Original Article

Proc IMechE Part A:

J Power and Energy
Gas turbine efficiency and ramp 2021, Vol. 235(4) 866–884
! IMechE 2020

rate improvement through

compressed air injection Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0957650920932083
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Kamal Abudu1, Uyioghosa Igie1 , Orlando Minervino2 and

Richard Hamilton2

Abstract
With the transition to more use of renewable forms of energy in Europe, grid instability that is linked to the intermit-
tency in power generation is a concern, and thus, the fast response of on-demand power systems like gas turbines has
become more important. This study focuses on the injection of compressed air to facilitate the improvement in the
ramp-up rate of a heavy-duty gas turbine. The steady-state analysis of compressed airflow injection at part-load and full
load indicates power augmentation of up to 25%, without infringing on the surge margin. The surge margin is also seen to
be more limiting at part-load with maximum closing of the variable inlet guide vane than at high load with a maximum
opening. Nevertheless, the percentage increase in the thermal efficiency of the former is slightly greater for the same
amount of airflow injection. Part-load operations above 75% of power show higher thermal efficiencies with airflow
injection when compared with other load variation approaches. The quasi-dynamic simulations performed using constant
mass flow method show that the heavy-duty gas turbine ramp-up rate can be improved by 10% on average, for every 2%
of compressor outlet airflow injected during ramp-up irrespective of the starting load. It also shows that the limitation of
the ramp-up rate improvement is dominated by the rear stages and at lower variable inlet guide vane openings. The
turbine entry temperature is found to be another restrictive factor at a high injection rate of up to 10%. However, the 2%
injection rate is shown to be the safest, also offering considerable performance enhancements. It was also found that the
ramp-up rate with air injection from the minimum environmental load to full load amounted to lower total fuel con-
sumption than the design case.

Keywords
Flexibility, gas turbine, ramp rate, power augmentation

Date received: 5 January 2020; accepted: 13 May 2020

The ramping requirements of a geographical region

Introduction are set by grid codes; these documents specify the
The increased renewable energy subscription and minimum required ramp rates for its generators to
legislation on emissions is changing the role of con- ensure a resilient grid. With more renewable power
ventional forms of power generation, such as gas and utilization, it is expected that these grid codes
coal-fired plants. However, to maintain a stable grid become more stringent, allowing only the most
in the developing energy mix, these fossil-fuelled com- responsive of conventional plants to operate. The
bustion engines need to ramp-up to high power, to UK grid code (regarded as the most stringent in
make up for the shortfall of renewable forms of Europe) requires that engines can provide 10% of
energy (that are typically intermittent), in a short the rated capacity in 10 s, following a 0.5 Hz drop in
time. The rate of response of a gas turbine (GT)
also called its ramp-up rate is an important perform- 1
School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield
ance indicator of operational flexibility, as well as a University, Cranfield, UK
2
selling point for original equipment manufacturers Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe, London, UK
(OEMs). GT ramp rates are primarily limited by the
Corresponding author:
rate of change of turbine entry temperature (TET), Uyioghosa Igie, Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield,
due to the thermo-mechanical stresses that determine Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK.
engine life. Email: [email protected]
Abudu et al. 867

frequency. This is in addition to the capability of gen- from add-on multi-stage intercooled centrifugal com-
erating full power output (PO) for a minimum of pressor modules powered by natural gas.
5 min during a 0.5 Hz frequency drop.1 These require- With regards to compressed air injection technol-
ments have caused OEMs and plant operators to ogy, a few studies have explored this for GT power
explore technologies for improving ramp rates and augmentation and ramp rate improvements. Salvini15
peaking capabilities. Based on Table 1, the average investigated a recuperated GT, considering two con-
ramp rate of an F-class heavy-duty GT is about figurations: compressed air energy storage (CAES)
25 MW/min that corresponds to 10%/min of rated air injection and CAES air injection with expanders.
capacity. This is expected to increase to a minimum The latter approach proved better as a result of pre-
of 38 MW/min, to accommodate renewable energy heating of the injected air, as well as an additional
generation, noted in Gonzalez-Salazar et al.8 expander. This study identified that the short dis-
Balling9 study is based on Siemens technology; the charge duration causes high storage efficiencies of
article explains the Fast Cycling concept that enables up to 70%, also concluding that additional expan-
faster combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) start-up, ders are beneficial for power augmentation but not
by combining GT and ST ramping using their Start so for the storage efficiency. Wojcik and Wang,16 on
on the Fly technology. The study suggests that they the other hand, studied the feasibility of integrating
can satisfy the frequency requirements of the UK grid adiabatic CAES systems with a CCGT. Their con-
code by fast variation of the variable inlet guide vanes figuration uses the GT compressor for first stage
(VIGVs) and an optimized fuel control system that CAES compression, a thermal energy store and air
ensures power ramp-up without adverse impacts on expanders, all of which leads to a power augmenta-
combustion. A combination of software and hard- tion of 47.5% over the recorded CCGT plant cap-
ware has been considered by General Electric (GE) acity. Salvini17 presents a performance analysis for a
as shown in GE Power.10 The upgrade includes an CAES integrated CCGT. Like the previous work of
advanced gas path installation, which involves better the author, the compression train was powered by a
turbine blade design and materials to improve aero- motor, with an air heater used to increase injection
dynamic efficiency, durability, and firing tempera- air energy. Using a modified storage efficiency equa-
tures; a DLN2.6 þ combustor system; and OPFlex tion, over 58% storage efficiency for the CCGT com-
Suite consisting of fast start, fast ramp, and turndown bined with CAES was achieved. The study also
control modules.10,11 The critical improvements which shows a trade-off between storage efficiency and
enable the faster ramp-up are the improved turbine plant cost, with a variation of initial pressure of
firing temperature and controls.12 the storage tank.
Other methods of improving the flexibility of a GT Igie et al.18 focus on the stand-alone GT with
with respect to power ramp-up have involved add- respect to an assumed CAES. This study shows the
itional system integration. The GE LM6000 Hybrid performance benefits of different injection air tem-
EGTTM (electric GT) combines the benefits of a bat- peratures, as well as the influence of the design stage
tery storage system and the fast ramping up capability pressure ratio distribution on stall margin. Though
of this engine that is related to its aero-derivative PO increased with more air injection, its value
multi-spool design. The technology features a reduced for a given rate when the injection tempera-
10 MW battery storage system which enables immedi- ture increased. However, this brought about an
ate power response and high-fidelity frequency increase in thermal efficiency due to the increased spe-
response.13 Perri14 indicates that an improvement cific heat. This work did not consider transient oper-
of 5 MW/min at International Organization for ations as presented in Kim and Kim19 that evaluate
Standardization (ISO) conditions can be achieved the potential ramp rate benefit from injecting
for heavy-duty GT with compressed airflow injection compressed air at the discharge of a 15 MW GT

Table 1. Ramp-up rates for F-class GTs by different OEMs.

Power output Ramp rate Ramp rate

OEM Model (MW) (MW/min) (%/min) Reference

GE 9F.05 314 24 8 GE Power2

GE 7F.04 198 30 15 GE Power3
GE 6F.03 88 7 8 GE Power4
Siemens SGT6-5000F 360 40 11 Siemens5
Mitsubishi M501F 185 12 6 Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems6
Mitsubishi M701F 385 38 10 Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems7
GE: General Electric; GT: gas turbine; OEM: original equipment manufacturer.
868 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

compressor, taking into account the variability in the isDP

SFis ¼ ð2Þ
rotational speed. The study optimizes the injection isDPMap
schedule and concludes that a linear increase and
decrease of injection airflow is required for optimum CMFDp
SFCMF ¼ ð3Þ
ramp-up. Consequently, the authors theoretically CMFDPMap
confirm the potential of using compressed air from
CAES to improve GT ramp rates. This study, unlike where
previous works, explores the potentials of compressed
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
airflow injection for heavy-duty GT operating at a 101325 Pa Tin
constant rotational speed that is set by grid require- CMF ¼ Min   ð4Þ
Pin 288:15K
ment. It presents:
In the design and off-design analysis, the computa-
. the benefits and limitations of air injection that is tions must satisfy the work balance and compatibility
restricted by the surge margin and the TET of flow and rotational speed as indicated in equations
. improvements in part-load efficiency are shown (5) to (7). In addition to this, the Newton–Raphson
and compared with other load variation strategies method is used to determine convergence for off-
. a quasi-dynamic analysis to quantify the improve- design calculations
ments in the load ramp rates from 50% of the load  
at maximum VIGV opening PO ¼ M17  Cp 17  ðT17  T21 Þ
. the improvements in ramp rates attainable from  
 M17  Cp 2  ðT9  T2 Þ ð5Þ
the minimum environmental load (MEL) to full
load (FL), when VIGV schedules are included pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
M17 T17 M2 T2 P2 P9 T17 M17
¼     ð6Þ
P17 P2 P9 P17 T2 M2
This study shows the ramp rate capability of com-
pressed air injection with an emphasis on operability. pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
N N Tin
The combination of VIGV operations with the pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð7Þ
lumped compressor stages employed to replicate Tout Tin Tout
multi-stage operations has demonstrated more indica-
tive compressor limitation that was previously not evi- Operational requirements can be attained by
dent in studies that model the compressor as one adjusting the VIGV, which is achieved through fur-
‘brick’. The impact of this is highlighted in the latter ther scaling of maps. The models generated can be
part of this paper. controlled using shaft speed, combustor outlet tem-
perature (COT), or fixed PO, depending on the appli-
cation. The combustor mean temperature (CMT) and
Set-up under investigation exhaust gas temperature (EGT) can also be set as
The single shaft 185 MW engine under investigation is model controls.
inspired by a generic Mitsubishi F-class GT. The Figure 1 illustrates the simulation set-up of the
design and off-design behaviour have been modelled engine model that consists of four compressor
and simulated using Cranfield University’s in-house bricks, each of which are lumped stages. The individ-
software – Turbomatch. The zero-dimensional code ual lumped stages have between them air extractions
was written in FORTRAN language, with the cap- for cooling the turbine. It can also be observed that
ability to run both steady-state and transient GT per- some of the discharge air from the compressor exit is
formance simulations. used for the turbine and combustor cooling. A unique
The tool accounts for turbomachinery effects in the feature of this engine is the cooling of the combustor
compressor and turbine using embedded standard exit flow through a bypass into the transition piece.
component maps. There is also a generalized combus- The amount of air through this bypass varies at dif-
tor map used to evaluate the combustion efficiency ferent loads, unlike the other cooling flows that are
variations. For design point (DP) computations, the active and constant for all the operations. The flow
software performs an energy balance for the simulated leaves the dummy CAES into the GT; this type of
system using defined inputs. However, first, it rescales operation is referred to as discharging of the storage
the selected component maps to new maps used, system. The injection is assumed to occur behind the
based on user-defined inputs such as pressure ratio, diffuser, between stations 10 and 11, that is immedi-
component efficiency, and corrected mass flow ately after the turbine cooling flow extraction. In
(CMF). Their scale factors (SF) are defined as practice, the storage pressure is greater than the max-
shown in equations (1) to (3) imum operating pressure of the GT, by using auxiliary
components as described in Wojcik and Wang16 and
PRDP  1 Salvini.17 Thus, the air pressure is sufficient to allow
SFPR ¼ ð1Þ
PRDPMap  1 for injection into the GT. The pressures and tempera-
tures of the added flows are assumed to be the same as
Abudu et al. 869

Figure 1. Flow injection set-up with a dummy storage system. CAES: compressed air energy storage.

Table 2. Engine performance specification at DP.

Design parameters Comment

Ambient conditions ISO –

Intake mass flow 457 kg/s Evaluated from public data6
Compressor overall pressure ratio 16 Public information
Compressor overall efficiency 86% Assumed
Combustor pressure loss 4% Assumed
Combustor efficiency 99% Assumed
Turbine efficiency 89% Assumed
Combustor mean temperature 1786 K Evaluated from public data20
Fuel lower heating value 45.5 MJ/kg –
DP: design point; ISO: International Organization for Standardization.

the corresponding compressor exit values. This sim- where PR is the individual pressure ratios of the indi-
plification ensures the integration of the injected and vidual compressor (comp. 1–4), whose product
compressor discharge airflow with minimum supple- amounts to the compressor overall pressure ratio
mentary compressor work and minimal distortions. In (OPR), i.e P9/P2.
addition, similar temperatures enable a constant fuel– The DP performance at which the engine is mod-
air ratio to attain the desired combustion tempera- elled is indicated in Table 2. These are typical values
ture. The average TET at station 17 is a result of based on the technology of the engine, some of which
the cooling flows. The turbine is modelled as one are public information.
brick for simplicity, as it is least prone to aerodynamic Table 3 shows the DP calculated parameters,
problems for the study under investigation. The tur- also in comparison to the OEM published data in
bine drives all four compressor bricks on the same Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems.6 This indicates
shaft, and the total driven work of the compressor is a low percentage error, and in addition, the off-
the sum of the individual bricks. The surge margin design validation was conducted. Figure 2 illus-
utilization (SMU) defines the proximity of the operat- trates the validation of the off-design calculations
ing point and the surge line of the individual lumped based on the variation of ambient temperatures at
stages. This is mathematically represented in equation fixed COT. It shows good agreement with the pub-
(8); an assumed SMU of 85% (i.e. 15% surge margin) licly available OEM data,6 having the highest per-
is specified for all the lumped stages at the DP. centage error of 2% for one temperature; the mean
   error across the nine cases is 0.2%. Further details
PRworking  PRmin of the design and off-design calculations are pro-
SMUð%Þ ¼  100 ð8Þ
PRstall  PRmin vided in Igie et al.,18 MacMillan,21 and Pellegrini
et al.22
870 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Table 3. DP performance of calculated parameters and % Steady-state flow injection at

error.
DP – max. fixed VIGV opening
Performance
parameters OEM data Model % Error The first case of air injection investigated is that of a
steady-state, with a fixed maximum opening of the
Net power output 185.4 MW 185.4 MW 0.0 VIGV, keeping the CMT (1786 K) constant. Airflow
Thermal efficiency 37.0% 37.0% 0.1 injections up to 15% of the compressor discharge flow
Heat rate 9740 kJ/kW h 9723 kJ/kW h 0.2 (CDF) have been considered. Air injection allows for
Exhaust gas 886.0 K 895.3 K 1.0 more fuel flow as shown in Figure 3(a), to maintain
temperature the same value of CMT. With an increase in air and
Exhaust mass flow 468 kg/s 468 kg/s 0.0 fuel flow in the engine, the PO rises such that the gains
(in flow and useful work) are greater than the heat
OEM: original equipment manufacturer.
input; thus, an improvement in the thermal efficiency
as indicated in the figure. Figure 3(a) also shows up to
25% increase in PO with a 12% rise in the thermal
efficiency when 15% of air is injected. Lower values
are obtained at lower air injection rates, such as 5%
flow injection that amounts to a 9% increase in the
PO. Figure 3(b) shows the rise in OPR that is a result
of increased work output in the turbine that leads to a
higher compressor work. The increased work output
in the turbine is caused by the rise in the air and fuel
flow, with a higher TET that is a function of the cool-
ing scheme applied.
In these conditions (before and after air injections),
the turbine is choked, this means that the inlet non-
dimensional mass flow is unchanged or fixed. Hence,
the inlet pressure of the turbine (at station 17 of
Figure 1) must be higher to satisfy the compatibility
of flow between the turbomachinery components as
indicated in equation (6). The effect is an increase in
Figure 2. Off-design validation of engine model – varying the compressor back pressure leading to higher OPR
ambient temperatures. OEM: original equipment manufacturer. and a rise in the compressor discharge temperature

Figure 3. Effect of flow injection on engine performance. (a) Performance parameters and (b) OPR and temperatures. CDT:
compressor discharge temperature; OPR: overall pressure ratio; TET: turbine entry temperature.
Abudu et al. 871

Figure 4. Operating points of last lumped stages during flow

injection – max VIGV opening. DP: design point. Figure 5. Operating points of last lumped stages during flow
injection – max VIGV closing.

(CDT) that is due to the increase in the compressor

work. The implication of equation (6) is that the inlet
airflow into the compressor is reduced, as a result of
greater back pressure of the turbine leading to a simi-
lar effect at the back of the compressor. This inlet flow
reduction is indicated in Figure 4 that shows the oper-
ating point of the lumped stages (comp. 4) moving
towards surge, as injection airflow increases.
Figure 4 also shows the isentropic efficiency of the
lumped stages that decreases with airflow injection,
due to a higher rise in temperature ratios than its
pressure ratios. Nevertheless, the entire compressor
isentropic efficiency is almost constant in these cases,
due to a similar order of magnitude in the increase in
the overall ratios. The SMU for the highest air injec-
tion (that is 15%) is 97% based on equation (8). That
of the 5 and 10% injections are 90 and 94%,
respectively.

Steady-state flow injection at part-load –

max. fixed VIGV closing
In this case, the VIGV is closed, to reduce the PO of
the engine to low part-load before air injection. The Figure 6. SMU at different operations. VIGV: variable inlet
rationale for this is that high PO obtained by flow guide vane.
injection at FL may not be required in actual oper-
ation, as this PO exceeds the rated capacity of the consequence of this is a reduction in the surge
engine. Thus, it is of interest to investigate VIGV clos- margin after the closure of the VIGV. The SMU is
ure with air injection. Similarly, a fixed CMT of also shown on the left of Figure 6, where 0 is the
1786 K is also applied, and with reference to the pre- maximum VIGV opening, while 40 is the maximum
vious case, the operating point shifts to the top right closing. The injection of 5, 10, and 15% of the CDF
of the compressor map as shown in Figure 5. Though increases the surge utilization (or reduces surge
the actual mass flow reduces, the CMF increase due to margin). At 15% air injection, the back compressor
a higher drop in inlet pressure than the corresponding would go into surge as shown in Figures 5 and 6.
drop in flow and temperature, respectively. As such, In comparison to the flow injection at FL with max
at the same rotational speed and higher corrected VIGV opening, the finding suggests that more air can
flow, more work is done in these last stages that be injected safely, for wider VIGV openings, related
brings about a rise in the pressure ratio. The to higher values of PO. This also infers that with more
872 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Figure 8. Thermal efficiency versus PO – with air injection

and without (fixed and varied VIGV). CMT: combustor mean
temperature; VIGV: variable inlet guide vane.

increasing air injections from the left to right signify

an increasing thermal efficiency that is greater than
Figure 7. Effect of flow injection on performance parameters the other two cases from about 75% of the rated
– max VIGV closing.
PO onwards. Better thermal efficiency below this PO
is shown for the case of CMT variation. This is a
closing of the VIGV, the maximum airflow that can result of the higher OPR at low load, compared to
be injected will reduce with concern about the surge. the former that operates from a closed VIGV pos-
This is demonstrated by the fact that in the case of ition. However, this changes with increased injection
max closing of the VIGV with an injection of 15%, as explained. The VIGV variation (at fixed CMT) case
the surge margin is 2%, while at the maximum for which the thermal efficiency is the least, has advan-
opening it is 3%. tages not shown here, with regards to higher EGT for
Figure 7 shows the performance of the respective CCGT operation.
injection cases (5, 10, and 15%). The figure indicates With regards to the rationale of modelling the
that the PO at maximum closing is in fact 68% of the engine into split lumped compressor stages rather
rated FL without injection. That of the thermal effi- than one bulk compressor as shown in published
ciency and fuel flow are 92 and 74%, respectively. It is work, Figure 9 highlights the merit of the discretized
noticeable when compared to Figure 3(a) that the approached used in this study. The figure indicates the
increases in the performance parameters due to injec- variation in SMU with 2% (top of each bar) and no
tions are a little smaller, due to slightly higher per- injection for both models, at different VIGV position.
centage rise in fuel flow at low-load injections to Where comp. 1/4 to 4/4 relates to the existing model,
maintain the same constant CMT. that of one bulk compressor is shown to be more
The thermal efficiency with air injection has been optimistic with the SMU. Hence does not adequately
compared to that obtained in normal operations, to capture the severity to surge when air is injected.
quantify part-load efficiency improvements. This is a
comparison of the thermal efficiencies for the Transient flow injection at part-load –
same PO, with and without injection as shown in
max. fixed VIGV opening
Figure 8. The normal operations indicated here are
of two types: first, the modulation of the VIGV to This part of the study onward focuses on the ramp
change the PO and presented using the dashed line. rates, and in this section, the emphasis is load ramp
Second, the variation of fuel flow to change the PO, from 50% of the PO when the VIGV is fully open.
for a fixed maximum opening of the VIGV. In this The response rate investigated here is that of a quasi-
latter case, the operating point on the line moves more transient simulation of ramp-ups through airflow
vertically on the compressor map, as opposed to more injection. This analysis is based on the following
horizontally in the former case. The latter is referred assumptions:
to as TET variation, indicated by a dotted line.
Operating the engine in this mode is generally more . heat soakage and volume storage effects are negli-
efficient as shown, due to the better fuel-to-air ratio, gible for heavy-duty GTs23
with more air mass flow through the engine and a . ramp-up rate is limited by combustion temperature
higher OPR. (CMT) schedule
The case of airflow injections at a fixed VIGV pos- . a perfect control system in present: rotational
ition of 40 (maximum closing) is up to 10%. The speed is maintained at 100%
Abudu et al. 873

Figure 9. SMU for existing discretized compressor model and bulk case at different VIGV opening – with and without injection.
VIGV: variable inlet guide vane.

. vibration effects are considered acceptable

. constant rate of opening and closing for airflow Table 4. Input data for design transient simulation.
injection valve
Input data Value
The constant mass flow (CMF) method for transi- Preceding steady-state simulations 12
ent simulation was used in this investigation. The Engine rotational speed (r/min) 3600
method assumes continuous flow compatibility Rotor Inertia (kg/m2) 42,000
between compressor and turbine and neglects the Ramp rate (MW/min) 12
effects of mass storage. This method also reduces Ramp rate (%/min) 6.5
computation time and enables multiple cases to be
Starting power output (%) 50%
explored. The CMF method computes rotational
Target power output (%) 100%
speed change using the surplus work output, inertia,
and rotational speed of the engine.24 However, in this Time range (s) 700
analysis, the surplus work is added to the PO of the Time step (s) 0.05
engine and the speed of the GT remains constant to Rate of airflow injection (%/s) 0.01
satisfy the assumption of a perfect control system.
Table 4 shows some inputs for the time-based simu-
lation that has been conducted without injection. compressor (CW) gives the required load and results
Figure 22 of Appendix 1 shows a simplified computa- in no surplus power (SP). Consequently, the com-
tional procedure for the constant mass flow transient puted shaft acceleration tends to zero and the engine
method. The calculation proceeds with a steady-state maintains a constant speed at its new power setting
turndown to 50% PO, which initializes the quasi- (PO0 ). The sequence is repeated until the target power
dynamic simulation by providing the CMF of the tur- of 100% is achieved. It should be noted that the sim-
bine inlet and outlet (assumed constant). Applying the plified procedure assumes minor variations in CMFs,
OEM ramp rate at the initial power and with the isentropic efficiencies, combustor pressure loss, and
specified time step, the TET (T0 17) increases to attain gas properties, which are accounted for in the soft-
the new power setting. The increased TET facilitates ware used. The operation described here is a load
the evaluation of the new turbine inlet pressure (P0 17), ramp which implies moving vertically on the compres-
which determines the compressor OPR0 and compres- sor map.
sor work (CW). The constant CMFs (CMF17 and The ramp rate simulation strategy is shown in
CMF21) define the expected turbine pressure ratio Figure 10; a quasi-transient simulation was performed
which implies temperature ratio through the isen- using the defined PO schedule to obtain the CMT as a
tropic relation. The new temperature difference function of time. This is conducted, starting from
(T0 17T0 21) across the turbine then dictates the 50% of the PO, up to 100%. For the injection case
power generated. As the engine is a single shaft, the on the right of the flow chart, a different PO schedule
work difference between the turbine (TW) and is arrived at, that is a consequence of the injection
874 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Figure 10. Flow chart indicating the strategy for the ramp rate increase – max VIGV opening. OEM: original equipment
manufacturer.

rate. This operation is constrained such that the CMT while the thermal efficiency increases the most, due
trend is identical to the case of no air injection on the to the OPR increase.
left-hand side. The iterative process stops when both The ramp rate obtained is analysed in different
CMT trends are identical with a root mean square likelihoods: the default case, optimistic, pessimistic,
error (RMSE) less than a Kelvin. The respective PO and average ramp rates as indicated in equations (9)
trends are compared to evaluate the improvement in to (12). As implied, the optimistic ramp rate calculates
ramp rate. the best ramp rate achievable. This is defined by the
Figure 11 indicates the differences in PO with and change in PO with time duration; for this case, it is the
without injections with the time duration. It shows no difference between the maximum POf achieved and
flow injection during the first 50 s of the ramp-up; the lowest POi(opt.) – 50% of PO, against their respect-
afterwards, the air injection valve gradually opens to ive time difference tf and ti(opt.). In a similar formula-
deliver 2% of CDF which corresponds to approxi- tion, that of the pessimistic case still considers the
mately 7.5 kg/s to the plenum. The injection rate is maximum PO and earliest time to achieve this tf,
kept constant, leading to an increase in fuel flow with reference to a higher starting PO (that does not
and OPR until the design PO is achieved. At this account for the initial gradual increase in airflow) and
point, the air injection valve closes, and the combus- corresponding time ti(pess.). An average is also con-
tion temperature increases to maintain full PO. The sidered between the two scenarios as shown.
100% PO is achieved at 44 s earlier as shown, in the Optimistic ramp rates include the benefits of the injec-
case of 2% airflow injection. Figure 23 in Appendix 1 tion valve opening period as a faster ramp is observed
shows the engine operating parameters during a when the injection flow rate increases from none to
ramp-up for both cases. The figure shows the rapid the desired injection amount. Following this, a more
increase of most parameters as the air injection valve modest ramp rate is obtained. This effect is primarily
opens, although a slight reduction in inlet mass flow. due to the increased OPR accompanying the injection
The rotational speed is also shown to be constant, and a corresponding fuel flow increase
Abudu et al. 875

Figure 11. PO and airflow injection with time – with and without injection. PO: power output.

POf  POiðopt:Þ
RRðdef:Þ ¼ ð9Þ
ðtfðdefÞ  tiðopt:Þ Þ=60
 
POf  POiðopt:Þ
RRðopt:Þ ¼ ð10Þ
ðtf  tiðopt:Þ Þ=60

 
POf  POiðpess:Þ
RRðpess:Þ ¼ ð11Þ
ðtf  tiðpess:Þ Þ=60

RRðopt:Þ þ RRðpess:Þ
RRðavg:Þ ¼ ð12Þ
2
The procedure is repeated for airflow injections up
to 10% at 2% intervals, and their ramp rates are
shown in Figure 12. These are constant rates of injec-
tion immediately after the gradual valve opening as Figure 12. Increase in ramp rate as a function of flow injec-
tion for different scenarios. RR: ramp-up rate; SMU: surge
shown in Appendix 1 (Figure 24). From the figure, it
margin utilisation.
shows that the ramp rates increase with the flow injec-
tions. These increments are presented in the three
scenarios in Figure 12, showing that for the average
case, at every 2% increase in the flow, the ramp rate
improves by about 10%. At 2% air injection, the
average response rate is 12.9 MW/min representing a
7.5% augmentation. For this case, the corresponding
maximum SMU was 86%. The injection ramp rates
increased up to 46% for the highest injection (10%),
although the SMU approached 91%. Since the CMT
schedule is maintained, airflow injection brings about
an increase in fuel consumption for every ramp rate
increase case as shown in Figure 13. This figure high-
lights the increase in fuel, in tonnes, with their corres-
ponding mass of total air injected.
The RMSE between the CMT of the default case
and the injection ramp-up cases is 1 K, and the left-
hand side of Figure 14 shows their absolute values.
That of the TET is indicated on the right of the figure.
This shows that the gradients increase with injection
Figure 13. Air and fuel quantity as a function of flow
rate, which is attributed to higher cooling flow injection.
876 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Figure 14. CMT and TET schedules for ramp-up – with and without injection.

Figure 15. PO, CMT, and VIGV schedules for default and injection ramp-ups. CMT: combustor mean temperature; MEL: minimum
environmental load; VIGV: variable inlet guide vane.

temperatures that occur with a rise in compressor opening of the vanes. It also consists of the scheduling
work. Figure 25 of Appendix 1 shows the RMSE of the CMT from 88.5% of its design value, at inter-
for both CMT and TET for the cases of air injection. vals of 0.05%, until the maximum value of 1786 K.
The operation consists of segment 1 that involves the
Transient flow injection from MEL to FL increase of CMT and segment 2 that consist of the
opening of the VIGV at fixed CMT as shown in
with variable VIGV Figure 15. The overall procedure for the air injection
The focus of this section is the ramp-up rate of the is as follows:
engine from the MEL that relates to the lowest envir-
onmentally compliant load that is limited by CO emis- 1. From MEL, CMT is increased from 88.5% of
sions. The aim is to reduce the time taken from MEL design value until 100% of its value (at closed
to FL, facilitated by compressed air injection. Unlike VIGV – 40  ). This is achieved simultaneously
the previous investigation, it captures the operation with compressed air injection that increases grad-
from low load (with closed VIGV at 40 ) and the ually until its respective fixed values (2, 4,. . .10%).
Abudu et al. 877

2. At 100% of CMT, i.e 1786 K, the VIGV is then

opened at 1 per 7 s while the CMT remains fixed;
this occurs with the constant injection rate until FL
is achieved and exceeded. It is worth noting that due
to the simultaneous injection of compressed air and
VIGV opening, the FL is reached before the max-
imum opening of the VIGV.

Figure 15 shows the outcome of the implementation of

the strategy, highlighting the default ramp rate of
12 MW/min in the solid line. The implication of using
different compressed air injection rate is shown; these are
discrete operations from 2 to 10% that have identical
VIGV and CMT schedules. For the 2% injection case,
the compressed air is initially introduced at 0.14%/s
before reaching 2% of the CDF. The injected airflow
was maintained at 2% through the CMT rise and
VIGV opening until the engine FL was reached and
exceeded. The duration to reach this PO was recorded
and the augmented ramp rate was calculated. The time
to FL is seen to reduce consistently, as the airflow injec- Figure 16. Ramp rates increase as a function of airflow
tion increases from 2 to 10%. It also brings about higher injection from MEL.
PO earlier, thereby signifying an increase in the ramp
rate as can be calculated using equation (13). In the
figure, it can be observed that there is a slight variation
of the gradient of the trends, especially beyond FL that is
more noticeable. This is due to the change in the com-
bustor variable bypass flow at a different load

POFL  POMEL
RR ¼ ð13Þ
tFL  ðtMEL ¼ 0Þ

The computed improved ramp rates are displayed

in a bar chart in Figure 16 which shows a steady
increase in the ramp rate, with an increase in injection.
Unlike the previous analysis which explores ramp
rates improvements in three perspectives, the analysis
here focuses on the optimistic case to show the most
benefit of airflow injection during ramp-up. The ramp
rate improvement rises to over 50% for the highest
injection percentage; at 2% of air injection, the ramp
rates of the engine increases from 12 to 13.2 MW/min
that is a 10% increase as shown. A consistent increase Figure 17. Reduced fuel consumption as a function of airflow
in ramp rates of approximately 10% is noticed for injection from MEL.
every 2% increase in injected airflow.
Figure 17 shows that the rise in air injection is
accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the As the current analysis involves the opening of the
fuel consumed. The consumption represents accumu- VIGV and rises in CMT to achieve higher power set-
lated fuel flow over the duration of the ramp-up tings, there is more attention on compressor surge. The
between MEL and FL. The injection ramp-up benefits earlier sections of this paper discuss the variation in the
from a shorter duration (with regards fuel consump- compressor operating line for the front and rear stages
tion) as less fuel flow is required to achieve the design during airflow injection at closed VIGV. For the ramp-
Tmax at FL, which occurs at partially closed VIGV. up procedure from MEL here, the front stage map in
Figure 26 of Appendix 1 provides the method of com- Figure 18 shows the changes in the operating point at
puting the fuel consumed and suggests a reduced area MEL with closed VIGV, the CMTmax operation, and
for the 10% injection, in comparison to the default the FL (when VIGV is fully opened) with and without
injection ramp-up, which indicates improved fuel injection. The map shows that there is a small rise in the
consumption. pressure ratio when raising the CMT from MEL, and
878 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Figure 18. Operating points of first lumped stages during

ramp-up. CMT: combustor mean temperature; FL: full load;
MEL: minimum environmental load.
Figure 19. Operating points of last lumped stages during
ramp-up. CMT: combustor mean temperature; FL: full load;
MEL: minimum environmental load.
the final pressure ratio of the lumped stage at maximum
CMT with air injection is greater. The zoomed inset
shows that higher injection ramp-ups increase the Figure 20 shows the SMU of each lumped stage,
SMU more than lower injection ramps, as the increased inclusive of the middle ones (2 and 3) for the different
combustor flow requires a higher pressure ratio. The flow injection. It indicates that 2% injection is gener-
ramp-up proceeds with opening the VIGV which fur- ally the safest operation and that the back lumped
ther increases the SMU as the ingested airflow into the stages (comp. 4) are also the most prone to surge,
engine increases. It should be noted that the surge line with reduced risk towards the front of the compressor.
for this compressor section moves downwards during The first segment operation on the left-hand side of
the VIGV opening. Nonetheless, the ramp-up operation the figure shows a similar increase in SMU for all the
terminates at the FL DP with acceptable SMU values lumped stages with a rise in the airflow injection. This
of 85 and 86.4% for the default and 10% injection is not the case in the second segment when VIGV
ramp-up, respectively. opens. In fact, the SMU of the front stages begins
The compressor map of the rear stages (comp. 4) is to improve, by the signified reduction in the value,
provided in Figure 19 with the default case, minimum while the back stages increase.
and maximum injection ramp-up operating lines. Although the CMT is kept identical for all injec-
Wider variations in SMU are observed for this com- tion cases, their TET varies. This is due to the increase
pressor section in comparison to the front stages due in temperature of cooling flows during injection
to its proximity to the combustor and the location of ramps that could be a limiting factor on the amount
injection. The pressure ratio increase (from CMT of airflow injected. More importantly (than the
increment) raises the SMU in the first segment of increase in TET value) is the rate of increase in TET
the ramp-up as shown, with higher injection rates that impacts thermal transients on the turbine blades
raising the SMU higher. Conversely, the VIGV open- and can be life-limiting. The TET schedules for the
ing reduces the SMU as the CMF is seen to decrease. default and 2% injection ramp-up are shown in
The FL points indicated in the figure suggest a very Figure 21. The figure shows segment 1 and 2 oper-
high SMU of 97.9% for the 10% injection ramp-up in ations, indicating that the TET rises at different rates.
comparison to 88.4 and 85% for the 2% injection and Segment 1, for the default case, has a TET rate of
default ramp-up, respectively. From the map, it is 1.06 K/s, while that of the injection is an average of
observed that the CMTmax operating point incurs 1.07 K/s. For segment 2, it is 0.25 and 0.26 K/s,
the highest SMU, for the ramp-up scenarios con- respectively. The figure also shows how these change
sidered, and predisposes compressor rear stages to for other injection rates in each segment. A maximum
surge. It is noteworthy that the FL point for injection deviation of 0.06 and 0.05 K/s is observed for the 10%
ramp-ups are achieved at partially closed VIGV and injection ramp-up in segment 1 and 2, respectively.
results in a higher SMU. It should be noted that at The deviation implies a 6 and 20% increase in com-
MEL and CMTmax, the indicated non-dimensional parison to the default ramp-up with respect to seg-
speed is higher than at FL, which is a result of reduced ments 1 and 2. To contextualize, during every
inlet airflow temperature into the rear lumped stages. minute of the ramp-up, the turbine blades experience
Abudu et al. 879

Figure 20. SMU as a function of airflow injection at end of segment 1 (left) and end of segment 2 at respective FL (right). CMT:
combustor mean temperature; FL: full load.

Figure 21. TET as a function of injection rate with time. CMT: combustor mean temperature; INJ: injection; TET: turbine entry
temperature; VIGV: variable inlet guide vane.

a 0.6 and 3.5 K hotter flue gas temperature in com-

parison to the default case. This suggests that the 2%
Conclusions
injection ramp-up scenario is safest and reflects a
potential concern for the maximum injection ramp- This study has investigated the benefits of compressed
up. It should be noted that the hotter gas tempera- air injection for GTs with respect to power augmen-
tures are not sustained as the airflow injection is ter- tation, part-load efficiency improvement, and
minated after the engine achieves FL. enhancements in ramp-up rates.
880 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

The simulations show the tendency of the compres- Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under
sor back stages to operate towards stall during flow grant agreement No. 764545.
injection, especially at closed VIGV position. The air-
flow injection is shown to: ORCID iD
Uyioghosa Igie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2708-0237
. increase the OPR, CDT, TET, and slightly reduce
the EGT. References
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882 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Appendix 1

Figure 22. Computational procedure for transient simulation. CMF: corrected mass flow; CW: compressor; OPR: overall pressure
ratio; PO: power output; SP: surplus power; TET: turbine entry temperature; TW: turbine.
Abudu et al. 883

Figure 23. Variation in operating parameters during ramp-up – with and without injection-fixed VIGV. CMT: combustor mean
temperature; OPR: overall pressure ratio.

Figure 24. Airflow injection schedules for ramp-ups.

884 Proc IMechE Part A: J Power and Energy 235(4)

Figure 25. TET gradient and RMSE for CMT and TET during injection ramp-up. CMT: combustor mean temperature; RMSE: root
mean square error; TET: turbine entry temperature.

Figure 26. Fuel schedules for default and 10% injection ramp-up – varying VIGV. FL: full load; MEL: minimum environmental load.