Investigation of Fuel and Load Flexibility in a SGT-600/700/800 Burner Under Atmospheric Pressure Conditions Using High-Speed Oh-Plif and Oh Chemiluminescence Imaging

Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Haisol Kim ◽  
Sven-Inge Möller ◽  
Mattias Richter ◽  
Christian Brackmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Experimental investigations were performed using a standard 3rd generation dry low emission (DLE) burner under atmospheric pressure to study the effect of central and pilot fuel addition, load variations and H2 enrichment in a NG flame. High-speed OH-PLIF and OH-chemiluminescence imaging were employed to investigate the flame stabilization, flame turbulence interactions, and flame dynamics. Along with the optical measurements, combustion emissions were recorded to observe the effect of changing operating conditions on NOX level. The burner is used in Siemens industrial gas turbines SGT-600, SGT-700 and SGT-800 with minor hardware differences. This study thus is a step to characterize fuel and load flexibility for these turbines. Without pilot and central fuel injections in the current burner configuration, the main flame is stabilized creating a central recirculation zone. Addition of the pilot fuel strengthens the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) and moves the flame slightly downstream, whereas the flame moves upstream without affecting the ORZ when central fuel injection is added. The flame was investigated utilizing H2/NG fuel mixtures where the H2 amount was changed from 0 to 100%. The flame becomes more compact, the anchoring position moves closer to the burner exit and the OH signal distribution becomes more distinct for H2 addition due to increased reaction rate, diffusivity, and laminar burning velocity. Changing the load from part to base, similar trends were observed in the flame behavior but in this case due to the higher heat release because of increased turbulence intensity.

Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Haisol Kim ◽  
Sven-Inge Möller ◽  
Mattias Richter ◽  
Christian Brackmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Fuel and load flexibility have been increasingly important features of industrial gas turbines in order to meet the demand for increased utilization of renewable fuels and to provide a way to balance the grid fluctuations due to the unsteady supply of wind and solar power. Experimental investigations were performed using a standard 3rd generation dry low emission (DLE) burner under atmospheric pressure conditions to study the effect of central and pilot fuel addition, load variations and hydrogen (H2) enrichment in a natural gas (NG) flame. High-speed kHz planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH radicals and imaging of OH chemiluminescence were employed to investigate the flame stabilization, flame turbulence interactions, and flame dynamics. Along with the optical measurements, combustion emissions were also recorded to observe the effect of changing operating conditions on NOX level. The burner is used in Siemens industrial gas turbines SGT-600, SGT-700 and SGT-800 with no hardware differences and the study thus is a step to characterize fuel and load flexibility for these turbines. Without pilot and central fuel injections in the current burner configuration, the main flame is stabilized creating a central recirculation zone (CRZ). Addition of the pilot fuel strengthens the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) and moves the flame anchoring position slightly downstream, whereas the flame moves upstream without affecting the ORZ when central fuel injection is added. The flame was investigated utilizing H2/NG fuel mixtures where the H2 amount was changed from 0 to 100%. The results show that the characteristics of the flames are clearly affected by the addition of H2 and by the load variations. The flame becomes more compact, the anchoring position moves closer to the burner exit and the OH signal distribution becomes more distinct for H2 addition due to increased reaction rate, diffusivity, and laminar burning velocity. Changing the load from part to base, similar trends were observed in the flame behavior but in this case due to the higher heat release because of increased turbulence intensity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph A. Schmalhofer ◽  
Peter Griebel ◽  
Manfred Aigner

The use of highly reactive hydrogen-rich fuels in lean premixed combustion systems strongly affects the operability of stationary gas turbines (GT) resulting in higher autoignition and flashback risks. The present study investigates the autoignition behavior and ignition kernel evolution of hydrogen–nitrogen fuel mixtures in an inline co-flow injector configuration at relevant reheat combustor operating conditions. High-speed luminosity and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in an optically accessible reheat combustor are employed. Autoignition and flame stabilization limits strongly depend on temperatures of vitiated air and carrier preheating. Higher hydrogen content significantly promotes the formation and development of different types of autoignition kernels: More autoignition kernels evolve with higher hydrogen content showing the promoting effect of equivalence ratio on local ignition events. Autoignition kernels develop downstream a certain distance from the injector, indicating the influence of ignition delay on kernel development. The development of autoignition kernels is linked to the shear layer development derived from global experimental conditions.


Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Robert Collin ◽  
Marcus Aldén ◽  
Atanu Kundu ◽  
Jens Klingmann

Experiments were performed on a prototype 4th generation DLE (dry low emission) burner under atmospheric pressure conditions to investigate the effects of hydrogen (H2) enrichment on methane (CH4) flames. The burner assembly was designed to have three concentrically arranged premixed sections: an outer Main section, an intermediate section (Pilot) and a central pilot body termed the RPL (Rich-Pilot-Lean) section. The Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH radicals together with flame chemiluminescence imaging were employed for studying the local flame characteristics so as to be able to investigate the turbulence-flame interactions and the location of the reaction zone at the burner exit. Flames were investigated for three different fuel mixtures having hydrogen (H2)/methane (CH4) in vol. % concentration of 0/100, 25/75 and 50/50. The results show that the characteristics of the flames are clearly affected by the addition of hydrogen and the effects are expected due to the faster reaction rate, higher diffusivity and higher laminar burning velocity of H2. Enriching the flame with H2 at a constant global phi (ϕ) is found to shorten the total extension of the flame due to the higher laminar flame speed. The OH signal distribution becomes thicker and more pronounced due to the higher production of OH radicals, and the flame stabilization zone that is produced after the burner throat, moves further downstream. At a constant global ϕ in altering the RPL and the Pilot ϕ, similar changes for both 0/100 and 25/75 (in vol. %) of the H2/CH4 fuel mixtures can be observed. At a rich RPL ϕ, the secondary RPL flame contributes to the main flame and to determining the flame stabilization position. The flame stabilization zone located after the burner throat moves further downstream with an increase in the RPL ϕ. When the PFR (Pilot fuel ratio) increases, the extension of the flame shortens and the flame stabilization zone moves upstream. Combustion emissions were also determined so as to observe the effects of the H2 enrichment on the NOX level.


Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Robert Collin ◽  
Marcus Aldén ◽  
Atanu Kundu ◽  
Jens Klingmann

Experiments were performed at atmospheric pressure conditions on the prototype 4th generation DLE burner. The combustion changes that occur for alteration of the operating conditions by changing the equivalence ratios (ϕ) for CH4 as fuel at different sections of the burner, were optically investigated. The burner assembly has three concentrically arranged premixed burner sections: an outer Main section, an intermediate section (Pilot) and a central pilot body or pre-chamber combustor, called RPL (Rich-Pilot-Lean) section. All sections are facilitated to vary equivalence ratios to achieve optimal combustion. Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH radicals and flame chemiluminescence imaging were applied to study the local flame characteristics in order to investigate turbulence-flame interaction and formation of reaction zone at the burner exit. The results show that the position and shape of the flame are clearly affected by the variation of equivalence ratios at different sections of the burner. During the experiments, first the RPL, then the Pilot and the Main flame were added in a step wise manner keeping constant the total air flow for the global ϕ = 0.5 in order to understand the flame contributions from the different combustion sections. It is observed that for the RPL fuel lean conditions, the primary combustion starts and reaches completion before exiting the burner throat while for rich conditions, the residual fuel escapes out through the RPL exit with primary combustion products and starts secondary combustion along with the Pilot and Main combustion. At the global ϕ = 0.5, for changing the RPL ϕ from lean to rich conditions, the flame stabilization region moves downstream of the burner exit and the flame front fluctuation along inner shear layer increases. For increasing the global ϕ and increasing the Pilot fuel ratio (PFR) without changing the RPL and the global ϕ, the total extension of the flame becomes shorter and the flame stabilization region moves upstream.


Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Robert Collin ◽  
Marcus Aldén ◽  
Atanu Kundu ◽  
Jens Klingmann

Laser based investigations were performed on a prototype 4th generation DLE (dry low emission) burner under atmospheric pressure conditions to study the effects of changing burner geometry on the flame. In a full burner configuration, a divergent conical section termed the Quarl is located after the burner exit for expanding the flow area and holding the flame. The planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH radicals together with the flame chemiluminescence imaging were employed to study the flame characteristics under the conditions with and without Quarl using CH4 as fuel to understand the influence of Quarl on the flame. When there is no Quarl, the flame has more freedom to expand at the burner exit and with an increase in the global equivalence ratio (ϕ), the width of the flame increases and the total extension of the flame shortens. For all the global ϕ considered here, the total extension of the flame is shorter under the condition without Quarl in comparison to the one with Quarl. For a richer global ϕ (ϕ ≥ 0.46) the outer recirculation zones (ORZs) are not observed under the condition with Quarl, but are observed without Quarl along with the inner recirculation zone. Without Quarl conditions, equivalence ratios (ϕ) of the concentrically arranged three sections of the burner: an outer Main section, an intermediate section (Pilot) and a central pilot body or pre-chamber combustor, termed the RPL (Rich-Pilot-Lean) sections were altered. The results show that at a constant global ϕ, with an increase in the RPL ϕ and the Pilot ϕ, the flame shortens and expands radially as well as the flame stabilization zone that is produced after the burner exit moves further downstream. At a richer global ϕ, the ORZ is observed along with the inner recirculation zone of the flame. Otherwise, with an increase in global ϕ, the changes in the flame shape, in the flame fluctuation and in the flame stabilization position follow similar trends as for increasing the Pilot ϕ and the RPL ϕ. Additionally, combustion emissions were obtained to observe the effects on NOX level for different operating conditions with and without Quarl.


Author(s):  
Yiheng Tong ◽  
Mao Li ◽  
Jens Klingmann ◽  
Shuang Chen ◽  
Zhongshan Li

Effects of the bluff-body’s position on diffusion flame structures and flame instability characteristics were investigated experimentally. A flame regime diagram together with the corresponding flow fields were proposed to evaluate the influences caused by the alternation of bluff-body’s position. The disk shape bluff-body was placed 10 mm downstream or at the same height with the annular channel exit. The bulk velocity of the annular air flow varied from 0 to 8.6m/s while the central jet fuel velocity ranged from 0 to 30m/s. Various flame patterns including the recirculation zone flame, the stable diffusion jet flame, split-flashing flame and lifted flame were observed and recorded with a high speed camera. It is found that the flame has approximately the same patterns with different bluff-body’s positions, except for cases with high air flow rate (Ua > 6.8m/s) and low fuel flow rate (Uj < 5m/s). Under that operating conditions, placing the disk bluff-body 10 mm above the annular channel could better stabilize the flame. High speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was also used to get deeper insight into the characteristics of the flow fields and flame stabilization. The size and strength of the recirculation zone downstream of the bluff-body altered with the changing of bluff-body’s position and other operating conditions. The recirculation zone, in the burner with the bluff-body placed 10 mm above the air channel exit, was found larger and stronger than that in the other burner geometry. In the reacting case, a recirculation bubble was formed besides the bluff-body’s outer wall which enhanced the flame stabilization. It is also found that the combustion changed the flow fields by enlarging the recirculation bubbles downstream of the bluff-body.


Author(s):  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Ronald Whiddon ◽  
Robert Collin ◽  
Marcus Aldén ◽  
Atanu Kundu ◽  
...  

Experiments were performed on the central pilot body (RPL-rich-pilot-lean) of Siemens prototype 4th generation DLE burner to investigate the flame behavior at atmospheric pressure condition when varying equivalence ratio, residence time and co-flow temperature. The flame at the RPL burner exit was investigated applying OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and high-speed chemiluminescence imaging. The results from chemiluminescence imaging and OH PLIF show that the size and shape of the flame are clearly affected by the variation in operating conditions. For both preheated and non-preheated co-flow cases, at lean equivalence ratios combustion starts early inside the burner and primary combustion comes to near completion inside the burner if residence time permits. For rich conditions, the unburnt fuel escapes out through the burner exit along with primary combustion products and combustion subsequently restarts downstream the burner at leaner condition and in a diffuse-like manner. For preheated co-flow, most of the operating conditions yield similar OH PLIF distributions and the flame is stabilizing at approximately the same spatial positions. It reveals the importance of the preheating co-flow for flame stabilization. Flame instabilities were observed and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) is applied to time resolved chemiluminescence data to demonstrate how the flame is oscillating. Preheating has strong influence on the oscillation frequency. Additionally, combustion emissions were analyzed to observe the effect on NOX level for variation in operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Jingjing Luo ◽  
Dieter Brillert

Abstract Dry gas lubricated non-contacting mechanical seals (DGS), most commonly found in centrifugal compressors, prevent the process gas flow into the atmosphere. Especially when high speed is combined with high pressure, DGS is the preferred choice over other sealing alternatives. In order to investigate the flow field in the sealing gap and to facilitate the numerical prediction of the seal performance, a dedicated test facility is developed to carry out the measurement of key parameters in the gas film. Gas in the sealing film varies according to the seal inlet pressure, and the thickness of gas film depends on this fluctuated pressure. In this paper, the test facility, measurement methods and the first results of static pressure measurements in the sealing gap of the DGS obtained in the described test facility are presented. An industry DGS with three-dimensional grooves on the surface of the rotating ring, where experimental investigations take place, is used. The static pressure in the gas film is measured, up to 20 bar and 8,100 rpm, by several high frequency ultraminiature pressure transducers embedded into the stationary ring. The experimental results are discussed and compared with the numerical model programmed in MATLAB, the characteristic and magnitude of which have a good agreement with the numerical simulations. It suggests the feasibility of measuring pressure profiles of the standard industry DGS under pressurized dynamic operating conditions without altering the key components of the seal and thereby affecting the seal performance.


Author(s):  
Thomas Mosbach ◽  
Victor Burger ◽  
Barani Gunasekaran

The threshold combustion performance of different fuel formulations under simulated altitude relight conditions were investigated in the altitude relight test facility located at the Rolls-Royce plc. Strategic Research Centre in Derby, UK. The combustor employed was a twin-sector representation of an RQL gas turbine combustor. Eight fuels including conventional crude-derived Jet A-1 kerosene, synthetic paraffinic kerosenes (SPKs), linear paraffinic solvents, aromatic solvents and pure compounds were tested. The combustor was operated at sub-atmospheric air pressure of 41 kPa and air temperature of 265 K. The temperature of all fuels was regulated to 288 K. The combustor operating conditions corresponded to a low stratospheric flight altitude near 9 kilometres. The experimental work at the Rolls-Royce (RR) test-rig consisted of classical relight envelope ignition and extinction tests, and ancillary optical measurements: Simultaneous high-speed imaging of the OH* chemiluminescence and of the soot luminosity was used to visualize both the transient combustion phenomena and the combustion behaviour of the steady burning flames. Flame luminosity spectra were also simultaneously recorded with a spectrometer to obtain information about the different combustion intermediates and about the thermal soot radiation curve. This paper presents first results from the analysis of the weak extinction measurements. Further detailed test fuel results are the subject of a separate complementary paper [1]. It was found in general that the determined weak extinction parameters were not strongly dependent on the fuels investigated, however at the leading edge of the OH* chemiluminescence intensity development in the pre-flame region fuel-related differences were observed.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Denton ◽  
Samir B. Tambe ◽  
San-Mou Jeng

The altitude relight of a gas turbine combustor is an FAA and EASA regulation which dictates the successful re-ignition of an engine and its proper spool-up after an in-flight shutdown. Combustor pressure loss, ambient pressure, ambient temperature, and equivalence ratio were all studied on a full-scale, 3-cup, single-annular aviation combustor sector to create an ignition map. The flame development process was studied through the implementation of high-speed video. Testing was conducted by placing the sector horizontally upstream of an air jet ejector in a high altitude relight testing facility. Air was maintained at room temperature for varying pressure, and then the cryogenic heat exchanger was fed with liquid nitrogen to chill the air down to a limit of −50 deg F, corresponding with an altitude of 30,000 feet. Fuel was injected at constant equivalence ratios across multiple operating conditions, giving insight into the ignition map of the combustor sector. Results of testing indicated difficulty in achieving ignition at high altitudes for pressure drops greater than 2%, while low pressure drops show adequate performance. Introducing low temperatures to simulate the ambient conditions yielded a worse outcome, with all conditions having poor results except for 1%. High-speed video of the flame development process during the relight conditions across all altitudes yielded a substantial effect of the pressure drop on ignitability of the combustor. An increase in pressure drop was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of ignition success, especially at increasing altitudes. The introduction of the reduced temperature effect exacerbated this effect, further hurting ignition. High velocity regions in the combustor were detrimental to the ignition, and high area, low velocity regions aided greatly. The flame tended to settle into the corner recirculation zone and recirculate back into the center-toroidal recirculation zone (CTRZ), spreading downstream and likewise into adjacent swirl cups. These tests demonstrate the need for new combustor designs to consider adding large recirculation zones for combustor flame stability that will aid in relight requirements.


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