Effect of variation of inlet boundary conditions on the combustion flow-field of a typical double cavity scramjet combustor

The present research work deals with the numerical simulation of double cavity scramjet combustor by using two equation standard k-$\epsilon$ turbulence model and finite-rate/eddy-dissipation reaction models which is again coupled with Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations to investigate the influence of variation of inlet boundary condition of air as well as H₂ fuel on the combustion flow-field of scramjet engine subsequently. At the same time, the validations of the current computational approach have been completed against a standard experimental data which is available in the literature. An acceptable similarity is observed between present numerical approach with the experimentally attained schlieren photograph and the pressure distribution curve. In the present work, 8 different cases are studied. Among them, first four cases are investigated for the variation of inlet boundary condition of air and the remaining four cases are studied for the variation of inlet boundary condition of H₂ fuel. The obtained results show that the formation of high-pressure region around the cavities for case 3 and case 4 actually helps to push the greater amount of air to the cavity region where it is mixed with adequate amount of H₂ for proper and stable combustion whereas for case 6, it is observed that most of the combustion phenomena closely fitted into a small space of the combustor and mainly occurs near the cavity region.     

Experimental investigation on the temperature and heat-transfer characteristics of rotating-detonation-combustor outer wall

The thermal management on rotating detonation engine is attracting much attention in recent years. In this study, the experiments were performed on a rotating detonation combustor to study the temperature and heat-transfer characteristics of the outer wall. Hydrogen, which was used as fuel, was injected into chamber through 120 orifices uniformly distributed in front of combustor, and air, which was functioned as an oxidiser, was injected into combustion chamber through an annular slot. An infrared thermal imaging was used to measure the temperature of outer wall. All the experimental test cases could obtain a stable rotating detonation wave, and the hot-gas temperature decreased with the increase of axial-direction length. The temperature initially increased and then decreased from the head of the wall towards the back. The heat which transferred from the hot gas to the outer wall was further large than the value of losing during the combustor operation, resulting in an approximately linear relationship for the temperature rise. There was a similar distribution trend for the outer-wall heat flux under the conditions of different equivalence ratios, and the location of 20% distance, relative to combustor length, had a biggest heat flux.     

Experimental study of the effects of hydrogen addition on the thermoacoustic instability in a variable-length combustor

The current study examined the self-excited thermoacoustic instability of hydrogen/methane premixed flames using a variable-length combustor (300–1100 mm). The global dynamic pressure, heat release rate oscillation, together with the flame dynamics were studied. Results showed that both the hydrogen concentration and the chamber length were critical in determining the acoustic oscillation mode and instability trend. Low-frequency primary acoustic modes (<200 Hz) were mainly excited when the hydrogen concentration was low, whereas primary acoustic modes with relatively higher frequencies (~400 Hz) tended to occur in cases with a high hydrogen proportion (>40%). For primary acoustic modes lower than 200 Hz, the primary oscillation frequency tended to increase linearly with a rising hydrogen proportion. Heat release oscillation and flame dynamics analyses demonstrated that for the flame with large-scale shape deformation, the initial addition of hydrogen would intensify the heat release oscillation. Nevertheless, a further increase in the hydrogen level tended to inhibit the heat release oscillation by weakening the flame shape deformation. Eventually, a sufficient high-level of hydrogen addition would weaken the primary acoustic modes that have similar frequencies.     

Numerical study on premixed hydrogen/air combustion characteristics and heat transfer enhancement of micro-combustor embedded with pin fins

Aimed at improving the energy output performance of the Microthermal Photovoltaic (MTPV) system, it is necessary to optimize the structure of the micro combustor. In this paper, micro combustor with in-line pin fins arrays (MCIPF) and micro combustor with both end-line pin fins arrays (MCEPF) were presented to realize the efficient combustion and heat transfer enhancement, and the influence of inlet velocity, equivalent ratio, and materials on thermal performance was investigated. The results showed that pin fins embedding is beneficial to improving combustion, and the combustion efficiency of MCIPF and MCEPF reaches 98.5% and 98.7%, which is significantly higher than that of the conventional cylindrical combustor (MCC). However, with the increase of inlet velocity from 8 m/s to 14 m/s, MCIPF exhibits the highest external wall temperature with a range of (1302–1386 K), while MCEPF maintains the best temperature uniformity. As the inlet velocity increases to 10 m/s, the external wall temperature and temperature uniformity reach the optimum. Besides, under the conditions of different equivalence ratios, both external wall temperature and heat flux increases first and then decreases, meanwhile the temperature uniformity of MCEPF is significantly improved compared with that of MCIPF, they all exhibit the highest external wall temperature with an equivalence ratio of 1.1, and the thermal performance is greatly enhanced. By comparing the heat transfer performance of combustors with different materials based on MCEPF, it is interesting to find that the application of high thermal conductivity materials can not only increase the external wall temperature, but also improve the temperature uniformity. Therefore, materials with high thermal conductivity such as Aluminum, Red Copper and Silicon Carbide should be selected for application in micro combustors and their components. The current work provides a new design method for the enhanced heat transfer of the micro combustor.     

Multi-factor impact mechanism on combustion efficiency of a hydrogen-fueled micro-cylindrical combustor

As it is important to achieve higher combustion efficiency for applications of micro-cylindrical combustor, the multi-factor impact mechanism on the combustion efficiency of a hydrogen-fuelled micro-cylindrical combustor is investigated in this work. Firstly, six factors such as hydrogen/air equivalence ratio, inlet velocity, inlet temperature, wall thermal conductivity, wall emissivity and convective heat transfer coefficient of outer wall and five levels of each factor are determined. Orthogonal design table L₂₅(5⁶) is introduced to arrange cases. Secondly, grey relational analysis is adopted to investigate the effects of the six factors on combustion efficiency. Finally, the results of grey relational analysis are validated by analysis of variance. Based on grey relational analysis and analysis of variance, it is determined that the impact ranking from the largest to the smallest is hydrogen/air equivalence ratio, inlet velocity and inlet temperature, followed by the other three factors. The impact of wall thermal conductivity, convective heat transfer coefficient of outer wall and wall emissivity is considered to be equal due to their difference of impact on combustion efficiency is very small. This work provides us significant reference for optimizing combustion efficiency of a hydrogen-fuelled micro-cylindrical combustor.     

Experimental Investigations of the Flow Field Structure and Interactions between Sectors of a Double-Swirl Low-Emission Combustor

In this paper,the flow field characteristics of a double-swirl low-emission combustor were analyzed by using Particle Imaging Velocimetry(PIV)technology in an optical three-sector combustor test rig.The interactions between sectors and the flow field structure were explained.The results illustrated that there was a big difference between the flow field structures of the middle sector and the side sector under the same pressure drop,which was mainly induced by the interactions between sectors.The interactions made the swirl intensity of the middle sector weaker than that of the side sector,which made the recirculation zone of the middle sector be smaller than that of the side sector.With the increase of swirler pressure drop,the jet velocity at the exit of the swirler,the jet expansion angle,the width of the recirculation zone and the recirculating speed of the central axis became larger,enhancing the interactions between air streams from middle sector and side sector.The flow velocity in the central plane between sectors was small,especially the radial velocity,mainly because of the loss of the swirl intensity by the interactions between flow field of adjacent sectors.The expansion angle determined the position of the vortex in the primary recirculation zone;the axial and radial position of the vortex move downstream and radial outward with the increase of the jet expansion angle.The results of the mechanism of flow field organization in this study can be used to support the design of new low-emission combustor.     

混合叶片吸力面径向槽对燃烧室性能影响的数值研究

为了分析混合叶片吸力面上的径向槽对超紧凑燃烧室性能的影响,基于Wilson混合叶片的试验,设计了6种不同二次气流量的工况,利用FLUENT软件的Realizable k-ε湍流模型、混合分数/概率密度函数(PDF)燃烧模型、离散坐标(DO)辐射模型和离散相模型对燃烧室的流动及燃烧进行数值模拟。结果表明:随着二次气流量的增加,燃烧环内压力和离心力逐渐增大;二次气流量的变化对燃烧效率影响较小,对出口燃气温度分布系数、压力损失和出口污染物排放量影响较大;叶片径向槽起到了迁移环内燃烧产物和进一步掺混燃油和空气的重要作用,改善了出口燃气径向平均温度分布,提高了出口燃气温度场品质。     

Investigations on Emission Characteristics of a Liquid-Fueled Trapped Vortex Combustor

The combustion and emission formation process of liquid fuel in the trapped vortex combustor(TVC)are very complicated.A trapped vortex combustor with replaceable bluff-bodies was designed to investigate these processes.The bluff-body widths varied from 0.021 m to 0.036 m.Experimental tests were carried out.Liquid RP-3 aviation kerosene was used in the tests.Emissions were measured under atmospheric pressure.The combustion process was analyzed theoretically in the viewpoints of relative evaporation time,mixing time and reaction time.Numerical simulations were also conducted to help analyze the formation and depletion processes of pollutants in TVC.The results reveal that atomization was a critical factor for formation and depletion processes of pollutants.By controlling mixing speed of burned and unburned gases and thus fuel-air uniformity,turbulence intensity could also affect emission levels.In addition,residence time also affected the emissions by affecting combustion completeness and the time for NOx formation.All these factors were combined in a complicated way to affect combustion process and pollutant emissions.     

Co-firing hydrogen and dimethyl ether in a gas turbine model combustor: Influence of hydrogen content and comparison with methane

To promote the utilization of hydrogen (H₂) in existing gas turbines, dimethyl ether (DME) was used to co-fire with H₂ in a model combustor. The swirl combustion characteristics of DME/H₂ mixtures were measured under the varying H₂ content up to 0.7. The results show that the flow velocity elevates as the H₂ content increases, which is associated with the increased flame temperature. The OH level firstly increases and subsequently keeps nearly unchanged as the H₂ content increases. Meanwhile, the OH area nonlinearly increases with the increasing H₂ content. Moreover, the increasing H₂ content induces almost linearly decreased lean blowout limit (LBO), increased NO emission, and intensified combustion acoustics. Furthermore, the combustion characteristics of the 0.46DME/0.54H₂ mixture and CH₄ with the same volumetric heat value were compared. The 0.46DME/0.54H₂ flame displays lower LBO and higher NO emission than the CH₄ flame, which mainly results from the higher reactivity of 0.46DME/0.54H₂ mixture.     

涡流燃烧发动机燃烧室数值模拟

为研究涡流冷壁火箭发动机燃烧室内部的流动情况,分别采用RNGk-ε模型和雷诺应力模型对涡流冷壁发动机燃烧室流场进行数值模拟,确定采用雷诺应力模型能够较好的模拟冷态双旋涡流动。通过数值模拟得到了外层准自由涡,内层准强迫涡的Rankine组合涡结构。研究表明:数值模拟得到的流动结果比冷态模型更接近实际情况;三维效应在准自由涡区域比较明显,在强迫涡区域很小,总体上不影响燃烧室内的双旋涡流动结构。