Test Bench Configuration to Facilitate Gas Turbine In-situ Combustion Experimentation☆

Abstract The present technology in gas turbine engines is to burn fuel in the combustion chamber and occasionally in the postcombustion chamber. Current conventional developments of gas turbine aero-thermodynamics provide small efficiency and power increase, because with the present technology one reached an asymptotical convergence to the upper limit of the gas turbine performance. An interesting and almost unexploited possibility is to continue combustion in the turbine, option that, up until recently, has been considered undesirable for a number of reasons. A turbine-combustor is defined as a turbine in which fuel is injected and combusted. The process of combustion in the turbine is called in situ reheat. Thermodynamic cycle, (a hybrid between the Ericsson and Brayton cycles) analyses have demonstrated the benefits of using reheat in the turbine in order to increase specific power and thermal efficiency. [1]