IIT, Kanpur

Gas Turbine Combustion

and Power Generation

Dr. A. Kushari
Department of Aerospace Engineering

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Outline
• Introduction
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Future Requirements
• Gas Turbine Combustors
• Ongoing Research
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgement

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

TURBINES: Machines to extract fluid

power from flowing fluids

Steam Water Wind Gas

Turbine Turbines Turbines Turbines

•High Pressure, High Temperature gas

Aircraft Engines
•Generated inside the engine
Power Generation
•Expands through a specially designed TURBINE

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

GAS TURBINES
• Invented in 1930 by Frank Whittle
• Patented in 1934
• First used for aircraft propulsion in 1942 on Me262 by
Germans during second world war
• Currently most of the aircrafts and ships use GT engines
• Used for power generation
• Manufacturers: General Electric, Pratt &Whitney,
SNECMA, Rolls Royce, Honeywell, Siemens –
Westinghouse, Alstom
• Indian take: Kaveri Engine by GTRE (DRDO)

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
• Intake
– Slow down incoming air
– Remove distortions
• Compressor
– Dynamically Compress air
• Combustor
– Heat addition through
chemical reaction
• Turbine
– Run the compressor
• Nozzle/ Free Turbine
– Generation of thrust
power/shaft power

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Advantages and Disadvantages
• Great power-to- • Expensive:
weight ratio – high speeds and high operating
temperatures
compared to – designing and manufacturing
reciprocating engines. gas turbines is a tough problem
from both the engineering and
• Smaller than their materials standpoint
reciprocating • Tend to use more fuel when
counterparts of the they are idling
same power. • They prefer a constant rather
• Lower emission than a fluctuating load.
levels

That makes gas turbines great for things like transcontinental jet aircraft and
power plants, but explains why we don't have one under the hood of our car.

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Emission in Gas Turbines

•Lower emission compared to all conventional methods (except nuclear)

•Regulations require further reduction in emission levels

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Needs for Future Gas Turbines

• Power Generation
– Fuel Economy
– Low Emissions
– Alternative fuels
• Military Aircrafts
– High Thrust Half the size and twice the thrust
– Low Weight
• Commercial Aircrafts
– Low emissions Double the size of the Aircraft
– High Thrust and double the distance traveled
– Low Weight with 50% NOx
– Fuel Economy

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Gas Turbine Combustion

F/A – 0.01
Combustion efficiency : 98%

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
• Effect of inlet disturbances
• Combustion in recirculating flows
• Spray Combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Effect of Inlet Disturbance

Tunable inlet to create weak disturbance of

varying frequency
Bluff body stabilized flame
Unsteady pressure and heat release
measurement

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Pressure Amplitude variation

 = 0.2211 L = 20 cm

•Pressure oscillations increases

with decreasing length
•Dominant frequency 27 Hz
•Acoustic frequency 827 Hz

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Pressure and Heat Release

Prms Phase angle

330 160

150

280 140
Phase angle (degree)

130
Prms (pascal)

230 120

110

180 100

90
Less damping with increasing
130 80 length
70

80 60 Causes the rise is pressure

10 15 20 25 30
Length of Inlet (cm )
fluctuations

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Low Frequency Variation with Inlet
Length Frequency Amplitude

45 124

40
122
35
120
30

frequency (Hz)

SPL (Db)
25 118

20 116

15
114
10
112
5

0 110
10 15 20 25 30
Length of Inlet (cm )

ma  3.0 g / s ,  = 0.3455

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Variation of Dominant Frequency with Inlet Velocity

45 f *D
40 St  s
U
35
Frequency (Hz)

30
St = 0.171 (60 deg cone)
25

20 Measured 0.171* U
Calulated (St = 0.171) fs 
15 0.02
10
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Mean Inlet Velocity (m/s)

Dominant Frequency governed by vortex

dynamics
Feed back locking of flow instability and
combustion process
Phase relationship leads to
enhancement of combustion oscillations

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
• Effect of inlet disturbances
• Combustion in recirculating flows
• Spray Combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Recirculating Flow Dynamics

• Primary zone
• Fuel air mixing
• Intense combustion
• Short combustion length
• High turbulence
• Fuel rich combustion
Understanding recirculating flow dynamics
Time scales
Pressure transients
Energy cascading
Combustion in recirculating flows
Droplet Flow interaction

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Image Processing

Filtered out image from the noises Grayscale image

Intensity image Simulation results

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Vortex Dynamics

0.01
total area of the cold
Ratio of the second
inlet of the combustor

vortex aera to the

second vortex to the

0.008
distance(L2/L) of
Non-dimentional

0.6 flowfield
0.55 0.006
0.5 0.004
0.45 0.002
0.4
0
0.35
2.33 3.33 4.33 5.33 6.33
2.33 3.33 4.33 5.33 6.33
Non-dimensional time
Non-dimensional time

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Transient Analysis

•Identification of signatures of re-circulation, turbulence and acoustics

through frequency domain analysis of pressure transients
•Turbulence energy cascading due to re-circulation
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.
IIT, Kanpur

Combustion in Recirculating Flow

Temperature in degree
0.6 450
Non -dimensional

400

centigrate
flame area

0.4 350
300
0.2
250
0 200
0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Non-dimensional time Non-dimensional distance along the combustor diameter

Time scale reduces, complete combustion, Good pattern factor

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
• Effect of inlet disturbances
• Combustion in recirculating flows
• Spray Combustion
–Needs and Challenges
–Controlled atomization
–Emissions in spray combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Spray Combustion: Issues

• Non-symmetrical spray flames and hot
streaks
– Serious damage to combustor liner
– Combustor exit temperature (pattern factor)
• Flame location, shape and pattern
• Emission Levels

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Need for controlled atomization

– Big Drops => Longer Evaporation Time => Incomplete
Combustion => Unburned Hydrocarbons & Soot,
Reduced Efficiency

– Small Drops => Faster Evaporation and Mixing =>

Elongated Combustion Zone => More NOx

– Uniform size distribution for favorable pattern factor

• Reduced thermal loading on liner and turbine

– Reduced feedline coupling

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
• Effect of inlet disturbances
• Combustion in recirculating flows
• Spray Combustion
–Needs and Challenges
–Controlled atomization
–Emissions in spray combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Internally Mixed Swirl Atomizer

Good atomization with small
pressure drop
Both hollow-cone and solid cone
spray from same atomizer
(wide range of applications)
Possible to atomize very viscous
liquid
Self cleaning
Finer atomization at low flow rates Atomization of engine oil
Less sensitive to manufacturing
defects
The liquid flow rate and atomization
quality can be controlled
PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.
IIT, Kanpur
Performance

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Multi-head internally mixed atomizer

• Build to provide a throughput rate in excess to 0.5 LPM with a droplet
size in the range of 20-30 mm

2.5
LIQUID SUPPLY PRESSURE
y = 0.149x-0.9698
2 5 psi
10 psi
Liquid Flow Rate (LPM)

15 psi
20 psi
1.5
25 psi

1
90

80 LIQUID SUPPLY PRESSURE

0.5
70 5 psi
60 10 psi
0 15 psi

D32 (mm)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 50 20 psi
ALR 25 psi
40

30
Flow rate independent of pressure 20

difference 10

0
Reduced feedline coupling 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
ALR

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Ongoing Research
• Effect of inlet disturbances
• Combustion in recirculating flows
• Spray Combustion
–Needs and Challenges
–Controlled atomization
–Emissions in spray combustion

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur
Emissions in spray flames
100 4500

90 4000

80 Exp 3500
NOX (Theory)
70
3000

NOx Theory (ppm)

60

Nox (ppm)
2500
50
2000
40
1500
30
1000
20

10 500

0 0
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3
160
Distance from Flame Holder 

z=5mm z=10mm
140
z=20mm z=35mm

•Measured values quite less

Sauter Mean Diameter (mm)

120

100
compared to the theoretical
predictions
80
•Inherent fuel staging reduces the
60 NOx
40
•Longer flame => less NOx
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Radial Distance from Center Line (cm)

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Conclusions
• Disturbances can lead to combustion
oscillations
• Recirculating flow helps in reducing
disturbances
• Controlled Atomization can be achieved
through air-assisting
• Spray combustion reduces NOx emissions
through fuel staging

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

Acknowledgements
• M. S. Rawat • Dr. K. Ramamurthi
• S. K. Gupta • LPSC (ISRO)
• S. Pandey • CFEES (DRDO)
• P. Berman
• J. Karnawat
• S. Karmakar
• N. P. Yadav
• S. Nigam
• R. Sailaja
• M. Madanmohan

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.

IIT, Kanpur

THANK YOU

PROPULSION LAB, DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGG.