Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2008 309 Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Exergy analysis of a gas turbine system with evaporative cooling at compressor inlet M. Shanbghazani*, Sh. Khalilarya and I. Mirzaee Department of Mechanical Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, West Azerbaijan 57169–33111, Iran E-mail: mshanbghazani@yahoo.com E-mail: sh.khalilarya@urmia.ac.ir E-mail: i.mirzaee@urmia.ac.ir *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper deals with the thermodynamically modelled gas turbine consisting of Media Evaporative Cooling System (MECS) at compressor inlet for investigating the generated power, second law efficiency, and entropy generation number. The parametric study using this model shows effects of ambient conditions, compressor and turbine inlet temperature, and pressure ratio on the gas turbine power and second law efficiency. The results show that the proposed cycle gives better second law efficiency and also improves generated power for different ambient temperature and relative humidity. A comparison of the performance test results of the present model with those of MECS shows a good agreement. Keywords: gas turbine; exergy analysis; evaporative cooling; second law efficiency. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Shanbghazani, M., Khalilarya, Sh. and Mirzaee, I. (2008) ‘Exergy analysis of a gas turbine system with evaporative cooling at compressor inlet’, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp.309–325. Biographical notes: Mohammad Shanbghazani obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2003 from Power and Water University of Technology (PWUT) and his Master’s Degree in 2006 from Mechanical Engineering Department of Urmia University. He is a research assistant at the laboratory of CHP in PWUT, laboratory of CFD and laboratory of Heat Transfer in Urmia University in Iran. His main areas of research are power plant, energy engineering and exergy analysis. Shahram Khalilarya is an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Urmia and Head of Advanced Engineering Thermodynamic and Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory at Urmia University in Iran. He was previously teaching at Tabriz University in Iran, where he also received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering. His PhD is in Energy Conversion from Mechanical Department of Bath University in the UK. Iraj Mirzaee is an Associate Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department and Director of the CFD Laboratory at the University of Urmia in Iran. His special research activity is on the Heat Transfer and Turbomachinery field. He is also doing joint research work with Ruskin University in the UK.