Abstract
A thermodynamic investigation based on energy and exergy analyses was carried out for the gas turbine cycle utilising Brayton refrigeration cycle for inlet air cooling and water injection for evaporative after cooling. Combined application of inlet air cooling and evaporative after cooling enhanced cycle's exergetic output from 29% to 33% and reduces the exergy loss from 24% to 3%. This arrangement in gas turbine also changed the percentage of local irreversibility of the cycle components considerably. At a given ambient relative humidity of 60%, proposed modification in basic gas turbines boost the cycle first and second law efficiency by 3.7% and 4.2%, respectively. The results obtained reveal that application of reverse Brayton refrigeration cycle for inlet air cooling along with evaporative after cooling could be a most promising option for performance enhancement of gas turbines operated in hot and humid climatic regions.