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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Development of more sophisticated and technically advanced

products in all the field of science are the contribution of research community
to the society. But, same development may also results to disaster of nature
and human community at improper use of it. Ancient man used to walk from
one country to another country during his life span for learning, invention,
business and hobby, but modern man use any conveyance for transport even
to travel from one street to another street. Reports of the panel on climatic
change states that human activity involving the combustion of fossil fuels is
the important factor which leads to the climatic changes (rise in global
temperature, average sea level). Hence, due to the impact of human activities
on ecosystem, controlled emissions of pollution is the unavoidable response
during designing of any engineering products, like combustors etc. Efficiency
of the combustor depends upon the output power and level of its pollution
emission. Emissions of polluting elements like carbon mono oxide (CO), NO
and unburned hydrocarbon are mainly due to incomplete burning of fuel. The
vital reason for incomplete burning is improper mixing of air and fuel inside
the combustor. Proper selection of combustor, method of fuel injection,
mechanism of fuel and air mixing and flame stabilization results in reduction
of the emission and also increase the output.

Combustors are used for different applications in industries like,

refinery, automotive, power generation and gas turbine. For different
application different type of combustors are used. In any type of combustor,
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proper stabilization of flame leads to increase in completeness of the

combustion and hence reduction in the emission of pollutions can be attained.
Particularly in gas turbine combustion system to attain flame stabilization, a
necessary component called flame holder is used.

A bluff-body used to anchor the flame in combustor is known as

flame holder. A flame holder present in the combustion system provides a
proper place for mixing of fuel and air by creating reverse flow region behind
it as shown in Figure 1.1. Presence of low-velocity zone results to increase in
residence time during the combustion process and hence the combustion
process becomes self-sustained. Stability of the flame in a combustor depends
on the residence time of the air-fuel mixture within the reverse flow region.

Figure 1.1 Flow structure behind the bluff bodies

A bluff-body is an object whose downstream shape is blunt enough,

hence large vortex is generated at its downstream. The level of turbulence and
characteristics of vortex depend on the shape and dimension of the bluff-
body. According to Lefebvre (1983), “The shape of the bluff-body flame
holder affects the flow stability characteristic through the influence on the
size and shape of the wake region”. Different geometries of bluff-bodies are
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used, as size of the reverse flow region behind a bluff-body decides the flame
stabilization.

The main parameters affecting the combustion process are closely

related to the geometrical shape and its aerodynamic properties of the reverse
flow region. In particular, the shape of their reverse flow region, and the
location of front and rear stagnation points are very helpful for understanding
of flame stabilization. Study of aerodynamic properties of two dimensional
bodies was the point of attraction for many decades. In general, two
dimensional bodies (cylinder of different cross section) are placed across the
combustor. Two dimensional shapes like cylinder of circular, square,
rectangle, triangle, elliptic and some special shape are placed in the
combustor. The ultimate objective of change of bluff-body from one shape to
another is to get better combustion stability and efficiency. Study of both cold
flow and reactive flow of bluff body combustor with two dimensional flame
holders are extensively done by number of researchers. But, only limited
number of study have been carried out with three dimension bluff body.

Study of aerodynamic properties including turbulence properties of

bluff body of circular cone was done by many researchers. In the early studies
with three dimensional bluff bodies they proposed some important conclusion
as,

The important characteristics of bluff body combustors are

largely determined by aerodynamics of the bluff body present
inside to it.

In a bluff body combustion system, exchange of the mass,

momentum and energy between the reverse fluid flow and
mainstream air occurs through turbulent mixing.
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Many of the studies of 3D bluff body combustor were carried out at

subsonic velocity. But when the combustor being designed for supersonic
velocity, two major factors should be consider for better design.

Reliability of mixing(Method and place of fuel jet injection)

Drag of the bluff body used with in the combustor.

From the earlier experiment on supersonic combustors known that

some method of mixing enhancement is required to operate the combustor at
supersonic speed. To satisfy the above said two factors, it is important to
search for a different bluff body to use efficiently inside combustors than
conventionally using bluff bodies. The new bluff body should be selected in
accordance with the basic requirements. That is, Bluff-body should have
smaller wake size, lower suction pressure in the wake and reduction of
unsteadiness of wake flow. Hence there is the reduction of aerodynamic force
on the bluff body.

Interestingly, the slender body theory shows that the drag of an

elliptical cone is less than that of a circular cone by an amount independent of
operating Mach number (based on the Equations (1.1), Equation (1.2) and
Equation (1.3)). As the elliptic ratio (a/b) increases, the elliptic cone becomes
more wing line and has smaller drag compared to equal area circular cone
(Jack N. Nielsen 1960).

( ) ( ) =2 log (1.1)

Where, =

( ) = 2 × log ( (1.2)
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= 1

= Semi angle in the plane of the major axis.

( ) 2 (1.3)

Since the drag of elliptic cross section is smaller than circular one,
in many of the supersonic application elliptic cross section is in use. Number
of work was carried out on elliptic cone at supersonic speed for aerodynamic
application. Very limited results are available with the reverse flow region
aerodynamics properties of the elliptic cone. Hence in the present study
aerodynamic properties of reverse flow region of circular and elliptic cone
were analysed and compared.

During the earlier studies with three dimensional bluff body of

circular cone, one of the methods of fuel jet injection is base-jet injection.
This type of combustors is used for combustion pressure and requires a fuel
rich mixture at the flame front. This kind of combustors avoids pre-ignition or
explosion dangers related with the combustion system. In many of the study,
effect of base-jet size and base-jet injection velocity on the mixing
characteristics was studied both by experimental and numerical way. But
limited data is available with the effect of change in base-jet shape on the
base-jet penetration characteristics behind circular and elliptic cone.

In the present study, at subsonic velocity, effect of change in bluff

body from circular cone to elliptic cone and also the effect of base-jet
velocity, size, and base-jet shape on the reverse flow region are studied. This
problem was taken basically as an academic interest to demonstrate the
effectiveness of a non-circular bluff body (elliptic cone) and also to study the
effect of change in shape of base jet from circular to non-circular (square and
hexagonal).