Wet compression is an effective way to enhance the performance of gas turbines and it has attracted a good deal of attention in recent years. The one sidedness and inaccuracy of previous studies,which took concentration gradient as mass transfer potential are discussed. The mass transfer process is analyzed from the viewpoint of non equilibrium thermodynamics,by taking generalized thermodynamic driving force as mass transfer potential,and the corresponding mass transfer coefficient is obtained using the heat and mass transfer equilibrium occurring between moist air and water droplets at wet bulb temperature for the sake of avoiding complex tests and providing more accurate formulas. A mathematical model of wet compression is therefore established,and the general laws of wet compression are investigated. The results show that the performance of atomizer is critical for wet compression and wet compression is more suitable for compressors with higher pressure ratio and longer compression time. The one sidedness and inaccuracy of previous studies, which took concentration gradient as mass transfer potential are discussed. The mass transfer process is analyzed from the viewpoint of non equilibrium thermodynamics, by taking generalized thermodynamic driving force as mass transfer potential, and the corresponding mass transfer coefficient is obtained using the heat and mass transfer equilibrium occurring between moist air and water droplets at wet bulb temperature for the sake of avoiding complex tests and providing more accurate formulas. A mathematical model of wet compression is therefore established, and the general laws of wet compression are investigated. The results show that the performance of atomizer is critical for wet compression and wet compression is more suitable for compressors with higher pressure ratio and longer compress ion time.