Computational study of a micro-turbine engine combustor using Large Eddy Simulation and Reynolds Averaged turbulence models

Abstract

A computational study of the combustion process inside micro-turbine engines is presented. Different turbulence models are assessed and results are compared against experimental data. Results indicate that RANS models and LES with dynamic Smagorinsky sub-grid model fail to achieve convergence or accurate solutions at the meshes employed in this study. Less accurate results are obtained for the DES when compared with LES-WALE. In terms of the combustion, the outlet flow presents temperature gradients that are likely to affect the turbine performance. References M. D. Agrawal and S. Bharani. Performance Evaluation of a Reverse-flow Gas Turbine Combustor using Modified Hydraulic Analogy. The institute of Engineers India Journal MC, April 2004:34--44, 2004. http://www.ieindia.org/publish/mc/0404/apr04mc7.pdf HeonSeok Lee and JeongJung Yoon. The Study on Development of Low NOx Combustor with Lean Burn Characteristics for 20kW class Microturbine. 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