It is exactly 40 years since I was introduced to the study of gas turbines, using a
book simply referred to as Cohen and Rogers. After a decade in the gas turbine
industry I had the good fortune to join Professor Rogers at the University of
Bristol and was greatly honoured to be invited to join the original authors in the
preparation of the second edition in 1971. Sadly, Dr Cohen died in 1987, but I am
sure he would be delighted to know that the book he initiated in 1951 is still
going strong. Professor Rogers, although retired, has remained fully active as a
critic and has continued to keep his junior faculty member in line; his comments
have been very helpful to me.
Since the third edition in 1987, the gas turbine has been found to be suitable for
an increasing number of applications, and this is reflected in the new
Introduction. Gas turbines are becoming widely used for base-load electricity generation,
as part of combined-cycle plant, and combined cycles receive more attention in
this edition. With the increased use of gas turbines, control of harmful emissions
has become ever more important. The chapter on combustion has been enlarged
to include a substantial discussion of the factors affecting emissions and
descriptions of current methods of attacking the problem. A section on coal
gasification has also been added. Finally, the opportunity has been taken to make
many small but significant improvements and additions to the text and examples.