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Development of the Advanced EV (AEV) Burner for the ABB GTX100 Gas Turbine

Iii ill I NPR hi iii

Peter Jansohn, Thomas Ruck, Christian Steinbach, Hans-Peter Knopfel,
Thomas Sattelmayer
ABB Corporate Research, CH-5405 Baden-Datil, Switzerland

Christian Troger
ABB Stal, S-612 82 Finspang, Sweden

INTRODUCTION
Besides coping with decreasing emissions limits set by
international standards, it is necessary in today's competitive gas
turbine industry to design combustion systems, that do not only meet
the emission requirements, but also provide an efficient and reliable
burner operation performance. Since 1984, when the first Dry-Low-
NOx combustor of ABS was put in service, the combustor
development program at ABS continued to serve these needs. An
important step in that development was the introduction of the EV-
burner /I/ which is now available for the entire ABS gas turbine
FIG. 1 THE GTX100 - THE NEW MEMBER OF ABB'S GAS
family.
TURBINE FAMILY
The advanced EV burner (AEV) - to be presented in this paper - uses
the well-proven EV-burner concept of an aerodynamically stabilised
swirl premix burner. Emphasis in the development process was put One of the major design features of the AEV is its fuel flexibility.
on the optimization of the fuel/air mixture homogeneity and the Besides natural gas a variety of liquid fuels can be burnt in lean
aerodynamic stability. premix mode without recourse to water injection.
Starting from the burner design concept, the aerodynamic properties The new member of ABB's highly efficient gas turbine family, the
and the combustion performance of the AEV burner will be described GTX 100, will be offered with the AEV Dry-Low -NO x combustion
below. The major results are presented with respect to the new system. It includes 30 AEV burners arranged in a row in an annular
member of ABB's high performance gas turbine family - the GTX combustion chamber. During extensive high pressure tests of the
100 (Fig. I). AEV burner the outstanding emission performance in the entire GTX
load range was proven.

APPUCATION BURNER CONCEPT

The AEV-burner (Fig. 2) was especially designed to offer The modular design of the AEV burner consists of 3 main
very low emission levels combined with a high reliability. The wide components (Fig.3):
operating range gives the user a high degree of flexibility for efficient - swirl generator
and clean power. The very good homogeneity of the fuel/air mixture - transition piece
leads to almost even temperature profiles at the combustor exit - mixing tube
resulting in long turbine component life.

Presented at the ASNfE ASIA '97 Congress & Exhibition

Singapore — September 30—October 2,1997
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FIG. 2 DUAL FUEL AEV BURNER FOR GTX100
The design of the swirl generator is mainly determined by the
purpose of setting up the proper flow field conditions which allow for
the flame stabilizing vortex breakdown phenomenon to occur at a
stable position at the burner exit. In addition to this requirement the
flow field generated has to maintain flow velocities at a high enough
level in order to minimize the risk of flashback and selfignition
during the preparation phase of the combustible fuel/air mixture.
These features are extremely difficult to obtain by an axial swirlier
, with a central fuel lance, but can be realised more easily by a conical
flame holder like the well proven EV burner /1/. The AEV is an
evolutionary variant of this swirler design and thus preserves many of
the advantages of this type of swirl burner. One of the main
differences to the EV burner is the addition of a cylindrical extension
downstream of the swirl generator. The swirl flow field is modified
accordingly to secure the location of the vortex breakdown
downstream of the exit of this mixing tube.
j_ZinsitIon
FIG. 3 GENERAL DESIGN
The gaseous fuel is injected along the (4) slots of the conical swirl
generator very much the same way as in the EV burner. With the help
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of advanced experimental and layout tools a gas fuel injection pattern
was designed which optimised the mixing quality of fuel and air
substantially. For simplicity the oil nozzle for liquid fuel operation of
the AEV is placed in the cone tip. The cone angle of the swirl
generator has some influence on the spray characteristics necessary
for optimimum fuel distribution at the burner outlet. Based on
experimental and numerical studies cone angle and nozzle type have
been modified to match fuel droplet trajectories in a swirling flow
field which allow for full evaporation and premixing without droplet
impingement on burner walls.
To enhance the mixing quality on gaseous fuels and to provide time
for droplet evaporation the mixing length from the fuel injection
points in the swirl generator to the flame front position at the burner
exit is increased by a simple mixing tube. Besides the improved fuel
distribution by the optimized fuel injection methods applied in the
swirl generator this additional geometrical decoupling of fuel
injection and burner outlet allows to achieve nearly perfect premixing
conditions in the reaction zone. Safety against flashback is realized
by addititional air admission into the boundary layer of the mixing
tube. This measure assures gas velocities well above the local flame
speeds along the whole mixing tube length.
A transition piece insures a smooth flow passage with minimized
losses from the conical swirl generator to the cylindrical mixing tube.
By avoiding steps and edges behind the swirler flow separation and
recirculation zones are prevented which could serve as undesired
flameholders.
External pilot fuel injection is used to extend the operation range of
the burner for gaseous fuels. A number of nozzles are arranged on the
circumference of the burner exit injecting the gas directly into the
surrounding outer recirculation zone downstream of the burner.
THE FLOW FIELD OF THE AEV BURNER -
To make use of the full low NO x emission potential of the
lean premix combustion technique the velocity field inside the burner
- well upstream of the flame front in the region of fuel/air mixture
preparation - as well as downstream of the burner - close to the
burner exit in the area of flame stabilisation - has to be such that a
perfect fuel/air mixture can be generated and sustained safely (with
eliminated risk of flashback) until the onset of combustion in the
desired flame zone region. Therefore extensive aerodynamic
investigations were necessary. The flow field of the AEV burner was
investigated by numerical simulations and experimental single burner
sector tests (water flow test; combustion test at atmospheric pressure
conditions). The tests were performed with full scale burner models
made of perspex to have optical urns to the internal burner flow
 field. Velocity measurements were done with a 20 Laser-Doppler-
Anemometer (LDA) system mounted on a 3D traversing system
OA
Internal burner flow
The air enters the swirler through the four slots and is
forced into a rotational flow due to the geometry of the staggered
quadruple cones. From the axial and tangential velocity profiles .■ with air
addidon'.. i ,
shown in Fig. 4 one can tell that a jet like flow field with a distinct
*to air
small body vortex core is rapidly formed within the conical swirl addition

generator.
0.0
2 4 6 8
Olatanas from anal tubs IS 01,111)

FIG. 5 NEAR WALL AXIAL VELOCITY PROFILES IN

MIXING TUBE
(DATA FROM WATER FLOW TESTS; WTTEVWTTHOUT
ADDITIONAL AIR ADMISSION)

Flame zone flow field

FIG. 4 AXIAL (TOP) AND TANGENTIAL (BOTTOM) When entering the combustion chamber the sudden area
VELOCITY PROFILES expansion leads to a vortex breakdown /2/ of the swirling flow and
(DATA FROM WATER FLOW TESTS)
creates a internal recirculation zone on the combustion chamber axis
(Fig.6). The results show that even for isothermal flow conditions
At the exit of the swirler the maximum axial flow velocities on the
(Fig.6, bottom) the main features of the external burner flow field can
centreline are in excess of 2 times the bulk velocity. This high
be achieved and investigated in detail. This test conditions allow for
velocity jet flow is maintained throughout the mixing tube thus
easy application of sophisticated laser based optical measurement
providing high flashback safety. Even close to the mixing tube walls
techniques during basic parameter testing.
high axial velocities can be achieved by proper admission of small
For combustion conditions the heat released causes temperature and
amounts (<10% of total air flow) of air (Fig. 5). In combination with
thus density gradients which support the strength of the internal
the dilution effect of this air addition flashback along the mixing tube
recirculation zone (Fig.6, top). Enhanced recirculation of hot gases
wall can be suppressed very effectively. Tests at full operating
from downstream of the combustion chamber leads to improved
conditions - for which flashback has been provoked by having a pilot
flame stabilization at a desired position close to the burner exit. A
flame ligthed close to the fuel injection points inside the swirl
strongly negative axial velocity gradient in the transition zone near
generator - have proven that no self-stabilized flame can be
the stagnation point is wanted in order to determine clearly the
maintained inside the burner. Any flame front is washed out of the
ignition zone and to prevent fluctuations in the local heat release by a
burner as soon as the pilot flame is extinguished.
strong fixation of the flame front position.

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FIG. 6 FLAME ZONE now PATTERN
(AXIAL VELOCITIES)
TOP:WITH COMBUSTION
BOTTOM: WITHOUT COMBUSTION
(DATA FROM WATER FLOW TESTS AND ATMOSPHERIC
COMBUSTION TESTS;
VELOCITIES NORMALIZED WITH BULK FLOW
VELOCITY)
COMBUSTION PERFORMANCE
To achieve absolute minimum NO x emissions a deviation
of local fuel/air stoichiometries from the overall equivalence ratio
cannot be tolerated - neither full leaner zones to prevent flashback
nor fuel richer zones to secure stable flame front positioning (no
flame front pulsations). For real application burner hardware this
optimum has never been achieved in the past. The advanced EV
(AEV) concept makes a step in the direction of using the low NO x
emission potential of lean premix combustion to a larger extent. ,
For swirling flows - which are dominating gas turbine burner flow
characteristics - emphasis has to be paid especially to the center of
the flow where vortex breakdown is desired to recirculate hot flue
gases to the flame root for stabilisation close to the burner exit (Fig.
6), but should not allow hot gases to penetrate upstream into the
burner and cause premature ignition with the possibility of
overheating of burner components. Another critical area is the near-
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wall zone with generally low flow velocities and thus a high potential
for selfignition and undesired flame stabilisation.
The design of the AEV burner components (swirl generator,
transition piece and mixing tube) was explicitly developed along
these thoughts, i.e. safe flame stabilisation outside of the burner and
eliminated risk of flashback, and thus allows for the generation of an
almost perfectly premixed fuel/air mixture across most of the cross-
section of the burner exit. Fig. 7 gives a example of the fuel/air
mixture quality midway along the mixing tube.
FIG. 7 PROFILE OF FUEL/AIR EQUIVALENCE RATIO IN
MIXING TUBE
(DATA FROM ATMOSPHERIC COMBUSTION TESTS;
FULL LOAD CONDITIONS; VALUES RELATIVE TO
OVERALL EQUIVALENCE RATIO)
The profile of the fuel equivalence ratio depicts somewhat fuel leaner
mixtures close to the mixing tube walls and on the centerline. These
deviations from the integral fuel/air ratio have been deliberately
generated to guarantee safe operation of the bunter for all operating
conditions. Due to the improved fuel injection system of the AEV
these nearly perfect premixed conditions can be maintained to a large
extent within a certain range of different fuel to air ratios, i.e. load
conditions. This allows to guarantee low NO x emissions in a wide
load range , e.g. throughout the upper part load regime. The weak
sensitivity of the fuel/air mixture quality on changes of the
momentum ratio of fuel and air at the injection points in the swirl
generator limits also the need for additional stabilisation measures
(fuel piloting) which is only necessary for low part load conditions.
The advantages of a burner operation with near perfectly premixed
fuel/air mixtures are also obvious from the flame temperature
distribution field as shown in Fig. 8. These detailed flame
temperature data have been collected during intensive combustion
testing in a test rig accessible for locally resolved in-flame analysis
 techniques at atmospheric conditions. The picture shows the
temperature distribution in the combustion chamber in the flame zone
region just downstream of the burner exit (see mixing tube depicted
on left hand side of graph). The extremely evenly distributed heat
release does not generate any local hot temperature zones which
would contribute excessively to the total NO x formation and which
would also promote non-uniform heat loading on the combustor liner
walls (hot spots) and on the turbine blades (increased thermal stress
due to temperature gradients).

FIG. 9 FLAME SHAPE FOR FULL PREMIX CONDITIONS

(PICTURE FROM ATMOSPHERIC COMBUSTION TESTS;
FULL LOAD CONDITIONS)

Even with the fuel pilot system in operation (Fig. 10) the flame shape
and position does not change dramatically. This proves that deviation
from the desired premix mode is done only to the minimum extent
necessary to ensure stable burner operation. Intensive interaction of
the pilot flame zones with the main burner flow results in minimum
changes in flame front position and smooth transition from premix to
piloted operation modes.
FIG. 8 FLAME ZONE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
(DATA FROM ATMOSPHERIC COMBUSTION TESTS;
FULL LOAD CONDMONS;
VALUES NORMALIZED WITH ADIABATIC FLAME
TEMPERATURE)

Visual observation of the burner operation during testing does give

additional valuable information on the flame shape. The picture of an
AEV flame - operated on natural gas in a atmospheric test rig in the
fully premixed mode (Fig. 9) - demonstrates that with perfect lean
premixed fuel/air mixtures extremely short flame zones and burnout
length dimensions can be achieved (less than two burner diameters)
which opens up the opportunity for new compact (low combustor
volume) combustor designs. A compact design allows for improved
mechanical integrity, thus higher reliability, lower costs and
additionally low NOx emissions through shorter residence times.
FIG. 10 FLAME SHAPE FOR PILOTED CONDITIONS
(PICTURE FROM ATMOSPHERIC COMBUSTION TESTS;
FULL PILOT OPERATION/NO MAIN GAS)

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 Confirmation of the low emission potential of the AEV burner design For gas operation there is no need for deviating from the lean premix
was achieved by a series of full scale (3.5MW) single burner tests in concept by fuel piloting until around 50% load conditions. Because
different high pressure test facilities suitable for this purpose. NOx contribution of the part of total fuel flow which is maintained in
NOx emissions measured during these tests show that the ultimate the premixed mode is almost negligible for these conditions (approx.
goal of ultra-low NO x values is achieved over a wide operating range 2ppm) total NOx emission can be kept at low levels with moderate
(Fig. 11). For operating conditions representing the entire upper load pilot fuel ratios applied (Tab.1). Even with full pilot fuel flow at very
regime of the GTX 100 single digit NO emission values have been low load conditions (<25% load) NO x emissions never exceed
measured. Values presented are for natural gas operation at various 100ppm. The low NOx emission capability in part load operation
combustor pressures from 12bar to 20bar. Low dependency of NO does not contradict good burnout performance - CO and UHC can be
emission on pressure in this variation range is another indication for kept at competitive low values for the entire load range (Tab. l).
the nearly perfect lean premix conditions achieved. Nevertheless,
chemical kinetic calculations show that lowest NO values
Load 0%-25% 25%-50% 100%
theoretically achievable are still a factor of 2 lower /3, 4/ than what <25
NOx <100 <15
has been experimentally attained now with the AEV burner. Because [ppm) @15%02
of the beneficial flow field features of the AEV (e.g. high flow CO <500 <50 <15
velocities in critical areas like centerline and near-wall regions) full
[PP)] @ 15%02
exploitation of this low NOx emission potential seems to be possible pilot fuel 100 10-100 —

in the near future. ratio [%]

TAB. 1 EMISSION PERFORMANCE FOR GTX100 LOAD

RANGE
103 (DATA FROM HIGH PRESSURE COMBUSTION TESTS;
FUEL: NATURAL GAS)
NOx ( 15% 02, dry) (vppn

natural gas
12 to 20 bar
SUMMARY
The Advanced EV is a further improvement in
10 u the application of lean premix gas turbine combustion
0 lit- "•■■1

technology. Its development benefited from the broad

experience in lean premix combustion with EV type
burners at ABB. The AEV-burner was extensively tested
40.
• using highly sophisticated experimental tools, like laser
optical methods. In consequence very low NO,-values
1
50 were achieved during the high pressure tests. The burner
100
has been running at single digit NO, down to below
GT X Load (74
50% gas turbine load conditions. With the improved gas
pilot system the burner can be operated safely and with
HG. 11 NOt EMISSIONS low emissions down to idle conditions.
(DATA FROM HIGH PRESSURE COMBUSTION TESTS; Compared with other lean premix burners the AEV
PREMIX OPERATION ON NATURAL GAS) exhibits several advantages:
- robust and simple design
- simple oil and gas injection
A similar low NOx emission potential has been found for oil
- robust against flame flashback
operation which makes water injection just for NO control obsolete.
- high flame stability
Dry low NOx values of less than 25ppm at full load conditions have
- wide low NO operation range
been measured during high pressure test series.
- Dry-Low-NOx capability for liquid fuels

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 LITERATURE
/1/ Sattelmayer, T.; Felchlin, M.P.; Haumann, J.;
Hellat, J.; Styner, D.: "Second Generation Low-
Emission Combustors for ABB Gas Turbines: Burner
Development and Tests at Atmospheric Pressure",
Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Engineering for
Gas Turbines and Power, Jan. 1992, Vol. 114

/2/ Keller, et.al.:"Vortex Breakdown as a

Fundamental Element of Vortex Dynamics", ZAMP 39
No.3,(May1988))

/3/ Correa, S.M.:"A Review of NO Formation

Under Gas-Turbine Combustion Conditions", Combust.
Science and Technology, 1992, Vol. 87, pp. 329-362

/4/ Sattelmayer, T., PoHike, W.; Win'der, D.;

Dobbeling, K.: "NO„ abatement potential of lean
premixed GT combustors", accepted for publication in
the Transactions of the ASME, Sept. 1996,

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