Studies of Lean Blowout in a Step Swirl Combustor

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Durbin ◽  
D. R. Ballal
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Outer Flow ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Flow Swirl ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Air Mixing

The design requirements of a modern gas turbine combustor are increasingly dictated by wide stability limits, short flame length, and uniform mixing. To achieve the best trade-off between these three factors, flame characteristics (length, shape, mixedness), lean blowout (LBO), and optimum combustor configuration should be investigated over a wide range of inner and outer air velocities, inner and outer vane angles, and co- versus counterswirl arrangements. Such an investigation was performed in a step swirl combustor (SSC) designed to simulate the fuel–air mixing pattern in a gas turbine combustor dome fitted with an airblast atomizer. It was found that an increase in the outer vane angle and a decrease in inner air velocity decreased the flame length. LBO was improved when outer flow swirl intensity was increased. An optimum hardware and velocity configuration for the SSC was found for inner swirl = 45 deg, outer swirl = 60 deg, coswirl direction, and inner air velocity = outer air velocity = 16 m/s. This optimum SSC configuration yielded: (i) low values of LBO, (ii) short flame length, (iii) uniformly mixed stable flame, and (iv) little or no variation in these characteristics over the range of operation of SSC. Finally, the co- versus counterswirl arrangements and the operation of the optimized combustor configuration are discussed.

scholarly journals Studies of Lean Blowout in a Step Swirl Combustor

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Durbin ◽  
Dilip R. Ballal
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Air Velocity ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Outer Flow ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Flow Swirl ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Air Mixing

The design requirements of a modem gas turbine combustor are increasingly dictated by wide stability limits, short flame length, and uniform mixing. To achieve the best trade-off between the above three factors, flame characteristics (length, shape, mixedness), lean blowout (LBO), and optimum combustor configuration should be investigated over a wide range of inner and outer air velocities, inner and outer vane angles, and co- vs. counter-swirl arrangements. Such an investigation was performed in a step swirl combustor (SSC) designed to simulate the fuel-air mixing pattern in a gas turbine combustor dome fitted with an airblast atomizer. It was found that an increase in the outer vane angle and a decrease in inner air velocity decreased the flame length. LBO was improved when outer flow swirl intensity was increased. An optimum hardware and velocity configuration for the SSC was found for inner swirl = 45°, outer swirl = 60°, co-swirl direction, and inner air velocity = outer air velocity = 16 m/s. This optimum SSC configuration yielded: (i) low values of LBO, (ii) short flame length, (iii) uniformly mixed stable flame, and (iv) little or no variation in these characteristics over the range of operation of SSC. Finally, the co- vs. counter-swirl arrangements and the operation of the optimized combustor configuration were discussed.

Plasma-Assisted Combustor Dynamics Control at Ambient and Realistic Gas Turbine Conditions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wookyung Kim ◽  
Jeffrey Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Ambient Pressure ◽  
Plasma Discharge ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Pulsed Plasma ◽  
Plasma Power ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Baseline Temperature ◽  
Increasing Temperature

The central objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of implementing a plasma discharge to improve combustor dynamics and flame stability. Specifically, a nano-second pulsed plasma discharge (NSPD) was applied to a premixed gaseous fuel/air dump combustor for mitigation of dynamic combustion instabilities with a minimal NOX penalty. This paper addresses the scaling of this technology from ambient pressure and temperature conditions to more realistic gas turbine combustor conditions. A model combustor operating at representative conditions of O (102) m/s flow velocity, ∼ 580 K combustor inlet temperature, and ∼ 5 atm in-combustor pressure was selected to simulate a typical low-power environment of future aero engine gas turbine combustors. Fully premixed methane or propane was utilized as a fuel. Similar to a previous ambient-pressure study, a significant reduction of pressure fluctuation level was observed, by a factor of 2X to 4X over a wide range of velocity at the baseline temperature and pressure. The plasma power required for the reduction increased linearly with increasing velocity. The change of fuel from methane to propane showed that propane requires significantly (2X) higher plasma power to achieve a similar level of noise reduction. It was also observed that the lean blowout (LBO) limit was significantly extended in the presence of the plasma, however, substantial incomplete combustion occurs in the extended regime. NOX measurements showed that the incremental NOX production due to the presence of the plasma was low (∼ < 1EINOX) in general, however, it increased with decreasing velocity and pressure, and increasing temperature.

scholarly journals The Effect of Discrete Pilot Hydrogen Dopant Injection on the Lean Blowout Performance of a Model Gas Turbine Combustor

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oanh Nguyen ◽  
Scott Samuelsen
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Atmospheric Pressure ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Nox Emissions ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Lean Combustion ◽  
Attractive Option ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Model Gas Turbine Combustor

In view of increasingly stringent NOx emissions regulations on stationary gas turbines, lean combustion offers an attractive option to reduce reaction temperatures and thereby decrease NOx production. Under lean operation, however, the reaction is vulnerable to blowout. It is herein postulated that pilot hydrogen dopant injection, discretely located, can enhance the lean blowout performance without sacrificing overall performance. The present study addresses this hypothesis in a research combustor assembly, operated at atmospheric pressure, and fired on natural gas using rapid mixing injection, typical of commercial units. Five hydrogen injector scenarios are investigated. The results show that (1) pilot hydrogen dopant injection, discretely located, leads to improved lean blowout performance and (2) the location of discrete injection has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the doping strategy.

Acoustic Control of Dilution-Air Mixing in a Gas Turbine Combustor

1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Vermeulen ◽  
J. Odgers ◽  
V. Ramesh
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Temperature Profile ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Exit Plane ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Acoustic Control ◽  
Air Mixing ◽  
Air Flows ◽  
Plane Temperature ◽  
Load Conditions

A small combustor of normal design employing acoustic control of the dilution-air flows has been successfully tested up to “half-load” conditions. It has been shown that this technique can be used to selectively and progressively control the exit plane temperature distribution, and the ability to trim the temperature profile has been convincingly demonstrated. The acoustic driver power requirements were minimal indicating that driver power at “full-load” will not be excessive. The nature of the acoustically modulated dilution-air flows has been clearly establish to the design of combustors such that a desired exit plane temperature distribution may be achieved.

Analysis of Gas Turbine Rotating Cavities by an One-Dimensional Model

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Luca Innocenti ◽  
Mirko Micio
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Outer Flow ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Air System ◽  
Secondary Air ◽  
Radial Outflow

Reliable design of secondary air system is one of the main tasks for the safety, unfailing and performance of gas turbine engines. To meet the increasing demands of gas turbines design, improved tools in prediction of the secondary air system behavior over a wide range of operating conditions are needed. A real gas turbine secondary air system includes several components, therefore its analysis is not carried out through a complete CFD approach. Usually, that predictions are performed using codes, based on simplified approach which allows to evaluate the flow characteristics in each branch of the air system requiring very poor computational resources and few calculation time. Generally the available simplified commercial packages allow to correctly solve only some of the components of a real air system and often the elements with a more complex flow structure cannot be studied; among such elements, the analysis of rotating cavities is very hard. This paper deals with a design-tool developed at the University of Florence for the simulation of rotating cavities. This simplified in-house code solves the governing equations for steady one-dimensional axysimmetric flow using experimental correlations both to incorporate flow phenomena caused by multidimensional effects, like heat transfer and flow field losses, and to evaluate the circumferential component of velocity. Although this calculation approach does not enable a correct modeling of the turbulent flow within a wheel space cavity, the authors tried to create an accurate model taking into account the effects of inner and outer flow extraction, rotor and stator drag, leakages, injection momentum and, finally, the shroud/rim seal effects on cavity ingestion. The simplified calculation tool was designed to simulate the flow in a rotating cavity with radial outflow both with a Batchelor and/or Stewartson flow structures. A primary 1D-code testing campaign is available in the literature [1]. In the present paper the authors develop, using CFD tools, reliable correlations for both stator and rotor friction coefficients and provide a full 1D-code validation comparing, due to lack of experimental data, the in house design-code predictions with those evaluated by CFD.

System Evaluation and LBTU Fuel Combustion Studies for IGCC Power Generation

1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Cook ◽  
J. C. Corman ◽  
D. M. Todd
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Coal Gasification ◽  
Flame Temperature ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Gas Cleaning ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cycle Systems ◽  
Combined Cycles

The integration of gas turbines and combined cycle systems with advances in coal gasification and gas stream cleanup systems will result in economically viable IGCC systems. Optimization of IGCC systems for both emission levels and cost of electricity is critical to achieving this goal. A technical issue is the ability to use a wide range of coal and petroleum-based fuel gases in conventional gas turbine combustor hardware. In order to characterize the acceptability of these syngases for gas turbines, combustion studies were conducted with simulated coal gases using full-scale advanced gas turbine (7F) combustor components. It was found that NOx emissions could be correlated as a simple function of stoichiometric flame temperature for a wide range of heating values while CO emissions were shown to depend primarily on the H2 content of the fuel below heating values of 130 Btu/scf (5125 kJ/NM3) and for H2/CO ratios less than unity. The test program further demonstrated the capability of advanced can-annular combustion systems to burn fuels from air-blown gasifiers with fuel lower heating values as low as 90 Btu/scf (3548 kJ/NM3) at 2300°F (1260°C) firing temperature. In support of ongoing economic studies, numerous IGCC system evaluations have been conducted incorporating a majority of the commercial or near-commercial coal gasification systems coupled with “F” series gas turbine combined cycles. Both oxygen and air-blown configurations have been studied, in some cases with high and low-temperature gas cleaning systems. It has been shown that system studies must start with the characteristics and limitations of the gas turbine if output and operating economics are to be optimized throughout the range of ambient operating temperature and load variation.

Study of Flame Stability in a Step Swirl Combustor

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Durbin ◽  
M. D. Vangsness ◽  
D. R. Ballal ◽  
V. R. Katta
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Recirculation Zone ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Tangential Velocity ◽  
Combustion Stability ◽  
Combustion Model ◽  
Fuel Injector ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Radial Profiles

A prime requirement in the design of a modern gas turbine combustor is good combustion stability, especially near lean blowout (LBO), to ensure an adequate stability margin. For an aeroengine, combustor blow-off limits are encountered during low engine speeds at high altitudes over a range of flight Mach numbers. For an industrial combustor, requirements of ultralow NOx emissions coupled with high combustion efficiency demand operation at or close to LBO. In this investigation, a step swirl combustor (SSC) was designed to reproduce the swirling flow pattern present in the vicinity of the fuel injector located in the primary zone of a gas turbine combustor. Different flame shapes, structure, and location were observed and detailed experimental measurements and numerical computations were performed. It was found that certain combinations of outer and inner swirling air flows produce multiple attached flames, aflame with a single attached structure just above the fuel injection tube, and finally for higher inner swirl velocity, the flame lifts from the fuel tube and is stabilized by the inner recirculation zone. The observed difference in LBO between co- and counterswirl configurations is primarily a function of how the flame stabilizes, i.e., attached versus lifted. A turbulent combustion model correctly predicts the attached flame location(s), development of inner recirculation zone, a dimple-shaped flame structure, the flame lift-off height, and radial profiles of mean temperature, axial velocity, and tangential velocity at different axial locations. Finally, the significance and applications of anchored and lifted flames to combustor stability and LBO in practical gas turbine combustors are discussed.

Exploration of Compact Combustors for Reheat Cycle Aero Engine Applications

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zelina ◽  
D. T. Shouse ◽  
J. S. Stutrud ◽  
G. J. Sturgess ◽  
W. M. Roquemore
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Temperature Rise ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engine ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Combustion System ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Power Extraction ◽  
Wide Range

An aero gas turbine engine has been proposed that uses a near-constant-temperature (NCT) cycle and an Inter-Turbine Burner (ITB) to provide large amounts of power extraction from the low-pressure turbine. This level of energy is achieved with a modest temperature rise across the ITB. The additional energy can be used to power a large geared fan for an ultra-high bypass ratio transport aircraft, or to drive an alternator for large amounts of electrical power extraction. Conventional gas turbines engines cannot drive ultra-large diameter fans without causing excessively high turbine temperatures, and cannot meet high power extraction demands without a loss of engine thrust. Reducing the size of the combustion system is key to make use of a NCT gas turbine cycle. Ultra-compact combustor (UCC) concepts are being explored experimentally. These systems use high swirl in a circumferential cavity about the engine centerline to enhance reaction rates via high cavity g-loading on the order of 3000 g’s. Any increase in reaction rate can be exploited to reduce combustor volume. The UCC design integrates compressor and turbine features which will enable a shorter and potentially less complex gas turbine engine. This paper will present experimental data of the Ultra-Compact Combustor (UCC) performance in vitiated flow. Vitiation levels were varied from 12–20% oxygen levels to simulate exhaust from the high pressure turbine (HPT). Experimental results from the ITB at atmospheric pressure indicate that the combustion system operates at 97–99% combustion efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions burning JP-8 +100 fuel. Flame lengths were extremely short, at about 50% of those seen in conventional systems. A wide range of operation is possible with lean blowout fuel-air ratio limits at 25–50% below the value of current systems. These results are significant because the ITB only requires a small (300°F) temperature rise for optimal power extraction, leading to operation of the ITB at near-lean-blowout limits of conventional combustor designs. This data lays the foundation for the design space required for future engine designs.

Passive Control of Combustion Instability in a Low Emissions Aeroderivative Gas Turbine

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Scarinci ◽  
Christopher Freeman ◽  
Ivor Day
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Laboratory Testing ◽  
Passive Control ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Air Mixing

This paper describes the conceptual ideas, the theoretical validation, the laboratory testing and the field trials of a recently patented fuel-air mixing device for use in high-pressure ratio, low emissions, gaseous-fueled gas turbines. By making the fuel-air mixing process insensitive to pressure fluctuations in the combustion chamber, it is possible to avoid the common problem of positive feedback between mixture strength and the unsteady combustion process. More specifically, a mixing duct has been designed such that fuel-air ratio fluctuations over a wide range of frequencies can be damped out by passive design means. By scaling the design in such a way that the range of damped frequencies covers the frequency spectrum of the acoustic modes in the combustor, the instability mechanism can be removed. After systematic development, this design philosophy was successfully applied to a 35:1 pressure ratio aeroderivative gas turbine yielding very low noise levels and very competitive NOx and CO measurements. The development of the new premixer is described from conceptual origins through analytic and CFD evaluation to laboratory testing and final field trials. Also included in this paper are comments about the practical issues of mixing, flashback resistance and autoignition.

scholarly journals Experimental Prediction of Lean Blowout Limits for 3kW Micro Gas Turbine Combustor fuelled with LPG

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
V. KIRUBAKARAN ◽  
David BHATT
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Pressure Loss ◽  
Total Pressure ◽  
Total Pressure Loss ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Inlet Velocity ◽  
Lean Blowout ◽  
Micro Gas Turbine ◽  
Experimental Prediction

The Lean Blowout Limit of the combustor is one of the important performance parameters for a gas turbine combustor design. This study aims to predict the total pressure loss and Lean Blowout (LBO) limits of an in-house designed swirl stabilized 3kW can-type micro gas turbine combustor. The experimental prediction of total pressure loss and LBO limits was performed on a designed combustor fuelled with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the combustor inlet velocity ranging from 1.70 m/s to 11 m/s. The results show that the predicted total pressure drop increases with increasing combustor inlet velocity, whereas the LBO equivalence ratio decreases gradually with an increase in combustor inlet velocity. The combustor total pressure drop was found to be negligible; being in the range of 0.002 % to 0.065 % for the measured inlet velocity conditions. These LBO limits predictions will be used to fix the operating boundary conditions of the gas turbine combustor.

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