Experimental and Computational Results of Distributed Combustion for Application in Current Gas Turbine Engine Combustor Architectures

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Overman ◽  
Jason Ryon
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Numerical Test ◽  
Injection System ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Lean Burn ◽  
Lean Combustion ◽  
Improved Performance

Current development and testing has lead to a fuel/air injection system for application in gas turbine engines that produces ultra low emissions and stable, lean combustion. The system is designed to operate with current combustor architectures similar to existing gas turbine engines. This paper presents both experimental and numerical test results demonstrating the benefits of such technology including extremely low emissions of NOx, CO, and un-burned hydrocarbons (UHC). Primary focus is on experimental results demonstrating reaction distribution and emissions. Numerical confirmation of flow field dynamics was used to develop an understanding of the re-circulation rates within the combustor and impact on reaction behavior. Several design configurations were tested to investigate the effects of aerodynamic stagnation point and fuel placement with respect to the aerodynamic shear layer produced by the swirling flow field. Test conditions were varied, including inlet air temperature and injector pressure drop for monitoring effects on the operating envelope of distributed reaction and on lean blow out limit. Results demonstrate the improved performance of a system capable of operating in a flameless or distributed reaction mode over that of a typical lean burn system.

Fuel Flexible Rich Catalytic Lean Burn System for Low BTU Fuels

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep K. Alavandi ◽  
Shahrokh Etemad ◽  
Benjamin D. Baird
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Methane Content ◽  
Combustion Stability ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Lean Burn ◽  
Process Waste

Limited fuel resources, increasing energy demand, and stringent emission regulations are drivers to evaluate process off-gases or process waste streams as fuels for power generation. Often these process waste streams have low energy content and their operability in gas turbines leads to issues such as unstable or incomplete combustion and changes in acoustic response. Due to above reasons, these fuels cannot be used directly without modifications or efficiency penalties in gas turbine engines. To enable the use of the wide variety of ultra-low and low Btu fuels in gas turbine engines, a rich catalytic lean burn (RCL®) combustion system was developed and tested in a subscale high pressure (10 atm.) rig. Previous work has shown promise with fuels such as blast furnace gas (BFG) with Lower Heating Value (LHV) of 3.1 MJ/Nm3 (85 Btu/scf). The current testing extends the limits of RCL® operability to other weak fuels by further modifying and improving the injector to achieve enhanced flame stability. Fuels containing low methane content such as weak natural gas with an LHV of 6.5 MJ/Nm3 (180 Btu/scf) to fuels containing higher methane content such as landfill gas with an LHV of 21.1 MJ/Nm3 (580 Btu/scf) were tested. These fuels demonstrated improved combustion stability with an extended turndown (defined as the difference between catalytic and non-catalytic lean blow out) of 140°C–170°C (280°F–340°F) with CO and NOx emissions lower than 5 ppm corrected to 15% O2.

scholarly journals A Simple Variable-Geometry Combustor for the Automotive-Turbine Engine

1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Schirmer
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Variable Geometry ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Engine Emissions ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Geometry Configuration ◽  
Mixing Rates ◽  
Statutory Limit

A combustor utilizing concepts of swirling flow and orifices in order to optimize mixing rates was developed for application in low-emissions automotive gas turbine engines. Low emissions were obtained at one operating condition with a fixed-geometry configuration. Addition of a variable opening in the dome of the combustor provided low emissions over the expected operating range for an automotive gas turbine engine. Emissions of NOx obtained on a simulated Federal driving cycle were near the Federal statutory limit, and emissions of CO and HC were considerably lower.

scholarly journals Approaches to the Prevaporized-Premixed Combustor Concept for Gas Turbines

1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Spadaccini ◽  
E. J. Szetela
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Bluff Body ◽  
Porous Plate ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Lean Combustion

An experimental investigation was performed to evaluate a combustor concept which is applicable to gas turbine engines and is believed to offer valuable pollution control advantages relative to the conventional liquid-fuel-spray approach. It involves fuel prevaporization, premixing and lean combustion and may be applied to the design of combustors for aircraft, industrial or automotive powerplants. Two types of bluff-body flameholders, viz. porous-plate and drilled-plate, were evaluated for use as flame stabilizers within the combustor. Tests were conducted under sets of steady-state operational conditions corresponding, respectively, to applications in a low-pressure regenerative-cycle and high-pressure nonregenerative-cycle automobile gas turbine engines. The data acquired can be used to design gas turbine combustors having predicted performance characteristics which are better than those required to meet the most stringent automobile emissions regulations of the Federal “Clean Air Act.” Fuel prevaporization can be accomplished either externally, prior to admission into the engine airstream, or internally by the airstream itself. In support of the prevaporization concept, the feasibility of vaporizing No 2 fuel oil in a heat exchanger which is external to the engine was investigated. Tests conducted at representative operating conditions indicated that a deposit of 0.01 0-in. thickness was collected on the vaporizer wall after 50 hr of operation. A much shorter period of cleaning with hot air was sufficient to remove the deposit.

Investigation of Tangential Trapped Vortex Combustor

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Zhang ◽  
Yuzhen Lin ◽  
Quanhong Xu ◽  
Gaoen Liu
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Tangential Direction ◽  
Combustion Efficiency ◽  
Combustion Stability ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Stability Range ◽  
Combustion Technology ◽  
Trapped Vortex

An innovative concept of Tangential Trapped Vortex Combustor (TTVC) applying a swirling flow to eliminate the guide vanes of the compressor and turbine in the future gas turbine engines is presented via theoretical analysis and experimental investigation. In TTVC, the airflow is mostly whirlblast, and the processes of evaporation, mixing, and chemical reaction for the liquid spray combustion take place along the tangential direction. It is shown that the TTVC operation has the potential of improving combustion efficiency, widening combustion stability range, and reducing emissions, mainly due to the effects of trapped vortex, high centrifugal force, and periodical mixing. Experimental results of the ignition and LBO limits in a small 4-cup annular TTVC operating at atmospheric pressure demonstrated that this innovative combustion technology has a good LBO limit performance to meet the requirements of advanced gas turbine engines.

Experimental Investigation of the Flow Field and the Heat Transfer on a Scaled Cooled Combustor Liner With Realistic Swirling Flow Generated by a Lean-Burn Injection System

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Gianluca Caciolli ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Alessio Picchi ◽  
Fabio Turrini
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Injection System ◽  
Lean Burn ◽  
Real Geometry ◽  
Slot Film Cooling ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Combustor Liner

Lean burn swirl stabilized combustors represent the key technology to reduce NOx emissions in modern aircraft engines. The high amount of air admitted through a lean-burn injection system is characterized by very complex flow structures such as recirculations, vortex breakdown and processing vortex core, that may deeply interact in the near wall region of the combustor liner. This interaction and its effects on the local cooling performance make the design of the cooling systems very challenging, accounting for the design and commission of new test rigs for detailed analysis. The main purpose of the present work is the characterization of the flow field and the wall heat transfer due to the interaction of a swirling flow coming out from real geometry injectors and a slot cooling system which generates film cooling in the first part of the combustor liner. The experimental setup consists of a non-reactive three sector planar rig in an open loop wind tunnel; the rig, developed within the EU project LEMCOTEC, includes three swirlers, whose scaled geometry reproduces the real geometry of an Avio Aero PERM (Partially Evaporated and Rapid Mixing) injector technology, and a simple cooling scheme made up of a slot injection, reproducing the exhaust dome cooling mass flow. Test were carried out imposing realistic combustor operating conditions, especially in terms of reduced mass flow rate and pressure drop across the swirlers. The flow field is investigated by means of PIV, while the measurement of the heat transfer coefficient is performed through Thermochromic Liquid Crystals steady state technique. PIV results show the behavior of flow field generated by the injectors, their mutual interaction and the impact of the swirled main flow on the stability of the slot film cooling. TLC measurements, reported in terms of detailed 2D heat transfer coefficient maps, highlight the impact of the swirled flow and slot film cooling on wall heat transfer.

Gas-Dynamics Design of Reversible Turbine for Marine Gas Turbine Engine

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiying Niu ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Weishun Li ◽  
Chen Liang ◽  
Shunwang Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Dynamics ◽  
Gas Turbine Engine ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Power Turbine ◽  
Full Speed

Gas turbine engines are widely used as the marine main power system. However, they can’t reverse like diesel engine. If the reversal is realized, other ways must be adopted, for example, controllable pitch propeller (CPP) and reversible gearing. Although CPP has widespread use, the actuator installation inside the hub of the propeller lead to the decrease in efficiency, and it takes one minute to switch “full speed ahead” to “full speed astern”. In addition, some devices need to be added for the reversible gearing, and it takes five minutes to switch from “full speed ahead” “to “full speed astern”. Based on the gas turbine engine itself, a reversible gas turbine engine is proposed, which can rotate positively or reversely. Most important of all, reversible gas turbine engine can realize operating states of “full speed ahead”, “full speed astern“ and “stop propeller”. And, it just takes half of one minute to switch “full speed ahead” to “full speed astern”. Since reversible gas turbine engines have compensating advantages, and especially in recent years computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology and turbine gas-dynamics design level develop rapidly, reversible gas turbine engines will be a good direction for ship astern. In this paper, the power turbine of a marine gas turbine engine was redesigned by three dimensional shape modification, and the flow field is analyzed using CFD, in order to redesign into a reverse turbine. The last stage vanes and blades of this power turbine were changed to double-layer structure. That is, the outer one is reversible turbine, while the inner is the ahead one. Note that their rotational directions are opposite. In order to realize switching between rotation ahead and rotation astern, switching devices were designed, which locate in the duct between the low pressure turbine and power turbine. Moreover, In order to reduce the blade windage loss caused by the reversible turbine during working ahead, baffle plates were used before and after the reversible rotor blades. This paper mainly studied how to increase the efficiency of the reversible turbine stage, the torque change under different operating conditions, rotational speed and rotational directions, and flow field under typical operating conditions. A perfect profile is expected to provide for reversible power turbine, and it can decrease the blade windage loss, and increase the efficiency of the whole gas turbine engine. Overall, the efficiency of the newly designed reversible turbine is up to 85.7%, and the output power is more than 10 MW, which can meet requirements of no less than 30% power of rated condition. Most importantly, the shaft is not over torque under all ahead and astern conditions. Detailed results about these are presented and discussed in the paper.

Low-leakage and High-Flow Regenerators for Gas Turbine Engines

1993 ◽  
Vol 207 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
D G Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Gas Turbine Engines ◽  
Regenerative Heat ◽  
Wear Rates ◽  
Low Leakage ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Burning Coal

The preliminary analysis and development of two new forms of regenerative heat exchanger that seem to promise greatly improved performance characteristics is described. To reduce drastically the usually high leakage and high seal wear rates suffered by present rotary regenerators, discontinuous rotation of the matrix has been studied, with seals that clamp the matrix during the stationary periods. To enable the regenerative gas turbine cycle to be used at high powers, regenerators consisting of movable ceramic modules are being investigated. The potential applications of the discontinuous-rotation type are particularly to small lightweight gas turbine engines such as those for automotive applications and to helicopters and light turboprop aircraft. The modular regenerator is being studied in application to burning coal and biomass of gas turbine engines and to larger marine and stationary base-power engines with power outputs of up to (and possibly beyond) 100 MW.

Experimental Investigation of the Flow Field and the Heat Transfer on a Scaled Cooled Combustor Liner With Realistic Swirling Flow Generated by a Lean-Burn Injection System

2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Gianluca Caciolli ◽  
Bruno Facchini ◽  
Alessio Picchi ◽  
Fabio Turrini
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Film Cooling ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Injection System ◽  
Lean Burn ◽  
Real Geometry ◽  
Slot Film Cooling ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Combustor Liner

Lean-burn swirl stabilized combustors represent the key technology to reduce NOx emissions in modern aircraft engines. The high amount of air admitted through a lean-burn injection system is characterized by very complex flow structures, such as recirculations, vortex breakdown, and processing vortex core, which may deeply interact in the near wall region of the combustor liner. This interaction and its effects on the local cooling performance make the design of the cooling systems very challenging, accounting for the design and commission of new test rigs for detailed analysis. The main purpose of the present work is the characterization of the flow field and the wall heat transfer due to the interaction of a swirling flow coming out from real geometry injectors and a slot cooling system which generates film cooling in the first part of the combustor liner. The experimental setup consists of a nonreactive three sector planar rig in an open loop wind tunnel; the rig, developed within the EU project Low Emissions Core-Engine Technologies (LEMCOTEC), includes three swirlers, whose scaled geometry reproduces the real geometry of an Avio Aero partially evaporated and rapid mixing (PERM) injector technology, and a simple cooling scheme made up of a slot injection, reproducing the exhaust dome cooling mass flow. Test were carried out imposing realistic combustor operating conditions, especially in terms of reduced mass flow rate and pressure drop across the swirlers. The flow field is investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV), while the measurement of the heat transfer coefficient is performed through thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs) steady state technique. PIV results show the behavior of flow field generated by the injectors, their mutual interaction, and the impact of the swirled main flow on the stability of the slot film cooling. TLC measurements, reported in terms of detailed 2D heat transfer coefficient maps, highlight the impact of the swirled flow and slot film cooling on wall heat transfer.

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