Modeling and simulation of the effect of moisture content and ambient temperature on gas turbine power plant performance in Ughelli, Nigeria

Abstract

The influence of ambient temperature and moisture content on the performance of Transcorp Power Plant, Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria was investigated with the aid of a digital psychrometer. The simulation was done using codes developed on MATLAB R2017a and the results show that compressor power consumption increased by 1.65% for 0.7% rise in temperature, and 0.50% for 71.4% rise in moisture content. The specific fuel consumption also increased with increase in temperature where a 1.71% rise in ambient temperature resulted in a 0.15% rise in specific fuel consumption but it decreased by 0.49% for a 41.7% rise in moisture content. A 1.62% rise in temperature led to a 0.13% drop in net power output and a 29.4% rise in moisture content resulted in a 0.48% drop in net power output. Thus gas turbine plant operates optimally in areas with low ambient temperatures and high moisture content.
 Keywords: Work ratio, net power, efficiency, moisture content, specific fuel consumption, heat rate.