IIT, Kanpur

Gas Turbine Combustion

and Power Generation
Dr. A. Kushari
Department of Aerospace Engineering

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Outline

Introduction
Advantages and Disadvantages
Future Requirements
Gas Turbine Combustors
Ongoing Research
Conclusions
Acknowledgement

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

TURBINES: Machines to extract fluid

power from flowing fluids

Steam
Turbine

Water
Turbines

Wind
Turbines

High Pressure, High Temperature gas

Generated inside the engine
Expands through a specially designed TURBINE

Gas
Turbines

Aircraft Engines
Power Generation

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

GAS TURBINES
Invented in 1930 by Frank Whittle
Patented in 1934
First used for aircraft propulsion in 1942 on Me262 by
Germans during second world war
Currently most of the aircrafts and ships use GT engines
Used for power generation
Manufacturers: General Electric, Pratt &Whitney,
SNECMA, Rolls Royce, Honeywell, Siemens
Westinghouse, Alstom
Indian take: Kaveri Engine by GTRE (DRDO)
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
Intake
Slow down incoming air
Remove distortions

Compressor
Dynamically Compress air

Combustor
Heat addition through chemical
reaction

Turbine
Run the compressor

Nozzle/ Free Turbine

Generation of thrust power/shaft
power

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Advantages and Disadvantages

Great power-toweight ratio compared
to reciprocating
engines.
Smaller than their
reciprocating
counterparts of the
same power.
Lower emission
levels

Expensive:
high speeds and high operating
temperatures
designing and manufacturing
gas turbines is a tough problem
from both the engineering and
materials standpoint

Tend to use more fuel when

they are idling
They prefer a constant rather
than a fluctuating load.

That makes gas turbines great for things like transcontinental jet aircraft and
power plants, but explains why we don't have one under the hood of our car.

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Emission in Gas Turbines

Lower emission compared to all conventional methods (except nuclear)

Regulations require further reduction in emission levels

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Needs for Future Gas Turbines

Power Generation
Fuel Economy
Low Emissions
Alternative fuels

Military Aircrafts
High Thrust
Low Weight

Half the size and twice the thrust

Commercial Aircrafts

Low emissions
High Thrust
Low Weight
Fuel Economy

Double the size of the Aircraft

and double the distance traveled
with 50% NOx

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Gas Turbine Combustion

F/A 0.01
Combustion efficiency : 98%

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
Effect of inlet disturbances
Combustion in recirculating flows
Spray Combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Effect of Inlet Disturbance

Tunable inlet to create weak disturbance of

varying frequency
Bluff body stabilized flame
Unsteady pressure and heat release
measurement

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Pressure Amplitude variation

= 0.2211 L = 20 cm

Pressure oscillations increases

with decreasing length
Dominant frequency 27 Hz
Acoustic frequency 827 Hz

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Pressure and Heat Release

Less damping with increasing

length
Causes the rise is pressure
fluctuations

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Low Frequency Variation with Inlet

Length

ma 3.0 g / s

,=
0.3455

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Variation of Dominant Frequency with Inlet Velocit

f *D
St s
U
St = 0.171 (60 deg
cone)
0.171* U
fs
0.02

Dominant Frequency governed by vortex

dynamics
Feed back locking of flow instability and
combustion process
Phase relationship leads to
enhancement of combustion oscillations

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
Effect of inlet disturbances
Combustion in recirculating flows
Spray Combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Recirculating Flow Dynamics

Primary zone
Fuel air mixing
Intense combustion
Short combustion length
High turbulence
Fuel rich combustion

Understanding recirculating flow dynamics

Time scales
Pressure transients
Energy cascading
Combustion in recirculating flows
Droplet Flow interaction

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Image Processing

Filtered out image from the noises

Grayscale image

Intensity image

Simulation results

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Vortex Dynamics

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Transient Analysis

Identification of signatures of re-circulation, turbulence and acoustics

through frequency domain analysis of pressure transients
Turbulence energy cascading due to re-circulation

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Combustion in Recirculating Flow

Time scale reduces, complete combustion, Good pattern factor

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
Effect of inlet disturbances
Combustion in recirculating flows
Spray Combustion
Needs and Challenges
Controlled atomization
Emissions in spray combustion
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Spray Combustion: Issues

Non-symmetrical spray flames and hot
streaks
Serious damage to combustor liner
Combustor exit temperature (pattern factor)

Flame location, shape and pattern

Emission Levels

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Need for controlled atomization

Big Drops => Longer Evaporation Time => Incomplete
Combustion => Unburned Hydrocarbons & Soot,
Reduced Efficiency
Small Drops => Faster Evaporation and Mixing =>
Elongated Combustion Zone => More NOx
Uniform size distribution for favorable pattern factor
Reduced thermal loading on liner and turbine

Reduced feedline coupling

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
Effect of inlet disturbances
Combustion in recirculating flows
Spray Combustion
Needs and Challenges
Controlled atomization
Emissions in spray combustion
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Internally Mixed Swirl Atomizer

Good
atomization
with
small
pressure drop
Both hollow-cone and solid cone
spray from same atomizer (wide
range of applications)
Possible to atomize very viscous
liquid
Self cleaning
Finer atomization at low flow rates
Less sensitive to manufacturing
defects
The liquid flow rate and atomization
quality can be controlled

Atomization of engine oil

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Performance

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Multi-head internally mixed atomizer

Build to provide a throughput rate in excess to 0.5 LPM with a droplet

size in the range of 20-30 m

Flow rate independent of pressure

difference
Reduced feedline coupling

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
Effect of inlet disturbances
Combustion in recirculating flows
Spray Combustion
Needs and Challenges
Controlled atomization
Emissions in spray combustion
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Emissions in spray flames

100

4500

90

4000

80

Exp
NOX (Theory)

70

3500

Nox (ppm)

2500

50
2000

40

1500

30

1000

20

500

10
0

z=5mm
z=20mm

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.1

1.2

1.3

Distance from Flame Holder

140
Sauter Mean Diameter (m)

0
0.6

160

NOx Theory (ppm)

3000

60

z=10mm
z=35mm

Measured values quite less

120

compared to the theoretical

predictions
Inherent fuel staging reduces the
NOx
Longer flame => less NOx

100

80

60

40
-1

Radial Distance from Center Line (cm)

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Conclusions
Disturbances can lead to combustion
oscillations
Recirculating flow helps in reducing
disturbances
Controlled Atomization can be achieved
through air-assisting
Spray combustion reduces NOx emissions
through fuel staging
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Acknowledgements

M. S. Rawat
S. K. Gupta
S. Pandey
P. Berman
J. Karnawat
S. Karmakar
N. P. Yadav
S. Nigam
R. Sailaja
M. Madanmohan

Dr. K. Ramamurthi
LPSC (ISRO)
CFEES (DRDO)

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

THANK YOU

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.