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Mixed acoustic–entropy combustion instabilities in gas turbines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2014

Emmanuel Motheau Open the ORCID record for Emmanuel Motheau [Opens in a new window] ,
Franck Nicoud  and
Thierry Poinsot
Emmanuel Motheau*
Affiliation:
CERFACS, 42 avenue Gaspard Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse, France
Franck Nicoud
Affiliation:
CNRS – I3M, University Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, France
Thierry Poinsot
Affiliation:
CNRS – Institut de Mécanique des Fluides, 1 Allée du Professeur Camille Soula, 31000 Toulouse, France
*
†Email address for correspondence: emmanuel.motheau@adelaide.edu.au
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Abstract

A combustion instability in a combustor terminated by a nozzle is analysed and modelled based on a low-order Helmholtz solver. A large eddy simulation (LES) of the corresponding turbulent, compressible and reacting flow is first performed and analysed based on dynamic mode decomposition (DMD). The mode with the highest amplitude shares the same frequency of oscillation as the experiment (approximately 320 Hz) and shows the presence of large entropy spots generated within the combustion chamber and convected down to the exit nozzle. The lowest purely acoustic mode being in the range 700–750 Hz, it is postulated that the instability observed around 320 Hz stems from a mixed entropy–acoustic mode, where the acoustic generation associated with entropy spots being convected throughout the choked nozzle plays a key role. The DMD analysis allows one to extract from the LES results a low-order model that confirms that the mechanism of the low-frequency combustion instability indeed involves both acoustic and convected entropy waves. The delayed entropy coupled boundary condition (DECBC) (Motheau, Selle & Nicoud, J. Sound Vib., vol. 333, 2014, pp. 246–262) is implemented into a numerical Helmholtz solver where the baseline flow is assumed at rest. When fed with appropriate transfer functions to model the entropy generation and convection from the flame to the exit, the Helmholtz/DECBC solver predicts the presence of an unstable mode around 320 Hz, in agreement with both LES and experiments.

JFM classification

Acoustics: Acoustics Reacting Flows: Combustion Reacting Flows: Reacting Flows

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Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 749 , 25 June 2014 , pp. 542 - 576
Copyright
© 2014 Cambridge University Press 

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