The paper deals with thermodynamic analysis of cooled gas turbine-based gas-steam combined cycle with single, dual, or triple pressure bottoming cycle configuration. The cooled gas turbine analyzed here uses air as blade coolant. Component-wise non-dimensionalized exergy destruction of the bottoming cycle has been quantified with the objective to identify the major sources of exergy destruction. The mass of steam generated in different configurations of heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) depends upon the number of steam pressure drums, desired pressure level, and steam temperature. For the selected set of operating parameters, maximum steam has been observed to be generated in the case of triple pressure HRSG=19kg/kg and minimum in single pressure HRSG=17.25kg/kg. Plant-efficiency and plant-specific works are both highest for triple-pressure bottoming cycle combined cycle. Non-dimensionalized exergy destruction in HRSG is least at 0.9% for B3P, whereas 1.23% for B2P, and highest at 3.2% for B1P illustrating that process irreversibility is least in the case of B3P and highest in B1P. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.