Impact of Combustion Chamber Dynamics on the Temperature Distribution in a Resonator

Abstract

Abstract The results of an experimental study on the influence of the purge air mass flow and the acoustic pressure in an annular combustor test rig on the temperature distribution in resonators with perforated plates at the exit are provided in the paper. The amplitude of the acoustic pressure in the combustor is found to have a high impact on the mean temperature and thus on the performance of the resonators, which originates primarily from the temperature sensitivity of the effective eigenfrequency. In the experiments the temperature in the cavity of one of the resonators is spatially and temporally resolved at 13 locations. The dependence of the mean temperature change on the combustor amplitudes and the purge air mass flow is measured quantitatively. In addition, the axial temperature gradient of the resonator is resolved. The mean temperature changes up to 8% depending on the level of siren forcing. Using acoustic pressure data from the cavity, the velocity of the hot gas jets periodically entering the resonator is calculated. If high amplitudes occur in the combustor and there is no adequate purge air flow in the resonators then hot gas ingestion into the cavity of the resonator occurs, leading to detuning of the resonator and the breakdown of its performance. Once hot gas ingestion occurs, the resonator quickly heats up within a few seconds as the generation of the mixture of hot gas and purge air requires only a low number of cycles. This leads to a thermal runaway of the frequency range of the resonator with high damping. When the combustor returns to quiet operation, a cooling phase with two different time constants is observed.