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Effect of the swirl intensity on the non-reacting flowfields and fuel-air premixing characteristics for lean premixed combustors

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Abstract

According to the tendency of incorporating fuel jet holes into swirler-vanes, as well as the advantages of wide operating boundary conditions and low NOx emissions of low swirl injectors for land-based gas turbines, an original lean premixed injector with convergent outlet was proposed in this paper. Based on the lean premixed injector, this paper presented laser diagnostic experiments and numerical simulations of flowfields and fuel/air premixing uniformities of S30 and S40. The results show that the axial size and the radial size of main recirculation zone (MRZ) of S30 are both smaller than those of S40, which can decrease residence time and is beneficial to NOx reduction for S30. Furthermore, the MRZ of S30 are far from the convergent outlet, which can produce detached flames and reduce the risk of flashback. The SMV at S40 and S30 convergent outlet are 0.0008 and 0.0002, respectively, both of which are lower than 0.001, which shows that both S30 and S40 obtain good fuel/air premixing uniformities. These results demonstrate that S30 (low swirl injectors) constitutes a promising technology for low emission gas turbine combustors.

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Abbreviations

S30 :

Injector with swirler-vanes angle of 30°

S40 :

Injector with swirler-vanes angle of 40°

MRZ :

Main recirculation zone

CRZ :

Corner recirculation zone

SMV :

Spatial mixture variance

D o :

Outer diameter of S30 (S40)

D e :

Exit diameter of S30 (S40)

D i :

Inner diameter of S30 (S40)

α :

The opening angle of MRZ

β :

Convergent angle of S30 (S40)

θ :

Angle of the swirl vane

T :

Air temperature of combustor inlet

P :

Air pressure of combustor inlet

L FOV :

Length of optical field

U p :

Particles velocity

N pixel :

Total number of pixels along the axial direction

V z :

Axial velocity

V t :

Tangential velocity

SN :

Swirl number

G φ :

Axial flux of angular momentum

G x :

Axial thrust

N s :

The number of sampling points

f :

Fuel mass fraction at each point

\(\bar f\) :

Average fuel mass fraction of a section

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (Grant No. 2017-III-0006-0031).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Fujun Sun, Jianqin Suo & Zhenxia Liu

Authors
  1. Fujun Sun
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  2. Jianqin Suo
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  3. Zhenxia Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fujun Sun.

Additional information

Fujun Sun is a Ph.D. student of the School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an Shaanxi, China. He received his Bachelor degree in Flight Vehicle Propulsion Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include combustion instability and NOx reduction for aero-derivative and land-based gas turbine combustors.

Jianqin Suo is a Professor of the School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an Shaanxi, China. He received his Master degree in Engineering Thermophysics from Beihang University. His research interests include lean direct injection, lean pre-mixed combustion for aero-engine and land-based gas turbine combustors.

Zhenxia Liu is a Professor of the School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an Shaanxi, China. He received his Doctor degree in Engineering Thermophysics from Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include aeroengine internal air system basic theory and application.

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Sun, F., Suo, J. & Liu, Z. Effect of the swirl intensity on the non-reacting flowfields and fuel-air premixing characteristics for lean premixed combustors. J Mech Sci Technol 36, 433–444 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-1241-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-1241-5

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