Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Significance of the Direct Excitation Mechanism for High-Frequency Response of Premixed Flames to Flow Oscillations

Journal Article · · Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4049204· OSTI ID:2407076
 [1];  [2]
  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology
  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Premixed flames are sensitive to flow disturbances, which can arise from acoustic or vortical fluctuations. For transverse instabilities, it is known that a dominant mechanism for flame response is “injector coupling,” whereby pressure oscillations associated with transverse waves excite axial flow disturbances. These axial flow disturbances then excite heat release oscillations. The objective of this paper is to consider another mechanism—the direct sensitivity of the unsteady heat release to transverse acoustic waves—and to compare its significance relative to the induced axial disturbances, in a linear framework. The rate at which the flame adds energy to the disturbance field is quantified using the Rayleigh criterion and evaluated over a range of control parameters, such as flame length and swirl number. The results show that radial modes induce heat release fluctuations that always add energy to the acoustic field, whereas heat release fluctuations induced by mixed radial-azimuthal modes can add or remove energy. These amplification rates are then compared to the flame response from induced axial fluctuations. For combustor-centered flames, these results show that the direct excitation mechanism has negligible amplification rates relative to the induced axial mechanism for radial modes. For transverse modes, the fact that the nozzle is located at a pressure node indicates that negligible induced axial velocity disturbances are excited; as such, the direct mechanism dominates. As a result, for flames that are not centered on pressure nodes, the direct mechanism for mixed modes dominates for certain nozzle locations and flame angles.

Research Organization:
Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0031285
OSTI ID:
2407076
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1849248
Report Number(s):
DOE-GTRC--0010
Journal Information:
Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Journal Name: Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 143; ISSN 0742-4795
Publisher:
ASMECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

Dynamics and stability of lean-premixed swirl-stabilized combustion journal August 2009
Transverse combustion instabilities: Acoustic, fluid mechanic, and flame processes journal August 2015
Impact of heat release global fluctuations and flame motion on transverse acoustic wave stability journal January 2017
Large Eddy Simulation of Flame Response to Transverse Acoustic Excitation in a Model Reheat Combustor journal August 2013
High-Frequency Thermoacoustic Modulation Mechanisms in Swirl-Stabilized Gas Turbine Combustors—Part II: Modeling and Analysis journal February 2017
Acoustical Resonances Produced by Combustion of a Fuel‐Air Mixture in a Rectangular Duct journal March 1959
Dynamics of Swirling Flames journal January 2014
Transverse to Longitudinal Acoustic Coupling Processes in Annular Combustion Chambers journal December 2012
Mechanism of Combustion Instability in a Lean Premixed Dump Combustor journal November 1999
A Mechanism for High-Frequency Oscillation in Ramjet Combustors and Afterburners journal June 1956

Figures / Tables (7)


Similar Records

Significance of the Direct Excitation Mechanism for High-Frequency Response of Premixed Flames to Flow Oscillations
Journal Article · Tue Dec 22 23:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power · OSTI ID:1849248

Modeling Premixed Flame Response to Transverse Acoustic Modes
Conference · Sat Jan 06 23:00:00 EST 2018 · 2018 AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting · OSTI ID:2403366

Effect of azimuthal flow fluctuations on flow and flame dynamics of axisymmetric swirling flames
Journal Article · Fri Oct 23 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physics of Fluids · OSTI ID:1469562