The Application of Flamelet-Generated Manifold in the Modeling of Stratified Premixed Cooled Flames

CFD predictions of flame position, stability and emissions are essential in order to obtain optimized combustor designs in a cost efficient way. However, the numerical modeling of practical combustion systems is a very challenging task. As a matter of fact, the use of detailed reaction mechanisms is necessary for such reliable predictions. Unfortunately, the modeling of the full detail of practical combustion equipment is currently prohibited by the limitations in computing power, given the large number of species and reactions involved. The Flamelet-Generated Manifold (FGM) method reduces these computational costs by several orders of magnitude without loosing too much accuracy. Hereby FGM enables the application of reliable chemistry mechanisms in CFD simulations of combustion processes. In the present paper a computational analysis of partially premixed non-adiabatic flames is presented. In this scope, chemistry is reduced by the use of the FGM method. In the FGM technique the progress of the flame is generally described by a few control variables. For each control variable a transport equation is solved during run-time. The flamelet system is computed in a pre-processing stage, and a manifold with all the information about combustion is stored in a tabulated form. This research applies the FGM chemistry reduction method to describe partially premixed flames in combination with heat loss, which is a relevant condition for stationary gas turbine combustors. In order to take this into account, in the present implementation the reaction evolution is described by the reaction progress variable, the heat loss is described by the enthalpy and the local equivalence ratio effect on the reaction is represented by the mixture fraction. A series of test simulations is performed for a two dimensional geometry, characterized by a distinctive stratified methane/air inlet, and compared with detailed chemistry simulations. The results indicate that detailed simulations are reproduced in an excellent way with FGM.

Response of Non-Axisymmetric Premixed, Swirl Flames to Helical Disturbances

Flow oscillations associated with hydrodynamic instabilities comprise a key element of the feedback loop during self-excited combustion driven oscillations. This work is motivated in particular by the question of how to scale thermoacoustic stability results from single nozzle or sector combustors to full scale systems. Specifically, this paper considers the response of non-axisymmetric flames to helical flow disturbances of the form u^i′∝expimθ where m denotes the helical mode number. This work closely follows prior studies of the response of axisymmetric flames to helical disturbances. In that case, helical modes induce strong flame wrinkling, but only the axisymmetric, m = 0 mode, leads to fluctuations in overall flame surface area and, therefore, heat release. All other helical modes induce local area/heat release fluctuations with azimuthal phase variations that cancel each other out when integrated over all azimuthal angles. However, in the case of mean flame non-axisymmetries, the azimuthal deviations on the mean flame surface inhibit such cancellations and the asymmetric helical modes (m ≠ 0) cause a finite global flame response. In this paper, a theoretical framework for non-axisymmetric flames is developed and used to illustrate how the flame shape influences which helical modes lead to net flame surface area fluctuations. Example results are presented which illustrate the contributions made by these asymmetric helical modes to the global flame response and how this varies with different control parameters such as degree of asymmetry in the mean flame shape or Strouhal number. Thus, significantly different sensitivities may be observed in single and multi-nozzle flames in otherwise identical hardware in flows with strong helical disturbances, if there are significant deviations in time averaged flame shape between the two, particularly if one of the cases is nearly axisymmetric.

Time-Resolved PIV Measurements of Non-Reacting Flow Field in a Swirl-Stabilized Combustor Without and With Porous Inserts for Acoustic Control

Combustion noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities are of primary importance in highly critical applications such as rocket propulsion systems, power generation, and jet propulsion engines. Mechanisms for combustion instabilities are extremely complex because they often involve interactions among several different physical phenomena such as unsteady flame propagation leading to unsteady flow field, acoustic wave propagation, natural and forced hydrodynamic instabilities, etc. In the past, we have utilized porous inert media (PIM) to mitigate combustion noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities in both lean premixed (LPM) and lean direct injection (LDI) combustion systems. While these studies demonstrated the efficacy of the PIM concept to mitigate noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities, the actual mechanisms involved have not been understood. The present study utilizes time-resolved particle image velocimetry to measure the turbulent flow field in a non-reacting swirl-stabilized combustor without and with PIM. Although the flow field inside the annulus of the PIM cannot be observed, measurements immediately downstream of the PIM provide insight into the turbulent structures. Results are analyzed using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method and show that the PIM alters the flow field in an advantageous manner by modifying the turbulence structures and eliminating the corner recirculation zones and precessing vortex core, which would ultimately affect the acoustic behavior in a favorable manner.

The Influence of Manufacturing Tolerances on Swirler Durability

Jet fuel flowing through the fuel injector is atomized and then mixed with high temperature compressed air flowing through the swirler to create a combustible mixture inside a gas turbine combustor. Individual geometric and flow features are carefully tuned at a component level to deliver optimum combustion performance. In a critical interface such as the fuel injector and swirler, manufacturing tolerances not only have an impact on combustor performance and operability but also on durability, as the relative position of the fuel injector to the swirler significantly impacts the swirler temperature. This paper studies the influence of manufacturing tolerances on component assembly and the resulting impact on swirler temperature. The oxidation damage mechanism of the swirler is used as a measure to assess swirler durability. A Pareto chart of the effect of manufacturing tolerances on metal temperature is used to highlight the key influencing parameters. Probability distribution associated with manufacturing tolerances is gathered with Monte Carlo simulation to guide the design.

Helical Flow Disturbances in a Multi-Nozzle Combustor

This paper describes an experimental investigation of a transversely forced, swirl stabilized combustor. Its objective is to compare the unsteady flow structures in single and triple nozzle combustors and determine how well a single nozzle configuration emulates the characteristics of a multi-nozzle one. The experiment consists of a series of velocity field measurements captured on planes normal to the jet axis. As expected, there are differences between the single and triple-nozzle flow fields, but the differences are not large in the regions upstream of the jet merging zone. Direct comparisons of the time averaged flow fields reveal a higher degree of non-axisymmetry for the flowfields of nozzles in a multi-nozzle configuration. Azimuthal decompositions of the velocity fields show that the transverse acoustic forcing has an important influence on the dynamics, but that the single and multi-nozzle configurations have similar forced response dynamics near the dump plane. Specifically, the axial dependence of the amplitude in the highest energy axisymmetric and helical flow structures is quite similar in the two configurations. This result suggests that the hydrodynamic influence of one swirling jet on the other is minimal and, as such, that jet-jet interactions in this configuration do not have a significant influence on the unsteady flow structures.

Actuation Studies for Active Control of Mild Combustion for Gas Turbine Application

MILD combustion (Moderate or Intense Low Oxygen Dilution) is a well known technique that can substantially reduce high temperature regions in burners and thereby reduce thermal NOx emissions. This technology has been successfully applied to conventional furnace systems and seems to be an auspicious concept for reducing NOx and CO emissions in stationary gas turbines. To achieve a flameless combustion regime, fast mixing of recirculated burnt gases with fresh air and fuel in the combustion chamber is needed. In the present study, the combustor concept is based on the reverse flow configuration with two concentrically arranged nozzles for fuel and air injections. The present work deals with the active control of MILD combustion for gas turbine applications. For this purpose, a new concept of air flow rate pulsation is introduced. The pulsating unit offers the possibility to vary the inlet pressure conditions with a high degree of freedom: amplitude, frequency and waveform. The influence of air flow pulsation on MILD combustion is analyzed in terms of NOx and CO emissions. Results under atmospheric pressure show a drastic decrease of NOx emissions, up to 55%, when the pulsating unit is active. CO emissions are maintained at a very low level so that flame extinction is not observed. To get more insights into the effects of pulsation on combustion characteristics, velocity fields in cold flow conditions are investigated. Results show a large radial transfer of flow when pulsation is activated, hence enhancing the mixing process. The flame behavior is analyzed by using OH* chemiluminescence. Images show a larger distributed reaction region over the combustion chamber for pulsation conditions, confirming the hypothesis of a better mixing between fresh and burnt gases.

Effects of Burner Interaction on NOx Emission From Swirl Premix Burner in a Gas Turbine Combustor

Flame interaction between neighboring burners in a gas turbine combustor is investigated numerically for pursuit of its effect on NOx emission from the burners. In a model chamber or liner, EV burners with double cone are installed. Two burners with the same rotating direction of air stream are adopted and the distance between them is variable from 74.2 mm to 222.6 mm by the step size of 37.1 mm. Gaseous methane and air are adopted as fuel and oxidizer, respectively. From steady-state numerical analyses, flow, temperature, and NO concentration fields are calculated in all computational cases to find their correlation with NOx formation. NOx emission is evaluated at the exit of the model chamber with two burners as a function of burner distance and compared with that from a single burner. In all cases of two-burner calculations, NOx emission is higher than that of a single burner, which results from flow interactions between neighboring burners as well as between a burner and a liner wall. NOx emission is affected significantly by flow and flame interactions between them and strongly depends on burner distance. Burner interaction is divided into two regimes of a burner-burner interaction and a burner-wall interaction depending on the distance. In the former regime, NOx emission is reduced as flame interaction between burners is enhanced and in the latter regime, it is also reduced as interaction between the burner and the liner wall is enhanced.

Absolute/Convective Instability Transition in a Backward Facing Step Combustor: Fundamental Mechanism and Influence of Density Gradient

Hydrodynamic instabilities of the flow field in lean premixed gas turbine combustors can generate velocity perturbations that wrinkle and distort the flame sheet over length scales that are smaller than the flame length. The resultant heat release oscillations can then potentially result in combustion instability. Thus, it is essential to understand the hydrodynamic instability characteristics of the combustor flow field in order to understand its overall influence on combustion instability characteristics. To this end, this paper elucidates the role of fluctuating vorticity production from a linear hydrodynamic stability analysis as the key mechanism promoting absolute/convective instability transitions in shear layers occurring in the flow behind a backward facing step. These results are obtained within the framework of an inviscid, incompressible, local temporal and spatio-temporal stability analysis. Vorticity fluctuations in this limit result from interaction between two competing mechanisms — (1) production from interaction between velocity perturbations and the base flow vorticity gradient and (2) baroclinic torque in the presence of base flow density gradients. This interaction has a significant effect on hydrodynamic instability characteristics when the base flow density and velocity gradients are co-located. Regions in the space of parameters characterizing the base flow velocity profile, i.e. shear layer thickness and ratio of forward to reverse flow velocity, corresponding to convective and absolute instability are identified. The implications of the present results on prior observations of flow instability in other flows such as heated jets and bluff-body stabilized flames is discussed.

Investigation of Flame Stabilization in a High-Pressure Multi-Jet Combustor by Laser Measurement Techniques

In this contribution, comprehensive optical and laser based measurements in a generic multi-jet combustor at gas turbine relevant conditions are presented. The flame position and shape, flow field, temperatures and species concentrations of turbulent premixed natural gas and hydrogen flames were investigated in a high-pressure test rig with optical access. The needs of modern highly efficient gas turbine combustion systems, i.e., fuel flexibility, load flexibility with increased part load capability, and high turbine inlet temperatures, have to be addressed by novel or improved burner concepts. One promising design is the enhanced FLOX® burner, which can achieve low pollutant emissions in a very wide range of operating conditions. In principle, this kind of gas turbine combustor consists of several nozzles without swirl, which discharge axial high momentum jets through orifices arranged on a circle. The geometry provides a pronounced inner recirculation zone in the combustion chamber. Flame stabilization takes place in a shear layer around the jet flow, where fresh gas is mixed with hot exhaust gas. Flashback resistance is obtained through the absence of low velocity zones, which favors this concept for multi-fuel applications, e.g. fuels with medium to high hydrogen content. The understanding of flame stabilization mechanisms of jet flames for different fuels is the key to identify and control the main parameters in the design process of combustors based on an enhanced FLOX® burner concept. Both experimental analysis and numerical simulations can contribute and complement each other in this task. They need a detailed and relevant data base, with well-known boundary conditions. For this purpose, a high-pressure burner assembly was designed with a generic 3-nozzle combustor in a rectangular combustion chamber with optical access. The nozzles are linearly arranged in z direction to allow for jet-jet interaction of the middle jet. This line is off-centered in y direction to develop a distinct recirculation zone. This arrangement approximates a sector of a full FLOX® gas turbine burner. The experiments were conducted at a pressure of 8 bar with preheated and premixed natural gas/air and hydrogen/air flows and jet velocities of 120 m/s. For the visualization of the flame, OH* chemiluminescence imaging was performed. 1D laser Raman scattering was applied and evaluated on an average and single shot basis in order to simultaneously and quantitatively determine the major species concentrations, the mixture fraction and the temperature. Flow velocities were measured using particle image velocimetry at different section planes through the combustion chamber.

Intermittency in the Dynamics of Turbulent Combustors

The dynamic transitions preceding combustion instability and lean blowout were investigated experimentally in a laboratory scale turbulent combustor by systematically varying the flow Reynolds number. We observe that the onset of combustion-driven oscillations is always presaged by intermittent bursts of high-amplitude periodic oscillations that appear in a near random fashion amidst regions of aperiodic, low-amplitude fluctuations. The onset of high-amplitude, combustion-driven oscillations in turbulent combustors thus corresponds to a transition in dynamics from chaos to limit cycle oscillations through a state characterized as intermittency in dynamical systems theory. These excursions to periodic oscillations become last longer in time as operating conditions approach instability and finally the system transitions completely into periodic oscillations. Such intermittent oscillations emerge through the establishment of homoclinic orbits in the phase space of the global system which is composed of hydrodynamic and acoustic subsystems that operate over different time scales. Such intermittent burst oscillations are also observed in the combustor on increasing the Reynolds number further past conditions of combustion instability towards the lean blowout limit. High-speed flame images reveal that the intermittent states observed prior to lean blowout correspond to aperiodic detachment of the flame from the bluff-body lip. These intermittent oscillations are thus of prognostic value and can be utilized to provide early warning signals to combustion instability as well as lean blowout.