Studying the effect of compressor ambient operating conditions on gas turbine performance

Many factors influence the operation of gas turbines in terms of power output and efficiency, with ambient temperature and humidity being two of the most important. The influence of intake air temperature and its humidity on the performance of a GE LM6000 PC was investigated in this study to get a general overview of the role of ambient conditions in gas turbine performance. A simulation was done using code developed on Engineering Equation Solver. Different temperatures were utilized in this study. The results obtained were compared with values of a base–case cycle operating on ISO conditions. The results show that the power output decreases by 5.5 MW and the efficiency decreases by 7.7 % for a 10 oC increase in temperature. The specific fuel consumption, SFC, increased by 2.76% with an increase in temperature of 20%. additionally, the results reveal that the higher the moisture content, the better the gas turbine performance. Thus, gas turbine plants operate best at low ambient temperatures, and high moisture content.