Liu2015 PDF

AIAA 2015-2560
AIAA Aviation
22-26 June 2015, Dallas, TX
31st AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference
Temperature Measurement at the Exit of Annular

Combustor with Slinger in Turbojet Engine
LIU Deng-huan1, JIN Jie2, WANG Fang3, SONG Man-xiang4, PAN Nin-ming5, LIU Da-xiang6
Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China
JIN Wen-ming7
Beijing Huatsing Gas Turbine & IGCC Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 100084, China
Downloaded by KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOGSKOLEN KTH on August 29, 2015 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2015-2560
This paper present the experimental results from a real turbojet engine with
slinger annular combustor. The temperature of combustor outlet gas was
measured with K-type thermocouples which were arranged in the guide turbine
vanes. Both steady states and transition states were tested during the experiment.
The experimental results of steady states indicated that the combustor outlet
temperature distribution present reverse “C” shape which was lower at both ends
and higher in the middle. The engine speed had greatly influence on combustor
performance. Characteristics when engine working in transition states were also
described.
Nomenclature
n = relative rotational speed
Wa = air mass flow
*
T3 = combustor inlet total temperature
*
P3 = combustor inlet total pressure
∅ = equivalent ratio
𝜂 = combustion efficiency
Wf = fuel mass flow
𝐻𝑓 = total enthalpy of fuel
H3 = isothermal enthalpy difference of inlet gas
H4 = isothermal enthalpy difference of outlet gas
Hu = low heat value of fuel
*
T4 = combustor outlet total temperature
1
Ph.D. student, School of Energy and Power Engineering, dean8174@126.com
2
Professor, School of Energy and Power Engineering, jinjie@buaa.edu.cn
3
Lecturer, School of Energy and Power Engineering, fwang@buaa.edu.cn
4
Research Engineer, School of Energy and Power Engineering
5
Research Engineer, School of Energy and Power Engineering
6
Professor, School of Energy and Power Engineering
7
Research Engineer, Combustion Design and Research Department, jingwenming66@163.com
1
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Copyright © 2015 by LIU Deng-huan , JIN Jie , WANG Fang. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
I. Introduction
A nnular combustors with slinger are widely used in small and medium-sized turbojet engines. The
slinger annular combustors have many advantages, such as high combustion efficiency, better fuel
atomization, small volume and excellent performance at high altitude 1,2 . The outlet temperature of
combustor, which include average temperature and exit temperature profile, is one of the key factors to
determine the performance of a turbojet engine 3 . The average temperature at outlet determine the
combustion efficiency of combustor while the exit temperature profile determine the lifetime of hot
components in the engine, such as the first stage turbine guide vane 4. However, there is technically
difficulty in measuring combustor outlet temperature of a real turbojet engine because of the complexity
of structure. Most researchers tend to use combustor models with dynamic and geometric similarity5 to
simulate the combustor working in the real engine 6. But obviously, there are differences between model
testing and real engine experiment.

This paper presents the experimental results from a real turbojet engine with slinger annular
combustor. The exit temperature was measured by twenty-five K-type thermocouples which were
arranged on the first stage guide vanes of turbine. During the experiment, various slinger rotary speeds
were achieved by adjusting the fuel flow to test the combustor exit temperature under different working
conditions like steady states and transition states. To get the exit temperature profile in the steady state,
seven cases with different relative rotating speeds were chosen as test points, included two low speed
cases (40%, 48%) and five high speed cases (80%, 82%, 85%, 90%, 95%). In addition, the transition
states of engine were also taken into account in this research. To achieve the changes of average outlet
temperature of combustor in transition states, three typical transition states were tested during the
experiment, including starting state, acceleration state and deceleration state.
II. Experimental Setup and Instruments
A. Experimental Setup
The experiment was carried out on a small turbojet engine designed by Beihang University. The
experimental system comprises computer system, aeroengine system, data acquisition system and
regulating system. Before the experiment, a series of tests, including overhaul and test run, have been
taken to ensure that all components of the engine working normally. Fig. 1 is the picture of experimental
engine and test bench. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of annular flow combustor with slinger in the experimental
engine.
Figure 1. Engine and test bench

2
Figure 2. Cross-section of combustor
B. Temperature Measurement
Combustor outlet gas temperature was measured with 25 single-point thermocouples which were
evenly arranged in five guide turbine vanes, as shown in Fig. 3. In order to measure the total temperature
of outlet gas, a row of grooves were formed at the upwind side of each guide vanes, and the temperature
sensors were embedded inside, as shown in Fig. 4. All the temperature sensors are K-type thermocouples
and its measurement accuracy is ±0.75%. The measurement parameters were collected by the data
acquisition system during experiment.
Figure 3. Distribution of thermocouples (blue points) at turbine guide vanes
3
Figure 4. Temperature sensors for combustor outlet gas
C. Test Cases
The slinger rotary speed under design-point state is 22000 revolutions per minute. Outlet gas
temperature of combustor in seven operating points of steady states and three transition states were
measured during the experimental study, as shown in Table 1 and Table 2. Other parameters, such as
engine speed and fuel flow, were dynamically obtained by monitoring system
Table 1. Operating points
n Wa/(kg/s) T3*/(K) P3*/(Pa) ∅
0.40 3.76 405 154123.3 0.236
0.48 4.54 398 188616.1 0.209
0.80 9.03 442 336009.2 0.190
0.82 9.46 449 355387.6 0.196
0.85 10.11 460 384455.1 0.205
0.90 11.19 478 432901 0.220
0.95 12.33 494 485822.5 0.234
Table 2. Transition cases
State name Initial engine speed Terminal engine speed
Starting state 0.03 0.48
Accelerating state 0.48 0.95
Decelerating state 0.95 0.48
D. Data Processing
Performance parameters of combustor are calculated by the following formulas:
(Wa +Wf )H4 −Wa H3 −Wf Hf
𝜂＝ (1)
Wf Hu
Tt4max −Tt4ave
OTDF＝ (2)
Tt4ave −Tt3ave
Tt4rmax −Tt4ave
RTDF＝ (3)
Tt4ave −Tt3ave
4
III. Results and Discussions
A. Steady Cases
Fig. 5 illustrates temperature distribution changes under different working conditions. It can be seen
that at each operating point, combustor outlet gas have similar reverse “C” shape temperature profile
which is low at both ends and high in the middle , and reach peak value at vane height ratio 0.667.
Temperature distribution of such shape can reduce thermal stress concentration of hot components such
as turbine blades and guide vanes. With the increase of rotary speed, the blade root temperature increases
more quickly than that of blade tip. The reason is that resistance characteristics of airflow channels for
the three streams are different. As a result, when the rotary speed increases, more cool air will flow
towards blade-tip zone, making its temperature rising rate less than that of blade-root zone.
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Vane Height
0.5
n=0.40
0.4
n=0.48
0.3 m=0.80
n=0.82
0.2
n=0.85
0.1 n=0.90
n=0.95
0.0
600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150
Temperature[K]
Temperature, K
Figure 5. Outlet temperature distribution of combustor along vane height
Fig. 6 shows the outlet temperature distribution along the circumference. Because of the poor
atomizing effect of fuel, temperature curves have larger fluctuation at lower rotary speeds,
where the maximum difference could reach 100K. However, temperature distribution has great
improvement with the increase of rotary speed. When rotary speed is higher than 0.80, temperature of
circumferential corresponding points are increasing but remain similar circumferential distribution
profile.
5
700
600
Temperature[℃] ℃
500
Temperature,
400
n=0.40
n=0.48
300 m=0.80
n=0.82
200 n=0.85
n=0.90
n=0.95
100
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Angle[°
Angle, °]
Figure 6. Combustor exit gas temperature along circumferential positions
Table. 3 illustrates the outlet temperature distribution quality under different working conditions.
It can be seen that the uniformity of temperature distribution is very poor when engine working in low
speed. However with the increasing of rotary speed, the uniformity become better and better. Both
OTDF and RTDF reach their minimum at cruising state of engine.
Table 3 Pattern and profile factor of combustor exit gas temperature
n OTDF RTDF
0.40 0.739 0.148
0.49 0.708 0.155
0.80 0.358 0.098
0.90 0.360 0.105
0.95 0.305 0.089
As it is shown in Fig. 7, combustion efficiency is affected greatly by engine speed. The engine has
a pretty poor combustion efficiency at low speeds, but it has greatly improved with the increasing of
rotary speed. The maximum combustion efficiency could reach 98.1% at the highest engine speed in
the test. The reason for this phenomenon is that, when engine speed increases, fuel atomization quality
improves and inlet dynamic parameters are higher.
6
1.0
0.9
Combustion Efficiency
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

Relative Rotating Speed
Figure 7. Combustion efficiency under different working conditions
The reasons of such a difference in combustor performance between low engine speed and high
engine speed are the characteristics of slinger. Slinger, which is fixed on the shaft of engine, need
enough rotary speed to atomize fuel. The faster the slinger rotates, the smaller fuel drops inject into the
combustor. Table 4 shows the SMD of fuel drops in different working conditions, calculated by the
empirical formula.
Table 4. Fuel spray characteristic
n SMD/(μm)
0.40 62.1
0.48 51.5
0.80 30.7
0.85 28.9
0.90 27.3
0.95 25.9
B. Transition cases
Starting state
In the starting state, engine speed rises from 3% to 48%. The whole state can divide into four
phases: preparation (0-10s), ignition (10-15s), acceleration (15-20s) and stabilization (20-25s). Fig. 8
shows the fuel and outlet temperature changes over time in starting state. The engine is motor driven
working at low-speed in the first ten seconds. After preparation, the combustor begin to work by fuel
injection and ignition, which result in an increase of rotating speed and outlet temperature. If
combustor is proven and considered ignited successfully, fuel supply begin to increase rapidly to make
the engine reach crawling state. In order to prevent engine stalling and reduce starting time, the control
system will inject more fuel into combustor for a short time before stabilization, to reach rated speed
more quickly.
In the first three phases of starting state, the results of test show that the outlet temperature of
combustor basically increases with oil supply. However there is time-delay between the two, which
7
means rising of rotational speed would a few seconds later than oil feeding. At the end of starting state,
the combustor chamber need some time to reach thermodynamic equilibrium, so it can be seen that the
outlet temperature is still slowly rising even though the fuel supply has already stabilized.
Temperature, ℃
Fuel, kg.s-1
Time, s
Figure 8. Fuel supply and outlet temperature changes in starting state
Accelerating state
The accelerating state is the process of engine speed rising from crawling state (48%) to cruise
state (95%) which will take about 15 seconds. In the accelerating state, quantity of fuel inject into the
combustor keep increasing at the same rate. Different with starting state, in the end of accelerating state
fuel supply tend to be constant without a sudden change, which is because the combustor would not
easily flame out under high rotary speed. What’s more, it is possible to cause overheat at outlet
temperature and damage the turbine blades if the combustor have excess fuel inside when engine works
in high-speed state.
Fig. 9 shows the fuel-air equivalence ratio of combustor changes in accelerating state. It can be
seen that the equivalence ratio has a slightly increase at the beginning of accelerating state. This is
because affected by rotation inertia force and time-delay, the rotary speed of engine would not rise
immediately when the fuel flow increased at the beginning of accelerating state, which makes air flow
of combustor remain unchanged in the first few seconds. It can figure out that there exist about two
seconds delay between fuel and equivalence ratio. When the engine speed begin to rise, air mass flow
of combustor increase whereas the equivalence ratio decrease. The equivalence ratio reach the
minimum at the 75% relative rotating speed. When engine speed has a further increase, the equivalence
ratio begin to rise with it, and has the maximum vale when the engine reach cruise state.
8
Fuel, kg.s-1
Time, s
Figure 9. Fuel supply and equivalence ratio in accelerating state
Fig. 10 shows the changes of outlet temperature in accelerating state. The temperature rises
rapidly with the fuel flow increases. It can be seen that the changes of equivalence ratio has little
influence on outlet temperature, because the combustion efficiency increases significantly when the
engine speed rises. Therefore, even though the equivalence ratio is decreasing at the first ten seconds,
the outlet temperature still rise, but it is slower than the time when equivalence ratio is increasing. At
the end of accelerating state, the equivalence ratio and rotary speed remain unchanged, while the outlet
temperature keep rising slowly. As the same with starting state, the combustor chamber need enough
time to reach thermodynamic equilibrium.
Temperature, ℃
Time, s
Figure 10. Equivalence ratio and temperature changes in accelerating state
Decelerating state
Decelerating state is the converse of accelerating state. The engine speed decreases from cruising
state (95%) to crawling state (48%) in 15 seconds. The changes of fuel flow and equivalence ratio
during the decelerating state is a reverse process of the accelerating state. The fuel flow in combustor
keep steadily decreasing in the state, while the equivalence ratio first decreases and then increases. The
reason of this phenomenon is the time-delay between oil supply and rotary speed too. The engine speed
will keep decrease for a few seconds by inertia force and time-delay whereas the fuel flow remain
9
unchanged, which result in the rising of equivalence ratio.
Fig. 12 shows the changes of outlet temperature in decelerating state. The temperature keep
decreasing during the whole state. Because of low combustion efficiency at low engine speed, the
outlet temperature is still decreasing even the equivalence ratio rise at the end of state. And it will take
some time for combustor chamber to reach thermodynamic equilibrium.
Fuel, kg.s-1
Time, s
Figure 11. Fuel supply and equivalence ratio in decelerating state
Temperature, ℃
Time, s
Figure 12. Equivalence ratio and temperature changes in decelerating state
IV. Conclusion
The experimental results of steady state indicate that the combustor outlet temperature present
reverse “C” shape profile which is lower at both end and higher in the middle. As the engine speed
increases, the exit temperature at the turbine guide vane root increases much more quickly than the
temperature at the tip, because of the different resistance characteristics of airflow channels. Moreover,
the slinger rotary speed also has great influence on overall temperature distribution factor (OTDF) and
radial temperature distribution factor (RTDF), because the atomization quality of fuel improves with
the increase of engine speed. Under the design-point state, the OTDF is less than 0.32, and RTDF is
less than 0.09, which indicates temperature distribution is uniform. Within the scope of this experiment,
the combustion efficiency of the combustor could reach 98.1% when the engine working in the cruising
10
state.
The experimental results of transient state show that, under the state of acceleration, the change of
the slinger rotary speed and equivalence ratio in the combustor have 2s delay after the change of fuel,
and the equivalence ratio in the combustor decreases firstly, approaches to the minimum at 75%
relative rotating speed, then increases with the engine speed. Unlike fuel feeding, the equivalence ratio
has little influence on the outlet temperature profile. When the transient state is finished, the combustor
chamber still need about 30s to attain thermodynamic equilibrium.
Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank all the members in experimental group, for their kind preparation and
operation of test equipment and measurement.
References
1 Mellor, A. M., Design of modern turbine combustors, Academic Press Inc., New York, 1990.
2 Lefebvre, A. H., Gas turbine combustion, Hemisphere Publishing Corp, Washington, 1983.
3 Zheng Yan, and Shen Bei-yi, “Tests and analysis of exit temperature distribution of the combustor for missile
turbojet”, Journal of Propulsion Technology, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2001, pp. 187-190, 206.
4 Cosku, C., Ahmet, T., Sitki, U., and Onur, T., “Exit Temperature Profile Measurement and CFD Comparisons
on Small Scale Turbojet Combustor with Air Blast Atomizer Configuration”, 50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint
Propulsion Conference, Cleveland, 2014.
5 Xiong Chun, Song Shuang-wen, and Chen Jian, “Experimental study of atomization performance on a fuel
slinger”, Journal of Aerospace Power, Vol. 07, 2012, pp. 1517-1522.

6 Vijayan, V., and Gupta, A. K., “Experimental Investigation of a Mesoscale Liquid Fueled Combustor” 45th
AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Denver, 2009.
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AIAA 2015-2560

Temperature Measurement at the Exit of Annular

testing and real engine experiment.

II. Experimental Setup and Instruments

Figure 1. Engine and test bench

Figure 2. Cross-section of combustor

Figure 3. Distribution of thermocouples (blue points) at turbine guide vanes

Figure 4. Temperature sensors for combustor outlet gas

0.40 0.739 0.148

0.49 0.708 0.155

0.80 0.358 0.098

0.90 0.360 0.105

0.95 0.305 0.089

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

slinger”, Journal of Aerospace Power, Vol. 07, 2012, pp. 1517-1522.

AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Denver, 2009.

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