Abstract
To meet the continuous demand for energy of industrial as well as commercial sectors, researchers focus on increasing the power generating capacity of gas turbine power plants. In this regard, the combined cycle is a better solution in terms of environmental aspects and power generation as compared to a simple gas turbine power plant. The present study is the thermodynamic investigation of five possible air bottoming combined cycles in which the topping cycle is a simple gas turbine cycle, regenerative gas turbine cycle, inter-cool gas turbine cycle, reheat gas turbine cycle, and intercool-reheat gas turbine cycle. The effect of pressure ratio of the topping cycle, the turbine inlet temperature of topping cycle, and ambient temperature on net power output, thermal efficiency, total exergy destruction, and exergetic efficiency of the combined cycle have been analyzed. The ratio of the net power output of the combined cycle to that of the topping cycle is maximal in the case when the topping cycle is a simple gas turbine cycle. The ratio of net power output and the total exergy destruction of the combined cycle to those of the topping cycle decrease with pressure ratio for all the combinations under study except for the case when the topping cycle is the regenerative gas turbine cycle.