Study of Hybrid Solar Gas Turbine System: T100 Modeling and Dynamic Analysis of Thermal Energy Storage

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) hybrid gas turbine systems particularly based on the micro Gas Turbines (mGT) will be of great importance in future power infrastructure where energy security, economic feasibility and clean and efficient power generation are the key concerns. Integration of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) in CSP hybrid gas turbine systems could be a viable solution to overcome the intermittent nature of solar power, and increase the dispatchability. Based on this perception, a comprehensive analysis of both mGT cycle and TES technology should be undertaken, in order to achieve a better understanding of the behavior of TES and its interaction with other components in a hybrid gas turbine system. The present work intends to contribute to this analysis through mGT and TES system modeling and testing. This thesis is framed in two main parts: first part deals with T100 mGT modeling and second part focuses on the study of thermal storage systems. Regarding TES, detailed dynamic analysis of sensible heat storage is provided, while a preliminary study of thermochemical storage is conducted. The mGT performance diagnosis involves the development for steady-state simulation of T100, model validation, and application in real operating conditions at the Ansaldo Energia AE-T100 test rig. Furthermore, diagnostic application of the AE-T100 model for whole mGT cycle is discussed with the help of two case studies at AE-T100 test rig. AE-T100 model has also been applied in the real operating conditions of micro Humid Air Turbine (mHAT) system located at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), to highlight the modeling capability of AE-T100 tool as well as monitoring the recuperator performance in the VUB-mHAT cycle. The second part of this work concerns the dynamic modeling and experimental validation of a sensible TES system at laboratory scale, which is part of the Hybrid Solar Gas Turbine (HSGT) system developed at the University of Genova. TES is modeled with the help of a two-dimensional CFD model based on the ANSYS-FLUENT code, and a one-dimensional TRANSEO model employing software designed by the Thermochemical Power Group (TPG) at the University of Genova. The experimental validation, modeling capability to present the actual thermal stratification and State of Charge (SoC) of the TES, and scope of each model are also discussed. This study also highlighted the potential of TES system based on the monolithic structures for hybrid gas turbine systems i.e. low pressure drop across the TES which are acceptable for the whole gas turbine hybrid system, modular structure of the storage and very low thermal losses. In addition to the sensible heat storage system, ThermoChemical Storage (TCS) based on the redox cycle of cobalt oxides pair Co3O4\CoO was finally studied by the candidate during research period at Zhejiang University, China. The mathematical model which has been developed in MATLAB is based on the mass and energy conservation and reaction kinetics of the redox cycle, and has been validated against the experimental data available from literature. This work was aimed to study the process of thermochemical storage and understand the reaction kinetics of cobalt oxides with less computational effort. This analysis will help in design and optimization of the actual TCS system at the Zhejiang University, China. Overall, the knowledge and modelling capabilities developed for mGT cycle and TES systems in this study will be merged to develop a single simulation tool for mGT based CSP hybrid systems, in the future.