Establishing the Longitudinal Temperature Distribution for Fully Developed Turbulent Flow in a Gas Turbine Exhaust Duct

The ability to predict the longitudinal temperature distribution along a gas turbine exhaust duct facilitates the selection of the proper duct material and the appropriate paint or other external coating. It also allows accurate determination of thermal expansion over the entire length. A first-order differential equation is derived from a one-dimensional heat flow model for the exhaust system. A digital computer program employing this model is also presented. The computer solution, in addition to eliminating tedious manual computation, extends the analysis capability by accounting for changes in temperature and flow-dependent variables along the duct length. Measured gas and duct wall temperatures for a 1.5-kw gas turbine exhaust system are compared with values predicted by the analysis. Good agreement is noted throughout that portion of the system in which fully developed flow exists.