<title>On-line combuster performance optimization</title>

Abstract

A strategy for optimizing the performance of a combustor with respect ot volumetric heat release (increase) and pressure fluctuations (decrease) has been developed. This strategy utilized actuation and sensing techniques that simultaneoulsy control and measure volumetric heat release and pressure fluctuations. Combustor performance is explicitly defined in terms of a cost function that is a weighted combination of the mean volumetric heat release and the rms pressure fluctuation level. The control strategy performs an online minimization of the cost function by continuously seeking the optimal combination of static actuator settings and subsequently maintaining cost at a minimum when the combustor is subject to unknown inlet condition changes. The adaptivity of the strategy has been experimentally tested with unknown inlet condition changes such as flow disturbances, changes in equivalence ratio, and changes in inlet condition changes, and to be effective at finding the new optimal actuator settings that reminimize the cost function for large and small inlet condition changes.