Air-Breathing Gas Turbine Engine

Combustor (Combustion Chamber)

Combustion

 Heat addition by combustion is considered as a part of the

working Brayton cycle.

 In this process energy is put into the system by burning fuel in a

flowing gas.

 Also, in aircraft power plant size of the engine being limited, the
space available for combustion process is also limited.

 Thus the combustion is to be performed within a very small

volume, at a short time (air flow residence time) giving out high
amount of heat.
Combustion

 The condition at the burner inlet is determined by the outlet

operating conditions of the compressor (It may keep varying with
varying flight regimes)

 On the other hand, the outlet condition is governed by turbine

design operating limits and is generally required to be uniform and
stable.

 Hence, combustion chamber is expected to be a stable source of hot

gas. i.e., even if its inlet conditions are variable it is expected to
deliver comparatively steady and uniform flow to the turbine
Combustion Chambers

 Function of a combustor can be laid down as:

 To raise the temperature of air to the highest level conforming to cycle

design.

 It is designed to achieve maximum work extracted per kg of air flowing

through the turbine.

 It must retain minimum loss of pressure.

 The hot gases must be delivered at uniform pressure and temperature,

within material limitations of turbine
Combustion Chambers

 The hot gas generation must be stable during engine acceleration and
deceleration i.e. flame should not be extinguished or pulsations should not
be set up or amplified by combustion chamber.

 Ignition should be rapid, reliable and sustainable

 It should occupy minimum space

 It should burn a range of fuels.

 Combustor Location
6

Commercial
PW4000

Combustor

Military
F119-100 Afterburner
 Major Combustor Components

Fuel ts
o d u c
us tio n Pr
C o m b

Turbine
Compressor

Air

 Key Questions:
 Why is combustor configured this way?
 What sets overall length, volume and geometry of device?
 Vorbix Combustor (P&W)
8
 Combustor Requirements
9

 Complete combustion (hb → 1)

 Low pressure loss (pb → 1)
 Reliable and stable ignition
 Wide stability limits
 Flame stays lit over wide range of p, u, f/a ratio)
 Freedom from combustion instabilities
 Tailored temperature distribution into turbine with no hot spots
 Low emissions
 Smoke (soot), unburnt hydrocarbons, NOx, SOx, CO
 Effective cooling of surfaces
 Low stressed structures, durability
 Small size and weight
 Design for minimum cost and maintenance
 Future – multiple fuel capability (?)
Combustion and Combustion Mechanism

Combustion model for a gas turbine combustor Steps

 1) Spray through an Injector

 2) Atomization
 3) Evaporation
 4) Mixing with air
 5) Ignition
 6) Heat release
 7) Mixing of combustion
products
 8) Delivery to Turbine
Combustion and Combustion Mechanism
Combustion and Combustion Mechanism

 The flame moves in the direction of the air flow inside the
combustion chamber at a characteristic speed known as flame speed.

 The process of evaporation of droplets and mixing of fuel and air

can occur partly aided by local turbulent vortices artificially created
around the spray zone, and partly by diffusion of liquid vapor into
air.

 At the point of ignition all the droplets may not have been
evaporated and mixed -hence some of them may burn as liquid
droplets in a surrounding air.
Combustion and Combustion Mechanism

 Both burning processes follow approximately the same chemical

reactions as per the reaction kinetics.

 The combustion process for the whole amount of injected fuel may
not be completed at the end of flame zone, which creates the
intermediate reaction products.

 As the resident period of air in the chamber is small fraction of a

second, matching the physical steps with the reaction kinetics is
crucial to efficient combustion process

 Above 22000C air may be dissociated locally.

Combustion and Combustion Mechanism
 Chemistry Review

• General hydrocarbon, CnHm (Jet fuel H/C~2)

 m m
• Complete oxidation, hydrocarbon goes to CO 2 and water Cn H m   n  O2  nCO2  H 2O
 4 2
• For air-breathing applications, hydrocarbon is burned in air
• Air modeled as 20.9 % O2 and 79.1 % N2 (neglect trace species)
• Complete combustion for hydrocarbons means all C → CO2 and all H → H2O

 m m  m
Cn H m   n  O2  3.78 N 2   nCO2  H 2O  3.78 n   N 2
 4 2  4

Stoichiometric Molar fuel/air ratio Stoichiometric Mass fuel/air ratio

1 12n  m 
s  s 
 m
 m  n  32  3.7828
4.78 n    4
 4

• Stoichiometric = exactly correct ratio for complete combustion 15

Air to fuel ratio or fuel to air ratio

 Stable burning of hydrocarbon fuels takes place close in either side of the
stoichiometric value of fuel/air ratio.

 The range of stable operation vary with total pressure in the comb.
chamber, which decreases with increasing altitude till cruise flight is
reached.

 In defining stability limits define a term called

Property of fuel for aviation industry
 Comments on Challenges
18

 Based on material limits of turbine (T t4), combustors must operate

below stoichiometric values
 For most relevant hydrocarbon fuels, ys ~ 0.06 (based on mass)

 Comparison of actual fuel-to-air and stoichiometric ratio is called

equivalence ratio
 Equivalence ratio = f = y/ystoich
 For most modern aircraft f ~ 0.3

 Summary
 If f = 1: Stoichiometric
 If f > 1: Fuel Rich
 If f < 1: Fuel Lean
 Variation of Flame Temperature with f
19

Flame Temperature

Flammability Limits

Still too hot

for turbine
 Why is this Relevant?
20

 Most mixtures will NOT burn so far away from

stoichiometric
 Often called Flammability Limit
 Highly pressure dependent

 Increased pressure, increased flammability

limit
 Requirements for combustion, roughly f > 0.8

 Gas turbine can NOT operate at (or even near)

stoichiometric levels
 Temperatures (adiabatic flame temperatures)
associated with stoichiometric combustion are
way too hot for turbine
 Fixed Tt4 implies roughly f < 0.5
 What do we do?
 Burn (keep combustion going) near f=1 with
some of compressor exit air
 Then mix very hot gases with remaining air to
lower temperature for turbine
 Solution: Burning Regions

21

Turbine
Air Primary
Zone
f~0.3
Compressor

f ~ 1.0
T>2000 K
 Combustor Zones: More Details
22

1. Primary Zone
 Anchors Flame
 Provides sufficient time, mixing, temperature for “complete” oxidation of fuel
 Equivalence ratio near f=1
2. Intermediate (Secondary Zone)
 Low altitude operation (higher pressures in combustor)
 Recover dissociation losses (primarily CO → CO2) and Soot Oxidation
 Complete burning of anything left over from primary due to poor mixing
 High altitude operation (lower pressures in combustor)
 Low pressure implies slower rate of reaction in primary zone
 Serves basically as an extension of primary zone
3. Dilution Zone (critical to durability of turbine)
 Mix in air to lower temperature to acceptable value for turbine
 Tailor temperature profile (low at root and tip, high in middle)
 Uses about 20-40% of total ingested core mass flow
Combustor Design

 Combustion efficiency, hb = Actual Enthalpy Rise / Ideal Enthalpy Rise

 h=heat of reaction (sometimes designated as QR) = 43,400 KJ/Kg

b 

cP m a  m f Tt 4  m aTt 3 
m f h
• General Observations:
1. hb ↓ as p ↓ and T ↓ (because of dependency of reaction rate)
2. hb ↓ as Mach number ↑ (decrease in residence time)
3. hb ↓ as fuel/air ratio ↓

• Assuming that the fuel-to-air ratio is small

cP
f  Tt 4  Tt 3 
bQR
23
24
 Combustor Types
25

Single Can

Tubular
or Multi-Can

Tuboannular
Can-Annular

Annular
 Combustor Types
26
Individual can type combustor
Can-annular type combustor
 EXAMPLES
29

CAN-TYPE
Rolls-Royce Dart

ANNULAR-TYPE
General Electric T58
 Examples
30

CAN-ANNULAR-TYPE
Rolls-Royce Tyne
 Afterburner (Augmenter)
31

 Spray in more fuel to use up more oxygen

 Main combustion can not use all air
 Exit Mach number stays same (choked Mexit = 1)
 Temp ↑
 Speed of sound ↑
 Velocity = M*a ↑
 Therefore Thrust ↑
 Penalty:
 Pressure is lower so thermodynamic efficiency is poor
 Propulsive efficiency is reduced (but don’t really care in this application)
 As turbine inlet temperature keeps increasing less oxygen downstream for AB
and usefulness decreases
 Requirements
 VERY lightweight
 Stable and startable
 Durable and efficient
Combustion Parameters

 Combustion chamber pressure loss is due to two causes

i. Skin friction, mixing and turbulence, and
ii. The rise in temperature due to combustion.

 The later, the “fundamental pressure loss”, arises due to increases in

temperature, which means decrease in density and increase in local
velocity of flow.
 Pressure loss is proportional to (velocity)2.
 Total Pressure loss co-efficient, across stations 1 & 2, being the inlet and
the outlet to combustor,
Pressure Loss coefficient

 For low velocity flow (incompressible) momentum equation of one

dimensional frictionless flow in a duct of constant cross sectional area Acc ,
yields Total Pr. loss coefficient in the form of

 Since, T02/T01 is of the order of 2 –3, fundamental pressure loss coefficient is of the
order of 1 to 2.

 Due to strong vortex formation and cross flow, artificially created to aid the process of
evaporation and mixing, skin friction loss is quite high - about 25% of inlet dynamic
head. Thus uniform exit temperature and low pressure loss are contradictory
requirements.
Pressure Loss coefficient

 Overall (Total) pressure loss can be expressed by an equation of the

 Where, K1and K2 are to be found for a combustion chamber in a test rig from a
cold run and a hot run, and the final version of the equation can be used for a
range of mass flows, pressure ratios & fuel flows.

 Typical values of at design operating point for Cannular, Can annular and
Annular combustion chambers are 35, 25 and 18 respectively.

 However the total pressure loss is about 4 –7 % of the inlet total pressure.
Combustion efficiency

 This is defined as

 This can be measured experimentally. Generally it is of the order of 98 –99 % at sea

level.

 At high altitude as the operating pressure falls the combustion may not be as efficient.

 A very fast burning process with high pressure and temperature provides the
necessary condition for combustion.

 As the incoming pressure and temperature falls the combustion may become less
efficient.
Combustion intensity

 It is insufficient to characterize combustion chambers on the basis of

pressure loss and efficiency.

 The total amount of energy it can release for useful work must be a
measure of its performance. Hence, the parameter called combustion
intensity is introduced as
Combustion intensity

 The dimensions of the combustion chamber i.e. the length and diameter are
chosen on the basis of combustion intensity and volume flow rate.

 Combustion intensity is chosen on the basis of engine power needed.

 Air velocity in the combustion chamber gives some idea of the length
required.

 Weight and overall diameter of the engine are other parameters that have to
be kept in mind in choosing the type of combustor e.g. cannularor annular.

 Overall layout of the engine dictates the combustion chamber type, size and
shape.