Effect of Combustor Inlet Geometry on Acoustic Signature and Flow Field Behavior of the Low Swirl Injector

Low Swirl Injector (LSI) technology is a lean premixed combustion method that is being developed for fuel-flexible gas turbines. The objective of this study is to characterize the fuel effects and influences of combustor geometry on the LSI’s overall acoustic signatures and flowfields. The experiments consist of 24 flames at atmospheric condition with bulk flows ranging between 10 and 18 m/s. The flames burn CH₄ (at φ = 0.6 & 0.7) and a blend of 90% H₂ - 10% CH₄ by volume (at φ = 0.35 & 0.4). Two combustor configurations are used, consisting of a cylindrical chamber with and without a divergent quarl at the dump plane. The data consist of pressure spectral distributions at five positions within the system and 2D flowfield information measured by Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV). The results show that acoustic oscillations increase with U₀ and φ. However, the levels in the 90% H₂ flames are significantly higher than in the CH₄ flames. For both fuels, the use of the quarl reduces the fluctuating pressures in the combustion chamber by up to a factor of 7. The PIV results suggest this to be a consequence of the quarl restricting the formation of large vortices in the outer shear layer. A Generalized Instability Model (GIM) was applied to analyze the acoustic response of baseline flames for each of the two fuels. The measured frequencies and the stability trends for these two cases are predicted and the triggered acoustic mode shapes identified.