The Combustion

Chamber in the
Brayton cycle

The air-standard Brayton Cycle

In a simple gas-turbine
power
cycle,
separate
equipment is used for the
various processes of the
cycle.
Initially,
air
is
compressed adiabatically in
a
rotating
axial
or
centrifugal compressor. At
the end of this process, the
air enters a combustion
chamber where the fuel is
injected and then is burned
at
essentially
constant
pressure. The products of
the combustion are then
expanded through a turbine

In the analysis of gas turbine cycles, it is helpful

initially to employ an idealized air-standard
cycle. The ideal cycle is called Brayton cycle in
honor of the work in the 1870s of George
Brayton, a U.S. engineer. Compared whit the
Otto and Diesel cycles, the Bryton cycle
operates over a wider range of volumes but a
smaller range of pressures and temperatures.

The Combustion Chamber

The cycle Brayton is used to describe the
functioning of the engine of gas turbine. There
appears
a
typical
arrangement
of
the
components of a gas turbine for planes.

In the gas turbine the maximum allowable

temperature of combustion gases, due to the
metalurgical limit of the turbine blades, is
around 1200 K to 1500 K. However, the
combustion temperature of typical hidrocarbon
fuels with stoichiometric air as around 2200 K
to 2500 K. The actual combustion gas
temperature is reduced to allowable limits by
using a relatively high air-fuel ratio, compared
to stoichiometric, in the combustor. The
required air-fuel ratio in a given situation may
be predicted from a energy analysis of the
combustor.

A combustor is simply a constant pressure

chamber, which allows burning or combustion of fuel
and air. Can be conceived as a tube with fuel
injector as shown in fig. The flame front is a
continuous chemical reaction is steady state fuel air,
which produces the hot gases to the turbine.

The fuel / air ratio is about 1:30, but this

value can vary widely, depending on
conditions of air or fuel, or performance
requirements.

Equation of the first law to the combustor

would be as follows