scholarly journals Combustion of Fuel Surrogates: An Application to Gas Turbine Engines

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6545
Author(s):  
Mansour Al Qubeissi ◽  
Nawar Al-Esawi ◽  
Hakan Serhad Soyhan

The previously developed approaches for fuel droplet heating and evaporation processes, mainly using the Discrete Multi Component Model (DMCM), are investigated for the aerodynamic combustion simulation. The models have been recently improved and generalised for a broad range of bio-fossil fuel blends so that the application areas are broadened with an increased accuracy. The main distinctive features of these models are that they consider the impacts of species’ thermal conductivities and diffusivities within the droplets in order to account for the temperature gradient, transient diffusion of species and recirculation. A formulation of fuel surrogates is made using the recently introduced model, referred to as “Complex Fuel Surrogate Model (CFSM)”, and analysing their heating, evaporation and combustion characteristics. The CFSM is aimed to reduce the full composition of fuel to a much smaller number of components based on their mass fractions, and to formulate fuel surrogates. Such an approach has provided a proof of concept with the implementation of the developed model into a commercial CFD code ANSYS Fluent. A case study is made for the CFD modelling of a gas turbine engine using a kerosene fuel surrogate, which is the first of its kind. The surrogate is proposed using the CFSM, with the aim to reduce the computational time and improve the simulation accuracy of the CFD model.

Author(s):  
Mansour Al Qubeissi ◽  
Nawar Al-Esawi ◽  
Hakan Serhad Soyhan

The previously developed models for fuel droplet heating and evaporation processes, mainly the Discrete Multi Component Model (DMCM), and Multi-Dimensional Quasi-Discrete Model (MDQDM) are investigated for the aerodynamic combustion simulation. The models have been recently improved, and generalised for a broad range of bio-fossil fuel blends so that the application areas are broadened with increased accuracy. The main distinctive features of these models are that they consider the impacts of species thermal conductivities and diffusivities within the droplets to account for the temperature gradient, transient diffusion of species and recirculation. A formulation of fuel surrogates is made, using the recently introduced model, referred to as ‘’Complex Fuel Surrogate Model (CFSM)’’ and analysing their heating, evaporation, and combustion characteristics. The CFSM is aimed to reduce the full composition of fuel to a much smaller number of components based on their mass fractions, and to formulate fuel surrogates. Such approach has provided a proof of concept with the implementation of the developed model into a commercial CFD code ANSYS-Fluent. A case study is made for the CFD modelling of gas-turbine engine using kerosene fuel surrogate. The surrogate is proposed using the CFSM. The model is implemented into ANSYS-Fluent via a user-defined function to provide the first full simulation of the combustion process. Detailed chemical mechanism is also implemented into ANSYS Chemkin for the combustion study.


Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Altaher ◽  
Hu Li ◽  
Simon Blakey ◽  
Winson Chung

This paper investigated the emissions of individual unburned hydrocarbons and carbonyl compounds from the exhaust gas of an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) gas turbine engine burning various fuels. The engine was a single spool, two stages of turbines and one stage of centrifugal compressor gas turbine engine, and operated at idle and full power respectively. Four alternative aviation fuel blends with Jet A-1 were tested including GTL, hydrogenated renewable jet fuel and fatty acid ester. C2-C4 alkenes, benzene, toluene, xylene, trimethylbenzene, naphthalene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein emissions were measured. The results show at the full power condition, the concentrations for all hydrocarbons were very low (near or below the instrument detection limits). Formaldehyde was a major aldehyde species emitted with a fraction of around 60% of total measured aldehydes emissions. Formaldehydes emissions were reduced for all fuels compared to Jet A-1 especially at the idle conditions. There were no differences in acetaldehydes and acrolein emissions for all fuels; however, there was a noticeable reduction with GTL fuel. The aromatic hydrocarbon emissions including benzene and toluene are decreased for the alternative and renewable fuels.


Author(s):  
Ioannis Templalexis ◽  
Vassilios Pachidis ◽  
Petros Kotsiopoulos

The compression system has traditionally drawn most of the attention concerning the gas turbine engine performance assessment and design procedure. It is the most vulnerable component to flow fluctuations within a gas turbine engine. In particular this study focuses on performance deviations, between an installed and an uninstalled compressor. Test results acquired from a test bed installation will differ from these recorded when the compressor operates as an integral part of the engine. The upstream duct, whether an intake or an interstage duct, will affect the flow field pattern ingested into the compressor. The case studies presented into this work aim to mostly qualify the effect of boundary layer growth along the upstream duct walls, upon compressor performance. Additionally, compressor performance response on blade lean angle variation is being addressed, with the aim of acquiring an understanding as to how compressor blade lean angle changes interact with intake induced flow non uniformities. Such studies are usually conducted during the preliminary design stage, before the compressor is built. Consequently, experimental performance investigation is excluded at this stage of development. Computer aided simulation techniques are between the few if not the only option for compressor performance prediction. Given the fact that many such design parameters need to be assessed under the time pressure exerted by the tight compressor development program, the compressor flow simulation technique used needs to provide reliable results while consuming the least possible computational time. Such a low computational time compressor flow simulation method, among others, is the two dimensional (2D) streamline curvature (SLC) method, being applied within the frame of reference of the current study. The paper is introduced by a brief discussion on SLC method that was proposed more than 50 years ago. Then a reference is made to the Radial Equilibrium Equation (REE) which is the mathematical basis of the code, commenting on the assumptions that were undertaken. Subsequently the influence of the intake presence on the compressor inlet radial flow distribution is being addressed, with the aim of adjusting compressor blade inlet lean angle, in order to minimize compressor performance deterioration. Finally the paper is concluded with a discussion of the results.


Author(s):  
Arash Farahani ◽  
Peter Childs

Strip seals are commonly used to prevent or limit leakage flows between nozzle guide vanes (NGV) and other gas turbine engine components that are assembled from individual segments. Leakage flow across, for example, a nozzle guide vane platform, leads to increased demands on the gas turbine engine internal flow system and a rise in specific fuel consumption (SFC). Careful attention to the flow characteristics of strip seals is therefore necessary. The very tight tolerances associated with strip seals provides a particular challenge to their characterisation. This paper reports the validation of CFD modelling for the case of a strip seal under very carefully controlled conditions. In addition, experimental comparison of three types of strip seal design, straight, arcuate, and cloth, is presented. These seals are typical of those used by competing manufacturers of gas turbine engines. The results show that the straight seal provides the best flow sealing performance for the controlled configuration tested, although each design has its specific merits for a particular application.


Author(s):  
Srinivasan Karuppannan ◽  
Bhirud Mehul ◽  
Gullapalli Sivaramakrishna ◽  
Raju D. Navindgi ◽  
N. Muthuveerappan

Swirl cups (hybrid atomizers) are being widely employed in aero gas turbine engine combustors for their established merits in terms of achieving satisfactory atomization over the entire combustor operating regime. Even though several investigators have worked on development of these swirl cups, there is a scanty data reported in literature relevant to their design. In the present study, flow behavior in a swirl cup assembled in a confined chamber similar to a gas turbine combustor has been analyzed. Flow analysis has been carried out using ANSYS Fluent and turbulence has been modeled using Realizable k-ϵ model. Six swirl cup configurations have been analyzed; mass flow ratio between primary and secondary swirler and venturi converging area ratio have been varied. The effect of these parameters on downstream flow field has been studied by analyzing the profiles of axial, tangential and radial velocities downstream of swirl cup. The size and shape of the recirculation zone has been analyzed and reported for all configurations. Also, the mass flow recirculated by swirl cup has been estimated and compared amongst the configurations analyzed. Data thus generated is very useful in designing such swirl cups of gas turbine combustors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ramón Quiñonez Arce ◽  
Gordon E. Andrews ◽  
Alan D. Burns ◽  
Naman Al-Dabbagh

Abstract Grid plate flame stabilizers for low NOx emissions have renewed interest in recent years due to their use in low NOx hydrogen gas turbine combustors. For non-premixed grid plate combustion, the difference in flame stabilizer design is in how the grid plate air flow is fueled. In the present work a simple four hole grid plate is investigated using CFD with three methods of fueling the air holes: radially inward fuel injection using 8 fuel nozzles per air hole (Grid Mix, GM 1 and Micromix); central fuel injection (FLOX method); and through a fuel annulus around each air hole (GM2). ANSYS FLUENT CFD predictions for GM2 are compared with axial gas composition traverses inside the combustor and with the mean combustor exit plane emissions. The three methods of fuel injection are also compared using isothermal CFD to determine which of the three methods offer the best mixing quality, which controls the relative NOx emissions. The predictions were for an equivalence ratio of 0.624 for the combustion stage and 0.5 for the isothermal study, using industrial propane. CFD modelling used RANS simulation with Realizable k-epsilon turbulence model, non-premixed combustion with the Steady Laminar Flamelet model. The temperature and mixing profiles obtained for GM2 were in reasonable agreement with the experiments and the other two fuel injection methods were then compared with GM2.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Booma Devi ◽  
D. Raja Joseph ◽  
R. Gokulnath ◽  
S. Manigandan ◽  
P. Gunasekar ◽  
...  

AbstractThis paper aims in assessing the effect of biofuel blend such as butanol, jatropha methyl ester, soya methyl ester and rapeseed methyl ester as an additive for the aviation fuel. In addition to the blends, the nanoparticle TiO2 of 3 % is added to the biofuel. The nanoparticle mixed at the concentration of 300ppm by ultrasonication process. The fuel Jet A, B27T, J27T, S27T and R27T are investigated for combustion and emission characteristics for various throttle settings in micro gas turbine engine. Addition of additives improves the ultimate property of the fuel by reducing the kinematic viscosity. The fuel blend B27T reports 25 % increase in total static thrust and 22 % reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption. From the results it is evident that, all fuel blends showed a significant reduction in emission values owing to high oxygen content. In addition, the thermal efficiency of the B27T and J27T is improved appreciably to 30 % and 10 % higher than Jet A fuel owing to the influence of the nanoparticle TiO2. On the other hand, the emissions like CO and NOx reduced drastically up to 70 % and 45 % respectively.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anderson A. ◽  
Karthikeyan A. ◽  
Ramesh Kumar C. ◽  
Ramachandran S. ◽  
Praveenkumar T.R.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to predict the performance and emission characteristics of micro gas turbine engines powered by alternate fuels. The micro gas turbine engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics are analyzed for the jet fuel with different additives. Design/methodology/approach The experimental investigation was carried out with Jet A-1 fuel on the gas turbine engines at different load conditions. The primary blends of the Jet A-1 fuels are from canola and solid waste pyrolysis oil. Then the ultrasonication of highly concentrated multiwall carbon nanotubes is carried with the primary blends of canola (Jet-A fuel 70%, canola 20% and 10% ethanol) and P20E (Jet-A 70% fuel, 20% PO and 10% ethanol). Findings The consumption of the fuel is appreciable with the blends at a very high static thrust. The 39% reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption associated with a 32% enhance in static thrust with P20E blend among different fuel blends. Moreover, due to the increase in ethanol concentration in the blends PO20E and C20E lead to a 22% rise in thermal efficiency and a 9% increase in higher oxygen content is observed. Practical implications The gas turbine engine emits very low emission of gases such as CO, CO2 and NOx by using the fuel blends, which typically reduces the fossil fuel usage limits with reduced pollutants. Originality/value The emission of the gas turbine engines is further optimized with the addition of hydrogen in Jet-A fuel. That is leading to high specific fuel exergy and owing to the lower carbon content in the hydrogen fuel when compared with that of the fossil fuels used in gas turbine engines. Therefore, the usage of hydrogen with nanofluids was so promising based on the results obtained for replacing fossil fuels.


Fuel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 276 ◽  
pp. 118104 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Manigandan ◽  
A.E. Atabani ◽  
Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy ◽  
P. Gunasekar

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