5 results
Experiments on symmetry breaking of azimuthal combustion instabilities and their analysis combining acoustic energy balance and flame describing functions
- V. Latour, D. Durox, A. Renaud, S. Candel
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 985 / 25 April 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 April 2024, A31
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Combustion instabilities in annular systems raise fundamental issues that are also of practical importance to aircraft engines and ground-based gas turbine combustors. Recent studies indicate that the injector plays a significant role in the stability of combustors by defining the flame dynamical response and setting the inlet impedance of the system. The present investigation examines the effects of combinations of injectors of two different types ($U$ and $S$) on thermoacoustic instabilities in a laboratory-scale annular combustor and compares different circumferential staging strategies. The combustor operates in a stable fashion when all injection units belong to the $S$-family, but exhibits large amplitude pressure oscillations when all these units are of the $U$-type. When the system comprises a mix of $U$- and $S$-injectors, it is possible to determine the number of $S$-injectors leading to stable operation. For a fixed proportion of $U$- and $S$-injectors, some arrangements give rise to stable operation while others do not. Results also show that introducing symmetry-breaking elements affects the system's modal dynamics. These experimental observations are interpreted in an acoustic energy balance framework used to derive an expression for the growth rate as a function of the describing functions of the flames formed by the different injectors and their respective azimuthal locations. Growth rates are determined for the different configurations and used to explain the various observations, estimate the system damping rate and predict the location of the nodal line when the standing mode prevails.
Acoustic–convective mode conversion in an aerofoil cascade
- P. PALIES, D. DUROX, T. SCHULLER, S. CANDEL
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 672 / 10 April 2011
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 14 February 2011, pp. 545-569
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When an acoustic wave impinges on an aerofoil cascade, a convective vorticity mode is generated giving rise to transverse velocity perturbations. This mode conversion process is investigated to explain the flow dynamics observed when swirlers are submitted to incident acoustic disturbances. The phenomenon is first studied in the case of a two-dimensional aerofoil cascade using a model derived from an actuator disk theory. The model is simplified to deal with low-Mach-number flows. The velocity field on the downstream side of the cascade features two components, an axial perturbation associated with the transmitted acoustic wave and a transverse disturbance corresponding to the vorticity wave generated at the cascade trailing edge. The model provides the amplitude of both components and defines their phase shift. Numerical simulations are carried out in a second stage to validate this model in the case of a cascade operating at a low Reynolds number Rec = 2700 based on the chord length. Space–time diagrams of velocity perturbations deduced from these simulations are used to retrieve the two types of modes. Experiments are then carried out in the case of an axial swirler placed in a cylindrical duct and submitted to plane acoustic waves emitted on the upstream side of the swirler. The amplitude and phase of the two velocity components measured in the axial and azimuthal directions are found to be in good agreement with theoretical estimates and with numerical calculations. This analysis is motivated by combustion dynamics observed in flames stabilized by aerodynamic swirlers in continuous combustors.
A unified framework for nonlinear combustion instability analysis based on the flame describing function
- N. NOIRAY, D. DUROX, T. SCHULLER, S. CANDEL
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 615 / 25 November 2008
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 November 2008, pp. 139-167
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Analysis of combustion instabilities relies in most cases on linear analysis but most observations of these processes are carried out in the nonlinear regime where the system oscillates at a limit cycle. The objective of this paper is to deal with these two manifestations of combustion instabilities in a unified framework. The flame is recognized as the main nonlinear element in the system and its response to perturbations is characterized in terms of generalized transfer functions which assume that the gain and phase depend on the amplitude level of the input. This ‘describing function’ framework implies that the fundamental frequency is predominant and that the higher harmonics generated in the nonlinear element are weak because the higher frequencies are filtered out by the other components of the system. Based on this idea, a methodology is proposed to investigate the nonlinear stability of burners by associating the flame describing function with a frequency-domain analysis of the burner acoustics. These elements yield a nonlinear dispersion relation which can be solved, yielding growth rates and eigenfrequencies, which depend on the amplitude level of perturbations impinging on the flame. This method is used to investigate the regimes of oscillation of a well-controlled experiment. The system includes a resonant upstream manifold formed by a duct having a continuously adjustable length and a combustion region comprising a large number of flames stabilized on a multipoint injection system. The growth rates and eigenfrequencies are determined for a wide range of duct lengths. For certain values of this parameter we find a positive growth rate for vanishingly small amplitude levels, indicating that the system is linearly unstable. The growth rate then changes as the amplitude is increased and eventually vanishes for a finite amplitude, indicating the existence of a limit cycle. For other values of the length, the growth rate is initially negative, becomes positive for a finite amplitude and drops to zero for a higher value. This indicates that the system is linearly stable but nonlinearly unstable. Using calculated growth rates it is possible to predict amplitudes of oscillation when the system operates on a limit cycle. Mode switching and instability triggering may also be anticipated by comparing the growth rate curves. Theoretical results are found to be in excellent agreement with measurements, indicating that the flame describing function (FDF) methodology constitutes a suitable framework for nonlinear instability analysis.
Quenching processes and premixed turbulent combustion diagrams
- T. Poinsot, D. Veynante, S. Candel
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 228 / July 1991
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 April 2006, pp. 561-606
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The structure of premixed turbulent flames is a problem of fundamental interest in combustion theory. Possible flame geometries have been imagined and diagrams indicating the corresponding regimes of combustion have been constructed on the basis of essentially intuitive and dimensional considerations. A new approach to this problem is described in the present paper. An extended definition of flamelet regimes based on the existence of a continuous active (not quenched) flame front separating fresh gases and burnt products is first introduced. Direct numerical simulations of flame/vortex interactions using the full Navier–Stokes equations and a simplified chemistry model are then performed to predict flame quenching by isolated vortices. The formulation includes non-unity Lewis number, non-constant viscosity and heat losses so that the effect of stretch, curvature, transient dynamics and viscous dissipation can be accounted for. As a result, flame quenching by vortices (which is one of the key processes in premixed turbulent combustion) may be computed accurately. The effects of curvature and viscous dissipation on flame/vortex interactions may also be characterized by the same simulations. The influence of non-unity Lewis number and of thermo-diffusive processes in turbulent premixed combustion is discussed by comparing flame responses for two values of the Lewis number (Le = 0.8 and 1.2). An elementary (‘spectral’) diagram giving the response of one flame to a vortex pair is constructed. This spectral diagram is then used, along with certain assumptions, to establish a turbulent combustion diagram similar to those proposed by Borghi (1985) or Williams (1985). Results show that flame fronts are much more resistant to quenching by vortices than expected from the classical theories. A cut-off scale and a quenching scale are also obtained and compared with the characteristic scales proposed by Peters (1986). Results show that strain is not the only important parameters determining flame/vortex interaction. Heat losses, curvature, viscous dissipation and transient dynamics have significant effects, especially for small scales and they strongly influence the boundaries of the combustion regimes. It is found, for example, that the Klimov–Williams criterion which is generally advocated to limit the flamelet region, underestimates the size of this region by more than an order of magnitude.
Computation of jet mixing noise due to coherent structures: the plane jet case
- F. BASTIN, P. LAFON, S. CANDEL
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 335 / 25 March 1997
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 March 1997, pp. 261-304
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A computational approach to the prediction of jet mixing noise is described. It is based on Lighthill's analogy, used together with a semi-deterministic modelling of turbulence (SDM), where only the large-scale coherent motion is evaluated. The features of SDM are briefly illustrated in the case of shear layers, showing that suitable descriptions of the mean flow and of the large-scale fluctuations are obtained. Aerodynamic calculations of two cold fully expanded plane jets at Mach numbers 0.50 and 1.33 are then carried out. The numerical implementation of Lighthill's analogy is described and different integral formulations are compared for the two jets. It is shown that the one expressed in a space–time conjugate (κ, ω)-plane is particularly convenient and allows a simple geometrical interpretation of the computations. Acoustic results obtained with this formulation are compared to relevant experimental data. It is concluded that the radiation of subsonic jets cannot be explained only by the contribution of the turbulent coherent motion. In this case, directivity effects are well recovered but the acoustic spectra are too narrow and limited to the low-frequency range. In contrast at Mach number 1.33, especially in the forward quadrant, results are satisfactory, showing that coherent structures indeed provide the main source of supersonic jet mixing noise.