Effect of fuel distribution on turbulence and combustion characteristics of a micro gas turbine combustor

• Published in: Journal of industrial and engineering chemistry (Seoul, Korea) 2017, 48(0), , pp.24-35
• Main Authors: Choi, Minsung, Sung, Yonmo, Won, Myungjun, Park, Yeseul, Kim, Minkuk, Choi, Gyungmin, Kim, Duckjool
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjacent burners recirculation zone; LES; Micro gas turbine combustor; Progress variable; Swirl flow; Unmixedness; 화학공학
• ISSN: 1226-086X; 1876-794X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiec.2016.11.020

[Display omitted] •We study a numerical analysis of a lean-premixed flames in a micro gas turbine combustor.•The large eddy simulation model is adopted to predict unsteady turbulent motions of methane-air premixed flames.•The effect of the interaction of the between burners has a larger impact on the mixing process.•A lower local equivalence ratio of the between burners produces a lower temperature distribution, reducing thermal NOx formation.•The flame stability is enhanced by ring-shaped large scale coherent vorticity structures.•Air–fuel mixing is also increased by strong momentum and high kinetic energy with low NOx emission. Numerical analysis of lean-premixed flames is utilized to investigate the correlation between turbulence and combustion, fuel–air mixing, and NOx emission using three types of micro gas turbine combustors. Swirl flows generating vortex breakdown and flow recirculation contributing to mixing uniformity are improved by interaction of burners. Mixing plays an important role in flame dynamics and NOx emission by means of the unmixedness parameter. To discuss the correlation between flame characteristics and vorticity structures, progress variable c is introduced. The flame stability is enhanced by ring-shaped, large-scale vorticity structures, and air–fuel mixing is increased by momentum and kinetic energy.