gpal_logo_new GPAL Home
Gas Turbine Simulators
Some Questions and Answers 
GPAL launches Version 2 of their successful gas turbine simulators for education and training.

Understanding gas turbine performance is of paramount importance, particularly in a deregulated market in order to minimize life cycle costs. Much of this can be elegantly illustrated using simulators. However, such simulators need to address not only engine performance (including power augmentation and enhancement) but must also include deterioration, emission, turbine creep life usage, controls and life cycle cost analysis.

GPAL simulators achieve all of this and they are probably the first of its kind. In Version 2, we have integrated the simulation of Turbine Inlet Cooling (TIC). Two TIC technologies are included - evaporative cooling (using wetted media and fogging) and chillers. As a consequence, the effects of humidity on engine performance and particularly on gas turbine emissions is now included. The outputs from the turbine inlet cooling simulation can be scaled to any gas turbine and it is therefore a powerful tool to investigate the suitability of turbine inlet cooling for any gas turbine for a particular site.

Now for about the cost of a one hour on-line (web) course on gas turbines you can use our simulators indefinitely gaining invaluable insight and experience into gas turbine performance and operability.


imgss
Single Shaft Gas Turbine Simulator Main Screen

Our simulators are effectively virtual gas turbines with respect to its performance, control, turbine creep life usage and emissions. Furthermore, the simulators may be subjected to operating conditions, which cannot occur in a real engine due to the risk of engine failures. Therefore can be only understood using such simulators. This includes (slow and rapid) changes in engine component characteristics, which occur during deterioration, high turbine entry temperatures and rapid transients. The simulator is also an effective tool to optimize engine component performance for the gas turbine operating environment.

Unlike steady state simulations, which gives a static picture to the issues of gas turbine performance, these simulators bring in the additional dimension of time thus giving the user a realistic feel of the operation of the gas turbine in real time. GPAL simulators achieve this by extensively using full component matching and control system modeling (PID). Thus, factors that limit engine performance (e.g. EGT, speeds and power limits) at different ambient conditions and engine deterioration can readily be appreciated. The use parametric models (emissions monitoring) and Larson-Miller techniques (turbine creep life monitoring) in the simulators gives an excellent insight into gas turbine emissions and turbine creep life usage during engine operation.

Two simulators are offered and individually priced. These two simulators cover the vast majority of industrial gas turbines operating in the field and include the single shaft gas turbine (including the operation of variable inlet guide vanes and variable exhaust gas temperature control), which is used extensively in power generator, and the two-shaft gas turbine operating with a free power turbine, which is extensively used in mechanical drive applications.

imgts
Two-Shaft Gas Turbine Simulator Main Screen

Whether you are an operator (including managers) of gas turbines or an engineer wanting to understand more about gas turbine performance or a student interested in gas turbine performance you will find these simulators stimulating. For those involved in developing performance monitoring systems for gas turbines will also find these simulators invaluable because they provide an engine where faults can be implanted thus producing a set of measurements needed for their monitoring purposes. The e-booklet included with these simulators contains very interesting simulation cases including practical hints on how to improve your engine performance or prolonging turbine creep life. The e-booklet also includes some 50 exercises using the simulators, some are easy and others more difficult. If you can do all the exercises successfully, then you may consider yourself as an expert in gas turbine performance.

In spite of the modest price of these simulators they are serious educational and training tools in understanding gas turbine performance and operation. The extensive use of tool tips in version 2 enables the user to display help messages while using the simulator by moving the mouse over much of the text and controls shown on the screens.

GPAL gas turbine simulators include the following features:

 1) Simulating the effects of ambient temperature, pressure and humidity on performance, turbine creep life and emissions, including the impact of inlet and exhaust losses.

 2) Simulating the effects of engine deterioration of performance, creep life and emissions.

 3) Simulating the impact of power augmentation and enhancement using turbine inlet cooling, peak rating, water injection and optimization on performance, creep life and emissions.

 4) The outputs from the turbine inlet cooling simulation can be use to evaluate the suitability of turbine inlet cooling for any gas turbine for a particular site.

 5) Simulating control system performance on engine operability including proportional off-set, integral windup and engine trips.

 6) Change of fuel type (e.g. natural gas or diesel) on performance and emissions.

 7) The impact on life cycle costs, revenue and profitability (including the impact of emissions taxes such as CO2 and NOx on life cycle costs and thus profitability).

 8) Trends of many engine parameters including key parameters such as EGT and speeds which protect the engine from damage.

 9) Display of compressor characteristics and the operating point during engine transients.

 10) Bar chart displays.

 11) Export simulated data to other windows packages (e.g. Excel spreadsheets).

 12) e-booklet describing a series of simulations and exercises.

May 2024 Gas Path Analysis Ltd