Low-Order Modelling of Thermoacoustic Limit Cycles

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon R. Stow ◽  
Ann P. Dowling
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Function ◽  
Heat Release ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Limit Cycles ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Velocity Perturbation ◽  
Linear Mode ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Low Order

Lean premixed prevaporised (LPP) combustion can reduce NOx emissions from gas turbines, but often leads to combustion instability. Acoustic waves produce fluctuations in heat release, for instance by perturbing the fuel-air ratio. These heat fluctuations will in turn generate more acoustic waves and in some situations self-sustained oscillations can form. The resulting limit cycles can have large amplitude causing structural damage. Thermoacoustic oscillations will have a low amplitude initially. Thus linear models can give stability predictions. An unstable linear mode will grow in amplitude until nonlinear effects become important and a limit cycle is achieved. While the frequency of the linear mode can provide a good approximation to that of the resulting limit cycle, linear theories give no prediction of its amplitude. A low-order model for thermoacoustic limit cycles in LPP combustors is described. The approach is based on the fact that the main nonlinearity is in the combustion response to flow perturbations. In LPP combustion, fluctuations in the inlet fuel-air ratio have been shown to be the dominant cause of unsteady combustion: these occur because velocity perturbations in the premix ducts cause a time-varying fuel-air ratio, which then convects downstream. If the velocity perturbation becomes comparable to the mean flow, there will be an amplitude-dependent effect on the equivalence ratio fluctuations entering the combustor and hence on the rate of heat release. A simple nonlinear flame model for this dependence is developed and is assumed to be the major non-linear effect on the limit cycle. Since the Mach number is low, the velocity perturbation can be comparable to the mean flow, with even reverse flow occurring, while the disturbances are still acoustically linear in that the pressure perturbation is still much smaller than the mean. Hence elsewhere the perturbations are treated as linear. In this nonlinear flame model, the flame transfer function describing the combustion response to changes in inlet flow is a function of both frequency and amplitude. The nonlinear flame transfer function is incorporated into a linear thermoacoustic network model for plane waves. Frequency, amplitude and modeshape predictions are compared with results from an atmospheric test rig. The approach is extended to circumferential waves in a thin annular geometry, where the nonlinearity leads to modal coupling.

A Time-Domain Network Model for Nonlinear Thermoacoustic Oscillations

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon R. Stow ◽  
Ann P. Dowling
Keyword(s):  
Heat Release ◽  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Network Model ◽  
Time Domain ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Time Domain ◽  
Thermoacoustic Oscillations

Lean premixed prevaporised (LPP) combustion can reduce NOx emissions from gas turbines, but often leads to combustion instability. Acoustic waves produce fluctuations in heat release, for instance by perturbing the fuel-air ratio. These heat fluctuations will in turn generate more acoustic waves and in some situations linear oscillations grow into large amplitude self-sustained oscillations. The resulting limit cycles can cause structural damage. Thermoacoustic oscillations will have a low amplitude initially. Thus linear models can describe the initial growth and hence give stability predictions. An unstable linear mode will grow in amplitude until nonlinear effects become sufficiently important to achieve a limit cycle. While the frequency of the linear mode can often provide a good approximation to that of the resulting limit cycle, linear theories give no prediction of its resulting amplitude. In previous work, we developed a low-order frequency-domain method to model thermoacoustic limit cycles in LPP combustors. This was based on a ‘describing function’ approach and is only applicable when there is a dominant mode and the main nonlinearity is in the combustion response to flow perturbations. In this paper that method is extended into the time domain. The main advantage of the time-domain approach is that limit-cycle stability, the influence of harmonics, and the interaction between different modes can be simulated. In LPP combustion, fluctuations in the inlet fuel-air ratio have been shown to be the dominant cause of unsteady combustion: these occur because velocity perturbations in the premix ducts cause a time-varying fuel-air ratio, which then convects downstream. If the velocity perturbation becomes comparable to the mean flow, there will be an amplitude-dependent effect on the equivalence ratio fluctuations entering the combustor and hence on the rate of heat release. Since the Mach number is low, the velocity perturbation can be comparable to the mean flow, with even reverse flow occurring, while the disturbances are still acoustically linear in that the pressure perturbation is still much smaller than the mean. Hence while the combustion response to flow velocity and equivalence ratio fluctuations must be modelled nonlinearly, the flow perturbations generated as a result of the unsteady combustion can be treated as linear. In developing a time-domain network model for nonlinear thermoacoustic oscillations an initial frequency-domain calculation is performed. The linear network model, LOTAN, is used to categorise the combustor geometry by finding the transfer function for the response of flow perturbations (at the fuel injectors, say) to heat-release oscillations. This transfer function is then converted into the time domain through an inverse Fourier transform to obtain the Green’s function, which thus relates unsteady flow to heat release at previous times. By combining this with a nonlinear flame model (relating heat release to unsteady flow at previous times) a complete time-domain solution can be found by stepping forward in time. If an unstable mode is present, its amplitude will initially grow exponentially (in accordance with linear theory) until saturation effects in the flame model become significant, and eventually a stable limit cycle will be attained. The time-domain approach enables determination of the limit-cycle. In addition, the influence of harmonics and the interaction and exchange of energy between different modes can be simulated. These effects are investigated for longitudinal and circumferential instabilities in an example combustor system and results are compared to frequency-domain limit-cycle predictions.

A Time-Domain Network Model for Nonlinear Thermoacoustic Oscillations

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon R. Stow ◽  
Ann P. Dowling
Keyword(s):  
Heat Release ◽  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Network Model ◽  
Time Domain ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Time Domain ◽  
Thermoacoustic Oscillations

Lean premixed prevaporized (LPP) combustion can reduce NOx emissions from gas turbines but often leads to combustion instability. Acoustic waves produce fluctuations in heat release, for instance, by perturbing the fuel-air ratio. These heat fluctuations will in turn generate more acoustic waves and in some situations linear oscillations grow into large-amplitude self-sustained oscillations. The resulting limit cycles can cause structural damage. Thermoacoustic oscillations will have a low amplitude initially. Thus linear models can describe the initial growth and hence give stability predictions. An unstable linear mode will grow in amplitude until nonlinear effects become sufficiently important to achieve a limit cycle. While the frequency of the linear mode can often provide a good approximation to that of the resulting limit cycle, linear theories give no prediction of its resulting amplitude. In previous work, we developed a low-order frequency-domain method to model thermoacoustic limit cycles in LPP combustors. This was based on a “describing-function” approach and is only applicable when there is a dominant mode and the main nonlinearity is in the combustion response to flow perturbations. In this paper that method is extended into the time domain. The main advantage of the time-domain approach is that limit-cycle stability, the influence of harmonics, and the interaction between different modes can be simulated. In LPP combustion, fluctuations in the inlet fuel-air ratio have been shown to be the dominant cause of unsteady combustion: These occur because velocity perturbations in the premix ducts cause a time-varying fuel-air ratio, which then convects downstream. If the velocity perturbation becomes comparable to the mean flow, there will be an amplitude-dependent effect on the equivalence ratio fluctuations entering the combustor and hence on the rate of heat release. Since the Mach number is low, the velocity perturbation can be comparable to the mean flow, with even reverse flow occurring, while the disturbances are still acoustically linear in that the pressure perturbation is still much smaller than the mean. Hence while the combustion response to flow velocity and equivalence ratio fluctuations must be modeled nonlinearly, the flow perturbations generated as a result of the unsteady combustion can be treated as linear. In developing a time-domain network model for nonlinear thermoacoustic oscillations an initial frequency-domain calculation is performed. The linear network model, LOTAN, is used to categorize the combustor geometry by finding the transfer function for the response of flow perturbations (at the fuel injectors, say) to heat-release oscillations. This transfer function is then converted into the time domain through an inverse Fourier transform to obtain Green’s function, which thus relates unsteady flow to heat release at previous times. By combining this with a nonlinear flame model (relating heat release to unsteady flow at previous times) a complete time-domain solution can be found by stepping forward in time. If an unstable mode is present, its amplitude will initially grow exponentially (in accordance with linear theory) until saturation effects in the flame model become significant, and eventually a stable limit cycle will be attained. The time-domain approach enables determination of the limit cycle. In addition, the influence of harmonics and the interaction and exchange of energy between different modes can be simulated. These effects are investigated for longitudinal and circumferential instabilities in an example combustor system and the results are compared with frequency-domain limit-cycle predictions.

scholarly journals Bifurcation analysis and frequency prediction in shear-driven cavity flow

2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 725-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Bengana ◽  
J.-Ch. Loiseau ◽  
J.-Ch. Robinet ◽  
L. S. Tuckerman
Keyword(s):  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Limit Cycles ◽  
Fourier Transforms ◽  
Real Zero ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Temporal Behaviour ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Hilbert Transform

A comprehensive study of the two-dimensional incompressible shear-driven flow in an open square cavity is carried out. Two successive bifurcations lead to two limit cycles with different frequencies and different numbers of structures which propagate along the top of the cavity and circulate in its interior. A branch of quasi-periodic states produced by secondary Hopf bifurcations transfers the stability from one limit cycle to the other. A full analysis of this scenario is obtained by means of nonlinear simulations, linear stability analysis and Floquet analysis. We characterize the temporal behaviour of the limit cycles and quasi-periodic state via Fourier transforms and their spatial behaviour via the Hilbert transform. We address the relevance of linearization about the mean flow. Although here the nonlinear frequencies are not very far from those obtained by linearization about the base flow, the difference is substantially reduced when eigenvalues are obtained instead from linearization about the mean and in addition, the corresponding growth rate is small, a combination of properties called RZIF (real zero imaginary frequency). Moreover growth rates obtained by linearization about the mean of one limit cycle are correlated with relative stability to the other limit cycle. Finally, we show that the frequencies of the successive modes are separated by a constant increment.

Measurement and Analysis of Flame Transfer Function in a Sector Combustor Under High Pressure Conditions

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. S. Cheung ◽  
G. J. M. Sims ◽  
R. W. Copplestone ◽  
J. R. Tilston ◽  
C. W. Wilson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Transfer Function ◽  
Heat Release ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Atmospheric Pressure ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Unsteady Pressure

Lean premixed prevaporised (LPP) combustion can reduce NOx emissions from gas turbines, but often leads to combustion instability. A flame transfer function describes the change in the rate of heat release in response to perturbations in the inlet flow as a function of frequency. It is a quantitative assessment of the susceptibility of combustion to disturbances. The resulting fluctuations will in turn generate more acoustic waves and in some situations self-sustained oscillations can result. Flame transfer functions for LPP combustion are poorly understood at present but are crucial for predicting combustion oscillations. This paper describes an experiment designed to measure the flame transfer function of a simple combustor incorporating realistic components. Tests were conducted initially on this combustor at atmospheric pressure (1.2 bar and 550 K) to make an early demonstration of the combustion system. The test rig consisted of a plenum chamber with an inline siren, followed by a single LPP premixer/duct and a combustion chamber with a silencer to prevent natural instabilities. The siren was used to induce variable frequency pressure/acoustic signals into the air approaching the combustor. Both unsteady pressure and heat release measurements were undertaken. There was good coherence between the pressure and heat release signals. At each test frequency, two unsteady pressure measurements in the plenum were used to calculate the acoustic waves in this chamber and hence estimate the mass-flow perturbation at the fuel injection point inside the LPP duct. The flame transfer function relating the heat release perturbation to this mass flow was found as a function of frequency. The same combustor hardware and associated instrumentation were then used for the high pressure (15 bar and 800 K) tests. Flame transfer function measurements were taken at three combustion conditions that simulated the staging point conditions (Idle, Approach and Take-off) of a large turbofan gas turbine. There was good coherence between pressure and heat release signals at Idle, indicating a close relationship between acoustic and heat release processes. Problems were encountered at high frequencies for the Approach and Take-off conditions, but the flame transfer function for the Idle case had very good qualitative agreement with the atmospheric-pressure tests. The flame transfer functions calculated here could be used directly for predicting combustion oscillations in gas turbine using the same LPP duct at the same operating conditions. More importantly they can guide work to produce a general analytical model.

Nonlinear self-excited oscillations of a ducted flame

1997 ◽  
Vol 346 ◽  
pp. 271-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. DOWLING
Keyword(s):  
Linear Theory ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Limit Cycles ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Bluff Body ◽  
Nonlinear Oscillations ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Pressure Fluctuations ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Flow Disturbances

Self-excited oscillations of a confined flame, burning in the wake of a bluff-body flame-holder, are considered. These oscillations occur due to interaction between unsteady combustion and acoustic waves. According to linear theory, flow disturbances grow exponentially with time. A theory for nonlinear oscillations is developed, exploiting the fact that the main nonlinearity is in the heat release rate, which essentially ‘saturates’. The amplitudes of the pressure fluctuations are sufficiently small that the acoustic waves remain linear. The time evolution of the oscillations is determined by numerical integration and inclusion of nonlinear effects is found to lead to limit cycles of finite amplitude. The predicted limit cycles are compared with results from experiments and from linear theory. The amplitudes and spectra of the limit-cycle oscillations are in reasonable agreement with experiment. Linear theory is found to predict the frequency and mode shape of the nonlinear oscillations remarkably well. Moreover, we find that, for this type of nonlinearity, describing function analysis enables a good estimate of the limit-cycle amplitude to be obtained from linear theory.Active control has been successfully applied to eliminate these oscillations. We demonstrate the same effect by adding a feedback control system to our nonlinear model. This theory is used to explain why any linear controller capable of stabilizing the linear flow disturbances is also able to stabilize finite-amplitude oscillations in the nonlinear limit cycles.

Describing Function Analysis of Limit Cycles in a Multiple Flame Combustor

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Boudy ◽  
Daniel Durox ◽  
Thierry Schuller ◽  
Grunde Jomaas ◽  
Sébastien Candel
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Function ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Limit Cycles ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Combustion Instabilities ◽  
Describing Function ◽  
Variable Size ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Flame Describing Function ◽  
Oscillation Frequencies

A recently developed nonlinear flame describing function (FDF) is used to analyze combustion instabilities in a system where the feeding manifold has a variable size and where the flame is confined by quartz tubes of variable length. Self-sustained combustion oscillations are observed when the geometry is changed. The regimes of oscillation are characterized at the limit cycle and also during the onset of oscillations. The theoretical predictions of the oscillation frequencies and levels are obtained using the FDF. This generalizes the concept of flame transfer function by including dependence on the frequency and level of oscillation. Predictions are compared with experimental results for two different lengths of the confinement tube. These results are, in turn, used to predict most of the experimentally observed phenomena and in particular, the correct oscillation levels and frequencies at limit cycles.

scholarly journals A Study of the Unsteady Pressure of a Cascade Near Transonic Flow Condition

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Atassi ◽  
J. Fang ◽  
P. Ferrand
Keyword(s):  
Transonic Flow ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Acoustic Mode ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Subsonic Flows ◽  
Unsteady Pressure ◽  
Acoustic Disturbances ◽  
Upstream Direction ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Pressure Magnitude

The rise of the unsteady pressure magnitude along the surface of a cascade blade in unsteady transonic flow is examined. It is shown that a similar rise in the unsteady pressure may occur for high subsonic flows where the mean flow is near sonic condition. For a subsonic cascade this unsteady pressure bulge is found to be associated with the cut-on of a new acoustic mode in the upstream direction. The level of the pressure bulge is significantly reduced as a downstream propagating mode cuts on. It is therefore proposed that this phenomenon is the result of the blockage of upstream propagating acoustic waves by the transonic mean flow. A transonic convergent-divergent nozzle is used as a model for investigating the acoustic blockage effect. Analytical and numerical computations using unsteady nonlinear Euler equations are then carried out to analyze and quantify the upstream and dowstream propagation of acoustic disturbances in the nozzle. The results confirm the sharp rise in the pressure of the upstream propagating disturbances at the nozzle throat as a result of the acoustic blockage.

Amplitude-Dependent Damping and Driving Rates of High-Frequency Thermoacoustic Oscillations in a Lab-Scale Lean-Premixed Gas Turbine Combustor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hofmeister ◽  
Thomas Sattelmayer
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Gas Turbine Combustor ◽  
Cfd Simulations ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Amplitude Dependency ◽  
Thermoacoustic Oscillations

Abstract This paper presents numerical investigations of the amplitude-dependent stability behavior of thermoacoustic oscillations at screech level frequencies in a lean-premixed, swirl-stabilized, lab-scale gas turbine combustor. A hybrid Computational Fluid Dynamics / Computational AeroAcoustics (CFD / CAA) approach is applied to individually compute thermoacoustic damping and driving rates for various acoustic amplitude levels at the combustors' first transversal (T1) eigenfrequency. Forced CFD simulations with the Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations mimic the real combustor's rotating T1 eigenmode. An increase of the forcing amplitude over time allows observation of the amplitude-dependent flow field and flame evolution. In accordance with measured OH*-chemiluminescence images, a pulsation amplitude-dependent flame contraction is reproduced in the CFD simulations. At several amplitude levels, period-averaged flow fields are then denoted as reference states, which serve as inputs for the CAA part. There, eigenfrequency simulations with linearized flow equations are performed with the Finite Element Method (FEM). The outcomes are damping and driving rates as a response to the amplitude-dependency of the mean flow field. It is found that driving due to flame-acoustics interactions governs a weak amplitude-dependency, which agrees with experimentally based studies at the authors' institute. This disqualifies the perception of heat release saturation as the root-cause for limit-cycle oscillations in this high-frequency thermoacoustic system. Instead, significantly increased dissipation due to the interaction of acoustically induced vorticity perturbations with the mean flow is identified, which may explain the formation of a limit-cycle.

A self-consistent formulation for the sensitivity analysis of finite-amplitude vortex shedding in the cylinder wake

2016 ◽  
Vol 800 ◽  
pp. 327-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Meliga ◽  
E. Boujo ◽  
F. Gallaire
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Cylinder Wake ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Cycle Frequency ◽  
Flow Perturbation ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
The Mean

We use the adjoint method to compute sensitivity maps for the limit-cycle frequency and amplitude of the Bénard–von Kármán vortex street in the wake of a circular cylinder. The sensitivity analysis is performed in the frame of the semi-linear self-consistent model recently introduced by Mantič et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 113, 2014, 084501), which allows us to describe accurately the effect of the control on the mean flow, but also on the finite-amplitude fluctuation that couples back nonlinearly onto the mean flow via the formation of Reynolds stress. The sensitivity is computed with respect to arbitrary steady and synchronous time-harmonic body forces. For a small amplitude of the control, the theoretical variations of the limit-cycle frequency predict well those of the controlled flow, as obtained from either self-consistent modelling or direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes equations. This is not the case if the variations are computed in the simpler mean flow approach overlooking the coupling between the mean and fluctuating components of the flow perturbation induced by the control. The variations of the limit-cycle amplitude (that falls out the scope of the mean flow approach) are also correctly predicted, meaning that the approach can serve as a relevant and systematic guideline to control strongly unstable flows exhibiting non-small, finite amplitudes of oscillation. As an illustration, we apply the method to control by means of a small secondary control cylinder and discuss the obtained results in the light of the seminal experiments of Strykowski & Sreenivasan (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 218, 1990, pp. 71–107).

Describing Function Analysis of Limit Cycles in a Multiple Flame Combustor

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fre´de´ric Boudy ◽  
Daniel Durox ◽  
Thierry Schuller ◽  
Grunde Jomaas ◽  
Se´bastien Candel
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Function ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Limit Cycles ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Combustion Instabilities ◽  
Describing Function ◽  
Variable Size ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Flame Describing Function ◽  
Oscillation Frequencies

A recently developed nonlinear Flame Describing Function (FDF) is used to analyze combustion instabilities in a system where the feeding manifold has a variable size and where the flame is confined by quartz tubes of variable length. Self-sustained combustion oscillations are observed when the geometry is changed. Regimes of oscillation are characterized at the limit cycle and also during the onset of oscillations. Theoretical predictions of the oscillation frequencies and levels are obtained using the FDF. This generalizes the concept of flame transfer function by including a dependence on the frequency and on the level of oscillation. Predictions are compared with experimental results for two different lengths of the confinement tube. These results are in turn used to predict most of the experimentally observed phenomena and in particular the correct oscillation levels and frequencies at limit cycles.

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