Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228

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Energy
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Advanced exergy analysis of an aircraft gas turbine engine: Splitting

exergy destructions into parts
hret a, *, Emin Akkalp b, Arif Hepbasli c, T. Hikmet Karakoc d
Yasin So
a
Department of Airframe and Powerplant Maintenance, Graduate School of Sciences, Anadolu University, 26470 Eskisehir, Turkey
b
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Bilecik S.E. University, Bilecik, Turkey
c
Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yasar University, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
d
Department of Airframe and Powerplant Maintenance, Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Anadolu University, 26470 Eskisehir, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Advanced exergy analysis of an aircraft gas turbine engine is presented in this paper. In this framework,
Received 23 February 2015 the main exergy parameters of the engine components are introduced while the exergy destruction rates
Received in revised form within the engine components are split into endogenous/exogenous and avoidable/unavoidable parts.
18 June 2015
Also, the mutual interdependencies among the components of the engine and realistic improvement
Accepted 21 June 2015
Available online 23 July 2015
potentials depending on operating conditions are acquired through the analysis. As a result of the study,
the exergy efciency values of the engine components are determined to be 89%, 86%, 60.6% and 98.6% of
the low pressure compressor, the high pressure compressor, the combustion chamber and the gas tur-
Keywords:
Advanced exergy
bine, respectively. The system has low improvement potential because the unavoidable exergy
Aircraft destruction rate is 93.55%. The relationships between the components are weak since 81.83% of the
Aviation exergy destruction is endogenous. Finally, it may be concluded that the combustion chamber component
Exergy analysis of the engine should be focused on according to the results obtained.
Exergy destruction 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Gas turbine engine

1. Introduction relationship among energy, environment, and economical aspects

As a result of the rapid depletion of the energy sources according
to the earth's population growth rate, it is an obligation to develop
more efcient energy systems in addition to sustainable energy
consumption for the fortune of humankind. For this purpose,
exergy analysis has recently become a commonly used tool for
evaluation of the energy systems in thermal engineering based
upon both the rst and second laws of thermodynamics. According
to the rst law's approach to thermodynamics, energy utilization
and conversion can be assessed. But it is limited to the detailed
examination of the energy systems. However, the second law's
analysis considers the quality of the energy utilization more than its
quantity. Performing an exergy analysis of a thermal system over-
comes the limitations of the rst law's approach by providing
insight into entropy changes and related exergy destruction, loca-
tion of irreversibility, and energy degradation in a thermal system
[1e4]. Also, exergy analysis aids in the understanding of the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 90 5347661416.
hret).
E-mail address: ysohret@gmail.com (Y. So
and sustainable development, as reported in many studies [5e10].
The working principle of the aircraft gas turbine engines can be
explained by thermodynamic principles exactly like other thermal
systems. A simple gas turbine engine consists of a diffuser, a
compressor, a combustion chamber, a turbine and an exhaust
nozzle. The air compressed in the low compressor reacts with
atomized fuel in the combustion chamber. Afterwards the exhaust
gases, which are the products of the combustion reaction, expand
through the turbine. The turbine runs the compressor while
providing the required energy of the gearbox, the starter generator,
the fuel and oil pumps and other accessory groups. Aircraft gas
turbine engines use air as the working uid similar to the industrial
types of gas turbines, but the primary purpose of the aircraft gas
turbine engines is to thrust the production, not to generate power,
as occurred in the industrial type gas turbines. Thus, the working
uid of the engine carries out an energy amount as well as exergy.
Entropy generation or exergy destruction appears over the course
of the thrust production process in the exact same way of any en-
ergy conversion system. In this framework, exergy and exergy-
based analysis of an aircraft gas turbine engine are benecial for
technological development in this eld, despite being neglected
during the design process. The signicance of the exergy analysis

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.06.071
0360-5442/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1220 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So
Nomenclature
E_ exergy rate (MW)
_
IP improvement potential (MW)
cp specic heat capacity under constant pressure (kJ/kgK)
e_ specic exergy rate (MW/kg)
LHV lower heating value (kJ/kg)
M molar weight (kg/kmol)
N mole number (mole)
P pressure (kPa)
T temperature (K)
Subscripts
0 dead state conditions
air specication of the air
D destruction
exh specication of the exhaust gaseous
F fuel
fuel specication of the fuel
j jth constituent of the exhaust gaseous
k kth component of the engine
P product
for improvement of the aircraft gas turbine engine technology has
not yet been fully comprehended by the industry, but has been
emphasized by many researchers (i.e., Refs. [11,12]). It is possible to
use exergy as a tool for performance assessment of an aircraft gas
turbine engine depending on the operational (environmental)
conditions. Thus, the real thermodynamic performance of the en-
gine can be revealed. In Ref. [13], the performance variation of a
turbojet engine with the reference environment was presented. As
a result of the study, it was reported that the engine real efciency
decreased proportional to the increase in the altitude. Turgut et al.
[14] examined a turbofan engine with afterburner exergetically at
sea level and 11 km altitude. In the open literature, many studies on
the exergy analysis of various types of aircraft gas turbine engines
and components can be found [13e24]. On the other hand, gas
turbine engines can also be used as a part of cogeneration and
combined cycle plants. Until today many studies were conducted to
evaluate performance, economic aspects and the environmental
situation of power plants [8,9,25e32]. Some major exergy param-
eters, such as the exergy rate of ows, exergy efciency, exergy
destruction, relative irreversibility, fuel depletion rate, productivity
lack, improvement potential of the examined engine and compo-
nents, are presented in these papers. However, the mentioned
papers left the interdependencies among each component of the
engine and splitting exergy destruction out of the scope.
A novel method, which is named advanced exergy analysis, has
emerged over the last decade. It is possible to bring the mutual
interdependencies among each component of a system, the
endogenous and exogenous parts of the exergy destruction, into
relief with the aid of advanced exergy analysis. Also avoidable and
unavoidable parts of the exergy destruction can be found through
advanced exergy methods to pinpoint the components of the sys-
tem that require improvement [33e36]. Various thermal systems
were assessed using advanced exergy analysis methods of this time.
Morosuk and Tsatsaronis [35] presented advanced exergy meth-
odology and applied it to an absorption refrigeration machine. The
concept of the advanced exergy analysis was explained, and the
fundamental exergy terms were dened in this paper. Kelly et al.
Superscripts
AV avoidable
CH chemical
EN endogenous
EX exogenous
mexo mexogenous
n nth component of the engine differently from the kth
PH physical
UN unavoidable
Abbreviations
CC combustion chamber
GT gas turbine
HPAC high-pressure air compressor
LPAC low-pressure air compressor
Greek letters
l excess air ratio
L unavoidability indicator
d fuel depletion rate
exergy efciency
x productivity lack
c relative irreversibility
[36] gave ve different approaches to split exergy destruction into
parts: approach based on thermodynamic cycles, engineering
approach, exergy balance method, equivalent component method
and structural theory and malfunction/dysfunction analysis. In this
text, a vapour-compression refrigeration machine and an open
cycle gas turbine system were evaluated by using the approach
based on the thermodynamic cycles and the engineering approach.
Two approaches were compared on the basis of the results ob-
tained from a vapour-compression refrigeration machine analysis.
The approach based on thermodynamic cycles was concluded to be
benecial from the point of convenience and led to the best results
for systems, which could be dened by thermodynamic cycles. In
Ref. [37], the signicance of the advanced exergy terms were
highlighted, and the advanced exergy analysis of refrigeration
machines using different working uids was introduced. Also, the
structural theory and malfunction/dysfunction analysis, which
were described in detail by Lozano et al. [38], were categorized as
limited to calculate endogenous and exogenous parts of the exergy
destruction. In the end of the paper, for the improvement of the
refrigeration machines, the evaporator and the compressor are
emphasized for consideration. An approach to splitting exergy
destruction within an electricity generation and LNG (liqueed
natural gas) system into parts was discussed in another paper [39].
The paper covered splitting the exergy destruction within each
component into its unavoidable, avoidable, endogenous and
exogenous parts as well as a detailed splitting of the avoidable
exogenous exergy destruction. As a result of the study, some sug-
gestions for improvement of the examined system were proposed.
In Ref. [40], a LNG refrigeration system was evaluated in terms of
the advanced exergy methodology. In the paper, a more efcient
operation of a three-cascade refrigeration system for LNG purposes
was explained from the viewpoint of thermodynamic principles.
Thus, locations of the irreversibility within the system were
revealed by splitting exergy destruction into endogenous/exoge-
nous and avoidable/unavoidable parts. Morosuk and Tsatsaronis
[41] dealt with exergy destruction within a gas turbine-based LNG
regasication and electricity generation facility. The advantages of
 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So
the advanced exergy analysis were stated while the interactions
among components and splitting exergy destruction within system
components into parts were demonstrated in the paper. In another
study [42], the advanced exergy-based evaluation of the same
system was presented. The performance, economic and environ-
mental aspects of the system were proven based upon avoidable
and unavoidable exergy destruction parts. Within this scope, the
potential for improving the thermodynamic efciency and
reducing the overall cost and the overall environmental impact
were determined. Petrakopoulou et al. [43] applied the advanced
exergy theory to a combined cycle power plant to present exergy
destruction partition within the system. Most of the exergy de-
structions in the system components were found to be unavoidable,
and it was identied with the internal technological limitations of
the components. A refrigeration machine using a Voorhees'
compression process was evaluated by Morosuk et al. [44] with the
aid of advanced exergy methods. The detailed exergy destruction
analysis of the Voorhees' compression process, which was
commonly analysed on the basis of the rst law of thermody-
namics, was discussed in this paper. In this way, the limitations of
the energetic analysis for such a complex process were demon-
strated. In Ref. [45], the environmental analysis of a near-zero
emission power plant was performed based upon results ob-
tained from the advanced exergy analysis. The environmental im-
pacts of each component of the system were split into avoidable/
unavoidable and endogenous/exogenous parts. With the purpose of
minimizing the environmental impact of the plant operation, the
avoidable part of the impact was aimed to decrease. The environ-
mental impact was related to the unavoidable and endogenous
exergy destructions of individual components as a result of the
study. The performance of a pilot-scale heat pump drying system
used in food drying was evaluated using the advanced exergy
theory for the rst time by Erbay and Hepbasli [46]. Inefciencies
within the compressor and condenser were mainly due to the in-
ternal operating conditions, and the efciencies in the evaporator
and heat recovery system could be improved. Tsatsaronis et al. [47]
brought a new perspective to the thermodynamic inefciencies in
combustion processes by beneting from the methodology of
splitting the exergy destructions. Estimating the thermodynamic
inefciencies caused by each of the chemical reaction, heat transfer,
friction and mixing parameters was discussed while addressing the
benets of the advanced exergy-based evaluation methods for the
energy systems with combustion processes in the paper. The
advanced exergy analysis of an externally-red combined-cycle
power plant integrated with a biomass gasication was performed
by Soltani et al. [48]. The interactions among the system compo-
nents were found not to be strong as a conclusion remark of the
study. Also it was emphasized that the unavoidable part of exergy
destruction was higher than the avoidable part in the components.
Avoidable and unavoidable splitting exergy destruction within the
components of a gas engine heat pump utilized in the food drying
processes based upon the experimental data can be found in
another work [49]. It was aimed at introducing a realistic measure
for the improvement potential of the system. Thus, the paper
focused on avoidable exergy destruction assessment. In Ref. [50], an
economic evaluation of a power plant with chemical looping
combustion was actualized in accordance with the advanced exergy
methodology. Similarly, advanced exergo-economic analysis of an
electricity generation facility was presented by Acikkalp et al. [51].
It was concluded that the combustion chamber, the high-pressure
steam turbine and the condenser had great economic improve-
ment potential in addition to the strong interdependencies among
the components. Further applications of the advanced exergy-
based analysis on various energy conversion systems can be
found in the literature [52e63].
1221
As mentioned above, the advanced exergy analysis method is
useful to assess energy systems in detail. So, splitting exergy
destruction within the aircraft gas turbine engines and components
is required to nd out realistic improvement potentials of each
component along with the overall engine. Alabi et al. [64] intro-
duced a simulation tool for the aerospace systems on the basis of
advanced exergy theory in their paper, which emphasized the re-
gard of the advanced exergy methods for design process. It was
intended to develop a simulation tool for overall aircraft systems
(fuel system, lubrication system, power system, environmental
control system, etc.) depending on various ight and operating
parameters and exergy destruction.
The present paper aims at contributing to the literature by
presenting the advanced exergy analysis of an aircraft gas turbine
engine for the rst time. The methodology is adapted from studies
performed previously [51,54,58,65]. The main goals and originality
of the present study can be summarized as follows:
 Evaluating the performance of an aircraft gas turbine engine
exergetically.
 Splitting exergy destruction within the components of the
aircraft gas turbine engine as endogenous/exogenous and
avoidable/unavoidable parts.
 Discussing the mutual interdependencies among each compo-
nent of the aircraft gas turbine engine.
 Presenting the prior components, which are in need of
improvement.
2. System description
2.1. General description of the engine
The examined engine is the JT3D turbofan engine, which is a
derived version of the JT3C turbojet engine. The rst run of the JT3D
engine was in 1958, and the rst ight was in 1959, and it is still
used in many military aircrafts. In this assessment study, the engine
is assumed to consist of a LPAC (low-pressure air compressor), a
HPAC (high-pressure air compressor), a CC (combustion chamber)
and a GT (gas turbine) while the air inlet, fan and exhaust nozzle are
neglected for analysis, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Some characteristics of
the engine are as follows [66]:
 Overall pressure ratio of the engine is 13.6.
 Fan pressure ratio of the engine is 1.74.
 Thrust specic fuel consumption of the engine is 15.153 mg/N.
 Maximum thrust generated by the engine is 80 kN (18,000 lbf).
2.2. Assumptions made
In the present study, the assumptions made are listed as follows:
 The engine is operated under steady-state, steady-ow
conditions.
 Depending on the ground test of the engine, generated net po-
wer by the engine was kept constant and considered as the main
product of the engine instead of thrust [66].
 The air and combustion gases are considered to be perfect gas.
 The fuel is kerosene.
 The chemical formula and the lower heating value of the kero-
sene are C11H21 and 43370.596 kJ/kg, respectively.
 Combustion reaction is assumed to be completed.
 The air compressors, combustion chamber and gas turbine are
reckoned as adiabatic.
1222 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So

Fig. 1. Schematic of the system.

 Kinetic energy and exergy changes are neglected whilst poten- desired output. The exergy efciency can be dened based on the
tial energy and exergy changes are disregarded within the fuel and product exergy rates [68]:
engine.
.  . 
 Inlet velocity of the air is considered to be negligible. E_ P E_ F 1  E_ D E_ F (2)
 The environment (dead state) temperature and pressure are
considered as 288.15 K and 101.352 kPa, respectively. Some useful exergy assessment parameters are identied in the
 The bleed air is not considered for the analysis. literature [14,69,70] as follows:
 The estimated air composition is given in Table 1.
 The net power generated by the overall system and airefuel _ E_ D 1 
IP (3)
ratio is kept constant for actual, theoretical and unavoidable
cases. .X
c E_ D E_ D (4)
3. Methodology
.X
d E_ D E_ F (5)
3.1. Conventional exergy analysis

It is essential to apply the conventional exergy analysis to the .X

aircraft gas turbine engine shown in Fig. 1. As mentioned above, the
major exergy parameters and exergy destruction can be found by
this way. Additionally, exergy is a useful tool for clarifying the
quality of the energy conversion in the engine. So, the exergy
destruction can be expressed as [68]:
E_ D E_ F  E_ P
where E_ D , E_ F and E_ P stand for the exergy destruction rate, the fuel
exergy rate and the product exergy rate, respectively. The fuel
exergy rate represents the exergetic rate of the provided resources
to generate the desired output whilst the product exergy rate is the
x E_ D E_ P (6)
_ c, d and x stand for the improvement potential, the
Here, IP,
relative exergy destruction (relative irreversibility), the fuel
depletion rate and the productivity lack, respectively.
The exergy balance equations given in Table 2 are written for the
conventional exergy analysis of the aircraft gas turbine engine,
(1)
which is examined in this study. Here, cp,air and cp,exh represent the
specic heat at a xed pressure of the air and the exhaust gas,
respectively. N and M are the mole number and the molar mass of
the exhaust gas constituent j, while the specic heat at a xed
pressure of the air and the exhaust gas can be calculated from Refs.
[19,21,71]:

Table 1 383:719 9:45378 2 5:49031 3

Composition of the air used in the analyses [66].
cp;air 1:04841  T T  T
106 107 1010
Constituent Mole fraction (%) 7:92981 4
T (7)
N2 75.6700 1014
O2 20.3500
CO2 0.03450 X .X
H2O 3.03000 cp;exh cp;j Nj Mj Nj Mj (8)
CO 0.00070
SO 0.00020 The methodology explained in Ref. [71] is used to calculate the
H2 0.00005 specic heat of each exhaust gas constituent according to the
Others 0.91455
following combustion reaction:
 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So 1223

Table 2 Further explanation of the conventional exergy assessment

Energy and exergy balances for the system [67]. methodology of an aircraft turbofan engine may be found in
Control volume Relations Refs. [14,17,21].
_ _ _ _
W LPAC E1  E2 ED;LPAC
_ _ air cp;air T2  T1
W LPAC m
3.2. Splitting exergy destruction: endogenous and exogenous parts

As highlighted earlier, the advanced exergy analysis method

enables the understanding of causes of the irreversibilities and
inefciencies within the components and the system by splitting
exergy destruction into parts. However, the approach based on
thermodynamic cycles is preferred to split the exergy destruction
into parts. Fig. 2 demonstrates splitting the exergy destruction rate
_ _ _ _
W HPAC E2  E3 ED;HPAC within the kth component according to this approach.
_ _ air cp;air T3  T2
W HPAC m The endogenous part of the exergy destruction rate within the
EN
kth component E_ D;k is associated with the irreversible process
through the kth component while all other system components are
operated under theoretical conditions and the kth component
operates with the actual case efciency. In this framework, each
component should be considered in the self-assessment cycle. The
exogenous part of the exergy destruction rate within the kth
EX
component E_ D;k indicates the impact of the irreversibilities within
all system components out of the kth. It follows that the exergy
E_ 3 E_ 4  E_ 5 E_ D;CC destruction rate within the kth component is sum of the endoge-
nous and exogenous destruction rates within the kth component
[35,65]:

EN EX
E_ D;k E_ D;k E_ D;k (13)
E_ 5  E_ 6  W _ _
GT ED;GT
_ _ exh cp;exh T5  T6
Mexogenous exergy destruction rate is termed as the difference
W GT m
between the exogenous exergy destruction rate and the combined

2 3
0:7567N2
6 0:2035O2 7
C11 H21 41 4 /42 CO2 43 H2 O 44 N2
0:0303H2 O 5
(9)
0:000345CO2
Also, in course of the analysis, the physical and chemical exergy
calculations are performed with regard to the perfect gas consid-
eration as follows [71,72]:

 
e_PH cp T  T0  T0 cp lnT=T0  R lnP=P0 (10)

h  i
e_CH
fuel LHV 1:0401 0:1728H=Cfuel (11)

!
P P
PNj eCH RT0 PNj ln PNj
N j
j N j N j

e_CH
exh (12)
Mexh
Fig. 2. Dividing the exergy destructions into avoidable, unavoidable, endogenous and
exogenous parts [65].
1224 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So

effect of the exergy destruction of all the other components within analysis. In this way, the avoidable endogenous, unavoidable
the system on the kth component [35,65]: endogenous, avoidable exogenous and unavoidable exogenous
parts of the exergy destruction are revealed. To that end, the
mexo EX X
m1
EX;n avoidable/unavoidable endogenous and exogenous parts can be
E_ D;k E_ D;k  E_ D;k (14) found by Ref. [37]:
n1
UN;EN EN
E_ D;k E_ P;k Lk
nsk
(19)

3.3. Splitting exergy destruction: avoidable and unavoidable parts AV;EN EN UN;EN
E_ D;k E_ D;k  E_ D;k (20)
Thermal systems and components have an unachievable per-
formance thermodynamically despite technological development UN;EX UN UN;EN
E_ D;k E_ D;k  E_ D;k (21)
and improvement. Under consideration of a system or component
in the near future, aforesaid thermodynamic limitations reveal the
AV;EX EX UN;EX
unavoidable part of the exergy destruction rate within the system E_ D;k E_ D;k  E_ D;k (22)
or component. Within the context of improvement, the established
AV;EN
unavoidable process is evaluated by a key parameter named the The avoidable endogenous exergy destruction rate E_ D;k
can
unavoidability indicator: be reduced by improvement of the kth component. Similarly, the
reduction in the avoidable exogenous exergy destruction rate
 . UN AV ;EX
Lk E_ D E_ P (15) E_ D;k can only be achieved by improving other system compo-
k nents. As mentioned above, the unavoidable parts of the endoge-
UN;EN UN;EX
Therefore, the unavoidable exergy destruction rate can be nous E_ D;k and exogenous E_ D;k exergy destruction rates form
calculated by Refs. [35,65]: in consequence of thermodynamic limitations indispensably.

UN
E_ D;k E_ P;k Lk (16)
4. Results and discussion

which can also be written as follows [35]:

In this study, the core section of a turbofan engine, which is still
 . 1  in service on military aircrafts, is evaluated through the method-
UN
E_ D;k E_ P;k 1 UN
k (17) ology of the advanced exergy analysis. For this purpose, the con-
ventional exergy analysis of the engine is performed rst.
In this case, the avoidable exergy destruction rate can be found Thermodynamic cycle data of the engine under actual operating
by subtracting the unavoidable part from the total exergy conditions are given in Table 3 with the calculated energy and
destruction rate [35,65]: exergy rates of the ows.
The core section of the turbofan engine is evaluated exergeti-
AV UN
E_ D;k E_ D;k  E_ D;k (18) cally as mentioned previously by using the data summarized in
Table 3. As a result of the conventional exergy analysis, the previ-
ously dened useful evaluation parameters for each component of
the engine are presented in Table 4 in addition to main exergy
3.4. Combining avoidable/unavoidable and endogenous/exogenous parameters. The highest exergy destruction occurs in the com-
exergy destruction parts bustion chamber with the rate of 46.777 MW. However, that afrms
the combustion to be the most irreversible process over the course
Combining two splitting methods enlarge upon the mutual ef- of power generation within the engine. But the advanced exergy
fect among the system components in the advanced exergy analysis is required to know for certain. On the other hand, the gas

Table 3
Energy and exergy rates for the system.

Station Fluid type Mass ow rate (kg/s) Temperature (K) Pressure (kPa) Energy rate (MW) Exergy rate (MW)

0 Air 0.000 288.15 101.353 0.000 0.000

1 Air 88.412 288.15 101.353 25.563 0.000
2 Air 88.412 455.37 434.370 41.105 13.832
3 Air 88.412 652.59 1378.951 61.280 31.190
4 Fuel 1.213 288.15 101.353 52.624 87.477
5 Exhaust gas 89.625 1144.26 1337.582 127.449 71.889
6 Exhaust gas 89.625 866.48 193.053 88.018 31.914

Table 4
Results for the conventional exergy analysis.

Component E_ F;k (MW) E_ P;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) k (%) _ (MW)

IP k ck dk xk

LPAC 15.541 13.832 1.709 89.0 0.188 0.033 0.008 0.012

HPAC 20.175 17.358 2.818 86.0 0.393 0.054 0.014 0.019
CC 118.666 71.889 46.777 60.6 18.439 0.902 0.240 0.328
GT 39.974 39.431 0.543 98.6 0.007 0.010 0.002 0.003
Overall engine 118.666 3.715 51.847 3.13
 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So 1225

Table 5 turbine component of the engine operates with 98.6% exergy ef-
Assumptions used for the advanced exergy calculations. ciency under the actual case despite inefciency within the com-
Component Theoretical case Actual case Unavoidable case bustion chamber. In the course of the advanced exergy analysis, the
LPAC 1.0 0.890 0.905
parameters of the engine for actual, theoretical and unavoidable
HPAC 1.0 0.860 0.872 cases are given in Table 5. According to the methodology explained
CC l 4.86 l 4.86 l 4.28 before, the exergy destruction within the engine components are
DP 3.0% DP 3.0% DP 2.9% split into the endogenous/exogenous and avoidable/unavoidable
GT 1.0 0.986 0.989
parts. Inclusive of the theoretical case, the overall engine and
Overall engine 1.0 0.031 0.225
components are considered to be adiabatic and reversible. Thus, the
exergy efciency of the each component is 100% while the pressure
loss within the combustion chamber is 0%. On the other hand, the
Table 6
Endogenous, exogenous, avoidable and unavoidable exergy destructions of the unavoidable performance parameters indicate thermodynamic
aircraft gas turbine engine. limitations of the progress in the design and manufacturing tech-
EN EX UN AV nology for the considered component. The exergy destruction
Component (k) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW)
partition of the engine components and the overall engine
LPAC 1.709 0.889 0.820 1.452 0.257 depending on these conditions is presented in Table 6. In accor-
HPAC 2.818 1.381 1.437 2.548 0.270
CC 46.777 39.761 7.017 44.061 2.716
dance with Table 6, the exogenous exergy destruction rate of the
GT 0.543 0.396 0.147 0.439 0.104 high-pressure air compressor and the gas turbine are excessive
Overall engine 51.847 42.427 9.421 48.500 3.347 while the endogenous part of the exergy destruction within the
low-pressure air compressor and combustion chamber compo-
nents are considerable. In this framework, Figs. 3e6 are illustrated

Fig. 3. Breakdown of the exergy destruction rates within the low-pressure air compressor.

Fig. 4. Breakdown of the exergy destruction rates within the high-pressure air compressor.

Fig. 5. Breakdown of the exergy destruction rates within the combustion chamber.
1226 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So

Fig. 6. Breakdown of the exergy destruction rates within the gas turbine.

Table 7 to clarify that distribution of the exergy destruction within the

Interdependencies among components and the mexogenous exergy destruction components. As a result of the great endogenous exergy destruc-
rates of the engine.
tion within the combustion chamber, the amount of the endoge-
EX mexo EX;n
Component (k) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) E_ D;k (MW) nous part of the exergy destruction within the overall engine is
LPAC 0.820 0.148 HPAC 0.129 extremely bigger than that of the exogenous part. On the other
CC 0.437 hand, the unavoidable exergy destruction rate within each
GT 0.106 component is the major part of the total exergy destruction rate.
HPAC 1.437 0.399 LPAC 0.209
That reects on the splitting exergy destruction rate within the
CC 0.518
GT 0.371 overall engine into avoidable/unavoidable parts.
CC 7.017 2.430 LPAC 2.150 Additionally, it is possible to split the exogenous exergy
HPAC 0.697 destruction rate to understand mutual interdependencies among
GT 1.740
engine components. For this purpose, the parts of the exogenous
GT 0.147 0.030 LPAC 0.026
HPAC 0.009
exergy destruction rate for each component of the engine are
CC 0.082 summarized in Table 7 where the impact of the combustion
chamber on the inefciencies within the other components is
remarkable. However, the low-pressure air compressor plays a key
Table 8 role for irreversibility of the combustion chamber.
Dividing the avoidable and unavoidable exergy destructions into endogenous and At this step, a combination of the splitting exergy destruction
exogenous parts. into parts of the endogenous/exogenous and avoidable/unavoid-
Component (k)
AV;EN
E_ D;k (MW)
AV;EX
E_ D;k (MW)
UN;EN
E_ D;k (MW)
UN;EX
E_ D;k (MW) able can be useful for better understanding. The results obtained
using Eqs. (19) and (22) on the engine are given in Table 8. Ac-
LPAC 0.062 0.195 0.827 0.625
HPAC 0.158 0.112 1.223 1.325 cording to this table, 40.206 MW of the 42.427 MW endogenous
CC 1.930 0.786 37.831 6.23 exergy destruction rate is unavoidable. In other words, it is not
GT 0.071 0.033 0.325 0.114 possible to prevent 94.76% of the endogenous exergy destruction
Overall engine 2.221 1.126 40.206 8.294 within the engine in spite of technological development of the

Fig. 7. Breakdown of the exergy destruction rates within the overall engine.
 hret et al. / Energy 90 (2015) 1219e1228
Y. So
engine components. That is a critical point for improvement of the
overall engine and components.
In Fig. 7, the distribution of the exergy destruction rate within in
the overall engine is shown. As mentioned above, the unavoidable
endogenous exergy destruction rate is the main part of the total
exergy destruction rate with a 77.55% slice. However, the avoidable
exergy destruction rate is 6.45% of the total exergy destruction rate
and indicates that technological development is close to the ther-
modynamic limitations.
5. Conclusions
We have performed the advanced exergy analysis of an aircraft
gas turbine engine in this paper. We have also split the exergy
destructions of the components into endogenous, exogenous,
avoidable and unavoidable parts and their combinations for this
purpose. We have deduced the following concluding remarks from
the results of the present study as follows:
 81% of the exergy destruction is endogenous. So, the in-
teractions between the system components are weak.
 94% of the exergy destruction is unavoidable due to a very low
improvement potential of the system.
 The maximum improvement potential is high at the CC because
its avoidable exergy destruction rate is equal to 2.716 MW while
its endogenous avoidable exergy destruction rate is 1.930 MW.
 The improvement potentials are mostly concerned with the
components itself because the unavoidable endogenous exergy
destruction rate is bigger than the unavoidable exogenous
exergy destruction rate.
 The CC has an important effect on other components according
to the mexogenous exergy destruction results.
 Interpreting these values, it is recommended that improvement
efforts should be focused on the CC.
In addition to the results listed above, the advanced exer-
goeconomic and advanced exergoenvironmental evaluations
should be conducted for future studies and advanced exergy-based
analyses are recommended for analysing the system to prevent
misunderstandings based on the conventional exergy analysis.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable
comments, which have been utilized in improving the quality of the
paper.
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