Patent ID: 8516829

Claim:
A method for modifying the operation and/or performance of a gas turbine comprising one or more combustors, the method comprising: determining a gas exhaust temperature for the gas turbine; estimating a transient heat transfer rate for the gas turbine based at least in part on the gas exhaust temperature, wherein estimating the transient heat transfer rate for the gas turbine based at least in part on the gas exhaust temperature comprises: estimating a bulk gas temperature for the gas turbine based at least in part on the gas exhaust temperature, estimating a bulk turbine rotor metal temperature for the gas turbine, wherein estimating the bulk turbine rotor metal temperature for the gas turbine comprises: determining a second adjustment factor based at least in part on the bulk turbine rotor metal temperature for the gas turbine and the bulk gas temperature for the gas turbine, wherein the second adjustment factor comprises a lagging function, and estimating the bulk turbine rotor metal temperature based at least in part on the second adjustment factor, and calculating the estimated transient heat transfer rate based at least in part on the estimated bulk gas temperature and the estimated bulk turbine rotor metal temperature; and controlling the one or more combustors based at least in part on the estimated transient heat transfer rate for the gas turbine.