Considerations in Modelling and Control of Gas Turbines – a Review

Modelling and control of gas turbines (GTs) have always been a controversial issue because of the complex dynamics of these kinds of equipment. Considerable research activities have been carried out so far in this field in order to disclose the secrets behind the nonlinear behaviour of these systems. Although the results of the research in this area have been satisfactory so far, it seems that there is no end to the efforts for performance optimization of gas turbines. A variety of analytical and experimental models as well as control systems has been built so far for gas turbines. However, the need for optimized models for different objectives and applications has been a strong motivation for researchers to continue to work in this field. This paper is aimed at presenting a general overview of essential basic criteria that need to be considered for making a satisfactory model and control system of a gas turbine. GT type, GT configuration, modelling methods, modelling objectives as well as control system type and configuration are the main preliminary factors for modelling a gas turbine which will be briefly discussed in the paper. Some of the research in this field will be also stated shortly.