a closed loop and always
behaves as an ideal gas.
• All the processes that make up the cycle are internally
reversible.
• The combustion process is replaced by a heat-addition
process from an external source.
• A heat rejection process that restores the working fluid to its
initial state replaces the exhaust process.
• The cold-air-standard assumptions apply when the working
fluid is air and has constant specific heat evaluated at room
temperature (25oC or 77oF).

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 Terminology for Reciprocating Devices
• The following is some terminology we need to understand for reciprocating
engines—typically piston-cylinder devices. Let’s look at the following
figures for the definitions of top dead center (TDC), bottom dead center
(BDC), stroke, bore, intake valve, exhaust valve, clearance volume,
displacement volume, compression ratio, and mean effective pressure.

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 Reciprocating Engines
• The compression ratio r of an engine is the ratio of the maximum volume to
the minimum volume formed in the cylinder.
Vmax VBDC
r 
Vmin VTDC

• The mean effective pressure (MEP) is a fictitious

pressure that, if it operated on the piston during
the entire power stroke, would produce the same
amount of net work as that produced during the
actual cycle.

Wnet wnet
MEP  
Vmax  Vmin vmax  vmin

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 Reciprocating Engines
• Reciprocating engines are classified as spark-ignition (SI) engines or
compression-ignition (CI) engines, depending on how the combustion
process in the cylinder is initiated. In SI engines, the combustion of the air–
fuel mixture is initiated by a spark plug. In CI engines, the air–fuel mixture
is self-ignited as a result of compressing the mixture above its self-ignition
temperature.
– Otto cycle  ideal cycle for SI reciprocating engine  gasoline engine
– Diesel cycle  ideal cycle for CI reciprocating engine  diesel engine
Diesel cycle Otto cycle

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 Otto Cycle: The Ideal Cycle for Spark-Ignition Engines

Photo from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_
combustion_engine

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 Otto Cycle: The Ideal Cycle for Spark-Ignition Engines
• The air-standard Otto cycle is the ideal cycle that approximates the spark-
ignition combustion engine.

Process Description
1-2 Isentropic compression
2-3 Constant volume heat addition
The3-4UniversityIsentropic
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4-1 Constant volume heat rejection
 Otto cycle

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 Otto cycle

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 Otto cycle
We see that increasing the compression ratio increases the thermal efficiency.
However, there is a limit on r depending upon the fuel. Fuels under high temperature
resulting from high compression ratios will prematurely ignite, causing knock.
We can observe from Fig. 9–17 that the thermal efficiency
curve is rather steep at low compression ratios but flattens out
starting with a compression ratio value of about 8. Therefore,
the increase in thermal efficiency with the compression ratio is
not as pronounced at high compression ratios. Also, when high
compression ratios are used, the temperature of the air–fuel
mixture rises above the autoignition temperature of the fuel
(the temperature at which the fuel ignites without the help of a
spark) during the combustion process, causing an early and
rapid burn of the fuel at some point or points ahead of the
flame front, followed by almost instantaneous inflammation of
the end gas. This premature ignition of the fuel, called
autoignition, produces an audible noise, which is called
engine knock.

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 Otto cycle

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example summary
P3 = 4345 kPa
T3 = 1575 K
u3 = 1275 kJ/kg
vr3 = 6.108
v3 = v2
P4 = 274 kPa
T4 = 796 K
u4 = 589 kJ/kg
vr4 = 48.864
v4 = v1

P2 = 1800 kPa P1 = 100 kPa

T2 = 653 K T1 = 290 K
u2 = 475 kJ/kg u1 = 209 kJ/kg
vr2 = 84.51 vr1 = 676.1
v2 = 0.1040 m3/kg v1 = 0.8323 m3/kg

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 Diesel cycle
Combustion process differs (SI: equal v; CI: equal p) in idealized cycle. The Diesel cycle is
the ideal cycle for CI reciprocating engines.
In gasoline engines, a mixture of air and fuel is compressed during the compression stroke,
and the compression ratios are limited by the onset of autoignition or engine knock. In
diesel engines, only air is compressed during the compression stroke, eliminating the
possibility of autoignition. Therefore, diesel engines can be designed to operate at much
higher compression ratios, typically between 12 and 24. Not having to deal with the
problem of autoignition has another benefit: many of the stringent requirements placed on
the gasoline can now be removed, and fuels that are less refined (thus less expensive) can
be used in diesel engines.

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 Diesel cycle
The fuel injection process in diesel engines starts when the piston approaches TDC and
continues during the first part of the power stroke. Therefore, the combustion process in
these engines takes place over a longer interval. Because of this longer duration, the
combustion process in the ideal Diesel cycle is approximated as a constant-pressure heat-
addition process. In fact, this is the only process where the Otto and the Diesel cycles differ.
Process Description
1-2 Isentropic compression
2-3 Constant pressure heat addition
3-4 Isentropic expansion
4-1 Constant volume heat rejection

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 Diesel cycle

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 Diesel cycle

The thermal efficiency of the ideal Diesel cycle under the cold-air standard assumptions
becomes

Define a new quantity, the cutoff ratio rc, as the ratio of the cylinder volumes after and
before the combustion process

where r is the compression ratio.

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 Otto cycle vs Diesel cycle
Otto cycle Diesel cycle

when both cycles operate on the same compression ratio.

For the limiting case of rc = 1, the quantity in the brackets
becomes unity, and the efficiencies of the Otto and Diesel
cycles become identical.
rc = 1, x = 0, [ ] = 1

When rc > 1 for a fixed r,  th , Diesel   th , .Otto

But, since rDiesel  rOtto ,  th , Diesel   th., Otto

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 Otto cycle vs Diesel cycle
Otto cycle (20-30%) Diesel cycle (35-40%)

Diesel engines operate at much higher compression ratios (rc : 12 vs 8) and thus are usually
more efficient than the sparkignition (gasoline) engines.
The diesel engines also burn
the fuel more completely
since they usually operate at
lower revolutions per
minute and the air–fuel
mass ratio is much higher
than spark-ignition engines.
Thermal efficiencies of
large diesel engines range
from about 35 to 40 percent.

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 Ignition, pollution

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 Dual cycle
Approximating the combustion process in internal combustion engines as a constant-volume
or a constant-pressure heat addition process is overly simplistic. A better (but slightly more
complex) approach would be to model the combustion process in both gasoline and diesel
engines as a combination of two heat-transfer process, one at constant-volume and the other
at constant pressure.
The ideal cycle based on this concept is called the dual cycle.

Note that both the Otto and the Diesel cycles can be obtained
as special cases of the dual cycle. Dual cycle is a more
realistic model than diesel cycle for representing modern,
high-speed compression ignition engines.

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 Example
Example 9-3 The Ideal Diesel Cycle
An ideal Diesel cycle with air as the working fluid has a compression ratio of 18 and a
cutoff ratio of 2. At the beginning of the compression process, the working fluid is at 100
kPa, 27oC, and 1917 cm3. Utilizing the cold-air-standard assumptions, determine (a) the
temperature and pressure of air at the end of each process, (b) the net work output and the
thermal efficiency, and (c) the mean effective pressure.

Solution An ideal Diesel cycle is considered. The

temperature and pressure at the end of each process, the
net work output, the thermal efficiency, and the mean
effective pressure are to be determined .
Assumptions 1 The cold-air-standard assumptions are
applicable and thus air can be assumed to have constant
specific heats at room temperature. 2 Kinetic and
potential energy changes are negligible.

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 Example
Example 9-3 The Ideal Diesel Cycle
An ideal Diesel cycle with air as the working fluid has a compression ratio of 18 and a
cutoff ratio of 2. At the beginning of the compression process, the working fluid is at 100
kPa, 27oC, and 1917 cm3. Utilizing the cold-air-standard assumptions, determine (a) the
temperature and pressure of air at the end of each process, (b) the net work output and the
thermal efficiency, and (c) the mean effective pressure.

Properties The gas constant of air is R = 0.287 kJ/kg.K

and its other properties at room temperature are
cp = 1.005 kJ/kg.K, cv = 0.718 kJ/kg.K, and k = 1.4
(Table A-2a).
Analysis The P-v diagram of the ideal Diesel cycle
described is shown in right figure. We note that the air
contained in the cylinder forms a closed system .

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example summary
P3 = P2
T3 = 1906 K
P2 = 5720 kPa V3 = 213 cm3
T2 = 953 K
V2 = 107 cm3 P4 = 264 kPa
T4 = 791 K
V4 = V1

P1 = 100 kPa
Process Description T1 = 300 K
1-2 Isentropic compression V1 = 1917 cm3
2-3 Constant pressure heat addition
3-4 Isentropic expansion
4-1 Constant volume heat rejection

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 Brayton cycle
• The Brayton cycle is the air-standard ideal cycle approximation for the gas-turbine
engine. This cycle differs from the Otto and Diesel cycles in that the processes making
the cycle occur in open systems or control volumes. Therefore, an open system, steady-
flow analysis is used to determine the heat transfer and work for the cycle.
• The open gas-turbine cycle can be modeled as a closed cycle, by utilizing the air-
standard assumptions. Here the compression and expansion processes remain the same,
but the combustion process is replaced by a constant-pressure heat-addition process from
an external source, and the exhaust process is replaced by a constant-pressure.

Open cycle Closed cycle

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 Brayton cycle
• Open cycle closed by “exhaust heat transfer” assumption. This is
at constant pressure (4-1), the only difference from the Diesel Diesel cycle
cycle which assumes constant volume. Diesel engine has less
work output in this regard as the piston must push the exhaust
air out quickly (by the fixed crank-slider(piston) mechanism) for
next cycle and there is insufficient time to allow full pressure
drop and do work.
• Compression and expansion take place in rotating machinery,
assumed isentropic in ideal cycles.

Brayton cycle

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 Brayton cycle
Process Description
1-2 Isentropic compression (in compressor)
2-3 Constant pressure heat addition
3-4 Isentropic expansion (in turbine)
4-1 Constant pressure heat rejection

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

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

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

Substituting these equations into the thermal efficiency

relation and simplifying give

where is the pressure ratio and is

the specific heat ratio.

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 Brayton cycle efficiency
The efficiency equation shows that under the cold-air-standard assumptions, the thermal
efficiency of an ideal Brayton cycle depends on the pressure ratio of the gas turbine and the
specific heat ratio of the working fluid. The thermal efficiency increases with both of these
parameters, which is also the case for actual gas turbines.

The highest temperature in the cycle occurs at the end of the

combustion process (state 3), and it is limited by the maximum
temperature that the turbine blades can withstand. Tmax = T3

Net work output for a given Tmin = T1 and Tmax = T3 is also

important. Low net work per unit mass flow means large
engine for a required level of power output

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 Brayton cycle efficiency
This also limits the pressure ratios that can be used in the cycle.
In most common designs, the pressure ratio of gas turbines
ranges from about 11 to 16.

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example summary
Pr2 = 11.09
Pr3 = 330.9
T2 = 540 K
T3 = 1300 K
h2 = 544.35 kJ/kg
h3 = 1396 kJ/kg
s3 = s4

Pr1 = 1.386
T1 = 300 K Pr4 = 41.36
h1 = 300 kJ/kg T4 = 700 K
s1 = s2 h4 = 789.37 kJ/kg

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 Gas turbine
• Air is oxidant for combustion and also a coolant for the machine.
• The amount of airflow is more than necessary for combustion, normally the air-fuel
mass ratio is ~ 50 and the air-standard assumptions are quite accurate.
• Mass flow through turbine is slightly more than that through compressor due to fuel
addition.
• In aircraft engine, turbine work=compressor and the hot exhaust is converted to jet
momentum for thrust and flight power.
• In gas turbine (power generation), the compressor work consumed > 50% of turbine
work output, which is much higher than that in steam turbine (<10%).
• Exhaust of gas turbine is normally hot and can be used to heat up water in steam
turbine in a combined gas-steam cycle.
• Advantage of gas turbine (vs steam turbine): greater power for a given size &
weight; high reliability; long life; convenient operation; fast start-up time (< 2 mins,
steam turbines ~4 hrs).

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 Brayton cycle deviations
The actual gas-turbine cycle differs from the ideal Brayton cycle on several accounts. For
one thing, some pressure drop during the heat-addition and heat-rejection processes is
inevitable. More importantly, the actual work input to the compressor is more, and the
actual work output from the turbine is less because of irreversibilities.
The deviation of actual compressor and turbine
behavior from the idealized isentropic behavior can
be accurately accounted for by utilizing the
isentropic efficiencies of the turbine and compressor
as
Compressor

Turbine

Typical isentropic component efficiencies are 85% for

modern compressor and 90% for turbine

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Brayton cycle regeneration
In gas-turbine engines, the temperature of the exhaust gas leaving the turbine is often
considerably higher than the temperature of the air leaving the compressor. Therefore, the
high-pressure air leaving the compressor can be heated by transferring heat to it from the
hot exhaust gases in a counter-flow heat exchanger, which is also known as a regenerator.
The highest temperature occurring within the regenerator is T4, the temperature of the
exhaust gases leaving the turbine and entering the regenerator. Under no conditions can
the air be preheated in the regenerator to a temperature above this value. Air normally
leaves the regenerator at a lower temperature, T5. In the limiting (ideal) case, the air exits
the regenerator at the inlet temperature of the exhaust gases T4.

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 Brayton cycle regeneration

Assuming the regenerator to be well insulated and

any changes in kinetic and potential energies to be
negligible, the actual and maximum heat transfers
from the exhaust gases to the air can be expressed
as

The extent to which a regenerator approaches an

ideal regenerator is called the effectiveness
cold-air-standard assumptions

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 Brayton cycle “perfect” regeneration
A regenerator with a higher effectiveness obviously saves a greater amount of fuel since it
preheats the air to a higher temperature prior to combustion.
However, achieving a higher effectiveness requires the use of a larger regenerator, which
carries a higher price tag and causes a larger pressure drop.
Therefore, the use of a regenerator with a very high
effectiveness cannot be justified economically unless
the savings from the fuel costs exceed the additional
expenses involved. The effectiveness of most regenerators
used in practice is below 0.85.
Under the cold-air-standard assumptions, the thermal
efficiency of an ideal Brayton cycle with regeneration is

Regeneration is most effective at lower pressure ratios

and low minimum-to-maximum temperature ratios.

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 Example

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 Example

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 Brayton cycle intercooling and reheating
The net work of a gas-turbine cycle is the difference between the turbine work output and
the compressor work input, and it can be increased by either decreasing the compressor
work or increasing the turbine work, or both.
The work required to compress a gas between two specified pressures can be decreased by
carrying out the compression process in stages and cooling the gas in between, that is,
using multistage compression with intercooling.
Likewise, the work output of a turbine operating between two
pressure levels can be increased by expanding the gas in stages and
reheating it in between—that is, utilizing multistage expansion with
reheating.

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Brayton cycle intercooling and reheating

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 When to use du(cv) or dh(cp)

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 Summary

TL
 th , Carnot  1 
TH

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