Impedance Tuning of a Premixed Combustor Using Active Control

Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Jonas P. Moeck ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

In early design phases new burner concepts are mostly tested in single or multi burner test rigs. These test rigs generally exhibit a different acoustic behavior than the full scale engine. The acoustic behavior, however, is crucial to predict whether thermoacoustic instabilities are likely to occur. Tuning the test rig’s acoustic boundary conditions to that of the engine could overcome this issue. Through this, an effective assessment of new burners is possible even in early design phases. In this work a method is proposed, which uses an active control scheme to manipulate the acoustic boundary conditions. It is applied to an atmospheric combustor test rig with a swirl-stabilized burner. In a first step it is shown that the acoustic boundary conditions can be controlled in the cold flow case. Almost arbitrary frequency dependent impedances can be prescribed ranging from fully reflecting (both pressure and velocity node) to anechoic. In particular, an additional virtual length can be added to the combustor outlet by manipulation of the reflection coefficient’s phase. This introduces resonance frequencies different from those of the uncontrolled case. In a second step the impedance tuning concept is applied to the reacting flow. It is demonstrated that the concept is feasible despite the harsh environmental conditions in a combustion chamber. The effect of different levels of reflection at the combustion chamber outlet on the combustion process is investigated. In addition to that, a study of the influence of the simulated combustor length on the system’s resonance frequencies is conducted.

Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

In the design process, new burners are generally tested in combustion test rigs. With these experiments, as well as with computational fluid dynamics, finite element calculations, and low-order network models, the burner’s performance in the full-scale engine is sought to be predicted. Especially, information about the thermoacoustic behavior and the emissions is very important. As the thermoacoustics strongly depend on the acoustic boundary conditions of the system, it is obvious that test rig conditions should match or be close to those of the full-scale engine. This is, however, generally not the case. Hence, if the combustion process in the test rig is stable at certain operating conditions, it may show unfavorable dynamics at the same conditions in the engine. In previous works, the authors introduced an active control scheme, which is able to mimic almost arbitrary acoustic boundary conditions. Thus, the test rig properties can be tuned to correspond to those of the full-scale engine. The acoustic boundary conditions were manipulated using woofers. In the present study, an actuator with higher control authority is investigated, which could be used to apply the control scheme in industrial test rigs. The actuator modulates an air mass flow to generate an acoustic excitation. However, in contrast to the woofers, it exhibits a strong nonlinear response regarding amplitude and frequency. Thus, the control scheme is further developed to account for these nonlinear transfer characteristics. This modified control scheme is then applied to change the acoustic boundary conditions of an atmospheric swirl-stabilized combustion test rig. Excellent results were obtained in terms of changing the reflection coefficient to different levels. By manipulating its phase, different resonance frequencies could be imposed without any hardware changes. The nonlinear control approach is not restricted to the actuator used in this study and might therefore be of use for other actuators as well.


Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

In the design process, new burners are generally tested in combustion test rigs. With these experiments, as well as with CFD, finite element calculations, and low-order network models, the burner’s performance in the full-scale engine is sought to be predicted. Especially, information about the thermoacoustic behaviour and the emissions is very important. As the thermoacoustics strongly depend on the acoustic boundary conditions of the system, it is obvious that test rig conditions should match or be close to those of the full-scale engine. This is, however, generally not the case. Hence, if the combustion process in the test rig is stable at certain operating conditions, it may show unfavourable dynamics at the same conditions in the engine. In previous works, the authors introduced an active control scheme which is able to mimic almost arbitrary acoustic boundary conditions. Thus, the test rig properties can be tuned to correspond to those of the full-scale engine. The acoustic boundary conditions were manipulated using woofers. In the present study, an actuator with higher control authority is investigated, which could be used to apply the control scheme in industrial test rigs. The actuator modulates an air mass flow to generate an acoustic excitation. However, in contrast to the woofers, it exhibits a strong non-linear response regarding amplitude and frequency. Thus, the control scheme is further developed to account for these non-linear transfer characteristics. This modified control scheme is then applied to change the acoustic boundary conditions of an atmospheric swirl-stabilized combustion test rig. Excellent results were obtained in terms of changing the reflection coefficient to different levels. By manipulating its phase, different resonance frequencies could be imposed without any hardware changes. The non-linear control approach is not restricted to the actuator used in this study and might therefore be of use for other actuators as well.


Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Jonas P. Moeck ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

In the design process, new burners are generally tested in combustion test rigs. With these experiments, computational fluid dynamics, and finite element calculations, the burners’ performance in the full-scale engine is sought to be predicted. Especially, information about the thermoacoustic behavior and the emissions is very important. As the thermoacoustics strongly depend on the acoustic boundary conditions of the system, it is obvious that test rig conditions should match or be close to those of the full-scale engine. This is, however, generally not the case. Hence, if the combustion process in the test rig is stable at certain operating conditions, it may show unfavorable dynamics at the same conditions in the engine. In previous works, the authors introduced an active control scheme, which is able to mimic almost arbitrary acoustic boundary conditions. Thus, the test rig properties can be tuned to correspond to those of the full-scale engine. The acoustic boundary conditions were manipulated using woofers. In the present study, proportional valves are investigated regarding their capabilities of being used in the control scheme. It is found that the test rig impedance can be tuned equally well. In contrast to the woofers, however, the valves could be used in industrial applications, as they are more robust and exhibit more control authority. Additionally, the control scheme is further developed and used to tune the test rig at discrete frequencies. This exhibits certain advantages compared with the case of control over a broad frequency band.


Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Jonas P. Moeck ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

In the design process, new burners are generally tested in combustion test rigs. With these experiments, computational fluid dynamics, and finite element calculations, the burners’ performance in the full-scale engine is sought to be predicted. Especially, information about the thermoacoustic behavior and the emissions is very important. As the thermoacoustics strongly depend on the acoustic boundary conditions of the system, it is obvious that test rig conditions should match or be close to those of the full-scale engine. This is, however, generally not the case. Hence, if the combustion process in the test rig is stable at certain operating conditions, it may show unfavorable dynamics at the same conditions in the engine. In a previous paper (GT2007-27796), the authors introduced an active control scheme which is able to mimic almost arbitrary acoustic boundary conditions. Thus, the test rig properties can be tuned to correspond to those of the full-scale engine. The acoustic boundary conditions were manipulated using woofers. In the present study, proportional valves are investigated regarding their capabilities of being used in the control scheme. It is found that the test rig impedance can be tuned equally well. In contrast to the woofers, however, the valves could be used in industrial applications, as they are more robust and exhibit more control authority. Additionally, the control scheme is further developed and used to tune the test rig at discrete frequencies. This exhibits certain advantages compared to the case of control over a broad frequency band.


2008 ◽  
Vol 318 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 678-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko R. Bothien ◽  
Jonas P. Moeck ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
R.A. Tsarapkin ◽  
V.N. Ivanov ◽  
V.I. Biryukov

An experimental method is proposed for estimating the damping decrements of pressure fluctuations in the combustion chambers of forced rocket engines. The method is based on the statistical processing of noise pressure pulsations in the vicinity of natural resonance frequencies for normal modes of acoustic vibrations of the reaction volume and the subsequent prediction of the instability of the combustion process relative to acoustic vibrations. Based on the theory of statistical regression for multidimensional experimental data, the problem of predicting unknown parameters of sample distributions is solved by asymptotic determination of the correlation coefficient of the damping decrement of pressure vibrations through optimal linear predictors and the Kolmogorov distribution. Keywords rocket engine, combustion chamber, acoustic vibrations, combustion noise, spectral characteristics, Kolmogorov criterion, damping decrement. [email protected]


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2729
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Pielecha ◽  
Sławomir Wierzbicki ◽  
Maciej Sidorowicz ◽  
Dariusz Pietras

The development of internal combustion engines involves various new solutions, one of which is the use of dual-fuel systems. The diversity of technological solutions being developed determines the efficiency of such systems, as well as the possibility of reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and exhaust components into the atmosphere. An innovative double direct injection system was used as a method for forming a mixture in the combustion chamber. The tests were carried out with the use of gasoline, ethanol, n-heptane, and n-butanol during combustion in a model test engine—the rapid compression machine (RCM). The analyzed combustion process indicators included the cylinder pressure, pressure increase rate, heat release rate, and heat release value. Optical tests of the combustion process made it possible to analyze the flame development in the observed area of the combustion chamber. The conducted research and analyses resulted in the observation that it is possible to control the excess air ratio in the direct vicinity of the spark plug just before ignition. Such possibilities occur as a result of the properties of the injected fuels, which include different amounts of air required for their stoichiometric combustion. The studies of the combustion process have shown that the combustible mixtures consisting of gasoline with another fuel are characterized by greater combustion efficiency than the mixtures composed of only a single fuel type, and that the influence of the type of fuel used is significant for the combustion process and its indicator values.


2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (5) ◽  
pp. 541-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick Ogam ◽  
Armand Wirgin ◽  
Z. E. A. Fellah ◽  
Yongzhi Xu

The potentiality of employing nonlinear vibrations as a method for the detection of osteoporosis in human bones is assessed. We show that if the boundary conditions (BC), relative to the connection of the specimen to its surroundings, are not taken into account, the method is apparently unable to differentiate between defects (whose detection is the purpose of the method) and nonrelevant features (related to the boundary conditions). A simple nonlinear vibration experiment is described which employs piezoelectric transducers (PZT) and two idealized long bones in the form of nominally-identical drinking glasses, one intact, but in friction contact with a support, and the second cracked, but freely-suspended in air. The nonlinear dynamics of these specimens is described by the Duffing oscillator model. The nonlinear parameters recovered from vibration data coupled to the linear phenomena of mode splitting and shifting of resonance frequencies, show that, despite the similar soft spring behavior of the two dynamic systems, a crack is distinguishable from a contact friction BC. The frequency response of the intact glass with contact friction BC is modeled using a direct steady state finite element simulation with contact friction.


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