No abstract

An advanced numerical investigation has been carried out in order to study the effect of multiple injection strategies on Caterpillar heavy-duty diesel engine emissions. Both different injected fuel percentages for each pulse and several dwells between main and post phase were investigated via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and large eddy simulation (LES). Two sets of simulations were taken into account for 10% and 20% exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) fractions. In the first one, the main injection was split into two identical phases, while in the second one into three pulses. Within each set, three strategies were considered, increasing the amount of fuel injected during the main and concurrently decreasing the post pulse. Overall, 48 simulations were employed, since four different dwells between the last phase of the main and post injection were considered. Results show that the pollutant emissions minimization has been obtained for the Schemes injecting 65% and 70% of fuel for both two and three split strategies, but for different values of dwell. In fact, emissions very close to each other for NO x and particulate matter have been reached for these cases. Reductions of about −30% and −71% were respectively obtained for NO x and soot in comparison with experimental emissions related to the single injection case.

Modern gas turbines usually adopt very lean premixed flames to meet the current strict law restrictions on nitric oxides emissions. In such devices, strong combustion instabilities and blow-off susceptibility often prevent from achieving a stable flame in leaner conditions. Numerical models to predict the lean blow-off in turbulent flames are essential to prevent such instabilities, but the simulation of blow-off still represents a challenge, requiring the appropriate modelling for the turbulence-chemistry interactions and the highly transient behaviour of the flame near the extinction limit. The present work explores the capabilities of the widely-used Flamelet Generated Manifold model in predicting the lean blow-off of a turbulent swirl-stabilized premixed flame within LES framework. An atmospheric premixed methane-air flame, experimentally studied at the University of Cambridge, is firstly analyzed in three operating conditions approaching blow-off to validate the numerical setup. An extended Turbulent Flame Closure (TFC) model, implemented within the FGM framework in Fluent to introduce the effect of stretch and heat loss on the flame, reproduces the evolution of the key flame characteristics. Then, the chosen setup is used to study the blow-off inception and the dynamics in two conditions with different flow rate. An accelerated numerical procedure with progressive step reductions of equivalence ratio is used to trigger the blow-off. The extinction equivalence ratio is predicted quite accurately, showing that the Extended TFC is suitable for the study of the blow-off, without an increase in computational cost. The validity of the model could be extended, allowing the study of lean blow-off in realistic conditions and complex flames of gas turbine combustors.

This paper describes the development phases of an annular type combustor for heavy-duty gas turbine applications. High cycle efficiency and low emissions are required over a wide range of load conditions, with the consequence of reducing margin to thermo-acoustic instability onset and lean blow-out. In addition, in lean premixed combustors, the increased fuel air mixing times required to keep emissions low, may lead to undesired ignition or flashback into the fuel burner ducts. All these aspects are matter of this work and focus is on fuel burner design modifications which allowed dry emissions reduction while maintaining a sufficiently wide safe operation window. A synergic effort has been put in place, involving experimental campaigns and CFD simulations, with the purpose of assessing design changes initially and doing screening. In the meanwhile, numerical practices have taken benefits form the experience growth. Results of past work on similar components has been leveraged too. Test campaign involved different scale facilities, from single burner through full annular combustor up to full scale prototype engine. The progressive reduction of viable option for combustor components design changes, due to high impact of such modifications during the gas turbine late development phases, forced designers to concentrate efforts onto fuel burner optimization, looking for efficient ways to implement modifications and assess their effectiveness of combustion system performances. Emissions trends, blow-out and flashback margin for several burner designs are reported. Numerical analysis results are also shown, which revealed to be well aligned with the experimental outcomes, allowing burner optimized solution to be identified. Finally, characterization with respect to fuel gas composition is shown as well as sensitivity to different operating conditions.