Thermo-fluid dynamic analysis of wet compression process

Abstract

Wet compression systems increase the useful power output of a gas turbine by reducing the compressor work through the reduction of air temperature inside the compressor. The actual wet compression process differs from the conventional single phase compression process due to the presence of latent heat component being absorbed by the evaporating water droplets. Thus the wet compression process cannot be assumed isentropic. In the current investigation, the gas-liquid two phase has been modeled as air containing dispersed water droplets inside a simple cylinder-piston system. The piston moves in the axial direction inside the cylinder to achieve wet compression. Effects on the thermodynamic properties such as temperature, pressure and relative humidity are investigated in detail for different parameters such as compression speeds and overspray. An analytical model is derived and the requisite thermodynamic curves are generated. The deviations of generated thermodynamic curves from the dry isentropic curves (PVγ = constant) are analyzed.