Analysis of a Concept for Increasing the Efficiency of a Brayton Cycle via Isothermal Heat Addition

A thermodynamic study indicates that the hypothetical modification of gas-turbine engines to include two heat additions rather than one may result in significant efficiency improvements of over 4% compared with conventional engines. Specifically, the usual constant pressure heat addition would be constrained to a given temperature and then further heat addition carried out in a manner approaching an isothermal process. Owing to the limited peak combustion temperature of the overall heat addition process, the emissions of NOx may be reduced by as much as 50%, thus offering an environmental benefit as well as an efficiency advantage. This paper details the analysis of a proposed combustion chamber in which an isothermal heat addition is approximated. The combustion chamber would consist of a converging duct featuring discrete combustion sites positioned along the streamwise direction. A numerical analysis developed to assess the deviation from isothermal flow in the combustion chamber shows that a reasonable approximation of such a heat addition may be possible with two or more combustion sites. Moreover, a simplified treatment of the combustion process implies that flame stabilization at these sites is feasible.