Methods for the Extraction and Analysis of the Global Mode in Swirling Jets Undergoing Vortex Breakdown

Author(s):  
Lothar Rukes ◽  
Moritz Sieber ◽  
C. Oliver Paschereit ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner

Swirling jets undergoing vortex breakdown are widely used in combustion applications, due to their ability to provide aerodynamic flame stabilization. It is well known that vortex breakdown is accompanied by a dominant coherent structure, the so called precessing vortex core (PVC). Reports on the impact of the PVC on the combustion process range from beneficial to detrimental. In any event, efficient methods for the analysis of the PVC help to increase the benefit or reduce the penalty resulting from it. This study uses Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements of a generic non-isothermal swirling jet to demonstrate the use of advanced data analysis techniques. In particular, the Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE) and local linear stability analysis (LSA) are shown to reveal deep insight into the physical mechanisms that drive the PVC. Particularly, it is demonstrated that the PVC amplitude is strongly reduced, if heating is applied at the wavemaker of the flow. These techniques are complemented by the traditionally used Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and spatial correlation techniques. It is demonstrated how these methods complement each other and lead to a comprehensive understanding of the PVC that lays out the path to efficient control strategies.

Author(s):  
Lothar Rukes ◽  
Moritz Sieber ◽  
C. Oliver Pashereit ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner

Swirling jets undergoing vortex breakdown are widely used in combustion applications, due to their ability to provide aerodynamic flame stabilization. It is well known that vortex breakdown is accompanied by a dominant coherent structure, the so-called precessing vortex core (PVC). Reports on the impact of the PVC on the combustion process range from beneficial to detrimental. In any event, efficient methods for the analysis of the PVC help to increase the benefit or reduce the penalty resulting from it. This study uses particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of a generic nonisothermal swirling jet to demonstrate the use of advanced data analysis techniques. In particular, the finite time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) and the local linear stability analysis (LSA) are shown to reveal deep insight into the physical mechanisms that drive the PVC. Particularly, it is demonstrated that the PVC amplitude is strongly reduced, if heating is applied at the wavemaker of the flow. These techniques are complemented by the traditionally used proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and spatial correlation techniques. It is demonstrated how these methods complement each other and lead to a comprehensive understanding of the PVC that lays out the path to efficient control strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 873 ◽  
pp. 322-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep Moise ◽  
Joseph Mathew

Experimental investigations of laminar swirling jets had revealed a new form of vortex breakdown, named conical vortex breakdown, in addition to the commonly observed bubble form. The present study explores these breakdown states that develop for the Maxworthy profile (a model of swirling jets) at inflow, from streamwise-invariant initial conditions, with direct numerical simulations. For a constant Reynolds number based on jet radius and a centreline velocity of 200, various flow states were observed as the inflow profile’s swirl parameter $S$ (scaled centreline radial derivative of azimuthal velocity) was varied up to 2. At low swirl ($S=1$) a helical mode of azimuthal wavenumber $m=-2$ (co-winding, counter-rotating mode) was observed. A ‘swelling’ appeared at $S=1.38$, and a steady bubble breakdown at $S=1.4$. On further increase to $S=1.5$, a helical, self-excited global mode ($m=+1$, counter-winding and co-rotating) was observed, originating in the bubble’s wake but with little effect on the bubble itself – a bubble vortex breakdown with a spiral tail. Local and global stability analyses revealed this to arise from a linear instability mechanism, distinct from that for the spiral breakdown which has been studied using Grabowski profile (a model of wing-tip vortices). At still higher swirl ($S=1.55$), a pulsating type of bubble breakdown occurred, followed by conical breakdown at 1.6. The latter consists of a large toroidal vortex confined by a radially expanding conical sheet, and a weaker vortex core downstream. For the highest swirls, the sheet was no longer conical, but curved away from the axis as a wide-open breakdown. The applicability of two classical inviscid theories for vortex breakdown – transition to a conjugate state, and the dominance of negative azimuthal vorticity – was assessed for the conical form. As required by the former, the flow transitioned from a supercritical to subcritical state in the vicinity of the stagnation point. The deviations from the predictions of the latter model were considerable.


2013 ◽  
Vol 720 ◽  
pp. 558-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ubaid Ali Qadri ◽  
Dhiren Mistry ◽  
Matthew P. Juniper

AbstractPrevious numerical simulations have shown that vortex breakdown starts with the formation of a steady axisymmetric bubble and that an unsteady spiralling mode then develops on top of this. We investigate this spiral mode with a linear global stability analysis around the steady bubble and its wake. We obtain the linear direct and adjoint global modes of the linearized Navier–Stokes equations and overlap these to obtain the structural sensitivity of the spiral mode, which identifies the wavemaker region. We also identify regions of absolute instability with a local stability analysis. At moderate swirls, we find that the $m= - 1$ azimuthal mode is the most unstable and that the wavemaker regions of the $m= - 1$ mode lie around the bubble, which is absolutely unstable. The mode is most sensitive to feedback involving the radial and azimuthal components of momentum in the region just upstream of the bubble. To a lesser extent, the mode is also sensitive to feedback involving the axial component of momentum in regions of high shear around the bubble. At an intermediate swirl, in which the bubble and wake have similar absolute growth rates, other researchers have found that the wavemaker of the nonlinear global mode lies in the wake. We agree with their analysis but find that the regions around the bubble are more influential than the wake in determining the growth rate and frequency of the linear global mode. The results from this paper provide the first steps towards passive control strategies for spiral vortex breakdown.


Author(s):  
Danielle Mason ◽  
Sean Clees ◽  
Mark Frederick ◽  
Jacqueline O’Connor

Abstract Many industrial combustion systems, especially power generation gas turbines, use fuel-lean combustion to reduce NOx emissions. However, these systems are highly susceptible to combustion instability, the coupling between combustor acoustics and heat release rate oscillations of the flame. It has been shown in previous work by the authors that a precessing vortex core (PVC) can suppress shear layer receptivity to external perturbations, reducing the potential for thermoacoustic coupling. The goal of this study is to understand the effect of combustor exit boundary condition on the flow structure of a swirling jet to increase fundamental understanding of how combustor design impacts PVC dynamics. The swirling jet is generated with a radial-entry, variable-angle swirler, and a quartz cylinder is fixed on the dump plane for confinement. Combustor exit constriction plates of different diameters are used to determine the impact of exit boundary condition on the flow field. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to capture the velocity field inside the combustor. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition, a frequency-resolved eigenvalue decomposition that can identify energetic structures in the flow, is implemented to identify the PVC at each condition in both energy and frequency space. We find that exit boundary diameter affects both the structure of the flow and the dynamics of the PVC. Higher levels of constriction (smaller diameters) force the downstream stagnation point of the vortex breakdown bubble upstream, resulting in greater divergence of the swirling jet. Further, as the exit diameter decreases, the PVC becomes less energetic and less spatially defined. Despite these changes in the base flow and PVC coherence, the PVC frequency is not altered by the exit boundary constriction. These trends will help inform our understanding of the impact of boundary conditions on both static and dynamic flame stability.


Vestnik IGEU ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 14-22
Author(s):  
I.I. Komarov ◽  
D.M. Kharlamova ◽  
A.N. Vegera ◽  
V.Y. Naumov

Studying closed gas turbine cycles on supercritical carbon dioxide is currently a promising issue in the development of power energy sector in terms of increasing energy efficiency and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Combustion of methane with oxygen in the combustion chamber occurs not in the nitrogen environment, but in the environment of carbon dioxide, that is the working fluid of the cycle, which is an inhibitor of chemical reactions. A large mass content of such a diluent of the reaction mixture in the volume of the chamber leads to the risks of significant chemical underburning, efficiency decrease of the combustion chamber and the cycle as a whole. The aim of the research is to study the kinetic parameters of the combustion of methane with oxygen in a supercritical CO2 diluent medium to ensure reliable and stable combustion of fuel by assessing the degree of the inhibitory effect of CO2 and determining its permissible amount in the active combustion zone of the combustion chamber. The research method is a numerical simulation of turbulent-kinetic processes of methane combustion in the combustion chamber using the reduced methane combustion mechanism. Ansys Fluent software package has been used. The authers have studied the impact of CO2 diluent on fuel cоmbustion in methane-oxygen combustion chambers. It is found that the combustor flame stabilization takes place if the content of СО2 diluent supplied to the mixture with oxidizer is 0,46–0,5 of mass fraction; additional СО2 diluent forms local low temperature zones which slow down the combustion process. When this happens, adding cooling СО2 into the flame stabilization zone should be eliminated. The study has found that no more than 20 % of the total carbon dioxide content should be supplied to the combustion chamber; to stabilize the flame and reduce its length, it is necessary to install blades to swirl the fuel and oxidizer mixed with CO2 at the inlet of the combustion chamber; CO2 supply for cooling should be carried out not less than 130 mm away from the burner mouth.


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Amrit Adhikari ◽  
Thorge Schweitzer ◽  
Finn Lückoff ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner

Fluidic actuators are designed to control the oscillatory helical mode, called a precessing vortex core (PVC), which is often observed in gas turbine combustors. The PVC induces large-scale hydrodynamic coherent structures, which can considerably affect flow and flame dynamics. Therefore, appropriate control of this structure can lead to a more stable and efficient combustion process. Currently available flow control systems are designed to control the PVC in laboratory-scale setups. To further develop these systems and find an approach applicable to the industrial scale, a new actuator design based on fluidic oscillators is presented and studied in this paper. This actuator allows for independently adjusting forcing frequency and amplitude, which is necessary to effectively target the dynamics of the PVC. The functionality and flow control of this actuator design are studied based on numerical simulations and experimental measurements. To verify the flow control authority, the actuator is built into a prototype combustor test rig, which allows for investigating the impact of the actuator’s forcing on the PVC at isothermal conditions. The studies conducted in this work prove the desired functionality and flow control authority of the 3D-printed actuator. Accordingly, a two-part stainless steel design is derived for future test conditions with flame.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saarthak Gupta ◽  
Santosh Hemchandra ◽  
Masayasu Shimura ◽  
Santosh Shanbhogue ◽  
Ahmed Ghoniem

Abstract The precessing vortex core (PVC) is a self-excited flow oscillation state occurring in swirl nozzles. This is caused by the presence of a marginally unstable hydrodynamic helical mode that induces precession of the vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) around the flow axis. The PVC can impact emissions and thermoacoustic stability characteristics of combustors in various ways, as several prior studies have shown. In this paper, we examine the impact of centrebody diameter (Dc) on the PVC in a non-reacting flow in a single nozzle swirl combustor. Time resolved high speed stereoscopic PIV (sPIV) measurements are performed for combinations of two swirl numbers, S = 0.67 and 1.17 and Dc = 9.5 mm, 4.73 mm and 0 (i.e. no centrebody). The bulk flow velocity at the nozzle exit plane is kept constant as Ub = 8 m/s for all cases (Re ∼ 20,000). The centrebody end face lies in the nozzle exit plane. A new modal decomposition technique based on wavelet filtering and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) provides insight into flow dynamics in terms of global modes extracted from the data. The results show that without a centrebody, a coherent PVC is present in the flow as expected. The introduction of a centrebody makes the PVC oscillations intermittent. These results suggest two routes to intermittency as follows. For S = 0.67, the vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) and centrebody wake recirculation zone (CWRZ) regions are nominally distinct. Intermittent separation and merger due to turbulence result in PVC oscillations due to the de-stabilization of the hydrodynamic VBB precession mode of the flow. In the S = 1.17 case, the time averaged VBB position causes it to engulf the centrebody. In this case, the emergence of intermittent PVC oscillations is a result of the response of the flow to broadband stochastic forcing imposed on the time averaged vorticity field due to turbulence.


Author(s):  
Arnab Mukherjee ◽  
Nishanth Muthichur ◽  
Chaitali More ◽  
Saarthak Gupta ◽  
Santosh Hemchandra

Abstract The precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon in swirling jets is a helical instability in the flow driven by the coherent precession of the vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) around the flow axis, resulting in the helical rollup of the shear layer. This instabilitty is driven mainly by flow processes in the region upstream of the VBB. Centerbodies, commonly employed in combustor nozzles create a central wake recirculation zone (CWRZ) that can interfere with VBB precession and hence suppress the PVC. We study this phenomenon in a swirl nozzle with a centerbody whose end face is flush with the nozzle exit plane, using large eddy simulations (LES) and linear hydrodynamic stability analysis for flow Reynolds numbers Re = 48,767 and 82,751, based on nozzle exit diameter and bulk flow velocity. For one of the Re = 82,751 cases the centerbody end face diameter is halved resulting in the onset of coherent VBB precession. Linear stability analysis reveals a marginally unstable mode in this case. The same mode is found to be stable in the nominal cases. Structural sensitivity analysis for these two cases, shows that the VBB precession eigenmode is sensitive to changes in the time averaged flow in the VBB-CWRZ merger region. This suggests that the reduction in CWRZ length due to halving the centerbody end face diameter is the reason for the onset of VBB precession. These results suggest that in general, spatial separation between the CWRZ and VBB can result in the onset of VBB precession and the emergence of PVC oscillations in swirl flows.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnab Mukherjee ◽  
Nishanth Muthichur ◽  
Chaitali More ◽  
Saarthak Gupta ◽  
Santosh Hemchandra

Abstract The precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon in swirling jets is a helical instability in the flow driven by the coherent precession of the vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) around the flow axis, resulting in the helical rollup of the shear layer. This instability is driven by flow processes in the region upstream of the VBB. Centerbodies, commonly employed in combustor nozzles, create a centerbody wake recirculation zone (CWRZ) that can interfere with VBB precession and hence suppress the PVC. We study this phenomenon in a swirl nozzle with a centerbody whose end face is flush with the nozzle exit plane, using large eddy simulations (LES) and linear hydrodynamic stability analysis for flow Reynolds numbers Re = 48,767 and 82,751, based on nozzle exit diameter and bulk flow velocity. For one of the Re = 82,751 cases, the centerbody end face diameter is halved, resulting in the onset of coherent VBB precession. Linear stability analysis reveals a marginally unstable mode in this case. The same mode is found to be stable in the nominal cases. Structural sensitivity analysis shows that the VBB precession eigenmode is sensitive to changes in the time-averaged flow in the VBB-CWRZ merger region. This suggests that the reduction in CWRZ length due to halving the centerbody end face diameter is the reason for the onset of VBB precession. These results suggest that in general, spatial separation between the CWRZ and VBB can result in the onset of VBB precession and the emergence of PVC oscillations in flows with swirl.


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