Optimisation of CO Turndown for an Axially Staged Gas Turbine Combustor

This paper reports on an optimisation study of the CO turndown behaviour of an axially staged combustor, in the context of industrial gas turbines (GT). The aim of this work is to assess the optimally achievable CO turndown behaviour limit given system and operating characteristics, without considering flow-induced behaviours such as mixing quality and flame spatial characteristics. To that end, chemical reactor network modelling is used to investigate the impact of various system and operating conditions on the exhaust CO emissions of each combustion stage, as well as at the combustor exit. Different combustor residence time combinations are explored to determine their contribution to the exhaust CO emissions. The two-stage combustor modelled in this study consists of a primary (Py) and a secondary (Sy) combustion stage, followed by a discharge nozzle (DN), which distributes the exhaust to the turbines. The Py is modelled using a freely propagating flame (FPF), with the exhaust gas extracted downstream of the flame front at a specific location corresponding to a specified residence time (tr). These exhaust gases are then mixed and combusted with fresh gases in the Sy, modelled by a perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) operating within a set tr. These combined gases then flow into the DN, which is modelled by a plug flow reactor (PFR) that cools the gas to varying combustor exit temperatures within a constrained tr. Together, these form a simplified CRN model of a two-stage, dry-low emissions (DLE) combustion system. Using this CRN model, the impact of the tr distribution between the Py, Sy and DN is explored. A parametric study is conducted to determine how inlet pressure (Pin), inlet temperature (Tin), equivalence ratio (ϕ) and Py-Sy fuel split (FS), individually impact indicative CO turndown behaviour. Their coupling throughout engine load is then investigated using a model combustor, and its effect on CO turndown is explored. Thus, this aims to deduce the fundamental, chemically-driven parameters considered to be most important for identifying the optimal CO turndown of GT combustors. In this work, a parametric study and a model combustor study are presented. The parametric study consists of changing a single parameter at a time, to observe the independent effect of this change and determine its contribution to CO turndown behaviour. The model combustor study uses the same CRN, and varies the parameters simultaneously to mimic their change as an engine moves through its steady-state power curve. The latter study thus elucidates the difference in CO turndown behaviour when all operating conditions are coupled, as they are in practical engines. The results of this study aim to demonstrate the parameters that are key for optimising and improving CO turndown.

Significance of the Direct Excitation Mechanism for High-Frequency Response of Premixed Flames to Flow Oscillations

Premixed flames are sensitive to flow disturbances, which can arise from acoustic or vortical fluctuations. For transverse instabilities, it is known that a dominant mechanism for flame response is “injector coupling”, whereby pressure oscillations associated with transverse waves excite axial flow disturbances. These axial flow disturbances then excite heat release oscillations. The objective of this paper is to consider another mechanism — the direct sensitivity of the unsteady heat release to transverse acoustic waves, and to compare its significance relative to the induced axial disturbances, in a linear framework. The rate at which the flame adds energy to the disturbance field is quantified using the Rayleigh criterion and evaluated over a range of control parameters, such as flame length and swirl number. The results show that radial modes induce heat release fluctuations that always add energy to the acoustic field, whereas heat release fluctuations induced by mixed radial-azimuthal modes can add or remove energy. These amplification rates are then compared to the flame response from induced axial fluctuations. For combustor centered flames, these results show that the direct excitation mechanism has negligible amplification rates relative to the induced axial mechanism for radial modes. For transverse modes, the fact that the nozzle is located at a pressure node indicates that negligible induced axial velocity disturbances are excited; as such, the direct mechanism dominates. For flames that are not centered on pressure nodes, the direct mechanism for mixed-modes, dominates for certain nozzle locations and flame angles.

Smart Passive Control of Thermoacoustic Instability in a Bluff-Body Stabilized Combustor: A Lagrangian Analysis of Critical Structures

The tonal sound production during thermoacoustic instability is detrimental to the components of gas turbine and rocket engines. Identifying the root cause and controlling this oscillatory instability would enable manufacturers to save in costs of power outages and maintenance. An optimal method is to identify the structures in the flow-field that are critical to tonal sound production and perform control measures to disrupt those “critical structures”. Passive control experiments were performed by injecting a secondary micro-jet of air onto the identified regions with critical structures in the flow-field of a bluff-body stabilized, dump, turbulent combustor. Simultaneous measurements such as unsteady pressure, velocity, local and global heat release rate fluctuations are acquired in the regime of thermoacoustic instability before and after control action. The tonal sound production in this combustor is accompanied by a periodic flapping of the shear layer present in the region between the dump plane (backward-facing step) and the leading edge of the bluff-body. We obtain the trajectory of Lagrangian saddle points that dictate the flow and flame dynamics in the shear layer during thermoacoustic instability accurately by computing Lagrangian Coherent Structures. Upon injecting a secondary micro-jet with a mass flow rate of only 4% of the primary flow, nearly 90% suppression in the amplitude of pressure fluctuations are observed. The suppression thus results in sound pressure levels comparable to those obtained during stable operation of the combustor. Using Morlet wavelet transform, we see that the coherence in the dominant frequency of pressure and heat release rate oscillations during thermoacoustic instability is affected by secondary injection. The disruption of saddle point trajectories breaks the positive feedback loop between pressure and heat release rate fluctuations resulting in the observed break of coherence. Wavelet transform of global heat release rate shows a redistribution of energy content from the dominant instability frequency (acoustic time scale) to other time scales.

Impact of Soot Radiative Properties, Pressure and Soot Volume Fraction on Radiative Heat Transfer in Turbulent Sooty Flames

The effect of soot radiation modeling, pressure, and level of soot volume fraction are investigated in two ethylene-air turbulent flames: a jet flame at atmospheric pressure studied at Sandia, and a confined pressurized flame studied at DLR. Both cases have previously been computed with large-eddy simulations coupled with thermal radiation. The present study aims at determining and analyzing the thermal radiation field for different models from these numerical results. A Monte-Carlo solver based on the Emission Reciprocity Method is used to solve the radiative transfer equation with detailed gas and soot properties in both configurations. The participating gases properties are described by an accurate narrowband ck model. Emission, absorption, and scattering from soot particles are accounted for. Two formulations of the soot refractive index are considered: a constant value and a wavelength formulation dependency. This is combined with different models for soot radiative properties: gray, Rayleigh theory, Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory for fractal aggregates. The effects of soot radiative scattering is often neglected since their contribution is expected to be small. This contribution is determined quantitatively in different scenarios, showing great sensitivity to the soot particles morphology. For the same soot volume fraction, scattering from larger aggregates is found to modify the radiative heat transfer noticeably. Such a finding outlines the need for detailed information on soot particles. Finally, the role of soot volume fraction and pressure on radiative interactions between both solid and gaseous phases is investigated.

4D Measurements and Analysis of Heat Release Rate in a Model Gas Turbine Combustor

Time-resolved volumetric measurements (4D measurements) were performed to study the heat release rate characteristics in a model gas turbine combustor at 10 kHz. For this purpose, a high-speed camera combined with an image intensifier and a set of customized fiber probes were employed to continuously capture the CH* chemiluminescence signals from nine different viewing angles. Based on the measurements, the computed tomography program was performed to reconstruct the shot-to-shot 3D distributions of the CH* signals. Specific focuses have been made to demonstrate the capabilities of the current tomographic technique in applications of a realistic combustor, in which the full optical access was usually not available for every viewing angle. The results showed that the 3D reconstruction can successfully retrieval the flame edge contours rather than the signal intensity. The flame surface area was then calculated based on the reconstructed flame edge contours and used to infer the heat release rate. The fluctuation of global/local flame surface area indicated that there existed distinct difference between the global instability and local instabilities at various locations in the non-symmetric combustor. The global instability appears to be an integration of those local instabilities.

Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Biogas on a 3 kW Micro Gas Turbine FLOX®-Based Combustor

The use of biogas has currently two disadvantages. Firstly, processing biogas to natural gas quality for feeding into the natural gas grid is a rather energy consuming process. Secondly, the conversion into electricity directly in biogas plants produces waste heat, which largely cannot be used. Therefore, a feed-in of the desulfurized and dry biogas to local biogas grids would be preferable. Thus, the biogas could be used directly at the end consumer for heat and power production. As biogas varies in its methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) content, respectively, this paper studies the influence of different biogas mixtures compared to natural gas on the combustion in a FLOX®-based six nozzle combustor. The single staged combustor is suitable for the use in a micro gas turbine (MGT) based combined heat and power (CHP) system with an electrical power output of 3 kW. The combustor is studied in an optically accessible atmospheric test rig, as well as integrated into the MGT system. This paper focuses on the influence of the admixture of CO2 to natural gas on the NOX and CO emissions. Furthermore, at atmospheric conditions the shape and location of the heat release zone is investigated using OH* chemiluminescence (OH* CL). The combustor could be stably operated in the MGT within the complete stationary operating range with all fuel mixtures.

A Strategy to Tune Acoustic Terminations of Single-Can Test-Rigs to Mimic Thermoacoustic Behavior of a Full Engine

Thermoacoustic properties of can-annular combustors are commonly investigated by means of single-can test-rigs. To obtain representative results, it is crucial to mimic can-can coupling present in the full engine. However, current approaches either lack a solid theoretical foundation or are not practicable for high-pressure rigs. In the present study we employ Bloch-wave theory to derive reflection coefficients that correctly represent can-can coupling. We propose a strategy to impose such reflection coefficients at the acoustic terminations of a single-can test-rig by installing passive acoustic elements, namely straight ducts or Helmholtz resonators. In an iterative process, these elements are adapted to match the reflection coefficients for the dominant frequencies of the full engine. The strategy is demonstrated with a network model of a generic can-annular combustor and a 3D model of a realistic can-annular combustor configuration. For the latter we show that can-can coupling via the compressor exit plenum is negligible for frequencies sufficiently far away from plenum eigenfrequencies. Without utilizing previous knowledge of relevant frequencies or flame dynamics, the test-rig models are adapted within a few iterations and match the full engine with good accuracy. Using Helmholtz resonators for test-rig adaption turns out to be more viable than using straight ducts.

Ignition Studies of C1–C7 Natural Gas Blends at Gas-Turbine Relevant Conditions

New ignition delay time measurements of natural gas mixtures enriched with small amounts of n-hexane and n-heptane were performed in a rapid compression machine to interpret the sensitization effect of heavier hydrocarbons on auto-ignition at gas-turbine relevant conditions. The experimental data of natural gas mixtures containing alkanes from methane to n-heptane were carried out over a wide range of temperatures (840–1050 K), pressures (20–30 bar), and equivalence ratios (φ = 0.5 and 1.5). The experiments were complimented with numerical simulations using a detailed kinetic model developed to investigate the effect of n-hexane and n-heptane additions. Model predictions show that the addition of even small amounts (1–2%) of n-hexane and n-heptane can lead to increase in reactivity by ∼40–60 ms at compressed temperature (TC) = 700 K. The ignition delay time (IDT) of these mixtures decrease rapidly with an increase in concentration of up to 7.5% but becomes almost independent of the C6/C7 concentration beyond 10%. This sensitization effect of C6 and C7 is also found to be more pronounced in the temperature range 700–900 K compared to that at higher temperatures (> 900 K). The reason is attributed to the dependence of IDT primarily on H2O2(+M) ↔ 2ȮH(+M) at higher temperatures while the fuel dependent reactions such as H-atom abstraction, RȮ2 dissociation or Q.OOH + O2 reactions are less important compared to 700–900 K, where they are very important.

CO and OH Imaging in Flames Using a Single Broadband Femtosecond Laser Pulse

Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydroxyl (OH) are the two key intermediate species formed during chemical reactions inside gas turbine combustors. Spatiotemporal information and a detailed understanding of CO formation in the reaction zone are important during the combustion processes as a major part of the heat release is obtained from the oxidation of CO to CO2. Turbulent flame structures and reaction zone in different flame conditions can also be visualized through the spatial distribution profiles of OH. In the current study, both these species are excited simultaneously using a single ultrashort, broad spectral bandwidth of approximately 100-femtosecond (fs) duration laser pulse at λ = 283.8 nm. Subsequent fluorescence signals are separated through spectral filters of appropriate bandwidth and imaged using two cameras. This present study was performed in a McKenna flat-flame burner with ethylene/air as a pilot flame and non-premixed turbulent ethylene jet at the center. The partial spectral overlap of CO–X (4,0) and OH A–X (1,0) transitions are utilized for simultaneous excitation, thereby characterize the overall flame structure (via OH) and regions of oxidation reactions (via CO) in a range of flame conditions. Besides, CO and OH profiles follow the trends obtained from model predictions for a range of equivalence ratios in ethylene/air flames stabilized over the Hencken calibration burner. These results are used for obtaining quantitative calibrations of CO and OH signals. Overall, the present study extends the applicability of a single, broadband fs laser pulse for simultaneous imaging of multiple chemical species in flame.

Soot Emission Simulations of a Single Sector Model Combustor Using Incompletely Stirred Reactor Network Modeling

The simulation of soot evolution is a problem of relevance for the development of low-emission aero-engine combustors. Apart from detailed CFD approaches, it is important to also develop models with modest computational cost so a large number of geometries can be explored, especially in view of the need to predict engine-out soot particle size distributions (PSDs) to meet future regulations. This paper presents an approach based on Incompletely Stirred Reactor Network (ISRN) modeling that simplifies calculations, allowing for the use of very complex chemistry and soot models. The method relies on a network of Incompletely Stirred Reactors (ISRs), which are inhomogeneous in terms of mixture fraction but characterized by homogeneous conditional averages, with the conditioning performed on the mixture fraction. The ISRN approach is demonstrated here for a single sector lean-burn model combustor operating on Jet-A1 fuel in pilot-only mode, for which detailed CFD and experimental data are available. Results show that reasonable accuracy is obtained at a significantly reduced computational cost. Real fuel chemistry and a detailed physicochemical sectional soot model are consequently employed to investigate the sensitivity of ISRN predictions to the chemical mechanism chosen and to provide an estimate of the soot particle size distribution at the combustor exit.