Analytical modeling of wet compression of gas turbine systems

Evaporative gas turbine cycles (EvGT) are of importance to the power generation industry because of the potential of enhanced cycle efficiencies with moderate incremental cost. Humidification of the working fluid to result in evaporative cooling during compression is a key operation in these cycles. Previous simulations of this operation were carried out via numerical integration. The present work is aimed at modeling the wet-compression process with approximate analytical solutions instead. A thermodynamic analysis of the simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes that occur during evaporation is presented. The transient behavior of important variables in wet compression such as droplet diameter, droplet mass, gas and droplet temperature, and evaporation rate is investigated. The effects of system parameters on variables such as droplet evaporation time, compressor outlet temperature and input work are also considered. Results from this work exhibit good agreement with those of previous numerical work.