Potential Use of Hydrogen In Air Propulsion

Brand, Joseph G.; Sampath, Sam; Shum, F.; Bayt, Robert L.; Cohen, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.2514/6.2003-2879

Cited by 28 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In the long term, alternative fuels like bio fuels and hydrogen are likely to replace traditional jet fuel [1][2][3] . Experimental tests on low NO x hydrogen combustors for aero engines have been conducted within the European Union supported FP7 project Advanced Hybrid Engines for Aircraft Development (AHEAD).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow Field Manipulation by Axial Air Injection to Achieve Flashback Resistance and its Impact on Mixing Quality

Reichel

Steffen

Paschereit

2013

43rd Fluid Dynamics Conference

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Lean premixed combustion allows for fuel-efficient, low emission combustion and is nowadays state of the art in stationary gas turbines. In the long term, it is also a promising approach for aero engines, when safety issues like flame flashback in the premixer can be overcome. We apply axial air injection in a swirl-stabilized burner in order to achieve a flow field that allows for flashback-proof combustion of premixed hydrogen. This is realized by introducing a non-swirling jet on the central axis of the radial swirl generator which influences the vortex breakdown position. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is applied in order to evaluate the impact of axial injection on the isothermal flow field in a water tunnel. These tests identified the minimum amount of axial injection required for each configuration to overcome the axial velocity deficits at the nozzle outlet. Flashback-free operation for the burner setup with axial injection is proven in atmospheric gas-fired tests for inlet temperatures up to 620 K and up to stoichiometric conditions. OH* chemiluminescence images verify the flame to remain anchored in the combustion chamber over the whole range of operational conditions, thus, justifying the approach, to predict flashback safety in combustion tests from isothermal water tunnel experiments. Moreover, the impact of axial injection on fuel-air mixing is evaluated in the water tunnel by the means of Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF). The trends predicted by the mixing analysis are shown to correlate with NO x emissions from gas-fired tests, confirming a potential for emission prediction from isothermal tests. Additionally, axial air injection is verified to decrease temporal unmixedness and only negligibly increase spatial unmixedness, hence allowing for flashback-proof combustion at very low NO x emissions. Nomenclature χ ratio of swirled to total volume floẇ V volume flow · spatial averaging operator (·) temporal averaging operator D burner outlet diameter D or orifice diameter for axial air injection l mt length of mixing tube Re Reynolds number S geometric swirl number S t Strouhal number T in inlet temperature U s spatial unmixedness U t temporal unmixedness U 0 bulk velocity at the nozzle outlet U ax axial velocity U r radial velocity

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow Field Manipulation by Axial Air Injection to Achieve Flashback Resistance and its Impact on Mixing Quality

Reichel

Steffen

Paschereit

2013

43rd Fluid Dynamics Conference

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“…Results from that effort showed significant NO x reductions, up to one order of magnitude (from part per million (ppm) levels of 10+ with hydrocarbons to < 1 with hydrogen), using micro-mixing and pre-mixed fuel injectors when tested at ambient pressure in auxiliary power units (APU). Additional work 8,9 was conducted on aircraft gas turbine configurations in both flame tube and sector testing. As with the APU testing, NO x reductions can be accomplished by converting from hydrocarbon to hydrogen fuels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Emission Hydrogen Combustors for Gas Turbines Using Lean Direct Injection

Marek

Smith²,

Kundu³

2005

41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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One of the key technology challenges for the use of hydrogen in gas turbine engines is the performance of the combustion system, in particular the fuel injectors. To investigate the combustion performance of gaseous hydrogen fuel injectors flame tube combustor experiments were performed. Tests were conducted to measure the nitrogen oxide (NO x ) emissions and combustion performance at inlet conditions of 600 to 1000 °F, 60 to 200 psia, and equivalence ratios up to 0.48. All the injectors were based on Lean Direct Injection (LDI) technology with multiple injection points and quick mixing. One challenge to hydrogen based premixing combustion systems is flashback since hydrogen has a reaction rate over seven times that of Jet-A. To reduce the risk, design mixing times were kept short and velocities high to minimize flashback. Five fuel injector designs were tested in 2.

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“…The turbofan engine is a three-shaft configuration variant of a typical Rolls-Royce engine in terms of shaft configuration [40] Figure 1. Temperature characteristics of LH 2 and kerosene as a function of the equivalence ratio [6].…”

Section: System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high energy per unit mass reduces the total fuel weight, thereby enabling more payload or flight range than jet fuel. However, the benefit of high energy per unit mass is countered by the low density of hydrogen, requiring high storage volume, which could erode aircraft performance relative to jet fuel [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since LH 2 has a much greater stability limit, the primary combustion zone could be designed to realize lean combustion at all load conditions without approaching flameout. However, an imperfection in the fuel to air ratio (FAR) can create a localized fuel-rich and high-temperature flame pocket [6]. Hence, micromix combustors have been proposed to offer benefits that extend beyond NOx reduction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thermodynamic Performance and Creep Life Assessment Comparing Hydrogen- and Jet-Fueled Turbofan Aero Engine

et al. 2021

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There is renewed interest in hydrogen as an alternative fuel for aero engines, due to their perceived environmental and performance benefits compared to jet fuel. This paper presents a cycle, thermal performance, energy and creep life assessment of hydrogen compared with jet fuel, using a turbofan aero engine. The turbofan cycle performance was simulated using a code developed by the authors that allows hydrogen and jet fuel to be selected as fuel input. The exergy assessment uses both conservations of energy and mass and the second law of thermodynamics to understand the impact of the fuels on the exergy destruction, exergy efficiency, waste factor ratio, environmental effect factor and sustainability index for a turbofan aero engine. Finally, the study looks at a top-level creep life assessment on the high-pressure turbine hot section influenced by the fuel heating values. This study shows performance (64% reduced fuel flow rate, better SFC) and more extended blade life (15% increase) benefits using liquefied hydrogen fuel, which corresponds with other literary work on the benefits of LH2 over jet fuel. This paper also highlights some drawbacks of hydrogen fuel based on previous research work, and gives recommendations for future work, aimed at maturing the hydrogen fuel concept in aviation.

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Potential Use of Hydrogen In Air Propulsion

Cited by 28 publications

References 2 publications

Flow Field Manipulation by Axial Air Injection to Achieve Flashback Resistance and its Impact on Mixing Quality

Flow Field Manipulation by Axial Air Injection to Achieve Flashback Resistance and its Impact on Mixing Quality

Low Emission Hydrogen Combustors for Gas Turbines Using Lean Direct Injection

Thermodynamic Performance and Creep Life Assessment Comparing Hydrogen- and Jet-Fueled Turbofan Aero Engine

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