COMBUSTION CHAMBER DESIGN ASPECT IN THE CURRENT

TREND

ASSIGNMENT 1

BY
ABHISHEK KUMAR SINGH
SAP ID: 500051303
R123206001
 GAS TURBINES

Gas turbines must typically operate over a wide load range. Thus, the combustion
chamber should be designed to operate stably over wide range of conditions.
Some wanted aspects are: rapid and reliable ignition, operate over a wide range
of mixtures without danger of blowoff, have minimum loss in pressure, have
uniform exit temperature, be small in size and durable, and have low emission.
These aspects are wanted for aircraft and industrial gas turbine combustors, but
for aircraft combustors the requirements are more rigorous. Conventional gas
turbines consist of an inlet diffuser, a fuel injector, a swirler, and three
combustion zones, primary, secondary and dilution.

The aim of the present work is to provide information for conventional

combustors design methodology, which requires minimum development time. As
such, the methodology emphasis is on the practical rather than theoretical
aspects of combustor design. Some equations utilized in the calculation are based
on empirical works available in the literature or in the accumulated experience of
some decades of gas turbine utilization. The sequence of calculations presented in
the present paper does not represent the most advanced methodology possible
to design a gas turbine combustion chamber; there are recent articles in the
specialized literature which present some new advances in this area. However,
the idea of the present work is not to show the state of the art of combustion
chamber design, but a methodology that does not require sophisticated
computational calculations. So that, classical empirical results are used to obtain
the combustor configuration and operational parameters.

A criterion for selecting a suitable combustor configuration is examined followed

by design calculations for the dimensions of the casing, the liner, the diffuser, and
the swirler. Calculations of gas temperature in the various zones of the combustor
and liner wall temperatures in the presence of film cooling are performed along
with design calculations for the dimensions of the air admission holes. A
computational program was developed based on the purposed preliminary design
methodology, and a combustor chamber designed using this program is also
presented here

COMBUSTION CHAMBER

The combustion chamber (fig.3) has the difficult task of burning large quantities
of fuel, supplied through the fuel spray nozzles, with extensive volumes of air,
supplied by the compressor and releasing the heat in such a manner that the air is
expanded and accelerated to give a smooth stream of uniformly heated gas at all
conditions required by the turbine. This task must be accomplished with the
minimum loss in pressure and with the maximum heat release for the limited
space available. The amount of fuel added to the air will depend upon the
temperature rise required. However, the maximum temperature is limited to
within the range of 850 to 1700 deg. C. by the materials from which the turbine
blades and nozzles are made. The air has already been heated to between 200
and550 deg. C. by the work done during compression, giving a temperature rise
requirement of 650 to 1150 deg. C. from the combustion process. Since the gas
temperature required at the turbine varies with engine thrust, and in the case of
the turbo-propeller engine upon the power required, the combustion chamber
must also be capable of maintaining stable and efficient combustion over a wide
range of engine operating conditions. Efficient combustion has become
increasingly important because of the rapid rise in commercial aircraft traffic and
the consequent increase in atmospheric pollution, which is seen by the general
public as exhaust smoke.
Combustor Performance and OperabilityRequirements

Besides the emission certication rules, performance and operability

requirements have to be fullled. One of the restrictions for combustor design is
the requirement for altitude relight [7]. Reestablishment of the combustion after
a ameout usually has to be possible at an altitude of about 30.000 feet within
the whole ight envelope This requirement can be translated into a condition on
the residence time in the primary combustion zone and its stoichiometry.

Another important operability requirement of a combustor is the weak extinction

limit. The extinction occurs earlier, i.e. at a lower air-fuel ratio (AFR), if the air into
the engine is mixed with water components, which may occur in inclement
weather like rain, hail or snow. Suitable safety factors have to be incorporated to
meet these requirements for a safe operation.

COMBUSTION PROCESS

Air from the engine compressor enters the combustion chamber at a velocity up
to 500 feet per second, but because at this velocity the air speed is far too high
for combustion, the first thing that the chamber must do is to diffuse it, i.e.
decelerate it and raise its static pressure. Since the speed of burning kerosene at
normal mixture ratios is only a few feet per second, any fuel lit even in the
diffused air stream, which now has a velocity of about 80 feet per second, would
be blown away. A region of low axial velocity has therefore to be created in the
chamber, so that the flame will remain alight throughout the of a combustion
chamber can vary between 45:1 and130:1, However, kerosene will only burn
efficiently at, or close to, a ratio of 15:1, so the fuel must be burned with only part
of the air entering the chamber, in what is called a primary combustion zone. This
is achieved by means of a flame tube (combustion liner) that has various devices
for metering the airflow distribution along the chamber.

Approximately 20 per cent of the air mass flow is taken in by the snout or entry
section .Immediately downstream of the snout are swirl vanes and a perforated
flare, through which air passes into the primary combustion zone. The swirling air
induces a flow upstream of the centre of the flame tube and promotes the
desired recirculation. The air not picked up by the snout flows into the annular
Space between the flame tube and the air casing.

Through the wall of the flame tube body, adjacent to the combustion zone, are a
selected number of secondary holes through which a further 20 per cent of the
main flow of air passes into the primary zone. The air from the swirl vanes and
that from the secondary air holes interacts and creates a region of low velocity
recirculation. This takes the form of a toroidal vortex, similar to a smoke ring,
which has the effect of stabilizing and anchoring the flame .The re-circulating
gases hasten the burning of freshly injected fuel droplets by rapidly bringing them
to ignition temperature.
It is arranged that the conical fuel spray from the nozzle intersects the
recirculation vortex at its centre. This action, together with the general
turbulence in the primary zone, greatly assists in breaking up the fuel and mixing
it with the incoming air. The temperature of the gases released by combustion is
about 1,800 to 2,000 deg. C., which is far too hot for entry to the nozzle guide
vanes of the turbine. The air not used for combustion, which amounts to about 60
per cent of the total airflow, is therefore introduced progressively into the flame
tube. Approximately a third of this is used to lower the gas temperature in the
dilution zone before it enters the turbine and the remainder is used for cooling
the walls of the flame tube. This is achieved by a film of cooling air flowing along
the inside surface of the flame tube wall, insulating it from the hot combustion
gases. A recent development allows cooling air to enter a network of passages
within the flame tube wall before exiting to form an insulating film of air, this can
reduce the required wall cooling airflow by up to 50 per cent. Combustion should
be completed before the dilution air enters the flame tube, otherwise the
incoming air will cool the flame and incomplete combustion will result.

Combustor Dimensions

The reference area (Aref) is defined as the maximum cross sectional area of the
casing in the absence of a liner; and it is selected by considering the possibility of
either chemical or pressures loss limitations. presents the reference length Dref
for different combustor configurations.
The dimensions of a combustor might be determined either by aerodynamic or by
chemical rate control. Generally, when the combustor is sized for a specific
pressure loss, it will be sufficient to accommodate the chemical process too.
However, it is necessary verify all possibilities before the final choice. So that it is
recommended attention about the aerodynamic and chemical considerations.
The Aref is calculated by the Eq.s (1) or (2) (Fig).

Aref = Dref2/4 for multi-can combustor (1)

Aref = [(2 Dref +Dint)2]/4 (Dint2)/4, for annular and can-annular combustors
(2)

Aerodynamic Considerations

Table presents representative values of pressure loss terms for different

combustors, where P34 is the combustor overall pressures loss, P3 is the total
pressure at the combustor inlet, qref is the dynamic pressure at the maximum
crosssectional area, 3 m is the total air mass flow rate and T3 is total temperature
at the combustor inlet. And the Eq. 3 calculates the reference area.
where Ra is 143,5 J.kg-1.K-1.

Combustion Considerations

For any operation condition (fuel/air ratio), the combustion efficiency is a

function of , defined in Eq. 4 (Lefebvre and Halls, 1959). The empirical relation
between combustion efficiency and the parameter is presented in Lefebrve
(1966) and in Melconian and Modak (1985). The major part of combustors has
combustion efficiency close to 100% when is 73x10-6

The parameter b in Eq. 4 is the temperature corrector factor, calculated by the

empirical Eq.s 5 or 6 (Herbert, 1962), depending the equivalence ratio in primary
zone (defined in Eq. (7)).
In Eq. 7, mzp C is the air mass flow rate in primary zone and global is the overall
combustor equivalence ratio. The primary zone equivalence ratio must be chosen
into the flammability range. For most hydrocarbon combustion in air, examination
of the determined flame limit temperatures for lean mixtures shows that they lie
around 1600K (Melconian and Modak, 1985), and pressures has little effect upon
this limit. Then, the lean mixture limiting equivalence ratio will be given by a
mixture having a temperature rise of T = 1600 T3. The corresponding rich
extinction value is obtained in a similar way. The flammability limits might be
determined by thermochemistry calculations (chemical equilibrium). Equation 4 is
solved with numerical methods to find Dref, replacing the reference area Aref from
Eq. 1 or 2 and the temperature correction factor b from Eq. 5 or Eq. 6.

Combustor Area and Diameter

There will be two values of Dref and Aref for each operating condition, one from
aerodynamic consideration and other from combustions considerations. These
values are used to calculate the combustor sectional area (Aft) by the Eq. 8

This simple relationship is quite satisfactory for single can, multi-can, and can-
annular; but for annular combustor a value of about 0.65-0.67 is more
appropriated (Melconian and Modak, 1985). The sectional length Dft is obtained
from the value Aft and in agreement to the combustor geometry (see Fig).

The values of Dref and Dft must be chosen such as it accommodates the
aerodynamic and combustion considerations in every operating condition.

Preliminary Estimate of Air Distribution and the Size of Combustor Zones

According to Odgers (1980), the amount of film cooling air is:

Percent film cooling air (of the total air from the compressor) = 0.1T3 30 (9)
The air on the primary and secondary zone is defined considering the richest
operating condition and replacing its equivalence ratio in Eq. 10 (Melconian and
Modak, 1985), msz is the air on the secondary zone.

The length of the primary zone (LPZ) is considered to be of Dft and the
secondary zone is of Dft (Melconian and Modak, 1985). The length of dilution
zone is a function of Temperature Traverse Quality in the combustor exit (TQ) and
Pressure Loss Factor (P34/qref, see Tab. 1). The TQ is defined as peak gas
temperature minus mean gas temperature divided by mean temperature rise (TQ
= (Tmax T4)/(T4 T3)), and the usual range is between 0.05 and 0.30. Typical
values for Pressure Loss Factor are presented in above tables shows the dilution
zone length to sectional length ratio (LDZ/Dft) as function of TQ for different values
of Pressure Loss Factor. These results are based on the graphs presented by
Melconian and Modak (1985). For values of P3-4/qref different of those presented
in Table 2, it is necessary an interpolation. For example, the typical value of P3-
4/qref for multi-can is 40 (as presented in first table), there is not a curve for this
value of pressure loss in the TQ x LDZ/Dft diagram presented by Melconian and
Modak.

Diffuser

The Diffuser Geometry is represented in Fig. 3(a). The annular area, Aan, is the
difference between Aref e Aft. The A3 area is the compressor exit. The A0 is
calculated assuming the air velocity in this sectional area is equal to Aan air
velocity, then:
For conventional design, about half of primary zone air mass flow rate would be
admitted through the swirler and as dome-cooling. Thus, the air admitted through
As(ms ) is mpz/2; and man=m3-m5 . The mass flow rate m3 corresponds to the sum
of the air admitted in primary zone through the swirl and the air admitted
through domecooling slots.

The angle is obtained by Eq. 12, derived by Kretschmer (cited by Lefebvre,

1983) based upon a formula cited in Perry (1950).

and 1.75.Ra = 502.4 J/(kg.k)

The typical pressure loss in the diffuser Pdif/P3 is 1%. The area As is calculated
using Eq. 13 (Melconian and Modak, 1985)

where, Cd,S is the snout discharge coefficient, and for a uniform compressor
delivery it should approach unit. The length of the diffuser Ldif comes from Eq. 14.

where R0 and R3 are D0/2 and D3/2, respectively (as represented in Figure).
 Swirler

The turning angle of the air flow SW lies between 45 and 70 (Melconian and
Modak, 1985). The swirler area Asw is calculated by the pressure-loss relationship
purposed by Knight and Walker (1957).

The total pressure loss across the swirler is the total pressure loss across the
combustor minus the total pressure loss inside the snout and minus the total
pressure loss in the diffuser. The concordance factor KSW is 1.30 for thin straight
blades and 1.15 for thin curved blades. Experiments have shown that the
combustor will perform well for amounts ranging from 3% to 12% of the total air (
msw ), and 8 to 10 blades.

Recirculation Zone

The length of the recirculation zone approximates two swirler diameters and must
be smaller than the primary zone. Equations 16 and 17 calculate the angle and the
length of the dome, respectively (see Fig).

Temperature Calculations

The combustor is divided into four zones: recirculation zone, primary zone,
secondary zone and dilution zone. For each zone, the local temperature will be
assumed to vary linearly between the zone inlet temperature (Tin) and zone outlet
temperature (Tout). For every zone, the outlet temperature is calculated by the
equation (18).
Where is given by:

Primary Zone (without recirculation zone)

Equation 20 gives the combustion efficiency in this zone, and Eq. 18 is utilized to
calculate Tout. T is the adiabatic flame temperature for the equivalence ratio PZ.

Secondary and Dilution Zone

The secondary zone inlet temperature is equal to the primary zone outlet
temperature. To evaluate the efficiency in the secondary zone, first it is necessary
to know if mixture is weak or rich (SZ). In the case of weak mixtures, Eq. 21
calculates the combustion efficiency.

where D* is a empirical constant determined by the equation (22); T3 is the

kinetic fuel loading, and for T3 = 300K is defined as mf(vpz p3^n) , where m3 is fuel
mass flow rate, VPZ is the primary zone volume, Eq. 23, and n is the reaction order
given by Odgers and Carrier (1973) as: n = 1,0 for SZ 0.5, n = 2SZ for 0.5 < SZ
1.0, n = 2/SZ for 1.0 < SZ 2.0, and n = 1.0 for SZ >2.0. If T3 is different of 300K,
then the correction equation (Eq. 24) is used for T3 (Venneman, 1959).

The Computational Program

Based on the methodology described before, a computational program in Delphi

computational language was developed. This language was chosen due friendly
interface with the user. Is not necessary to know the equations details to use the
program, but it is necessary a basic knowledge about the operation conditions
parameters and some aspects that must be assumed to combustor design.

The starter values or the results are presented in a sequence of screens; the total
is seventeen, including the first one, which is the program presentation. Here just
six screens are shown here, due the space limitation.

In the second screen, presented in Fig. 4, the user must inform the operation
conditions. The program select four operation situations, because the aircraft gas
turbines have four well defined operation situations: maximum thrust, maximum
altitude, normal cruise, and idle. The program proceeds the calculation of Dft for
these four situations, and the user must choose the best value to accommodate
the combustion process for both. The data pointed in Fig correspond to a
hypothetical case of multi-can combustor and they are presented in Malconian
and Modak (1985), which permits to compare de program calculation with their
results.

After the initial data operation, the program calculates the flammability limits,
and based on these values the user must define how much air enter in primary
zone. In sequence, the program shows the results for the reference length Dref
from the aerodynamics and combustion considerations, and for the four
operation conditions.

Then, the user must define what is the best value for Dref ; the higher value must
be chosen because it accommodates all combustion situations and is also
convenient for the aerodynamics considerations.

Based on the considerations presented in items 2.1.3 and 2.2, the program
calculates the air mass flow rate in each zone and for film-cooling, and the zones
length. The next step is the diffuser geometry, according the item 2.3. The user
must specify the pressure loss across the diffuser and the discharge coefficient at
primary air entrance, typical values are 0.01 and 1, respectively. The diffuser
geometry is resumed in screen 7.

The sequence is to determine the swirler. The user must specify the blades angle,
air mass flow rate across the swirler (normally between 3 and 12% of total air),
pressure loss factor ( 0.25), if the blades are straight or curved, number of
blades, and some geometrics aspects, as presented in screen 9.

In the screen 10 , the recirculation region is calculated. The program

recommends a value to recirculation region length, based on previous
considerations; but the user can change it.

The next program step is temperature through the combustors zones, item 2.6.
The program calculates the temperature for the four operation conditions. These
values will be important to the film-cooling slots position, as commented in item
2.7. In the screen 12, Figure 9, the user must inform slot height s, slot wall
thickness t and liner wall thickness tw, the Fdome distance from the dome slot to
the injector, the number of slots Nslot and after that their positions, apart from
the selection of the casing material, steel or aluminum. Then, the program
calculates the temperatures at the flame tube wall Tw1 (inner surface) and Tw2
(outer surface), for each operation condition. Based on these results about
surface temperature, the user must accept or not the slots position.
Finally, the last program step is to calculate de holes of primary, secondary and
dilution zones by the interactive process described in item 2.8. The user must
specify the number of holes desired for each combustor zone.
The results presented are included in here to show that simplified methodology
discussed here is able to provide a combustor configuration that attends the gas-
generator operation range. At the present moment we can not compare the
efficiency of the combustor designed by the methodology present here and, for
example, any design refined by computational calculations. So that, we can say
the present methodology probably do not provide the most efficient combustor
chamber, but it provides a device that attends the gas-generator necessities. To
analyze the combustion chamber performance, it is necessary an experimental set
up where the fuel flow rate and the air flow rate are decoupled. The air is
provided by a compressor independent of the combustion gases discharge; so, it
is possible a better control of the combustion chamber operation. That will be
next step of the present research project.