Effects of pressure oscillation on aerodynamic characteristics in an aero-engine combustor

Abstract

The effects of pressure oscillation on aerodynamic characteristics in an aero-engine combustor are investigated. A combustor test rig is designed to simulate the pressure drop characteristics of a practical annular combustor. The pressure drop characteristics are firstly measured under atmosphere condition with non-reacting flow (or cold flow), and the air mass flow proportion of each component (dome/liner) are obtained; these properties are base lines for comparison with combustion state. The combustion tests are then carried out under conditions of inlet temperature 340–450 K, fuel air ratio 0.010–0.028. The stability map and the oscillation frequencies are obtained in the tests, the results show that pressure oscillation amplitude increases with the increase of fuel air ratio. Phase trajectory reconstruction is applied to classify the pressure oscillation motion; there are three motions captured in the tests including: “disk”, “ring” and “cluster”. The pressure drops across the dome under strong pressure oscillation are distinctly divergent from the cold flow, and the changes of pressure drops are mainly affected by pressure oscillation amplitude, but is less influenced by pressure oscillation motion nor oscillation frequencies. Based on the mass flow conservation, the reduction of effective flow area of combustor under strong pressure oscillation is demonstrated. Liner wall temperatures are analyzed through Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) method to estimate the reduction of the air mass flow proportion of the liner cooling under strong pressure oscillation. Finally, the air mass flow proportions of each component under strong pressure oscillation are estimated, the results show that the pressure oscillation motion also has influence on air mass flow proportion.