Effect of Fuel Stage Proportion on Flame Position in an Internally-Staged Combustor

Author(s):  
Tiezheng Zhao ◽  
Xiao Liu ◽  
Hongtao Zheng ◽  
Zhihao Zhang ◽  
Jialong Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract To study the effect of fuel stage proportion on flame position and combustion characteristics of the internally-staged combustor, a detailed numerical investigation is performed in the present paper. The prediction method of flame position is established by analyzing the variations of the distribution of intermediate components and the turbulent flame speed. Meanwhile, the flame position is simulated to verify the accuracy of the prediction method. It is demonstrated that the flame position prediction model established in this paper can accurately predict the flame position under different fuel stage proportions. On this basis, special attention is paid to analyze the variation of velocity field, temperature field, distribution of intermediate components and emissions under different fuel stage proportions. As the proportion of pilot fuel stage increases slightly, the mass fraction of fuel at the combustor dome increases. In addition, the combustion characteristics change significantly with the increase in the proportion of pilot stage fuels. The flame moves downstream and the high temperature area increases as the proportion of pilot fuel increases. In particular, when the proportion of pilot stage reaches 3%, the highest flame temperature is generated due to the most concentrated reaction area, resulting in the largest emission of NOx. At the same time, due to the most complete reaction, the minimum CO emission is produced. When the proportion of pilot fuel stage reaches 1%, the NOx emission is the lowest, and the highest CO emission is generated due to the incomplete reaction.

Author(s):  
Roberto Meloni ◽  
Stefano Gori ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Pier Carlo Nassini

Abstract The present paper summarizes the development of a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) based approach for the prediction of CO emission in an industrial gas turbine combustor. Since the operating point of the modern combustors is really close to the extinction limit, the availability of a tool able to detect the onset of high-CO production can be useful for the proper definition of the combustion chamber air split or to introduce design improvements for the premixer itself. The accurate prediction of CO cannot rely on the flamelet assumption, representing the fundament of the modern combustion models. Consequently, in this work, the Extended Turbulent Flame Speed Closure (ETFSC) of the standard Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) model is employed to consider the effect of the heat loss and the strain rate on the flame brush. Moreover, a customized CO-Damköhler number is introduced to de-couple the in-flame CO production region from the post-flame contribution where the oxidation takes place. A fully premixed burner working at representative values of pressure and flame temperature of an annular combustor is selected for the validation phase of the process. The comparison against the experimental data shows that the process is not only able to capture the trend but also to predict CO in a quantitative manner. In particular, the interaction between the flame and the air fluxes at some critical sections of the combustor, leading the CO emission from the equilibrium value to the super-equilibrium, has been correctly reproduced.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Meloni ◽  
S. Gori ◽  
A. Andreini ◽  
P. C. Nassini

Abstract The present paper summarizes the development of a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) based approach for the prediction of CO emission in an industrial gas turbine combustor. Since the operating point of the modern combustors is really close to the extinction limit, the availability of a tool able to detect the onset of high-CO production can be useful for the proper definition of the combustion chamber air split or to introduce design improvements for the premixer itself. The accurate prediction of CO cannot rely on the flamelet assumption, representing the fundament of the modern combustion models. Consequently, in this work, the Extended Turbulent Flame Speed Closure (ETFSC) of the standard Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) model is employed to consider the effect of the heat loss and the strain rate on the flame brush. Moreover, a customized CO-Damköhler number is introduced to de-couple the in-flame CO production region from the post-flame contribution where the oxidation takes place. A fully premixed burner working at representative values of pressure and flame temperature of an annular combustor is selected for the validation phase of the process. The comparison against the experimental data shows that the process is not only able to capture the trend but also to predict CO in a quantitative manner. In particular, the interaction between the flame and the air fluxes at some critical sections of the combustor, leading the CO emission from the equilibrium value to the super-equilibrium, has been correctly reproduced.


Author(s):  
David Beerer ◽  
Vincent McDonell ◽  
Peter Therkelsen ◽  
Robert K. Cheng

This paper reports flashback limits and turbulent flame local displacement speed measurements in flames stabilized by a low swirl injector operated at elevated pressures and inlet temperatures with hydrogen and methane blended fuels. The goal of this study is to understand the physics that relate turbulent flame speed to flashback events at conditions relevant to gas turbine engines. Testing was conducted in an optically accessible single nozzle combustor rig at pressures ranging from 1 to 8 atm, inlet temperatures from 290 to 600 K, and inlet bulk velocities between 20 and 60 m/s for natural gas and a 90%/10% (by volume) hydrogen/methane blend. The propensity of flashback is dependent upon the proximity of the lifted flame to the nozzle that is itself dependent upon pressure, inlet temperature, and bulk velocity. Flashback occurs when the leading edge of the flame in the core of the flow ingresses within the nozzle, even in cases when the flame is attached to the burner rim. In general the adiabatic flame temperature at flashback is proportional to the bulk velocity and inlet temperature and inversely proportional to the pressure. The unburned reactant velocity field approaching the flame was measured using a laser Doppler velocimeter with water seeding. Turbulent displacement flame speeds were found to be linearly proportional to the root mean square of the velocity fluctuations about the mean velocity. For identical inlet conditions, high-hydrogen flames had a turbulent flame local displacement speed roughly twice that of natural gas flames. Pressure, inlet temperature, and flame temperature had surprisingly little effect on the local displacement turbulent flame speed. However, the flow field is affected by changes in inlet conditions and is the link between turbulent flame speed, flame position, and flashback propensity.


2000 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Polifke ◽  
P. Flohr ◽  
M. Brandt

In many practical applications, so-called premixed burners do not achieve perfect premixing of fuel and air. Instead, fuel injection pressure is limited, the permissible burner pressure drop is small and mixing lengths are curtailed to reduce the danger of flashback. Furthermore, internal or external piloting is frequently employed to improve combustion stability, while part-load operation often requires burner staging, where neighboring burners operate with unequal fuel/air equivalence ratios. In this report, an extension of the turbulent flame speed closure (TFC) model for highly turbulent premixed combustion is presented, which allows application of the model to the case of inhomogeneously premixed combustion. The extension is quite straightforward, i.e., the dependence of model parameters on mixture fraction is accounted for by providing appropriate lookup tables or functional relationships to the model. The model parameters determined in this way are adiabatic flame temperature, laminar flame speed and critical gradient. The model has been validated against a test case from the open literature and applied to an externally piloted industrial gas turbine burner with good success.


Author(s):  
Atanu Kundu ◽  
Jens Klingmann ◽  
Arman Ahamed Subash ◽  
Robert Collin

In the present work, a downscaled prototype 4th generation Dry Low Emission gas turbine (SGT-750) burner (designed and manufactured by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB, Sweden) was investigated using an atmospheric experimental facility. The primary purpose of the research is to analyze flame stability and emission capability of the burner. OH Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (OH-PLIF), and chemiluminescence imaging were performed to characterize the flame structure and location. From the OH-PLIF images, the reaction zone and post flame region could be identified clearly. The chemiluminescence images provide an estimation of the overall heat release from the secondary combustion zone inside the Quarl. Emission was measured using a water-cooled emission probe, placed at the exit of the combustor to sample NOx and CO concentrations. The global equivalence ratio (Φ) was varied from rich to lean limit (flame temperature change from 1950 K to 1570 K) for understanding the stable and instable reaction zones inside the Quarl. Total thermal power was varied from 70 kW to 140 kW by changing global Φ and burner throat velocity (60 to 80 m/s). Near the lean blowout (LBO) event (at global Φ ∼ 0.4), instability of reaction zone is revealed from the flame images. Incorrect modulation of Pilot and RPL fuel splits show instable flame. Flame instability mitigation was possible using higher amount of RPL and Pilot fuel (trade-off with emission performance). The main flame LBO margin was extended by applying higher Pilot fuel and using higher preheat air temperature. Numerical analysis was carried out using Fluent to understand the scalar and vector fields. A basic chemical reactor network model was developed to predict the NOx and CO emission with experimental results. NOx emission prediction showed good agreement with experiment; whereas the model is failed to capture accurate CO emission in the lean operating points.


Author(s):  
Ratnak Sok ◽  
Jin Kusaka ◽  
Kyohei Yamaguchi

Abstract A quasi-dimensional (QD) simulation model is a preferred method to predict combustion in the gasoline engines with reliable results and shorter calculation time compared with multi-dimensional simulation. The combustion phenomena in spark ignition (SI) engines are highly turbulent, and at initial stage of the combustion process, turbulent flame speed highly depends on laminar burning velocity SL. A major parameter of the QD combustion model is an accurate prediction of the SL, which is unstable under low engine speed and ultra-lean mixture. This work investigates the applicability of the combustion model for evaluating the combustion characteristics of a high-tumble port gasoline engine operated under ultra-lean mixture (equivalence ratio up to ϕ = 0.5) which is out of the range of currently available SL functions initially developed for a single component fuel. In this study, the SL correlation is improved for a gasoline surrogate fuel (5 components). Predicted SL data from the conventional and improved functions are compared with experimental SL data taken from a constant-volume chamber under micro-gravity condition. The SL measurements are done at reference conditions at temperature of 300K, pressure of 0.1MPaa, and at elevated conditions whose temperature = 360K, pressure = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 MPaa. Results show that the conventional SL model over-predicts flame speeds under all conditions. Moreover, the model predicts negative SL at very lean (ϕ ≤ 0.3) and rich (ϕ ≥ 1.9) mixture while the revised SL is well validated with the measured data. The improved SL formula is then incorporated into the QD combustion model by a user-defined function in GT-Power simulation. The engine experimental data are taken at 1000 RPM and 2000 RPM under engine load IMEPn = 0.4–0.8 MPa (with 0.1 increment) and ϕ ranges are up to 0.5. The results shows that the simulated engine performances and combustion characteristics are well validated with the experiments within 6% accuracy by using the QD combustion model coupled with the improved SL. A sensitivity analysis of the model is also in good agreement with the experiments under cyclic variation (averaged cycle, high IMEP or stable cycle, and low IMEP or unstable cycle).


Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Shih ◽  
Chi-Rong Liu

To better understand the combustion performance by using hydrogen/methane blended fuels for an innovative micro gas turbine which is designed originally as a natural gas fired engine, the combustion characteristics of a can type combustor has been modeled and the effects of hydrogen amount were investigated. The simulations were performed using the commercial code STAR-CD, in which the three-dimension compressible k-ε turbulent flow mode and presumed probability density function for chemical reaction between methane/hydrogen/air mixtures were used. The results showed the detailed flame structures including the flow fields, distributions of flame temperature, major species and gas emissions. A variable volumetric fraction of hydrogen from 0% to 80% and the fuel injection velocities of this blended fuel ranging from 20 m/s to 60 m/s were studied. When hydrogen amount is higher, the flame temperature and exit gas temperature increase; high temperature region becomes wider and shifts to the intermediate zone. As fuel inlet velocity decreases from 60 m/s to 20 m/s, the high temperature region shifts to the side of the combustor due to the high diffusivity of hydrogen. Compared to the combustion using pure methane, NOx emissions increase with blended fuel, but the increase of hydrogen amount does not produce any significant effect over emission level of NOx. However, CO emission reduction is more remarkable at low hydrogen fraction, but the level of CO emission increases drastically when the fuel injection velocity is lower. Further modifications of the combustor designs including the fuel injection and cooling strategies are needed to improve the combustion performance for the micro gas turbine engine with hydrogen blended fuel as an alternative.


Author(s):  
Wolfgang Polifke ◽  
Peter Flohr ◽  
Martin Brandt

In many practical applications, so-called premixed burners do not achieve perfect premixing of fuel and air. Instead, fuel injection pressure is limited, the permissible burner pressure drop is small and mixing lengths are curtailed to reduce the danger of flashback. Furthermore, internal or external piloting is frequently employed to improve combustion stability, while part-load operation often requires burner staging, where neighboring burners operate with unequal fuel/air equivalence ratios. In this report, an extension of the Turbulent Flame speed Closure (TFC) model for highly turbulent premixed combustion is presented, which allows application of the model to the case of inhomogeneously premixed combustion. The extension is quite straightforward, i.e. the dependence of model parameters on mixture fraction is accounted for by providing appropriate lookup tables or functional relationships to the model. The model parameters determined in this way are adiabatic flame temperature, laminar flame speed and critical gradient. The model has been validated against a test case from the open literature and applied to an externally piloted industrial gas turbine burner with good success.


Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Endres ◽  
Thomas Sattelmayer

Boundary layer flashback from the combustion chamber into the premixing section is a threat associated with the premixed combustion of hydrogen-containing fuels in gas turbines. In this study, the effect of pressure on the confined flashback behaviour of hydrogen-air flames was investigated numerically. This was done by means of large eddy simulations with finite rate chemistry as well as detailed chemical kinetics and diffusion models at pressures between 0 . 5 and 3 . It was found that the flashback propensity increases with increasing pressure. The separation zone size and the turbulent flame speed at flashback conditions decrease with increasing pressure, which decreases flashback propensity. At the same time the quenching distance decreases with increasing pressure, which increases flashback propensity. It is not possible to predict the occurrence of boundary layer flashback based on the turbulent flame speed or the ratio of separation zone size to quenching distance alone. Instead the interaction of all effects has to be accounted for when modelling boundary layer flashback. It was further found that the pressure rise ahead of the flame cannot be approximated by one-dimensional analyses and that the assumptions of the boundary layer theory are not satisfied during confined boundary layer flashback.


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