Flow Field and Flame Dynamics of Swirling Methane and Hydrogen Flames at Dry and Steam-Diluted Conditions

Author(s):  
Steffen Terhaar ◽  
Oliver Krüger ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

The majority of recent stationary gas turbine combustors employ swirling flows for flame stabilization. The swirling flow undergoes vortex breakdown and exhibits a complex flow field including zones of recirculating fluid and regions of high shear. Often, self-excited helical flow instabilities are found in these flows that may influence the combustion process in beneficial and adverse ways. In the present study we investigate the occurrence and shape of self-excited hydrodynamic instabilities and the related heat-release fluctuations over a wide range of operating conditions. We employ high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and simultaneous OH*-chemiluminescence imaging to resolve the flow velocities and heat release distribution, respectively. The results reveal four different flame shapes: A detached annular flame, a long trumpet shaped flame, a typical V-flame, and a very short flame anchored near the combustor inlet. The flame shapes were found to closely correlate with the reactivity of the mixture. Highly steam-diluted or very lean flames cause a detachment, whereas hydrogen fuel leads to very short flames. The detached flames feature a helical instability, which in terms of frequency and shape is similar to the isothermal case. A complete suppression of the helical structure is found for the V-flame. Both, the trumpet shaped flame and the very short flame feature helical instabilities of different frequencies and appearances. The phase-averaged OH*-chemiluminescence images show that the helical instabilities cause large scale-heat release fluctuations. The helical structure of the fluctuations is verified using a tomographic reconstruction technique.

Author(s):  
Steffen Terhaar ◽  
Oliver Krüger ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit

The majority of recent stationary gas turbine combustors employ swirling flows for flame stabilization. The swirling flow undergoes vortex breakdown (VB) and exhibits a complex flow field including zones of recirculating fluid and regions of high shear intensities. Often, self-excited helical flow instabilities, which manifest in a precession of the vortex core, are found in these flows and may influence the combustion process in beneficial and adverse ways. In the present study, we investigate the occurrence and shape of self-excited hydrodynamic instabilities and their impact on heat release fluctuations and mixing characteristics over a wide range of operating conditions. We employ high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (S-PIV) and simultaneous OH*-chemiluminescence imaging to resolve the flow velocities and heat release distribution, respectively. The results reveal four different flame shapes: A detached annular flame, a long trumpet shaped flame, a V flame, and a very short flame anchored near the combustor inlet. The flame shapes were found to closely correlate with the reactivity of the mixture. Highly steam-diluted or very lean flames cause a detachment, whereas hydrogen fuel leads to very short flames. The detached flames feature a helical instability, which, in terms of frequency and shape, is similar to the isothermal case. A complete suppression of the helical structure is found for the V flame. Both the trumpet shaped flame and the very short flame feature helical instabilities of different frequencies and appearances. The phase-averaged OH*-chemiluminescence images show that the helical instabilities cause large-scale heat release fluctuations. The helical structure of the fluctuations is exploited to use a tomographic reconstruction technique. Furthermore, it is shown that the helical instability significantly enhances the mixing between the emanating jet and the central recirculation zone.


Author(s):  
Hannah Seliger ◽  
Michael Stöhr ◽  
Zhiyao Yin ◽  
Andreas Huber ◽  
Manfred Aigner

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of the flow field and heat release (HRL) zone of a six-nozzle FLOX®-based combustor at atmospheric pressure. The combustor is suitable for the use in a micro gas turbine (MGT) based combined heat and power (CHP) system with an electrical power output of 3 kW. The velocity field was measured using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV). The heat release zone was visualized by OH*-chemiluminescence (OH* CL) and the flame front by OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (OH PLIF). The results are compared with CFD simulations to evaluate the quality of the applied numerical turbulence and combustion models. The simulations were performed using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in combination with the k-ω-SST-turbulence model. Since the FLOX®-based combustion is dominated by chemical kinetics, a reaction mechanism with detailed chemistry, including 22 species and 104 reactions (DRM22), has been chosen. To cover the turbulence-chemistry interaction, an assumed probability density function (PDF) approach for species and temperature was used. Except for minor discrapancies in the flow field, the results show that the applied models are suitable for the design process of the combustor. In terms of the location of the heat release zone, it is necessary to consider possible heat losses, especially at lean operating conditions with a distributed heat release zone.


Author(s):  
Hailin Li ◽  
W. Stuart Neill ◽  
Wally Chippior ◽  
Joshua D. Taylor

In this paper, cyclic variations in the combustion process of a single-cylinder HCCI engine operated with n-heptane were measured over a range of intake air temperatures and pressures, compression ratios, air/fuel ratios, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates. The operating conditions produced a wide range of combustion timings from overly advanced combustion where knocking occurred to retarded combustion where incomplete combustion was detected. Cycle-to-cycle variations were shown to depend strongly on the crank angle phasing of 50% heat release and fuel flow rate. Combustion instability increased significantly with retarded combustion phasing especially when the fuel flow rate was low. Retarded combustion phasing can be tolerated when the fuel flow rate is high. It was also concluded that the cyclic variations in imep are primarily due to the variations in the total heat released from cycle-to-cycle. The completeness of the combustion process in one cycle affects the in-cylinder conditions and resultant heat release in the next engine cycle.


Author(s):  
Federica Farisco ◽  
Philipp Notsch ◽  
Rene Prieler ◽  
Felix Greiffenhagen ◽  
Jakob Woisetschlaeger ◽  
...  

Abstract In modern gas turbines for power generation and future aircraft engines, the necessity to reduce NOx emissions led to the implementation of a premixed combustion technology under fuel-lean conditions. In the combustion chamber of these systems, extreme pressure amplitudes can occur due to the unsteady heat release, reducing component life time or causing unexpected shutdown events. In order to understand and predict these instabilities, an accurate knowledge of the combustion process is inevitable. This study, which was provided by numerical methods, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is based on a three-dimensional (3D) geometry representing a premixed swirl-stabilized methane-fired burner configuration with a known flow field in the vicinity of the burner and well defined operating conditions. Numerical simulations of the swirl-stabilized methane-fired burner have been carried out using the commercial code ANSYS Fluent. The main objective is to validate the performance of various combustion models with different complexity by comparing against experimental data. Experiments have been performed for the swirl-stabilized methane-fired burner applying different technologies. Velocity fluctuation measurements have been carried out and validated through several techniques, such as Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Laser Interferometric Vibrometry (LIV) provided information on heat release fluctuations and OH*-chemiluminescence measurements have been done to identify the position of the main reaction zone. During the first part of the CFD investigation, the cold flow has been simulated applying different turbulence models and the velocity flow field obtained in the experiments has been compared with the numerical results. As next, the study focuses on the numerical analysis of the thermo-chemical processes in the main reaction zone. Few combustion models have been investigated beginning from Eddy Dissipation Model (EDM) and proceeding with increased complexity investigating the Steady Flamelet Model (SLF) and Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM). An evaluation of the velocity field and temperature profile has been performed for all models used in order to test the validity of the numerical approach for the chosen geometry. The best option for future investigations of gas turbines has been identified.


Author(s):  
J. Paulon ◽  
C. Fradin ◽  
J. Poulain

Industrial pumps are generally used in a wide range of operating conditions from almost zero mass flow to mass flows larger than the design value. It has been often noted that the head-mass flow characteristic, at constant speed, presents a negative bump as the mass flow is somewhat smaller than the design mass flows. Flow and mechanical instabilities appear, which are unsafe for the facility. An experimental study has been undertaken in order to analyze and if possible to palliate these difficulties. A detailed flow analyzis has shown strong three dimensional effects and flow separations. From this better knowledge of the flow field, a particular device was designed and a strong attenuation of the negative bump was obtained.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oguzhan Murat ◽  
Budimir Rosic ◽  
Koichi Tanimoto ◽  
Ryo Egami

Abstract Due to increase in the power generation from renewable sources, steam and gas turbines will be required to adapt for more flexible operations with frequent start-ups and shut-downs to provide load levelling capacity. During shut-down regimes, mixed convection takes place with natural convection dominance depending on the operating conditions in turbine cavities. Buoyant flows inside the turbine that are responsible for non-uniform cooling leading to thermal stresses and compromise clearances directly limits the operational flexibility. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools are required to predict the flow field during these regimes since direct measurements are extremely difficult to conduct due to the harsh operating conditions. Natural convection with the presence of cross-flow -mixed convection has not been extensively studied to provide detailed measurements. Since the literature lacks of research on such flows with real engine representative operating conditions for CFD validation, the confidence in numerical predictions is rather inadequate. This paper presents a novel experimental facility that has been designed and commissioned to perform very accurate unsteady temperature and flow field measurements in a simplified turbine casing geometry. The facility is capable of reproducing a wide range of Richardson, Grashof and Reynolds numbers which are representative of engine realistic operating conditions. In addition, high fidelity, wall resolved LES with dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid scale model has been performed. The flow field as well as heat transfer characteristics have been accurately captured with LES. Lastly, inadequacy of RANS for mixed type of flows has been highlighted.


Author(s):  
John Ward ◽  
Muhammad Akram ◽  
Roy Garwood

It can be difficult to burn relatively cheap, poor quality, unprepared biomass materials in industrial heating processes because of their variable composition, relatively low calorific values and high moisture contents. Consequently the stability and efficiency of the combustion process can be adversely affected unless they are co-fired with a hydrocarbon support fuel. There is a lack of information on the “optimum” conditions for co-firing of coal and high moisture biomass as well as on the proportions of support fuel which should be used. This paper is therefore concerned with the pilot scale (<25 kW thermal input) fluidised bed combustion of blends of coal with pressed sugar beet pulp, a solid biomass with an average moisture content of 71%. The experimental work was undertaken in collaboration with British Sugar plc who operate a coal-fired 40 MW thermal capacity fluidised bed producing hot combustion gases for subsequent drying applications. The project studied the combustion characteristics of different coal and pressed pulp blends over a wide range of operating conditions. It was found that stable combustion could only be maintained if the proportion of pulp by mass in the blended fuel was no greater than 50%. However evaporation of the moisture in the pressed pulp cools the bed so that the excess air which is necessary to maintain a specified bed temperature at a fixed thermal input can be reduced as the proportion of biomass in the blended fuel is increased. Therefore, with a 50/50 blend the bed can be operated with 20% less fluidising air and this will be beneficial for the output of the full scale plant since at present the flow rate of the air and hence the amount of coal which can be burnt is restricted by supply system pressure drop limitations. A further benefit of co-firing pressed pulp is that NOx emissions are reduced by about 25%. Agglomeration of the bed can be a problem when co-firing biomass because of the formation of “sticky” low melting point alkali metal silicate eutectics which result in subsequent adhesion of the ash and sand particles. Consequently longer term co-firing tests with a 50/50 blended fuel by mass were undertaken. Problems of bed agglomeration were not observed under these conditions with relatively low levels of alkali metals in the ash.


Author(s):  
Seung Hyup Ryu ◽  
Ki Doo Kim ◽  
Wook Hyeon Yoon ◽  
Ji Soo Ha

Accurate heat release analysis based on the cylinder pressure trace is important for evaluating combustion process of diesel engines. However, traditional single-zone heat release models (SZM) have significant limitations due mainly to their simplified assumptions of uniform charge and homogeneity while neglecting local temperature distribution inside cylinder during combustion process. In this study, a heat release analysis based on single-zone model has been evaluated by comparison with computational analysis result using Fire-code, which is based on multi-dimensional model (MDM). The limitations of the single-zone assumption have been estimated. To overcome these limitations, an improved model that includes the effects of spatial non-uniformity has been applied. From this improved single-zone heat release model (Improved-SZM), two effective values of specific heats ratios, denoted by γV and γH in this study, have been introduced. These values are formulated as the function of charge temperature changing rate and overall equivalence ratio by matching the results of the single-zone analysis to those of computational analysis using Fire-code about medium speed marine diesel engine. Also, it is applied that each equation of γV and γH has respectively different slopes according to several meaningful regions such as the start of injection, the end of injection, the maximum cylinder temperature, and the exhaust valve open. This calculation method based on improved single-zone model gives a good agreement with Fire-code results over the whole range of operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Raffaela Calabria ◽  
Fabio Chiariello ◽  
Patrizio Massoli ◽  
Fabrizio Reale

In recent years an increasing interest is focused on the study of micro gas turbines (MGT) behavior at part load by varying fuel, in order to determine their versatility. The interest in using MGT is related to the possibility of feeding with a wide range of fuels and to realize efficient cogenerative cycles by recovering heat from exhaust gases at higher temperatures. In this context, the studies on micro gas turbines are focused on the analysis of the machine versatility and flexibility, when operating conditions and fuels are significantly varied. In line of principle, in case of gaseous fuels with similar Wobbe Index no modifications to the combustion chamber should be required. The adoption of fuels whose properties differ greatly from those of design can require relevant modifications of the combustor, besides the proper adaptation of the feeding system. Thus, at low loads or low calorific value fuels, the combustor becomes a critical component of the entire MGT, as regards stability and emissions of the combustion process. Focus of the paper is a 3D CFD analysis of the combustor behavior of a Turbec T100P fueled at different loads and fuels. Differences between combustors designed for natural gas and liquid fuels are also highlighted. In case of natural gas, inlet combustor temperature and pressure were taken from experimental data; in case of different fuels, such data were inferred by using a thermodynamic model which takes into account rotating components behavior through operating maps of compressor and turbine. Specific aim of the work is to underline potentialities and critical issues of the combustor under study in case of adoption of fuels far from the design one and to suggest possible solutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Zamboni

Indicated pressure diagrams were measured during experimental campaigns on the control of fuel injection, turbocharging and hybrid exhaust gas recirculation systems in an automotive downsized diesel engine. Three-part load operating conditions were selected for four test sets, where strategies aimed at the reduction of NOX emissions and fuel consumption, limiting penalties in soot emissions and combustion noise were applied to the selected systems. Processing of in-cylinder pressure signal, its first derivative and curves of the rate of heat release allowed us to evaluate seven parameters related to the combustion centre and duration, maximum values of pressure, heat release and its first derivative, heat released in the premixed phase and a combustion noise indicator. Relationships between these quantities and engine operating, energy and environmental parameters were then obtained by referring to the four test sets. In the paper, the most significant links are presented and discussed, aiming at a better understanding of the influence of control variables on the combustion process and the effects on engine behaviour. The proposed methodology proved to be a consistent tool for this analysis, useful for supporting the application of alternative fuels or advanced combustion modes.


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