CARS Temperature and LDA Velocity Measurements in a Turbulent, Swirling, Premixed Propane/Air Fueled Model Gas Turbine Combustor
This paper present results from a research program being conducted at the Advanced Combustion Engineering Research Center (ACERC) at Brigham Young University (BYU). This study is part of a comprehensive effort supported by the Advanced Gas Turbine Systems Research (ATS) Program headquartered at the South Carolina Energy Research and Development Center, Clemson, South Carolina. The objective of this study was to characterize a turbulent premixed propane/air flame in a model combustor that simulates the characteristics of a utility gas turbine engine. The program’s long term goal is to develop and commercialize ultra-high efficiency, environmentally superior, and cost competitive gas turbine systems for base-load applications in the utility, independent power producer, and industrial markets. This paper focuses on the following four areas of the investigation: 1) a series of digitized video images to document the effect of fuel equivalence ratio and swirl number on flame structure, 2) LDA velocity measurements to quantify the flow structure, 3) CARS gas temperature measurements to determine the temperature field in the combustor, and 4) local continuity and energy release in differential elements throughout the flame zone.