scholarly journals Experimental Study of Transient Mechanisms of Bi-Stable Flame Shape Transitions in a Swirl Combustor

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Stöhr ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner ◽  
Moritz Sieber ◽  
Zhiyao Yin ◽  
Wolfgang Meier
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Hydrodynamic Instability ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core ◽  
Amplification Process ◽  
Flame Shape ◽  
Shape Transitions

Sudden changes of flame shape are an undesired, yet poorly understood feature of swirl combustors used in gas turbines. The present work studies flame shape transition mechanisms of a bistable turbulent swirl flame in a gas turbine model combustor, which alternates intermittently between an attached V-form and a lifted M-form. Time-resolved velocity fields and 2D flame structures were measured simultaneously using high-speed stereo-PIV and OH-PLIF at 10 kHz. The data analysis is performed using two novel methods that are well adapted to the study of transient flame shape transitions: Firstly, the linear stability analysis (LSA) of a time-varying mean flow and secondly the recently proposed spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). The results show that the transitions are governed by two types of instability, namely a hydrodynamic instability in the form of a precessing vortex core (PVC) and a thermoacoustic (TA) instability. The LSA shows that the V-M transition implies the transient formation of a PVC as the result of a self-amplification process. The V-M transition, on the other hand, is induced by the appearance of a TA instability that suppresses the PVC and thereby modifies the flow field such that the flame re-attaches at the nozzle. In summary these results provide novel insights into the complex interactions of TA and hydrodynamic instabilities that govern the shape of turbulent swirl-stabilized flames.

scholarly journals Experimental Study of Transient Mechanisms of Bistable Flame Shape Transitions in a Swirl Combustor

2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Stöhr ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner ◽  
Moritz Sieber ◽  
Zhiyao Yin ◽  
Wolfgang Meier
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Hydrodynamic Instability ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core ◽  
Planar Laser ◽  
Flame Shape ◽  
Shape Transitions

Sudden changes of flame shape are an undesired, yet poorly understood feature of swirl combustors used in gas turbines. The present work studies flame shape transition mechanisms of a bistable turbulent swirl flame in a gas turbine model combustor, which alternates intermittently between an attached V-form and a lifted M-form. Time-resolved velocity fields and two-dimensional flame structures were measured simultaneously using high-speed stereo-particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence of OH (OH-PLIF) at 10 kHz. The data analysis is performed using two novel methods that are well adapted to the study of transient flame shape transitions: First, the linear stability analysis (LSA) of a time-varying mean flow and second, the recently proposed spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). The results show that the transitions are governed by two types of instability, namely a hydrodynamic instability in the form of a precessing vortex core (PVC) and a thermoacoustic (TA) instability. The LSA shows that the V-M transition implies the transient formation of a PVC as the result of a self-amplification process. The V-M transition, on the other hand, is induced by the appearance of a TA instability that suppresses the PVC and thereby modifies the flowfield such that the flame re-attaches at the nozzle. In summary, these results provide novel insights into the complex interactions of TA and hydrodynamic instabilities that govern the shape of turbulent swirl-stabilized flames.

scholarly journals Impact of a Centrebody on the Unsteady Flow Dynamics of A Swirl Nozzle: Intermittency of PVC Oscillations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saarthak Gupta ◽  
Santosh Hemchandra ◽  
Masayasu Shimura ◽  
Santosh Shanbhogue ◽  
Ahmed Ghoniem
Keyword(s):  
Nozzle Exit ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Flow Dynamics ◽  
Reacting Flow ◽  
Exit Plane ◽  
Swirl Combustor ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core ◽  
The Impact

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.

scholarly journals Wall Temperature Measurements in Gas Turbine Combustors With Thermographic Phosphors

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Nau ◽  
Zhiyao Yin ◽  
Oliver Lammel ◽  
Wolfgang Meier
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Bluff Body ◽  
Temperature Measurements ◽  
Transient Temperature ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Ceramic Surface ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core

Phosphor thermometry has been developed for wall temperature measurements in gas turbines and gas turbine model combustors. An array of phosphors has been examined in detail for spatially and temporally resolved surface temperature measurements. Two examples are provided, one at high pressure (8 bar) and high temperature and one at atmospheric pressure with high time resolution. To study the feasibility of this technique for full-scale gas turbine applications, a high momentum confined jet combustor at 8 bar was used. Successful measurements up to 1700 K on a ceramic surface are shown with good accuracy. In the same combustor, temperatures on the combustor quartz walls were measured, which can be used as boundary conditions for numerical simulations. An atmospheric swirl-stabilized flame was used to study transient temperature changes on the bluff body. For this purpose, a high-speed setup (1 kHz) was used to measure the wall temperatures at an operating condition where the flame switches between being attached (M-flame) and being lifted (V-flame) (bistable). The influence of a precessing vortex core (PVC) present during M-flame periods is identified on the bluff body tip, but not at positions further inside the nozzle.

Control of the Precessing Vortex Core by Open and Closed-Loop Forcing in the Jet Core

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phoebe Kuhn ◽  
Jonas P. Moeck ◽  
Christian Oliver Paschereit ◽  
Kilian Oberleithner
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Core ◽  
Oscillation Frequency ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Hydrodynamic Instability ◽  
Axial Position ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Lock In

The precessing vortex core (PVC) is the dominant coherent structure of swirling jets, which are commonly applied in gas turbine combustion. It stems from a global hydrodynamic instability that is caused by internal feedback mechanisms in the jet core. In this work, we apply open and closed-loop forcing in a generic non-reacting jet to control this mechanism and the PVC. Control is exerted by two oppositely facing, counter-phased zero-net mass flux jets, which are introduced radially into the flow through a thin lance positioned on the jet center axis. By using this type of forcing, the instability mode m = 1, corresponding to the PVC, can either be excited or damped. This markedly affects the PVC oscillation frequency and amplitude. The passive influence of the actuation lance on the mean flow field properties and the coherent flow dynamics is studied first without forcing. PIV and hot-wire measurements reveal an effect on the mean flow, but no qualitative changes of the PVC dynamics. Lock-in experiments are conducted, in which the synchronization behavior of the PVC with the forcing is determined. Here, two different cases are considered. First, actuation is applied at different streamwise positions in order to identify the region of highest receptivity towards external forcing. This region of lowest lock-in amplitude is shown to coincide with the location of the wavemaker, shortly upstream of the vortex breakdown bubble. Second, the lock-in behavior at a fixed axial position and various forcing frequencies ff is studied. A linear correlation between the lock-in amplitude and the deviation of the forcing frequency from the natural oscillation frequency |ff – fn| is observed. Closed-loop control is then applied with the aim to suppress the PVC. The actuator lance is positioned in the wavemaker region, where the flow is most receptive. Magnitude and phase of the natural flow oscillation associated with the PVC are estimated from four hot-wire signals using an extended Kalman filter. The estimated PVC signal is phase-shifted and fed back to the actuator. PIV measurements reveal that feedback control achieves a reduction of the PVC oscillation energy of about 40%.

Flashback in a Swirl Burner With Cylindrical Premixing Zone

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jassin Fritz ◽  
Martin Kröner ◽  
Thomas Sattelmayer
Keyword(s):  
Flame Propagation ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Laser Doppler Anemometry ◽  
Burning Velocity ◽  
Turbulent Flame ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Mean Flow

Flame flashback from the combustion chamber into the mixing zone is one of the inherent problems of lean premixed combustion and essentially determines the reliability of low NOx burners. Generally, flashback can be initiated by one of the following four phenomena: flashback due to the conditions in the boundary layer, flashback due to turbulent flame propagation in the core flow, flashback induced by combustion instabilities and flashback caused by combustion induced vortex breakdown. In this study, flashback in a swirling tubular flow was investigated. In order to draw maximum benefit from the tests with respect to the application in gas turbines, the radial distribution of the axial and circumferential momentum in the tube was selected such that the typical character of a flow in mixing zones of premix burners without centerbody was obtained. A single burner test rig has been designed to provoke flashback with the preheating temperature, the equivalence ratio and the mean flow rate being the influencing parameters. The flame position within the mixing section is detected by a special optical flame sensor array, which allows the control of the experiment and furthermore the triggering of the measurement techniques. The burning velocity of the fuel has been varied by using natural gas or hydrogen. The characteristics of the flashback, the unsteady swirling flow during the flame propagation, the flame dynamics and the reaction zones have been investigated by applying High Speed Video recordings, the Laser Doppler Anemometry and the Laser Induced Fluorescence. The presented results show that a combustion induced vortex breakdown is the dominating mechansim of the observed flashback. This mechanism is very sensitive to the momentum distribution in the vortex core. By adding axial momentum around the mixing tube axis, the circumferential velocity gradient is reduced and flashback can be prevented.

scholarly journals Experimental Study of the Precessing Vortex Core Impact on the Liquid Fuel Spray in a Gas Turbine Model Combustor

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Renaud ◽  
Sébastien Ducruix ◽  
Laurent Zimmer
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Core ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Dynamic Mode Decomposition ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Fuel Spray ◽  
Dynamic Mode ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core

Abstract Despite being good candidates for the reduction of pollutant emissions from gas turbines, burners operating in lean premixed prevaporized regimes often face stability issues and can be sensitive to perturbations. The swirling flow used to aerodynamically stabilize the flame can also lead to the appearance of a large-scale coherent flow structure known as the precessing vortex core (PVC). In this study, a swirl-stabilized combustor fed with liquid dodecane is studied at a globally lean operating condition with the help of high-speed diagnostics and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) as the main postprocessing method. It is shown that the trace of a PVC originating inside the injector is still present in the fuel spray at the entrance of the chamber even though the aerodynamical structure itself is not detectable anymore. The perturbation of the fuel spray is then transmitted to the flame through local equivalence ratio fluctuations. It is observed that the PVC trace on the spray and thus on the flame can be suppressed by air flow modulations generated by a siren device. The suppression of this trace is shown to come from a decay of the aerodynamical structure itself rather than by a change in fuel mixing or vaporization. Analysis of the characteristic frequency of the PVC shows a frequency spread indicating a loss of coherence of the structure with the high-amplitude air flow rate fluctuations.

scholarly journals Wall Temperature Measurements in Gas Turbine Combustors With Thermographic Phosphors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Nau ◽  
Zhiyao Yin ◽  
Oliver Lammel ◽  
Wolfgang Meier
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Bluff Body ◽  
Temperature Measurements ◽  
Transient Temperature ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Ceramic Surface ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core

Phosphor thermometry has been developed for wall temperature measurements in gas turbines and gas turbine model combustors. An array of phosphors has been examined in detail for spatially and temporally resolved surface temperature measurements. Two examples are provided, one at high pressure (8 bar) and high temperature and one at atmospheric pressure with high time resolution. To study the feasibility of this technique for full scale gas turbine applications a high momentum confined jet combustor at 8 bar was used. Successful measurements up to 1700 K on a ceramic surface are shown with good accuracy. In the same combustor, temperatures on the combustor quartz walls were measured, which can be used as boundary conditions for numerical simulations. An atmospheric swirl-stabilized flame was used to study transient temperature changes on the bluff body. For this purpose, a high-speed setup (1 kHz) was used to measure the wall temperatures at an operating condition where the flame switches between being attached (M-flame) and being lifted (V-flame) (bistable). The influence of a precessing vortex core (PVC) present during M-flame periods is identified on the bluff body tip, but not at positions further inside the nozzle.

scholarly journals Experimental Study of the Precessing Vortex Core Impact on the Liquid Fuel Spray in a Gas Turbine Model Combustor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Renaud ◽  
Sébastien Ducruix ◽  
Laurent Zimmer
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Core ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Dynamic Mode Decomposition ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Fuel Spray ◽  
Dynamic Mode ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core

Abstract Despite being good candidates for the reduction of pollutant emissions from gas turbines, burners operating in Lean Premixed Prevaporized regimes often face stability issues and can be sensitive to perturbations. The swirling flow used to aero-dynamically stabilize the flame can also lead to the appearance of a large-scale coherent flow structure known as the Precessing Vortex Core (PVC). In the present study, a swirl-stabilized combustor fed with liquid dodecane is studied at a globally lean operating condition with the help of high-speed diagnostics and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) as the main post-processing method. It is shown that the trace of a PVC originating inside the injector is still present in the fuel spray at the entrance of the chamber even though the aerodynamical structure itself is not detectable anymore. The perturbation of the fuel spray is then transmitted to the flame through local equivalence ratio fluctuations. It is observed that the PVC trace on the spray and thus on the flame can be suppressed by air flow modulations generated by a siren device. The suppression of this trace is shown to come from a decay of the aerodynamical structure itself rather than by a change in fuel mixing or vaporization. Analysis of the characteristic frequency of the PVC shows a frequency spread indicating a loss of coherence of the structure with the high amplitude air flow rate fluctuations.

Numerical Study of the Precessing Vortex Core in a Confined Partially Premixed Swirl Combustion System

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Schneider ◽  
Amsini Sadiki ◽  
Alexander Maltsev ◽  
Johannes Janicka
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Vortex Core ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Combustion Model ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Precessing Vortex Core ◽  
Swirl Flows ◽  
Combustion Properties ◽  
Partially Premixed

Swirl flows play an important role in modern combustion systems such as gas turbines, aero propulsion systems etc. Next to desirable effects such as enhanced mixing such flows often exhibit aerodynamical instabilities called precessing vortex core. The configuration under study here represents a model Gas Turbine(GT) combustion chamber and features the main properties of real gas turbine combustors: a confined swirled flow with multiple recirculation zones and reattachment points, resulting in reacting case in a partially premixed methane/air aerodynamically stabilised flame. This flame exibits also precessing vortex core (PVC). The present study especially concentrates on an evaluation of the performance of different URANS-based model-combinations in predicting this confined swirling reacting flow exhibiting such aerodynamic instabilities. For this purpose an extended Bray-Moss-Libby model and a G-equation based approach, both coupled to the mixture fraction transport equation to account for partially premixed effects, are applied. Their prediction potential in capturing partially premixed combustion properties is appraised by comparison with LDV, Raman and PLIF measurements. It turns out that the influence of the combustion model on simulation results of the flame front stabilisation or mean flow field is not obvious. Nevertheless it could be mentioned that the computation time with G-equation was approximately three times longer than with BML model due to the reinitialization needed in steady case calculations and 2 times longer in case of unsteady calculations.

Flashback in a Swirl Burner With Cylindrical Premixing Zone

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fritz ◽  
M. Kro¨ner ◽  
T. Sattelmayer
Keyword(s):  
Flame Propagation ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Swirling Flow ◽  
Laser Doppler Anemometry ◽  
Burning Velocity ◽  
Turbulent Flame ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Mean Flow

Flame flashback from the combustion chamber into the mixing zone is one of the inherent problems of lean premixed combustion and essentially determines the reliability of low NOx burners. Generally, flashback can be initiated by one of the following four phenomena: flashback due to the conditions in the boundary layer, flashback due to turbulent flame propagation in the core flow, flashback induced by combustion instabilities and flashback caused by combustion induced vortex breakdown. In this study, flashback in a swirling tubular flow was investigated. In order to draw maximum benefit from the tests with respect to the application in gas turbines, the radial distribution of the axial and circumferential momentum in the tube was selected such that the typical character of a flow in mixing zones of premix burners without centerbody was obtained. A single burner test rig has been designed to provoke flashback with the preheating temperature, the equivalence ratio and the mean flow rate being the influencing parameters. The flame position within the mixing section is detected by a special optical flame sensor array, which allows the control of the experiment and furthermore the triggering of the measurement techniques. The burning velocity of the fuel has been varied by using natural gas or hydrogen. The characteristics of the flashback, the unsteady swirling flow during the flame propagation, the flame dynamics and the reaction zones have been investigated by applying high-speed video recordings, the laser Doppler anemometry and the laser induced fluorescence. The presented results show that a combustion induced vortex breakdown is the dominating mechanism of the observed flashback. This mechanism is very sensitive to the momentum distribution in the vortex core. By adding axial momentum around the mixing tube axis, the circumferential velocity gradient is reduced and flashback can be prevented.

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