Swirl and Combustion Effects on Flow Dynamics in Lean Direct Injection Gas Turbine Combustion

The effect of swirl and combustion are presented for a Lean Direct Injection (LDI) configuration in gas turbine combustion. Specifically, the effect of radial distribution of combustion air and swirl in a burner are examined under nonburning and burning conditions using propane as the fuel. The present study explores single swirler interaction with the use of an experimental double concentric swirl burner that simulates one swirler of a practical gas turbine combustor. Flowfield data has been obtained using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for varying swirl distributions. The flow characteristics of the resulting flowfields have been examined under lean direct injection (LDI) conditions. The affects of coand counter-swirl have also been carried out. Results showed that both swirl and combustion has significant effect on the characteristics of the internal and external recirculation zones. Combustion provides greater axial velocities than their counter non-combustion conditions. The counter-swirl combination resulted in smaller and more well defined internal recirculation regions. The results provide the role of swirl and combustion on the mean and turbulence characteristics of flows over a range of swirl and shear conditions between the inner and outer flow of the burner. This data provides important insights on the flow dynamics in addition to providing data for model validation and model development.