Lean Premixed Gas Turbine Combustor Research Articles

Emissions and wall temperatures for lean prevaporized premixed gas turbine combustor

Experimental studies are carried out for investigating emission and wall temperature for traditional gas turbine combustor converted to lean premixed prevaporized (LPP) combustor. Vortex chamber, air preheating system, flat flame burner and inlet temperature control system are designed. Vortex chamber was maintained at the main air inlet port for controlling secondary air flow rate and wall temperature. Kerosene/air mixture temperature at exit from burner and entering combustion chamber was kept constant at 650 K for all runs. Special considerations were given for measuring NO X , UHC, CO, local A/F ratio, flame temperature, exhaust gases temperature and wall temperature. For swirl and non swirl cases, secondary air ratio and primary zone air/fuel ratio were varied. The different operating parameters affecting flame temperature through it is affecting on local A/F ratio which is the main parameter for controlling flame temperature, emissions and walls temperatures. Flat flame burner and vortex chamber are useful tools for reducing emission and controlling walls temperatures. The inner liner wall temperatures are more affected by primary zone equivalence ratio while the outer liner wall temperatures are more affected by secondary air flow rate. Semi empirical correlations for NO X , UHC and CO concentrations, exhaust gases temperature and maximum inner liner wall temperature are carried out. Good agreement between the measured and the calculated results are obtained. The present results are useful for further development of the traditional gas turbine combustor converted to LPP combustor.

Vortex-shedding and mixing layer effects on periodic flashback in a lean premixed prevaporized gas turbine combustor

The mechanism that causes a periodic combustion oscillation in a Lean Premixed Prevaporized (LPP) Combustor was experimentally investigated. The combustor was run with high flowrates of preheated air at elevated presures, with Jet-A as the fuel, and with a realistic fuel injector. The injector provides LPP combustion and features a stable diffusion flame as a pilot surrounded by a premixed main flame. The combustor was stable over a wide range of conditions, but for off-design conditions oscillations associated with unsteady flashback and liftoff of the flame base were observed. These low-frequency combustor instabilities were a strong function of a global velocity gradient ( U/ d), which is analogous to the U/ d gradient used to characterize stability limits of Bunsen flames. PIV data quantified the location and strength of shear-layer vortex shedding. The main and pilot flames were visualized using PLIF images of formaldehyde. These images showed that for design conditions the pilot flame is very stable and that the main premixed flame exists in the mixing layer. It was seen that as the global gradient U/ d decreases, the local velocity gradient in the mixing layer also decreases, making the flame more susceptible to perturbations from the vortex-shedding. It is proposed that the unsteadiness in the combustion can be explained using classic theories of premixed flame flashback and blowout that was developed for Bunsen burners.

Generation of Low-Frequency Alternative Flame Behaviors in a Lean Premixed Combustor

Combustion instability causes severe problems, such as fatal damage to lean premixed gas turbine combustors and shortening the lifetime of the overall system. In this study, to understand the instability phenomena, an experimental study and a numerical simulation were conducted in a dump combustor with respect to the modulation of the fuel flow, that is, the choked fuel flow and the unchoked fuel flow. The fluctuations of pressure and heat release were measured by a piezoelectric pressure sensor and high-speed intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera, respectively. Various combustion modes occurred in accordance with the equivalence ratio and the fuel supply conditions. In the low-frequency instability mode, alternative flame behaviors were observed and result from the large equivalence ratio modulation. It is found that, especially in an unchoked fuel flow condition, the modulation of the fuel flow rate affects the characteristics of flame behavior and pressure fluctuations in a lean premixed flame.

Computational Investigation of Turbulent Swirling Flows in Gas Turbine Combustors

In the first part of the paper, Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of the combusting flow within a high-swirl lean premixed gas turbine combustor and over the 1 st row nozzle guide vanes is presented. In this analysis, the focus of the investigation is the fluid dynamics at the combustor/turbine interface and its impact on the turbine. The predictions show the existence of a highly-rotating vortex core in the combustor, which is in strong interaction with the turbine nozzle guide vanes. This has been observed to be in agreement with the temperature indicated by thermal paint observations. The results suggest that swirling flow vortex core transition phenomena play a very important role in gas turbine combustors with modern lean-premixed dry low emissions technology. As the predictability of vortex core transition phenomena has not yet been investigated sufficiently, a fundamental validation study has been initiated, with the aim of validating the predictive capability of currently-available modelling procedures for turbulent swirling flows near the sub/supercritical vortex core transition. In the second part of the paper, results are presented which analyse such transitional turbulent swirling flows in two different laboratory water test rigs. It has been observed that turbulent swirling flows of interest are dominated by low-frequency transient motion of coherent structures, which cannot be adequately simulated within the framework of steady-state RANS turbulence modelling approaches. It has been found that useful results can be obtained only by modelling strategies which resolve the three-dimensional, transient motion of coherent structures, and do not assume a scalar turbulent viscosity at all scales. These models include RSM based URANS procedures as well as LES and DES approaches.

Simulation of Turbulent Swirling Flows: Gas Turbine Combustor Application and Validation

In the first part of the paper, CFD analysis of the combusting flow within a high-swirl lean premixed gas turbine combustor and over the 1st row nozzle guide vanes is presented. In this analysis, the focus of the investigation is the fluid dynamics at the combustor/turbine interface and its impact on the turbine. The predictions show the existence of a highly-rotating vortex core in the combustor, which is in strong interaction with the turbine nozzle guide vanes. This has been observed to be in agreement with the temperature indicated by thermal paint observations. The results suggest that swirling flow vortex core transition phenomena play a very important role in gas turbine combustors with modern lean-premixed dry low emissions technology. As the predictability of vortex core transition phenomena has not yet sufficiently been investigated, a fundamental validation study has been initiated, with the aim of validating the predictive capability of currently-available modelling procedures for turbulent swirling flows near the sub/supercritical vortex core transition. In the second part of the paper, results are presented, which analyse such transitional turbulent swirling flows in a laboratory water test rig. It has been observed that turbulent swirling flows of interest are dominated by low-frequency transient motion of coherent structures, which can not be adequately simulated within the framework of steady-state RANS turbulence modelling approaches. It has been found that useful results can be obtained only by modelling strategies, which resolve the three-dimensional, transient motion of coherent structures, and do not assume a scalar turbulent viscosity at all scales. These models include RSM based URANS procedures as well as LES. To exploit the full potential of LES, however, additional attention needs to be paid to modelling issues such as achieving the necessary grid resolution as well as providing convenient inlet boundary conditions.

Fuel Flexibility Influences on Premixed Combustor Blowout, Flashback, Autoignition, and Stability

This paper addresses the impact of fuel composition on the operability of lean premixed gas turbine combustors. This is an issue of current importance due to variability in the composition of natural gas fuel supplies and interest in the use of syngas fuels. This paper reviews available results and current understanding of the effects of fuel composition on combustor blowout, flashback, dynamic stability, and autoignition. It summarizes the underlying processes that must be considered when evaluating how a given combustor’s operability will be affected as fuel composition is varied.

A new piloted premixed jet burner to study strong finite-rate chemistry effects

This paper describes the initial characterization of a piloted premixed jet burner (PPJB) designed to investigate finite-rate chemistry effects in highly turbulent lean premixed combustion. The PPJB consists of a high-velocity lean premixed central jet, piloted by a low-velocity stoichiometric premixed pilot, surrounded by a large-diameter coflow of lean premixed hydrogen–air combustion products. The configuration of a lean central jet supported by a stoichiometric pilot is similar to that of a lean premixed gas turbine combustor, but without additional complications such as swirl, recirculation, and complex boundary conditions. A significant feature of the PPJB is that under certain conditions the central jet combustion process appears to undergo an extinction–reignition process. It is considered likely that intense turbulent mixing after the nozzle drives an initial extinction process that reduces flame luminosity, with reignition occurring downstream where turbulent mixing has decreased, causing an increase in flame luminosity. Four flames are selected for further study, each with an equivalence ratio of 0.5 and with central jet velocities of 50, 100, 150, and 200 m/s. Simultaneous two-dimensional (2D) Rayleigh–OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging results are presented for the selected flames, showing that in the “extinction” region OH concentrations occur at reduced levels in isolated patchy regions, supporting the idea that extinction is predominantly occurring. Laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) data are also reported for the flow field turbulence statistics, with the most significant result being that for the reacting cases the pilot delays the occurrence of peak turbulence intensity downstream to near the observed “extinction” region.

Combustion Oscillation Monitoring Using Flame Ionization in a Turbulent Premixed Combustor

To achieve very low NOx emission levels, lean-premixed gas turbine combustors have been commercially implemented that operate near the fuel-lean flame extinction limit. Near the lean limit, however, flashback, lean blow off, and combustion dynamics have appeared as problems during operation. To help address these operational problems, a combustion control and diagnostics sensor (CCADS) for gas turbine combustors is being developed. CCADS uses the electrical properties of the flame to detect key events and monitor critical operating parameters within the combustor. Previous development efforts have shown the capability of CCADS to monitor flashback and equivalence ratio. Recent work has focused on detecting and measuring combustion instabilities. A highly instrumented atmospheric combustor has been used to measure the pressure oscillations in the combustor, the OH emission, and the flame ion field at the premix injector outlet and along the walls of the combustor. This instrumentation allows examination of the downstream extent of the combustion field using both the OH emission and the corresponding electron and ion distribution near the walls of the combustor. In most cases, the strongest pressure oscillation dominates the frequency behavior of the OH emission and the flame ion signals. Using this highly instrumented combustor, tests were run over a matrix of equivalence ratios from 0.6 to 0.8, with an inlet reference velocity of 25m∕s(82ft∕s). The acoustics of the fuel system for the combustor were tuned using an active-passive technique with an adjustable quarter-wave resonator. Although several statistics were investigated for correlation with the dynamic pressure in the combustor, the best correlation was found with the standard deviation of the guard current. The data show a monotonic relationship between the standard deviation of the guard current (the current through the flame at the premix injector outlet) and the standard deviation of the chamber pressure. Therefore, the relationship between the standard deviation of the guard current and the standard deviation of the pressure is the most promising for monitoring the dynamic pressure of the combustor using the flame ionization signal. This addition to the capabilities of CCADS would allow for dynamic pressure monitoring on commercial gas turbines without a pressure transducer.

Experimental study on flame structure and temperature characteristics in a lean premixed model gas turbine combustor

Experimental study was carried out in an atmospheric pressure, laboratory-scale dump combustor showing features of combustion instabilities. Flame structure and heat release rates were obtained from OH emission spectroscopy. Qualitative comparisons were made between line —integrated OH chemiluminescence image and Abel—transformed one. Local Rayleigh index distributions were also examined. Mean temperature, normalized standard deviation and temperature fluctuations were measured by coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS). To see the periodic behavior of oscillating flames, phase—resolved measurements were performed with respect to the pressure wave in the combustor. Results on system damping and driving characteristics were provided as a function of equivalence ratio. It also could be observed that phase resolved temperatures have been changed in a well—defined manner, while its difference between maximum and minimum reached up to 280K. These results would be expected to play an important role in better understanding of driving mechanisms and thermo-acoustic interactions.

Phase-resolved laser Raman scattering and laser Doppler velocimetry applied to periodic instabilities in a gas turbine model combustor

The understanding of periodic flame instabilities belongs to the major challenges in modern combustion research and technology and is of special importance for lean premixed gas turbine combustion. This paper presents experimental investigations in a gas turbine model combustor using laser diagnostic techniques. A partially premixed CH4/air flame operated at a thermal power of 10 kW at atmospheric pressure and an overall equivalence ratio of 0.75, which exhibited thermoacoustic oscillations at a frequency of 290 Hz, was investigated. Phase-locked laser Raman scattering was applied in order to determine the major species concentrations, temperature, and mixture fraction. In addition, laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) was used separately for the measurement of the axial and radial velocity components. The measurements revealed pronounced phase-dependent variations of the velocity and the temperature, species, and mixture fraction distributions. The combined Raman and LDV results also enabled the determination of molecular species fluxes which showed that the fuel and air supply rates both varied during an oscillation cycle by ±33% but with a phase shift of 80 between them. The correlations between temperature and mixture fraction revealed strong deviations from equilibrium composition and temperature, and their phase-dependent changes reflected the transport and mixing processes near the nozzle. The emphasis of the paper lies on the demonstration of the potential of phase-locked laser Raman scattering for the study of phenomena of periodic flame instabilities.

Combustion of lean prevaporized fuel–air mixtures mixed with hot burned gas for low-NO x emissions over an extended range of fuel–air ratios

Reaction of lean to ultra-lean mixtures supported by high-temperature burned gas can resolve the dilemma between complete combustion versus ultra-low NO x emissions in lean premixed gas turbine combustors. The combustion characteristics and NO x emissions in “lean–lean” two-stage combustion were investigated for premixed–prevaporized kerosene–air mixtures using a co-axial flow configuration. Secondary prevaporized kerosene–air mixtures of lean to ultra-lean compositions were injected into the stream of hot burned gas prepared by the combustion of lean prevaporized kerosene–air mixtures stabilized on an annular perforated flame holder in the primary stage. The progress of mixing and reactions of the secondary mixture jets of prevaporized kerosene–air mixture injected into the co-axial primary hot burned gas flow were investigated by spatial gas sampling and direct photography. The effects of the ratio of secondary to primary air flow rates and equivalence ratios of the primary and secondary mixtures on the emissions from the two-stage combustor were studied. Imparting swirl to the secondary mixture jets resulted in an enhancement of the mixing of the jets with the primary burned gas. It was also shown that the use of reaction of lean to ultra-lean secondary mixtures supported by the hot burned gas from the primary stage is much advantageous in extending the operating range of ultra-low NO x emissions of the 10 ppm level and complete combustion as compared with other approaches such as fuel staging and variable geometry. The proposed ultra-low NO x combustion concept has a potential of suppressing combustion instabilities that is often experienced with lean premixed combustion.

Investigation of self-excited combustion instabilities in two different combustion systems

The objective of this paper is to characterize dynamic pressure traces measured at self-excited combustion instabilities occurring in two combustion systems of different hardware. One system is a model lean premixed gas turbine combustor and the other a fullscale bipropellant liquid rocket thrust chamber. It is commonly observed in both systems that low frequency waves at around 300Hz are first excited at the onset of combustion instabilities and after a short duration, the instability mode becomes coupled to the resonant acoustic modes of the combustion chamber, the first longitudinal mode for the lean premixed combustor and the first tangential mode for the rocket thrust chamber. Low frequency waves seem to get excited at first since flame shows the higher heat release response on the lower frequency perturbations with the smaller phase differences between heat release and pressure fluctuations. Nonlinear time series analysis of pressure traces reveals that even stable combustion might have chaotic behavior with the positive maximum Lyapunov exponent. Also, pressure fluctuations under combustion instabilities reach a limit cycle or quasi-periodic oscillations at the very similar run conditions, which manifest that a self-excited high frequency instability has strong nonlinear characteristics.

The Premixed Conditional Moment Closure Method Applied to Idealized Lean Premixed Gas Turbine Combustors

This paper presents the premixed conditional moment closure (CMC) method as a new tool for modeling turbulent premixed combustion with detailed chemistry. By using conditional averages the CMC method can more accurately model the affects of the turbulent fluctuations of the temperature on the reaction rates. This provides an improved means of solving a major problem with traditional turbulent reacting flow models, namely how to close the reaction rate source term. Combined with a commercial CFD code this model provides insight into the emission formation pathways with reasonable runtimes. Results using the full GRI2.11 methane kinetic mechanism are compared to experimental data for a backward-facing step burning premixed methane. This model holds promise as a design tool for lean premixed gas turbine combustors.

Experimental Diagnostics for the Study of Combustion Instabilities in Lean Premixed Combustors

An improved understanding of the mechanisms of unstable combustion in lean premixed combustors is essential to the development of stable gas turbine combustion systems. To obtain such understanding, detailed experimental studies of the phenomenology of unstable combustion are required. A number of experimental diagnostic techniques for characterizing unstable combustion and the underlying instability mechanisms are discussed. This includes techniques based on pressure, chemiluminescence emission, infrared absorption, and laser-induced fluorescence measurements. The techniques themselves are discussed briefly; however, the primary objective is to present and discuss results illustrating how these techniques can be used to characterize the mechanisms of unstable combustion, to gain an improved understanding of unstable combustion, and to develop strategies for suppressing unstable combustion in lean premixed gas turbine combustors.

Combustion instability mechanism of a lean premixed gas turbine combustor

Lean premixed combustion has been considered as one of the promising solutions for the reduction of NOx emissions from gas turbines. However, unstable combustion of lean premixed flow becomes a real challenge on the way to design a reliable, highly efficient dry low NOx gas turbine combustor. Contrary to a conventional diffusion type combustion system, characteristics of premixed combustion significantly depend on a premixing degree of combusting flow. Combustion behavior in terms of stability has been studied in a model gas turbine combustor burning natural gas and air. Incompleteness of premixing is identified as significant perturbation source for inducing unstable combustion. Application of a simple convection time lag theory can only predict instability modes but cannot determine whether instability occurs or not. Low frequency perturbations are observed at the onset of instability and believed to initiate the coupling between heat release rate and pressure fluctuations.

Swirl control of combustion instabilities in a gas turbine combustor

The impact of premixer swirl number, S , and overall fuel equivalence ratio, Φ , on the stability of a model swirl-stabilized, lean-premixed gas turbine combustor has been numerically simulated using large-eddy simulations methodology. Through the use of a premixed flamelet model ( G equation), unsteady vortexflame and acoustic-flame interactions are captured. It is shown that for large values of S , that is, those sufficiently highly for vortex breakdown to occur, the fluctuating pressure amplitudes, p ′, are attenuated significantly (over 6.6 dB reduction). The reduced p ′ amplitudes are accompanied by reduced longitudinal flame-front oscillations and reduced coherence in the shed vortices. Similar p ′ reduction levels are achieved through changes in Φ . Compared to the leanest equivalence ratio simulated ( Φ =0.52), p ′ at stoichiometric is reduced by 6.0 dB. The response of the combustion process to explicit swirl modulation is also investigated. Open-loop control through swirl variation is demonstrated for a lean mixture with significant reductions in fluctuating mass flow rate and p ′ after a convective time delay.

Clustering of chaotic dynamics of a lean gas-turbine combustor

This work deals with the dynamic behaviour of a lean premixed gas turbine combustor. The study aims to achieve a classification of experimental burner dynamic behaviour and is based on the geometrical properties of the attractors of the system variables. Several experiments were performed varying the flame stoichiometric ratio λ and the pilot fuel percentage PFP. The dynamics of the experimental time series of the flame front heat release were described by using vectors collecting information on the topological distribution of the attractors. Therefore, unsupervised Kohonen associative memories were trained to create clusters of operating conditions characterised by similar dynamical behaviours. Kohonen associative memories were able to divide the experimental operating conditions into different clusters according to the different values of the flame stoichiometric ratio. The results of the clustering underline the possibility of being able to define an algorithm for combustion-instability pattern recognition that takes into account the highly non-linear effects which govern combustion processes.

A Mechanism of Combustion Instability in Lean Premixed Gas Turbine Combustors

There has been increased demand in recent years for gas turbines that operate in a lean, premixed (LP) mode of combustion in an effort to meet stringent emissions goals. Unfortunately, detrimental combustion instabilities are often excited within the combustor when it operates under lean conditions, degrading performance and reducing combustor life. To eliminate the onset of these instabilities and develop effective approaches for their control, the mechanisms responsible for their occurrence must be understood. This paper describes the results of an investigation of the mechanisms responsible for these instabilities. These studies found that combustors operating in a LP mode of combustion are highly sensitive to variations in the equivalence ratio (ϕ) of the mixture that enters the combustor. Furthermore, it was found that such ϕ variations can be induced by interactions of the pressure and flow oscillations with the reactant supply rates. The ϕ perturbations formed in the inlet duct (near the fuel injector) are convected by the mean flow to the combustor where they produce large amplitude heat release oscillations that drive combustor pressure oscillations. It is shown that the dominant characteristic time associated with this mechanism is the convective time from the point of formation of the reactive mixture at the fuel injector to the point where it is consumed at the flame. Instabilities occur when the ratio of this convective time and the period of the oscillations equals a specific constant, whose magnitude depends upon the combustor design. Significantly, these predictions are in good agreement with available experimental data, strongly suggesting that the proposed mechanism properly accounts for the essential physics of the problem. The predictions of this study also indicate, however, that simple design changes (i.e., passive control approaches) may not, in general, provide a viable means for controlling these instabilities, due to the multiple number of modes that may be excited by the combustion process.

An experimental estimation of mean reaction rate and flame structure during combustion instability in a lean premixed gas turbine combustor

The interactions between the local flame structure produced by a premixed swirl-stabilized injector with combustion instabilities were experimentally studied for a model gas turbine combustor operating at high pressure and temperature. The model gas turbine combustor studied utilizes a sudden-expansion dump combustor with a single swirler and bluff body for enhancing mixing rate and flame stabilization, respectively. Laser-based measurements were made for both stable and unstable operating conditions. The local flame front structure was visualized using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) from the OH⊙, and the global heat release zone was interpreted from flame emission measurements. For stable combustion conditions, the mean reaction rate estimated independently from both OH-PLIF and OH * chemiluminescence measurements showed good agreement, thereby indicating confidence in the use of OH-PLIF measurements for extracting the local mean reaction rate. For unstable combustion conditions, the flamefront characteristics, including flame surface density and mean reaction rate, were evaluated together with the information from the OH * chemiluminescence measurements to identify the boundary of the heat release region at discrete phases of the unstable flame. Analysis of the flame structures during combustion instability indicated significant variations during different phases of the instability. The heat release flow field, particularly in the recirculation regions appearing at the corner and inner face of the dump plane, varied substantially. Rayleigh index information indicated that the recirculation zones play an important part in driving the instability. In contrast, the high shear layer formed along the interface between reactants and hot products produced a region where the instability was damped due to a lowering of the heat release.

Investigation of NO x and CO formation in lean-premixed, methane/air, high-intensity, confined flames at elevated pressures

The coupling between NOx formation chemistry and the mixing/transport environment is of critical importance to the design of lean-premixed gas turbine combustors but is incompletely understood. In the present research, this problem was addressed via the study of NOx formation in a high-pressure jet-stirred reactor operating on lean-premixed methane/air. These experiments focused on the effects of residence time (0.5–4.0 ms), pressure (3.0, 4.7, and 6.5 atm), and inlet temperature (344–573K). The combustion temperature varied from 1815±5 K at the lowest residence times to 1910±30K at the largest residence times. The NOx was lowest at intermediate residence times, reaching higher values at the extremes. Increasing pressure and inlet temperature tend to reduce NOx concentrations. Concentration profiling in the reactor suggests two general environments: (1) a highly non-equilibrium reaction zone defined by high CO concentrations, and (2) a postflame environment. The NOx formation was concentrated in the region of strongly non-equilibrium combustion chemistry. The Damkohler number was 0.06≤Da≤1, and the ratio of turbulent intensity to laminar burning velocity was 28≤u′/SL≤356, indicating the combustion occurs in the high-intensity, chemical rate-limiting regime. The results were interpreted using a two-environment, detailed chemistry model in which the size and structure of the flame environment were established by matching the measured data, and which were independently verified using turbulent flame velocity/thickness correlations. The modeling suggests NOx formation is controlled by both the specific conditions in the non-equilibrium zone and by the size of the zone. Since both these features are influenced by the experimental parameters, a highly nonlinear scenario emerges with implications for minimizing NOx via combustor design. The modeling also suggests the unique case of well-stirred combustion for NOx at elevated pressure is obtained at low residence time conditions.