The Influence of Manufacturing Tolerances on Swirler Durability
Jet fuel flowing through the fuel injector is atomized and then mixed with high temperature compressed air flowing through the swirler to create a combustible mixture inside a gas turbine combustor. Individual geometric and flow features are carefully tuned at a component level to deliver optimum combustion performance. In a critical interface such as the fuel injector and swirler, manufacturing tolerances not only have an impact on combustor performance and operability but also on durability, as the relative position of the fuel injector to the swirler significantly impacts the swirler temperature. This paper studies the influence of manufacturing tolerances on component assembly and the resulting impact on swirler temperature. The oxidation damage mechanism of the swirler is used as a measure to assess swirler durability. A Pareto chart of the effect of manufacturing tolerances on metal temperature is used to highlight the key influencing parameters. Probability distribution associated with manufacturing tolerances is gathered with Monte Carlo simulation to guide the design.