MAE 570 Aeropropulsion

Gas Turbine Combustor

Gas Turbine Combustor
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Case:
The case is the outer shell of the combustor, and is a fairly simple
structure. The casing generally requires little maintenance.

The case is protected from

thermal loads by the air flowing
in it, so thermal performance is
of limited concern.
The casing serves as a
pressure vessel that must
withstand the difference
between the high pressures
inside the combustor and the
lower pressure outside.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Diffuser
The purpose of the diffuser is to slow the high speed, highly compressed, air
from the compressor to a velocity optimal for the combustor.

Reducing the velocity results in

an unavoidable loss in total
pressure, so one of the design
challenges is to limit the loss of
pressure as much as possible.
The diffuser must be designed
to limit the flow distortion as
much as possible by avoiding
flow effects like boundary layer
separation.

Like most other gas turbine engine components, the diffuser is designed to be
as short and light as possible.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Liner
The liner contains the combustion process and introduces the various airflows
(intermediate, dilution, and cooling, see Air flow paths below) into the
combustion zone.
The liner must be designed and built
to withstand extended high
temperature cycles. For that reason
liners tend to be made from
superalloys like Hastelloy X.
Furthermore, even though high
performance alloys are used, the
liners must be cooled with air flow.
Some combustors also make use of
thermal barrier coatings. However,
air cooling is still required.
In general, there are two main types of liner cooling; film cooling and
transpiration cooling. Film cooling works by injecting cool air from outside of
the liner to just inside of the liner. This creates a thin film of cool air that
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Liner
In general, there are two main types
of liner cooling; film cooling and
transpiration cooling. Film cooling
works by injecting cool air from
outside of the liner to just inside of
the liner. This creates a thin film of
cool air that protects the liner,
reducing the temperature at the liner
from around 1800 kelvins (K) to
around 830 K, for example.

Transpiration cooling, is a more modern approach that uses a porous material

for the liner. The porous liner allows a small amount of cooling air to pass
through it, providing cooling benefits similar to film cooling. The two primary
differences are in the resulting temperature profile of the liner and the amount
of cooling air required.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Liner
Transpiration cooling results in a much more even temperature profile, as the
cooling air is uniformly introduced through pores. Film cooling air is generally
introduced through slats or louvers, resulting in an uneven profile where it is
cooler at the slat and warmer between the slats.
More importantly, transpiration cooling uses much less cooling air (on the order
of 10% of total airflow, rather than 20-50% for film cooling). Using less air for
cooling allows more to be used for combustion, which is more and more
important for high performance, high thrust engines.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Fuel injector
The fuel injector is responsible for introducing fuel to the combustion zone and,
along with the swirler (above), is responsible for mixing the fuel and air.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Igniter
Most igniters in gas turbine applications are electrical spark igniters, similar to
automotive spark plugs. Once the combustion is initially started by the igniter, it
is self-sustaining and the igniter is no longer used.

In can-annular and annular

combustors, the flame can propagate
from one combustion zone to another,
so igniters are not needed at each
one.
One such method is oxygen injection,
where oxygen is fed to the ignition
area, helping the fuel easily combust.
This is particularly useful in some
aircraft applications where the engine
may have to restart at high altitude.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
• Before chemical reaction in the combustor can occur, the liquid fuel must be
– injected into the airstream,
– atomized, and
– vaporized, and
– the vapor must be mixed with the air.
• All this takes space and time. Great effort is made to reduce the size of the
combustor (and thus the engine) by hastening the completion of the above
processes. Small combustor requires high intensity of combustion (J/m3) ~
500,000 kJ/m3. The density of the reactants is ~ 10 times as high as in an
atmospheric (gas turbine) furnace.
• The more intense the turbulence, the more rapid the mixing of the vaporized
fuel and air, and the faster the propagation of flame through the unburned
mixture.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Typical properties of aviation fuels

JP-4 and Jet A are widely

used for gas turbines.
Aviation kerosene is not in
plentiful supply.

For approximate calculations

of fuel-air ratio and
combustion temperature we
assume these fuels have H-C
ratios of 2 and lower heating
values (LHV) of 43,000 kJ/kg.

Each fuel is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds. The H-C ratio varies. JP-4 is
relatively volatile and so has high vapor pressure.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
For approximate calculations of fuel-air ratio and combustion temperature we
assume these fuels as having H-C ratios of 2 and the lower heating values
(LHV) of 43,000 kJ/kg.

If we treat the turbojet combustion process as a simple heating process:

cp
m f QR  m a c p (T04  T03 ) f  (T04  T03 ) f 
c p T04  T03 
QR QR  c pT04
 Gas Turbine Combustor
m f QR  m a c p (1  f )T04  T03  m a fQR  m a c p (1  f )T04  T03   m a c p T04  fT04  T03 

fQR  c p fT04  c p T04  T03  fQR  c p fT04  f (QR  c pT04 )  c p T04  T03 

c p T04  T03 
f 
QR  c pT04
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Example:
An engine flying in the atmosphere with temperature of, say, 222 K at Mach
0.8 with a compressor ration of 30:1 and compressor adiabatic efficiency of
85% will have a burner inlet temperature of about 600 K. If the turbine inlet
temperature is 1600 K, QR is 43,000, and average cp is 1.008 kJ.kg.K:

1.08(1600  600)
f   0.025
43,000
From Table 6.1, the stoichiometric fuel-air ratio is ~0.067.

We can define an equivalence ratio :

f 0.025
   0.37
f stoich 0.067

To prevent excessive temperature at the exit of the combustor, the fuel-air ratio
must be much less than the stoichiometric (lean mixture).
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Lean-Mixture Combustion

This Figure illustrates the difficulty of

lean-mixture combustion of hydrocarbon
fuels for gasoline-air mixture.
• If f = 0.025 (say) and if all the air were
initially mixed with all the fuel, the
resulting mixture would be much too
lean for ignition and combustion.
• The fuel in gas turbine combustors is
initially mixed and burned with a small
amount of “primary” air.
• After combustion, the products are
diluted and cooled by the remaining
air.

Inflammability limit of gasoline-air mixture

 Gas Turbine Combustor
Primary air
This is the main combustion air. It is highly compressed air from the high
pressure compressor (often decelerated via the diffuser) that is fed through the
main channels in the dome of the combustor and the first set of liner holes. This
air is mixed with fuel, and then combusted.

Intermediate air is the air injected into the combustion zone through the second
set of liner holes. This air completes the reaction processes, cooling the air down
and diluting the high concentrations.
Dilution air
Dilution air is airflow injected through holes in the liner at the end of the
combustion chamber to help cool the air to before it reaches the turbine stages.
The air is carefully used to produce the uniform temperature profile desired in
the combustor. However, as turbine blade technology improves, allowing them
to withstand higher temperatures, dilution air is used less, allowing the use of
more combustion air.[20]
Cooling air
Cooling air is airflow that is injected through small holes in the liner to generate
a layer (film) of cool air to protect the liner from the combustion temperatures.
The implementation of cooling air has to be carefully designed so it does not
directly interact with the combustion air and process. In some cases, as much
as 50% of the inlet air is used as cooling air. There are several different
methods of injecting this cooling air, and the method can influence the
temperature profile that the liner is exposed to (see Liner, above).[2
 Gas Turbine Combustor
This Figure shows the results of a more exact calculations of fuel-air ratio, that
allows for variability of specific heats and also for the possibility of dissociation.

At mixture temperatures less

Figure 6.22 pertains to the products
mixture leaving the combustor and
entering the turbine.
than 1800 K ( = 0.5), there is
no observable effect of
dissociation, that is, no
apparent effect of pressure
on product temperature.

If reactant temperature = 600 K

and product temperature = 1600
K , the equivalence ratio (shown
in Figs. 6.22 is 0.41. (This differs
from the above approximate
value but does not lead to a
different conclusion.)
Gas Turbine Combustor
Figure 6.23 allows us to consider
the combustion zone where  will
be close to unity.
It shows the effect of equivalence
ratio on the adiabatic flame
temperature. The pressure
dependence is solely a result of
dissociation (greater at lower
pressure).
In these calculations we assume
that each constituent of the
combustion mixture behaves as an
ideal gas. The dissociated
products include CO, NO, H, OH,
O, and N.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
With Figs. 6.22 and 6.23 in mind one can appreciate why, to promote stable
and rapid burning, it is necessary to supply less than half the compressor air
to the primary combustion zone; most is used for diluting the combustion
products to reduce the temperature following combustion.
With no dissociation and combustor inlet temperature of 1000 K, the
maximum temperature would be about 3000 K.
Dissociation at 30 atm pressure reduces this temperature to about 2750 K.
Lowering the pressure by an order of magnitude (corresponding to the
difference between high-altitude and sea level) reduces the maximum
temperature to about 2650 K.
The significance of this is not that it has much effect on the combustor
efficiency or stability, but that the oxides of nitrogen, formed during high
temperature combustion, do not entirely disappear as the temperature is
lowered. The combustion gasses can be close to equilibrium in the high
temperature zone of the combustor, but the rapid subsequent “quenching” of
the product mixture leaves a portion of nitrogen oxides locked in, and they
emerge from the turbine as potential contributors, along with unburned
hydrocarbons, to photochemical smog.
• A major challenge in gas turbine or ramjet combustor design is in
protecting the metal chamber from direct contact with hot combustion gas.
• Typical turbine temperatures can be ass high as 1600-1700 K, whereas
the limiting metal temperature would be on the order of 1200 K.
• So far, high temperature ceramic surfaces have not proved sufficiently
durable for practical use.
• Substantial quantities of cooling air are needed to prevent warping,
bulking, or even melting of the metal chamber liner. This is, in principle, no
problem since allowable turbine inlet temperatures are much less than
stoichiometric, and much of the air supplied must therefore bypass the
combustion zone.
• In practice, it is not easy to distribute the airflow within the combustor to
meet all combustion requirements and cooling requirements at all
operating conditions.
 Gas Turbine Combustor
Chamber Geometry
Afterburners and Ramjet
Combustors
Flameholders
 Flameholder
Stagnation Pressure Loss
 Momentum Equation for Burner

The flameholder exerts a total (leftward) drag D on the flow that will be
approximately proportional to the inlet dynamic pressure ½(u2)2.

K can be considered to be the ratio of the pressure drop (due to the effect of friction) to
the upstream dynamic pressure. We might expect the effective value of K for an actual
burner to be of the order of 1 or 2, allowing for small wall friction.
2 = 4 = 
 2
  1 2   2 K 
2 1  M4  1  M 2 1  
T04 M 4  2    2 
 2
T02 M 2    1 2  (1  M 42 ) 2
1  M2 
 2 
Both friction (K > 0) and combustion (T04/T02 > 1) increase the Mach number
toward a limiting value M4 = 1.

Question: How large must M2 be if a given burner with known K is to have a

given stagnation temperature ratio, T04/T02?

We substitute M4 = 1 and try various values of M2.

The results are shown in Fig. 6.39, which displays the overall pressure ratio
p02/p04 as well as the temperature ratio T04/T02.
 Kawasaki Gas Turbines
Kawasaki Gas Turbines supply and will continue to supply customers with
clean energy.