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Acoustically Induced Flashback in a Staged Swirl-Stabilized Combustor

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Abstract

This paper describes a joint experimental and numerical investigation of the interaction between thermoacoustics and flashback mechanisms in a swirled turbulent burner. An academic air/propane combustor terminated by a choked nozzle is operated up to 2.5 bars. Experiments show that the flame can stabilize either within the combustion chamber or flashback inside the injection duct, intermittently or permanently. The present study focuses on the mechanisms leading to flashback: this phenomenon can occur naturally, depending on the swirl level which can be adjusted in the experiment by introducing axial flow through the upstream inlet. It can also be triggered by acoustic waves, either through acoustic forcing or self-excited thermoacoustic instability. Flashback is difficult to study experimentally, but it can be investigated numerically using LES: in a first configuration, the outlet of the chamber is treated as a non-reflecting surface through which harmonic waves can be introduced. In this case, a 20 kPa acoustic forcing is sufficient to trigger permanent flashback after a few cycles. When the LES computational domain includes the choked nozzle used experimentally, no forcing is needed for flashback to occur. Self-excited oscillations reach high levels rapidly, leading to flame flashback, as observed experimentally. These results also suggest a simple method to avoid flashback by using fuel staging, which is then tested successfully in both LES and experiments.

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Notes

  1. In certain combustors, where the fresh gases are compressed up to high pressures and temperatures, flashback can also occur because of autoignition in the injection system. This case is not considered here, because the low temperature of the fresh charge prevents autoignition in all cases.

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Acknowledgments

This work has received funding from the ANR DISCERN program, grant ANR-11-BS09-0015 of the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche. It was also supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) in the RECORD project under grant agreement no 312444. It was granted access to the HPC resources of CINES, CCRT and IDRIS under the allocation x20142b5031 made by GENCI (Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CERFACS, 42 Av. G. Coriolis, 31057, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Corentin J. Lapeyre

  2. Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS, Centrale-Supélec, Université Paris-Saclay, Grande Voie des Vignes, 92295, Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France

    Marek Mazur, Philippe Scouflaire, Franck Richecoeur & Sébastien Ducruix

  3. IMF Toulouse, UMR CNRS/INP-UPS 5502, Allée du Pr. C. Soula, 31400, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Corentin J. Lapeyre & Thierry Poinsot

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  1. Corentin J. Lapeyre
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  2. Marek Mazur
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Correspondence to Corentin J. Lapeyre.

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Lapeyre, C.J., Mazur, M., Scouflaire, P. et al. Acoustically Induced Flashback in a Staged Swirl-Stabilized Combustor. Flow Turbulence Combust 98, 265–282 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-016-9745-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-016-9745-2

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