Thermoacoustically-Based Combustion Oscillation in a Gas Turbine: A Brief Note

Author(s):  
Frantisek L. Eisinger ◽  
Robert E. Sullivan

Thermoacoustic combustion oscillation and vibration experienced in a gas turbine at operation is reported. The oscillation manifested itself at two distinct frequencies representing the first and second mode frequencies of the combined hot and cold (combustion chamber/burner air) Rijke type thermoacoustic model. The first mode was a lower amplitude thermoacoustically driven free Rijke mode. The higher frequency second Rijke mode coupled with the second acoustic mode of the combustion chamber resulted in high amplitude oscillation. Modifications to the burner cold air components are considered which would eliminate the oscillation. The paper will present and discuss the principal parameters which caused the oscillation and changes which would eliminate it.

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frantisek L. Eisinger ◽  
Robert E. Sullivan

Thermoacoustic combustion oscillation and vibration experienced in a gas turbine at operation is reported. The oscillation manifested itself at two distinct frequencies representing the first and second mode frequencies of the combined hot and cold (combustion chamber/burner air) Rijke type thermoacoustic model. The first mode was a lower amplitude thermoacoustically driven free Rijke mode. The higher frequency second Rijke mode coupled with the second acoustic mode of the combustion chamber resulted in high amplitude oscillation. Modifications to the burner cold air components are considered which would eliminate the oscillation. The paper will present and discuss the principal parameters which caused the oscillation and changes which would eliminate it.


Author(s):  
Dariusz Nowak ◽  
Valter Bellucci ◽  
Jan Cerny ◽  
Geoffrey Engelbrecht

The prediction of high-frequency acoustic oscillations in gas turbine combustors is an important issue, related to engine performance, NOx emissions, component lifetime and engine operational flexibility. Different methods with increasing complexity and predictive ability have been discussed in a number of papers. Application of these methods requires large computational capacity and long computational times. Therefore, a limited number of variants of small combustor models or small sectors can be analyzed in a reasonable time. This paper presents an approximate approach, applicable under certain specific conditions. It is based on an understanding that the acoustic pressure oscillations are tied to the oscillation in heat release rate. The interaction is taking place in the heat release zone, independent of the type of the feedback mechanism. For a typical gas turbine combustion chamber, many acoustic modes exist in the frequency range of interest. However, only a few of these modes are excited by the combustion process and thus are relevant. The mode excitation depends both on combustion noise (due to flame excitation contribution independent of the acoustic field) and combustion instability (acoustic mode made unstable by the flame transfer function). With a flame surface obtained from steady state CFD simulation, and with acoustic mode shapes obtained from a Finite Element package, the forced acoustic response of the combustion system to the flame excitation was calculated. In a first validation step, this method has been tested on a single burner atmospheric test facility. In a second step, the method will be applied to an annular SEV combustion chamber of a GT26 ALSTOM gas turbine. The strength of this approach is that large models can be analyzed quickly to show the influence of changes in a flame position and effect of the combustor geometry. The weakness is that combustion instabilities can not be addressed by such a method. Furthermore, the phase relation of the excitation between different parts of the flame is frequency dependant and needs to be given as an input, which requires an experience and expert knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan McClure ◽  
Frederik M. Berger ◽  
Michael Bertsch ◽  
Bruno Schuermans ◽  
Thomas Sattelmayer

Abstract This paper presents the investigation of high-frequency thermoacoustic limit-cycle oscillations in a novel experimental gas turbine reheat combustor featuring both auto-ignition and propagation stabilised flame zones at atmospheric pressure. Dynamic pressure measurements at the faceplate of the reheat combustion chamber reveal high-amplitude periodic pressure pulsations at 3 kHz in the transverse direction of the rectangular cross-section combustion chamber. Further analysis of the acoustic signal shows that this is a thermoacoustically unstable condition undergoing limit-cycle oscillations. A sensitivity study is presented which indicates that these high-amplitude limit-cycle oscillations only occur under certain conditions: namely high power settings with propane addition to increase auto-ignition propensity. The spatially-resolved flame dynamics are then investigated using CH* chemiluminescence, phase-locked to the dynamic pressure, captured from all lateral sides of the reheat combustion chamber. This reveals strong heat release oscillations close to the chamber walls at the instability frequency, as well as axial movement of the flame tips in these regions and an overall transverse displacement of the flame. Both the heat release oscillations and the flame motion occur in phase with the acoustic mode. From these observations, likely thermoacoustic driving mechanisms which lead to the limit-cycle oscillations are inferred. In this case, the overall flame-acoustics interaction is assumed to be a superposition of several effects, with the observations suggesting strong influences from autoignition-pressure coupling as well as flame displacement and deformation due to the acoustic velocity field. These findings provide a foundation for the overall objective of developing predictive approaches to mitigate the impact of high-frequency thermoacoustic instabilities in future generations of gas turbines with sequential combustion systems.


Author(s):  
Daniel Lörstad ◽  
Annika Lindholm ◽  
Jan Pettersson ◽  
Mats Björkman ◽  
Ingvar Hultmark

Siemens Oil & Gas introduced an enhanced SGT-800 gas turbine during 2010. The new power rating is 50.5MW at a 38.3% electrical efficiency in simple cycle (ISO) and best in class combined-cycle performance of more than 55%, for improved fuel flexibility at low emissions. The updated components in the gas turbine are interchangeable from the existing 47MW rating. The increased power and improved efficiency are mainly obtained by improved compressor airfoil profiles and improved turbine aerodynamics and cooling air layout. The current paper is focused on the design modifications of the combustor parts and the combustion validation and operation experience. The serial cooling system of the annular combustion chamber is improved using aerodynamically shaped liner cooling air inlet and reduced liner rib height to minimize the pressure drop and optimize the cooling layout to improve the life due to engine operation hours. The cold parts of the combustion chamber were redesigned using cast cooling struts where the variable thickness was optimized to maximize the cycle life. Due to fewer thicker vanes of the turbine stage #1, the combustor-turbine interface is accordingly updated to maintain the life requirements due to the upstream effect of the stronger pressure gradient. Minor burner tuning is used which in combination with the previously introduced combustor passive damping results in low emissions for >50% load, which is insensitive to ambient conditions. The combustion system has shown excellent combustion stability properties, such as to rapid load changes and large flame temperature range at high loads, which leads to the possibility of single digit Dry Low Emission (DLE) NOx. The combustion system has also shown insensitivity to fuels of large content of hydrogen, different hydrocarbons, inerts and CO. Also DLE liquid operation shows low emissions for 50–100% load. The first SGT-800 with 50.5MW rating was successfully tested during the Spring 2010 and the expected performance figures were confirmed. The fleet leader has, up to January 2013, accumulated >16000 Equivalent Operation Hours (EOH) and a planned follow up inspection made after 10000 EOH by boroscope of the hot section showed that the combustor was in good condition. This paper presents some details of the design work carried out during the development of the combustor design enhancement and the combustion operation experience from the first units.


Author(s):  
Gennadii Liubchik ◽  
◽  
Nataliia Fialko ◽  
Aboubakr Regragui ◽  
Nataliia Meranova ◽  
...  

The basic positions of the enthalpy-entropy methodology of thermodynamic modeling of processes in gas turbine units (GTUs) and combined power plants on basis GTUs are presented. The main requirements and conditions of this methodology are formulated, they allows the construction of a sequential (without iterations) algorithm for the computational diagnostics of the thermodynamic parameters of the GTU cycle, which includes the calculation blocks for the compressor, combustion chamber, turbine, and exhaust tube of the GTU. The obtained regression equations are presented. The use of these equations simplifies of the procedure for evaluating the thermodynamic parameters of the components at the nodal points of the cycle. The advantages of the proposed methodology in comparison with the traditional thermal-entropy methodology are indicated.


Author(s):  
Digvijay B. Kulshreshtha ◽  
S. A. Channiwala ◽  
Jitendra Chaudhary ◽  
Zoeb Lakdawala ◽  
Hitesh Solanki ◽  
...  

In the combustor inlet diffuser section of gas turbine engine, high-velocity air from compressor flows into the diffuser, where a considerable portion of the inlet velocity head PT3 − PS3 is converted to static pressure (PS) before the airflow enters the combustor. Modern high through-flow turbine engine compressors are highly loaded and usually have high inlet Mach numbers. With high compressor exit Mach numbers, the velocity head at the compressor exit station may be as high as 10% of the total pressure. The function of the diffuser is to recover a large proportion of this energy. Otherwise, the resulting higher total pressure loss would result in a significantly higher level of engine specific fuel consumption. The diffuser performance must also be sensitive to inlet velocity profiles and geometrical variations of the combustor relative to the location of the pre-diffuser exit flow path. Low diffuser pressure losses with high Mach numbers are more rapidly achieved with increasing length. However, diffuser length must be short to minimize engine length and weight. A good diffuser design should have a well considered balance between the confliction requirements for low pressure losses and short engine lengths. The present paper describes the effect of divergence angle on diffuser performance for gas turbine combustion chamber using Computational Fluid Dynamic Approach. The flow through the diffuser is numerically solved for divergence angles ranging from 5 to 25°. The flow separation and formation of wake regions are studied.


Author(s):  
G. Arvind Rao ◽  
Yeshayahou Levy ◽  
Ephraim J. Gutmark

Flameless combustion (FC) is one of the most promising techniques of reducing harmful emissions from combustion systems. FC is a combustion phenomenon that takes place at low O2 concentration and high inlet reactant temperature. This unique combination results in a distributed combustion regime with a lower adiabatic flame temperature. The paper focuses on investigating the chemical kinetics of an prototype combustion chamber built at the university of Cincinnati with an aim of establishing flameless regime and demonstrating the applicability of FC to gas turbine engines. A Chemical reactor model (CRM) has been built for emulating the reactions within the combustor. The entire combustion chamber has been divided into appropriate number of Perfectly Stirred Reactors (PSRs) and Plug Flow Reactors (PFRs). The interconnections between these reactors and the residence times of these reactors are based on the PIV studies of the combustor flow field. The CRM model has then been used to predict the combustor emission profile for various equivalence ratios. The results obtained from CRM model show that the emission from the combustor are quite less at low equivalence ratios and have been found to be in reasonable agreement with experimental observations. The chemical kinetic analysis gives an insight on the role of vitiated combustion gases in suppressing the formation of pollutants within the combustion process.


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