A computational fluid dynamics investigation of thermoacoustic instabilities in premixed laminar and turbulent combustion systems

Lean premixed combustors have been designed to lower NOx and other pollutant levels in land based gas turbines. These combustors are often susceptible to thereto-acoustic instabilities, which manifest as pressure and heat release oscillations in the combustor. To be able to predict and control these instabilities, it is required that both the acoustics of the system, and a frequency-resolved response of the combustion process to incoming perturbations be understood.; Currently, a system-level approach is being used widely to predict the thermoacoustic instabilities. This approach requires simple, yet accurate models which would describe the behavior of each dynamic block within the loop. The present study is directed toward using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a tool in developing reduced order models for the dynamics of laminar flat flames and swirl stabilized turbulent flames. A finite-volume based approach is being used to simulate reacting flows in both laminar and turbulent combustors. The study has been divided into three parts---the first part involves the modeling of a self-excited combustor (the acoustics of the combustor are coupled with the unsteady heat release); the second part of the research aims to study the effect of velocity perturbations on the unsteady heat release rate from a burner stabilized laminar flat flame; the third and final part of work involves an extension of the laminar flat flame study to turbulent reacting flows in a swirl stabilized combustor, and study the effects on the turbulent heat release due to the velocity perturbations.; A Rijke tube combustor was selected to study self-excited combustion phenomenon. A laminar premixed methane-air flat flame was stabilized on a honeycomb flame-stabilizer. The flame stabilizer was placed at the center of the 5 ft vertical tube. The position of the flame at the center of the tube leads to a thermoacoustic instability of the 2nd acoustic mode. The fundamental thermoacoustic frequency was predicted accurately by the CFD model and the amplitude was reasonably matched (for a flow rate of Q = 120 cc/s and equivalence ratio &phis; = 1.0). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...