Turbine operational flexibility

An article of manufacture, comprising:

• a tangible non-transitory machine-readable media having encoded thereon processor-executable instructions comprising:
• instructions to receive sensed operation parameters related to the operation of a machine;
• instructions to apply the sensed operation parameters in a first analyzer configured to generate first characteristics related to degradation of the machine;
• instructions to apply the sensed operation parameters in a second analyzer configured to generate second characteristics related to thermal characteristics of the machine, wherein the thermal characteristics include thermal stresses present in the machine;
• instructions to apply the characteristic related to degradation of the machine, the second characteristics related to thermal characteristics of the machine, and a third characteristic related to operator behaviors related to the current operation of the machine to generate remaining useful life characteristics of components of the machine;
• and
• instructions to generate operational set points for control of the machine based in part on the remaining useful life characteristics, desired machine performance characteristics based on the operator behaviors, and maintenance characteristics of the machine.

A tangible non-transitory machine-readable media comprising code configured to:

• determine total remaining useful life of components of a machine based at least upon thermal stresses in the machine;
• determine a first degradation factor of the machine due to operator behaviors related to the current operation of the machine;
• determine a second degradation factor related to the duration of time that the machine is active;
• determine operating costs of the machine related to behaviors related to the operation of the machine;
• determine system losses at transients and steady state operation based on the operation of the machine;
• and
• utilize the total remaining useful life, the first degradation factor, the second degradation factor, the operating costs, and the system losses to generate operational set points for control of the machine.