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Study of the acoustic response of a swirl/bluff-body stabilized natural gas flame: experimental aspects and theoretical rationale

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Abstract

The thermo-acoustic stability of a combustor may be assessed in its design phase via solving an expression for the interior acoustic field with flame characteristics treated as an input. This input must include the flame response to axial upstream disturbances. Practical details of a response evaluation are expressed for the case of a premixed natural gas burner whose flame is stabilized by means of the combination of swirl and bluff-body. An equation for instability analysis in a gas turbine was derived incorporating a practically-measurable and applicable form of flame response. Velocity disturbances were monitored using a hot-film anemometer and chemiluminescence of heat-release fluctuations using a photomultiplier. The photomultiplier gain sensitivity to the angle of incidence of rays was first determined and taken into account. A method based on coincidence of time series was used to evaluate phase difference between two signals. It was found that the geometry of the settling chamber along with the location of the speakers causes the excitability of the acoustic field experience a sharp peak at 300 Hz which relates to the first natural mode of the chamber. The magnitude of the flame describing function assumes values from nearly zero up to 2.7 depending on frequency and excitation level while the phase depends on frequency only. For the case of the excitations that cause noticeable responses, the ratio of the acoustic wavelengths to the flame length is higher than 30, which shows that a global response for the whole flame instead of a field function may be assumed.

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Abbreviations

c :

Sound speed, m s−1

f :

Frequency, Hz

G :

Describing function magnitude

p :

Pressure, Pa

q :

Heat-release-rate, W m−3

Q :

Total heat-release-rate, W

t :

Time, s

u :

Velocity, m s−1

V :

Volume, m3

x :

Position, m

γ :

Isentropic constant

ρ :

Density, kg m−3

Φ :

Describing function phase, rad

ω :

Angular frequency, rad s−1

1:

Velocity measurement location

a:

Axial

f:

Flame

tot:

Flame total

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    M. Behzadi, E. Movahednejad & F. Ommi

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  1. M. Behzadi
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  2. E. Movahednejad
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  3. F. Ommi
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Conceptualization, investigation, formal analysis, methodology, and writing were performed by MB. EM supervised the research. Project administration were done by FO. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. Behzadi.

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Behzadi, M., Movahednejad, E. & Ommi, F. Study of the acoustic response of a swirl/bluff-body stabilized natural gas flame: experimental aspects and theoretical rationale. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 12877–12890 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12541-2

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