A Polytropic Technique for Gas Turbine Performance Prediction and Evaluation

The sophistication factor “S” is a number expressing deviations from isentropic operation of a gas turbine flow path due to gas dynamic effects. It may be used with remarkable accuracy in polytropic equations to analyze gas turbine cycle performance. When related to statistics, it provides a means of evaluating proposed or existing engines with respect to current technology status. A corresponding technique for dealing with recuperators is also presented.