A gas-turbine plant model is required in order to design and develop its control system. In this paper, a simulation model of a marine three-shaft gas-turbine's digital-control system is presented. Acceleration processes are simulated via a Matlab/Simulink program. The effects of some of the main variables on the system's performance are analyzed and the optimum values of parameters obtained. A simulation experiment upon a real gas-turbine plant is performed using the digital-control model. The results show that the simulation model is reliable. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.