ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the thermodynamic principles leading to the combined cycle concept have been identified and elaborated upon for the last time in the book. The goal in doing that is to demonstrate as clearly as possible (especially for the less experienced reader’s benefit) that the concept of a “combined” cycle can materialize from the first principles on its own, i.e., without having to go through endless trial-and-error “tinkering” with different ideas and technologies. The latter, however, was the path to the development of combined cycle technology from its fin de siècle start to its coming of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This quite tortuous path is described in this chapter with concrete examples and accompanying quantitative analysis. In fact, it is recommended that the reader reads Sections 8.1 through 8.4 of this chapter in one sitting to make the connection with theory and reality. The chapter also includes the current state of the art in gas turbine combined cycle technology using original equipment manufacturer (OEM) rating performance data and provides a detailed look into several actual power plants demonstrating the best-in-class field applications.
