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Title: The effect of variable fuel staging transients on self-excited instabilities in a multiple-nozzle combustor

Abstract

Combustion instability in gas turbine engines is often mitigated using fuel staging. Fuel staging, sometimes referred to as fuel splitting, is a strategy by which fuel is unevenly distributed between different nozzles of a multiple-nozzle combustor. These fuel splits are conducted in a transient manner in real engines, and the effects of these transients on instability are not well characterized. This work fills this gap by systematically studying the effects of transient fuel staging on self-excited combustion instability by varying the amount of staging fuel (staging amplitude), timescale in which the fuel is added (transient duration), and whether staging fuel is added or subtracted (transient direction). In this work, three staging amplitudes, five transient durations, and both transient directions are considered. The transient timescales are broadly divided into “short” duration transients, which have fuel delivery timescales shorter than the characteristic instability decay or onset timescales, and “long” duration transients, which have fuel delivery timescales longer than the characteristic instability decay or onset timescales. For short duration transients, we find the instability decay timescale depends on staging amplitude but does not depend on transient duration. For long duration transients, we find the instability decay timescale does not strongly depend on stagingmore » amplitude. The instability onset timescale is found to be longer and more variable between runs than the instability decay timescale for a given fuel delivery timescale. The onset timescale is also longer in duration and more variable than the decay timescale at a given fuel delivery timescale, implying that the instability rise process is overall more variable and slower than the instability decay process. Analysis of combustor damping rates show a strong dependence of damping rate on staging amplitude but no strong dependence on transient duration or direction. Instantaneous phase difference images between p' and are used to differentiate regions in the combustor that have constructive versus destructive interference between heat release rate oscillations and pressure fluctuations. Furthermore, the phase images show that p' and q.' become in-phase early in the transient for the onset transients.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
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  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
OSTI Identifier:
1462982
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1582852
Grant/Contract Number:  
FE0025495
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Combustion and Flame
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 194; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0010-2180
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS; Flame interaction; Transients; Fuel staging; Combustion instability; Gas turbines

Citation Formats

Culler, Wyatt, Chen, Xiaoling, Samarasinghe, Janith, Peluso, Stephen, Santavicca, Domenic, and O'Connor, Jacqueline. The effect of variable fuel staging transients on self-excited instabilities in a multiple-nozzle combustor. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.04.025.
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Culler, Wyatt, Chen, Xiaoling, Samarasinghe, Janith, Peluso, Stephen, Santavicca, Domenic, & O'Connor, Jacqueline. The effect of variable fuel staging transients on self-excited instabilities in a multiple-nozzle combustor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.04.025
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Culler, Wyatt, Chen, Xiaoling, Samarasinghe, Janith, Peluso, Stephen, Santavicca, Domenic, and O'Connor, Jacqueline. Mon . "The effect of variable fuel staging transients on self-excited instabilities in a multiple-nozzle combustor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.04.025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1462982.
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@article{osti_1462982,
title = {The effect of variable fuel staging transients on self-excited instabilities in a multiple-nozzle combustor},
author = {Culler, Wyatt and Chen, Xiaoling and Samarasinghe, Janith and Peluso, Stephen and Santavicca, Domenic and O'Connor, Jacqueline},
abstractNote = {Combustion instability in gas turbine engines is often mitigated using fuel staging. Fuel staging, sometimes referred to as fuel splitting, is a strategy by which fuel is unevenly distributed between different nozzles of a multiple-nozzle combustor. These fuel splits are conducted in a transient manner in real engines, and the effects of these transients on instability are not well characterized. This work fills this gap by systematically studying the effects of transient fuel staging on self-excited combustion instability by varying the amount of staging fuel (staging amplitude), timescale in which the fuel is added (transient duration), and whether staging fuel is added or subtracted (transient direction). In this work, three staging amplitudes, five transient durations, and both transient directions are considered. The transient timescales are broadly divided into “short” duration transients, which have fuel delivery timescales shorter than the characteristic instability decay or onset timescales, and “long” duration transients, which have fuel delivery timescales longer than the characteristic instability decay or onset timescales. For short duration transients, we find the instability decay timescale depends on staging amplitude but does not depend on transient duration. For long duration transients, we find the instability decay timescale does not strongly depend on staging amplitude. The instability onset timescale is found to be longer and more variable between runs than the instability decay timescale for a given fuel delivery timescale. The onset timescale is also longer in duration and more variable than the decay timescale at a given fuel delivery timescale, implying that the instability rise process is overall more variable and slower than the instability decay process. Analysis of combustor damping rates show a strong dependence of damping rate on staging amplitude but no strong dependence on transient duration or direction. Instantaneous phase difference images between p' and are used to differentiate regions in the combustor that have constructive versus destructive interference between heat release rate oscillations and pressure fluctuations. Furthermore, the phase images show that p' and q.' become in-phase early in the transient for the onset transients.},
doi = {10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.04.025},
journal = {Combustion and Flame},
number = C,
volume = 194,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.04.025
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Cited by: 19 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Summary of Experimental Conditions
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Works referenced in this record:

The Effect of Fuel Staging on the Structure and Instability Characteristics of Swirl-Stabilized Flames in a Lean Premixed Multinozzle Can Combustor
journal, August 2017

  • Samarasinghe, Janith; Culler, Wyatt; Quay, Bryan D.
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 139, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4037461

Effect of Azimuthally Nonuniform Heat Release on Longitudinal Combustion Instabilities
journal, January 2017

  • Li, Lei; Sun, Xiaofeng; Lioi, Christopher
  • Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 33, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.2514/1.B36055

Measurements of triggering and transient growth in a model lean-premixed gas turbine combustor
journal, March 2012

Bifurcations of Self-Excited Ducted Laminar Premixed Flames
journal, December 2011

  • Kabiraj, Lipika; Sujith, R. I.; Wahi, Pankaj
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 134, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4004402

Dynamic properties of combustion instability in a lean premixed gas-turbine combustor
journal, March 2011

  • Gotoda, Hiroshi; Nikimoto, Hiroyuki; Miyano, Takaya
  • Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, Vol. 21, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3563577

Comparison of Linear Stability Analysis With Experiments by Actively Tuning the Acoustic Boundary Conditions of a Premixed Combustor
journal, August 2010

  • Bothien, Mirko R.; Moeck, Jonas P.; Paschereit, Christian Oliver
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 132, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4000806

A method to identify thermoacoustic growth rates in combustion chambers from dynamic pressure time series
journal, January 2017

Non-stationary local thermoacoustic phase relationships in a gas turbine combustor
journal, January 2017

Intermittency as a Transition State in Combustor Dynamics: An Explanation for Flame Dynamics Near Lean Blowout
journal, June 2015

Forced Response of a Swirling, Premixed Flame to Flow Disturbances
journal, September 2006

  • Bellows, Benjamin D.; Neumeier, Yedidia; Lieuwen, Timothy
  • Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 22, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.2514/1.17426

The Three-Dimensional Structure of Swirl-Stabilized Flames in a Lean Premixed Multinozzle Can Combustor
journal, September 2015

  • Samarasinghe, Janith; Peluso, Stephen J.; Quay, Bryan D.
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 138, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4031439

Experimental Diagnostics for the Study of Combustion Instabilities in Lean Premixed Combustors
journal, September 2003

  • Lee, J. G.; Santavicca, D. A.
  • Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 19, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.2514/2.6191

Experimental Investigation of Limit-Cycle Oscillations in an Unstable Gas Turbine Combustor
journal, January 2002

  • Lieuwen, Tim C.
  • Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 18, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.2514/2.5898

Online Combustor Stability Margin Assessment Using Dynamic Pressure Data
journal, June 2005

  • Lieuwen, Tim
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 127, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.1850493

On the experimental determination of growth and damping rates for combustion instabilities
journal, July 2016

Linear Growth Rate Estimation From Dynamics and Statistics of Acoustic Signal Envelope in Turbulent Combustors
journal, October 2016

  • Noiray, Nicolas
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 139, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4034601

Three-Dimensional Chemiluminescence Imaging of Unforced and Forced Swirl-Stabilized Flames in a Lean Premixed Multi-Nozzle Can Combustor
journal, September 2013

  • Samarasinghe, Janith; Peluso, Stephen; Szedlmayer, Michael
  • Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Vol. 135, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.4024987
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Bifurcation dodge: avoidance of a thermoacoustic instability under transient operation
    journal, February 2019

    Bifurcation Dodge: Avoidance of a Thermoacoustic Instability under Transient Operation
    conference, January 2019

    • Bonciolini, Giacomo; Noiray, Nicolas
    • Global Power and Propulsion Zurich19: Technical Conference, GPPS Zurich19
    • DOI: 10.33737/gpps19-tc-091
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Table 1 (p. 9)table
      Table 2 (p. 13)table
      Figure 1 (p. 42)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 43)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 44)figure
      Figure 4 (p. 45)figure
      Figure 5 (p. 46)figure
      Figure 6 (p. 47)figure
      Figure 7 (p. 48)figure
      Figure 8 (p. 49)figure
      Figure 9 (p. 50)figure
      Figure 10 (p. 51)figure
      Figure 11 (p. 52)figure
      Figure 12 (p. 53)figure
      Figure 13 (p. 54)figure
      Figure 14 (p. 55)figure
      Figure 15 (p. 56)figure
      Figure 16 (p. 57)figure
      Figure 17 (p. 58)figure
      Figure 18 (p. 59)figure
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