Blowoff and Reattachment Dynamics of a Linear Multi-Nozzle Combustor

Author(s):  
W. Y. Kwong ◽  
A. M. Steinberg

This paper describes the coupled flow and flame dynamics during blowoff and reattachment events in a combustor consisting of a linear array of five interacting nozzles using 10 kHz repetition-rate OH planar laser induced fluorescence and stereoscopic particle image velocimetry. Steady operating conditions were studied at which the three central flames randomly blew-off and subsequently reattached to the bluff-bodies. Transition of the flame from one nozzle was rapidly followed by transition of the other nozzles, indicating cross-nozzle coupling. Blow-off transitions were preferentially initiated in one of the off-center nozzles, with the transition of subsequent nozzles occurring in a random order. Similarly, the center nozzle tended to be the last nozzle to reattach. The blowoff process of any individual nozzle was similar to that for a single bluff-body stabilized flame, though with cross-flame interactions providing additional means of re-stabilizing a partially extinguished flame. Subsequent to blowoff of the first nozzle, the other nozzles underwent similar blowoff processes. Flame reattachment was initiated by entrainment of a burning pocket into a recirculation zone, followed by transport to the bluff-body; the other nozzles subsequently underwent similar reattachment processes. Several forms of cross-nozzle interaction that can promote or prevent transition are identified. Furthermore, the velocity measurements indicated that blowoff or reattachment of the first nozzle during a multi-nozzle transition causes significant changes to the flow fields of the other nozzles. It is proposed that a single nozzle transition redistributes the flow to the other nozzles in a manner that promotes their transition.

Author(s):  
Wing Yin Kwong ◽  
Adam M. Steinberg

This paper describes the coupled flow and flame dynamics during blowoff and reattachment events in a combustor consisting of a linear array of five interacting nozzles using 10 kHz repetition-rate OH planar laser-induced fluorescence and stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (S-PIV). Steady operating conditions were studied at which the three central flames randomly blew-off and subsequently reattached to the bluff-bodies. Transition of the flame from one nozzle was rapidly followed by transition of the other nozzles, indicating cross-nozzle coupling. Blow-off transitions were preferentially initiated in one of the off-center nozzles, with the transition of subsequent nozzles occurring in a random order. Similarly, the center nozzle tended to be the last nozzle to reattach. The blow-off process of any individual nozzle was similar to that for a single bluff-body stabilized flame, though with cross-flame interactions providing additional means of restabilizing a partially extinguished flame. Subsequent to blowoff of the first nozzle, the other nozzles underwent similar blow-off processes. Flame reattachment was initiated by entrainment of a burning pocket into a recirculation zone, followed by transport to the bluff-body; the other nozzles subsequently underwent similar reattachment processes. Several forms of cross-nozzle interaction that can promote or prevent transition are identified. Furthermore, the velocity measurements indicated that blowoff or reattachment of the first nozzle during a multinozzle transition causes significant changes to the flow fields of the other nozzles. It is proposed that a single-nozzle transition redistributes the flow to the other nozzles in a manner that promotes their transition.


Author(s):  
Travis Smith ◽  
Benjamin Emerson ◽  
Ianko Chterev ◽  
David R. Noble ◽  
Tim Lieuwen

This paper describes an analysis of the unsteady flow structures in a single nozzle and triple nozzle swirl combustor (with nozzle spacing of s/D=2.9). It was motivated by a prior study by our group which compared the time averaged and unsteady features for a different swirling nozzle, and found that the single and triple nozzle flow dynamics were quite similar upstream of the jet merging region. This work is motivated by the fact that realistic hardware, whether in can or annular combustion systems, almost always contains several nozzles. However, it is common to use test facilities with a single nozzle to study flame dynamics, a key component of the combustion instability problem [1]. Simultaneous OH Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (OH PLIF) and Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (sPIV) techniques were performed at 5 kHz on a swirl methane-air flame. Two transverse forcing configurations were applied, so that the flame nominally lies in a pressure node/transverse velocity antinode, and vice versa. The time averaged flow fields of the single and triple nozzle configurations are compared, and several key differences are identified. Most prominently, there are non-negligible differences in the recirculation zone reverse flow velocity and flame spreading angle. However, the spatial variation of the disturbance magnitudes along the shear layers exhibit quite similar growth and decay trends, and the convection speeds along the shear layer were nearly identical. These results corroborate the findings of Aguilar et al. [2] and Szedlmayer et al. [3], which show that despite differences in time average quantities, comparable flow dynamics occur in single and multi-nozzle flames. These results imply that useful insights into the dynamics of multi-nozzle systems can be gleaned from appropriately designed single-nozzle hardware, with appropriate accounting for the differences in time averaged flow/flame characteristics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Chemnitz ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Abstract The development and verification of new turbulence models for Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equation-based numerical methods require reliable experimental data with a deep understanding of the underlying turbulence mechanisms. High accurate turbulence measurements are normally limited to simplified test cases under optimal experimental conditions. This work presents comprehensive three-dimensional data of turbulent flow quantities, comparing advanced constant temperature anemometry (CTA) and stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) methods under realistic test conditions. The experiments are conducted downstream of a linear, low-pressure turbine cascade at engine relevant high-speed operating conditions. The special combination of high subsonic Mach and low Reynolds number results in a low density test environment, challenging for all applied measurement techniques. Detailed discussions about influences affecting the measured result for each specific measuring technique are given. The presented time mean fields as well as total turbulence data demonstrate with an average deviation of ΔTu<0.4% and ΔC/Cref<0.9% an extraordinary good agreement between the results from the triple sensor hot-wire probe and the 2D3C-PIV setup. Most differences between PIV and CTA can be explained by the finite probe size and individual geometry.


Author(s):  
Christopher Douglas ◽  
Jamie Lim ◽  
Travis Smith ◽  
Benjamin Emerson ◽  
Timothy Lieuwen ◽  
...  

This work is motivated by the thermoacoustic instability challenges associated with ultra-low emissions gas turbine combustors. It demonstrates the first use of high-speed dual-plane orthogonally-polarized stereoscopic-particle image velocimetry and synchronized OH planar laser-induced fluorescence in a premixed swirling flame. We use this technique to explore the effects of combustion and longitudinal acoustic forcing on the time- and phase-averaged flow field — particularly focusing on the behavior of the Reynolds stress in the presence of harmonic forcing. We observe significant differences between ensemble averaged and time averaged Reynolds stress. This implies that the large-scale motions are non-ergodic, due to coherent oscillations in Reynolds stress associated with the convection of periodic vortical structures. This result has important implications on hydrodynamic stability models and reduced order computational fluid dynamics simulations, which do show the importance of turbulent transport on the problem, but do not capture these coherent oscillations in their models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Stichling ◽  
Maximilian Elfner ◽  
Hans-Jörg Bauer

Abstract In the present study, an existing test rig at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery (ITS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), designed for generic film cooling studies is adopted to accommodate time-resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) measurements. Through a similarity analysis, the test rig geometry is scaled by a factor of about 20. Operating conditions of hot gas and cooling air inlet and exit can be imposed that are compliant with realistic engine conditions including density ratio (DR). The cooling air is supplied by a parallel-to-hot gas coolant flow-configuration with a coolant Reynolds number of 30, 000. Time-resolved and time-averaged stereo article image velocimetry data for a film cooling flow at high DR and a range of blowing ratios are presented in this study. The investigated film cooling hole constitutes a 10 deg–10 deg–10 deg laidback fan-shaped hole with a wide spacing of P/D = 8 to insure the absence of jet interaction. The inclination angle amounts to 35 deg. The time-resolved data indicate transient behavior of the film cooling jet.


Author(s):  
Christopher Douglas ◽  
Jamie Lim ◽  
Travis Smith ◽  
Benjamin Emerson ◽  
Timothy Lieuwen ◽  
...  

This work is motivated by the thermoacoustic instability challenges associated with ultra-low emissions gas turbine (GT) combustors. It demonstrates the first use of high-speed dual-plane orthogonally-polarized stereoscopic-particle image velocimetry (PIV) and synchronized OH planar laser-induced fluorescence in a premixed swirling flame. We use this technique to explore the effects of combustion and longitudinal acoustic forcing on the time- and phase-averaged flow field—particularly focusing on the behavior of the Reynolds stress in the presence of harmonic forcing. We observe significant differences between ensemble-averaged and time-averaged Reynolds stress. This implies that the large-scale motions are nonergodic, due to coherent oscillations in Reynolds stress associated with the convection of periodic vortical structures. This result has important implications on hydrodynamic stability models and reduced-order computational fluid dynamics simulations, which do show the importance of turbulent transport on the problem, but do not capture these coherent oscillations in their models.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deb Banerjee ◽  
Ahmet Selamet ◽  
Rick Dehner

Abstract Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry measurements are carried out at the inlet of a turbocharger compressor at four different shaft speeds from 80,000 rpm to 140,000 rpm and over the entire range of flow rates from choke to mild surge. This paper describes the procedure used in processing the PIV data leading to the estimates of turbulent length scales – integral, Taylor, and Kolmogorov, to enhance the fundamental understanding and characterization of the compressor inlet flow field. The analysis reveals that at most operating conditions the three different length scales have markedly different magnitudes, as expected, while they have somewhat similar qualitative distributions with respect to the duct radius. For example, at 80,000 rpm and at a flow rate of 15.7 g/s (mild surge), the longitudinal integral length scale is of the order of 15 mm, the Taylor scale is around 0.5 mm, and the Kolmogorov scale is about 10 microns. With the onset of flow reversal, the turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent intensity at the compressor inlet are observed to increase rapidly, while the magnitudes of the Kolmogorov scale and to a certain extent, the Taylor scale are found to decrease suggesting that the increased turbulence gives rise to even smaller flow structures. The variation of length scales with compressor shaft speed has also been studied.


2019 ◽  
Vol 876 ◽  
pp. 715-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Askar Kazbekov ◽  
Keishi Kumashiro ◽  
Adam M. Steinberg

The contributions of vortex stretching, dilatation, baroclinic torque and viscous diffusion to Reynolds-averaged enstrophy transport in turbulent swirl flames were experimentally measured using tomographic particle image velocimetry and $\text{CH}_{2}\text{O}$ planar laser induced fluorescence at jet Reynolds numbers of 26 000–51 000. The mean baroclinic torque was determined by subtracting the other terms in the enstrophy transport equation from the mean Lagrangian derivative. Enstrophy production from baroclinic torque was found to be significant relative to the other transport terms across all conditions studies. This result contrasts with direct numerical simulations of flames in homogeneous isotropic turbulence, which show a decreasing relative significance of baroclinic torque with increasing turbulence intensity (e.g. Bobbitt, Lapointe & Blanquart, Phys. Fluids, vol. 28 (1), 2016, 015101). Hence, the significance of baroclinic enstrophy production in flames is not determined entirely by the local turbulence and flame properties, but also depends on the configuration-specific pressure field.


2014 ◽  
Vol 754 ◽  
pp. 488-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Vanderwel ◽  
Stavros Tavoularis

AbstractThe diffusion of a plume of dye in uniformly sheared turbulent flow in a water tunnel was investigated using simultaneous stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF). Maps of the mean concentration and the turbulent concentration fluxes in planes normal to the plume axis were constructed, from which all components of the second-order turbulent diffusivity tensor were determined for the first time. Good agreement between the corresponding apparent and true diffusivities was observed. The turbulent diffusivity tensor was found to have strong off-diagonal components, whereas the streamwise component appeared to be counter-gradient. The different terms in the advection–diffusion equation were estimated from the measurements and their relative significance was discussed. All observed phenomena were explained by physical arguments and the results were compared to previous ones.


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