Dynamic parsimonious model and experimental validation of a gas microturbine at part-load conditions

The aim of this work is to present an analytical parsimonious model, developed with Matlab Simulink®, which, with computational simplicity and with only a few technical data as input, obtained easily from technical datasheets, is able to predict both the dynamic and steady state performances of a natural gas microturbine, at nominal point and at part-load conditions. Scaling techniques have been applied to the main components of the model, in order to allow a large range of plant sizes (20–200 kWel) to be simulated. The validation of the simulation code has been carried out by means of experimental data obtained from a commercial 100 kWel mGT installed at the Politecnico di Torino, whose experimental characterization was carried out by the Authors. The agreement of the simulated results with the experimental figures has resulted to be very good, considering the computational simplicity of the model. The main results of the study are presented in the paper.