Suppression of Dynamic Combustion Instabilities by Passive and Active Means
In the gas turbine industry, lean premixed combustion is a state-of-the-art technology for the reduction of NOx emissions. Due to the ever increasing reaction densities and turbine inlet temperatures in modern gas turbines, the combustors reveal an increased tendency to form dynamic combustion instabilities. This paper reports on the use of passive and active methods for the suppression of combustion oscillations in heavy-duty gas turbines featuring lean premixed combustion: Modifications of the burner exit nozzle are implemented in order to avoid fluiddynamic feedback and to change the acoustic behavior of the flame. An asymmetric circumferential distribution of flames with different thermoacoustic responses serves to avoid or at least attenuate the self-excitation within the combustor in multiburner systems. In some applications, these methods are successfully coupled with an active system for the suppression of combustion instabilities (AIC) to further extend the operation envelope. Field demonstrations in different Siemens gas turbines serve to demonstrate the benefit and flexibility of these measures for practical gas turbine combustion systems.