Numerical Simulations of Trapped Vortex Combustors. Feasibility Study of TVC integration in traditional GT combustion chambers

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It has been demonstrated that combustion technology based on premixing reactants with combustion products may improve both combustion efficiency and emissions for some industrial applications. Work currently in progress in the EU aims at developing applications to use this combustion strategy for gas turbines and aerospace applications. The challenge is to provide a new class of combustors performing at high combustion efficiency and low emission indices together with multi-fuel capability (gas and liquid fuels) and low pressure drop. The Trapped Vortex Combustor (TVC) may be considered a very promising form of technology for reducing emissions and pressure drop. The TVC strategy is based on fast mixing hot combustion products and reactants, and can be achieved in a TVC combustor when a vortex is “trapped” within a cavity where reactants are injected and efficiently mixed. Since part of the combustion occurs within the recirculating (vortex) zone, reactants mix with products in a “typically” flameless regime, the trapped vortex providing significantly lower pressure drop. The work presented in this paper is the result of having investigated all of these aspects, focusing on numerical studies performed on novel TVC geometries, including annular, and successfully dealing with the requirements mentioned above. This work is part of the work performed with AVIO of Italy for the EU Project “TLC” (“Toward Lean Combustion”), started in March 2005 and where the authors are currently team members.