This thesis investigates the laminar flame speed of C₁-C₃ alkanes and their binary mixtures at conditions of interest in natural gas based gas turbines viz. high temperature, pressure and dilution. Laminar flame speed has been found useful not only for validating chemical kinetics mechanisms but also for developing empirical scaling laws for practical combustion systems. The thesis addresses the lack of laminar flame speed data of C₁-C₃ alkanes at preheat (300-650 K), pressure (1-10 atm) and significant oxidizer dilution (15-21 vol% O₂). Over 400 measurements are reported over a wide range of conditions along with comparison to predictions from leading chemical mechanisms. Unstretched flame speed measurements were performed using a modified Bunsen flame technique based on reaction zone area from chemiluminescence imaging, whereas the strain sensitivity measurements were performed using a bluff-body stabilized stagnation flame with high resolution PIV. These measurements are used to: (i) discern the uncertainties associated with the measurements, (ii) understand the effect of fuel mixture and vitiation on flame speed, and (iii) validate the performance of the leading chemical kinetics mechanisms. Extensive testing shows the unstretched flame speed measurements from the modified Bunsen technique are reasonably accurate. Vitiation studies for methane and propane flames at high preheat show the reduction in flame speed results primarily from the thermal effect of the diluent and that the relative change in flame speed from the undiluted mixture is well correlated to the fractional change in the adiabatic flame temperature over a range of conditions. Significant difference in the measured and predicted flame speeds were observed for rich, atmospheric pressure, propane and lean, high pressure, methane/ethane mixtures with dilution. This highlights possible avenues for improvements in the chemical kinetics mechanisms. Systematic errors were also identified in the Bunsen flame measurements at certain conditions, such as for rich flames with dilution, indicating a need for better understanding of the Bunsen flame technique at these conditions. The difference in the measured and predicted flame speed does not show any clear correlation with the flame height or the strain sensitivity of the mixture. Finally previously proposed mixing rules for estimating flame speed of fuel mixtures from pure fuel components are shown to be reasonably accurate over a range of pressure, reactant temperature and dilution conditions.

Due to the extreme operating conditions present in the combustion sections of gas turbines, designers have relied heavily on specialized engineering materials. For blades, which must retain substantial strength and resistance to fatigue, creep, and corrosion at high temperatures, directionally-solidified (DS) nickel-base superalloys have been used extensively. Complex thermomechanical loading histories makes life prediction for such components difficult and subjective. Costly product inspection and refurbishment, as well as capital expense required in turbine forced outage situations, are significant drains on the resources of turbine producers. This places a premium on accurate endurance prediction as the foundation of viable long-term service contracts with customers. In working towards that end, this work characterizes the behavior of the blade material CM247LC DS subjected to a variety of in-phase (IP) and out-of phase (OP) loading cycles in the presence of notch stress concentrations. The material response to multiaxial notch effects, highly anisotropic material behavior, time-dependent deformation, and waveform and temperature cycle characteristics is presented. The active damage mechanisms influencing crack initiation are identified through extensive microscopy as a function of these parameters. This study consisted of an experimental phase as well as a numerical modeling phase. The first involved conducting high temperature thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) tests on both smooth and notched round-bar specimens to compile experimental results. Tests were conducted on longitudinal and transverse material grain orientations. Damage is characterized and conclusions drawn in light of fractography and microscopy. The influences of microstructure morphology and environmental effects on crack initiation are discussed. The modeling phase utilized various finite element (FE) simulations. These included an anisotropic-elastic model to capture the purely elastic notch response, and a continuum-based crystal visco-plastic model developed specifically to compute the material response of a DS Ni-base superalloy based on microstructure and orientation dependencies. These FE simulations were performed to predict and validate experimental results, as well as identify the manifestation of damage mechanisms resulting from thermomechanical fatigue. Finally, life predictions using simple and complex analytical modeling methods are discussed for predicting component life at various stages of the design process.

Based on research supported by Division of Policy Research and Analysis, National Science Foundation, under grant no. PRA-7681015

La conception des turbines à gaz est aujourd'hui contrainte par des normes d'émissions de plus en plus draconiennes, couplées à l'urgente nécessité d'économiser les ressources en carburant fossile. Les choix technologiques adoptés pour répondre à ces exigences entraînent parfois l'apparition d'instabilités de combustion. Dans les chambres de combustion annulaires, ces instabilités prennent souvent la forme de modes azimutaux. Prédire ces modes reste un défi à l'heure actuelle et impose de considérer la totalité de la géométrie annulaire, ce qui n'est rendu possible, dans le domaine de la simulation numérique en mécanique des fluides, que par l'avènement très récent des supercalculateurs massivement parallèles. Dans ce travail de thèse, les modes azimutaux pouvant apparaître dans les chambres de combustion annulaires sont abordés avec plusieurs approches: un modèle analytique 1D, un solveur acoustique de Helmholtz 3D et enfin des Simulations aux Grandes Echelles. Combiner ces méthodes permet une meilleure compréhension de la structure de ces modes et peut amener à considérer des solutions innovantes pour concevoir des chambres inconditionnellement stables. / Increasingly stringent regulations and the need to tackle rising fuel prices have placed great emphasis on the design of aeronautical gas turbines. This drive towards innovation has resulted sometimes in new concepts being prone to combustion instabilities. Combustion instabilities arise from the coupling of acoustics and combustion. In the particular field of annular combustion chambers, these instabilities often take the form of azimuthal modes. To predict these modes, one must consider the full combustion chamber, which, in the numerical simulation domain, remained out of reach until very recently and the development of massively parallel computers. In this work, azimuthal modes that may develop in annular combustors are studied with different numerical approaches: a low order model, a 3D Helmholtz solver and Large Eddy Simulations. Combining these methods allows a better understanding of the structure of the instabilities and may provide guidelines to build intrinsically stable combustion chambers.

L'impact environnemental du trafic aérien fait maintenant l'objet d'une réglementation qui tend à se sévériser. Dans ce contexte, les industriels misent sur l'amélioration des technologies afin de réduire la consommation de carburant et l'émission de polluants. Ces phénomènes dépendent en grande partie des chemins réactionnels sous-jacents, qui peuvent s'avérer très complexes. La Simulation aux Grandes Échelles (SGE) est un outil intéressant afin d'étudier ces phénomènes pour un coût de calcul qui reste raisonnable. Cependant, les processus chimiques, s'ils sont considérés sans simplification, font intervenir des centaines d'espèces aux temps caractéristiques très différents au sein de processus non-linéaires qui induisent une forte raideur dans le système d'équations, et un coût de calcul prohibitif. Permettant de s'absoudre de ces problèmes tout en conservant une bonne capacité de prédiction des polluants, les Chimies Analytiquement Réduites (CAR) font l'objet d'une attention grandissante au sein de la communauté. Les CAR permettent de conserver la physique du problème considéré, en conservant les espèces et voies réactionnelles les plus importantes. Grâce à l'évolution toujours croissante des moyens de calculs, les CAR sont appliqués dans des configurations de plus en plus complexes. Les travaux de thèse ont principalement portés sur deux sujets. Premièrement, une étude poussée des techniques et outils permettant une réduction efficace et systématique de chimies détaillées. L'outil de réduction multiétapes YARC est retenu et exhaustivement employé dans la dérivation et la validation d'une série de CAR préservant la description de la structure de flamme. Ensuite, une investigation de la faisabilité et des bénéfices qu'apportent l'utilisation de CAR en LES, comparé a des approches plus classiques, sur des cas tests de complexité croissante. La première configuration étudiée est une chambre de combustion partiellement pré-mélangée brûlant de l'éthylène, étudiée expérimentalement au DLR. Différentes modélisations de la chimie sont considérées, dont un CAR développé spécifiquement pour ce cas test, et les résultats démontrent qu'une prise en compte des interactions flamme-écoulement est cruciale pour une prédiction juste de la structure de la flamme et des niveaux de suies. La seconde configuration est un brûleur diphasique, avec une injection directe pauvre, brûlant du Jet-A2. Dans cette étude, une approche novatrice pour la prise en compte de la complexité du fuel réel (HyChem) est considérée, permettant la dérivation d’un CAR. Les résultats sont excellents et valident la méthodologie tout en fournissant une analyse précieuse des interactions flamme-spray et de la formation de polluants (NOx) dans des flammes à la structure complexe. / Recent implementation of emission control regulations has resulted in a considerable demand from industry to improve the efficiency while minimizing the consumption and pollutant emissions of the next generation of aero-engine combustors. Those phenomena are shown to strongly depend upon the underlying complex chemical pathways and their interaction with turbulence. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is an attractive tool to address those issues with high accuracy at a reasonable computing cost. However, the computation of accurate combustion chemistry remains a challenge. Indeed, combustion proceeds through complex and highly non-linear processes that involve up to hundreds of different chemical compounds, which significantly increases the computational time and often induces stiffness in the resolved equations. As a mean to circumvent these drawbacks while retaining the necessary kinetics for the prediction of pollutants, Analytically Reduced Chemistry (ARC) has recently received high interest in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) community. ARC is a strategy for the description of combustion chemistry where only the most important species and reactions are retained, in a "physically-oriented way". ARC is on the verge of becoming affordable at a design stage, thanks to the continuously increasing available computational resources. The goal of the present work is twofold. A first objective is to test and validate efficient techniques and tools by which detailed chemistries are reduced to an LES-compliant format. To do so, the multi-step reduction tool YARC is selected and employed to derive and validate a series of ARC specifically designed to retrieve correct flame structures. A second objective is to investigate the overall feasibility and benefits of using ARC, combined to the Thickened Flame model (DTFLES), in performing LES of configurations of increasing complexity. The first configuration is a sooting swirl-stabilized non-premixed aero-engine combustor experimentally studied at DLR, burning ethylene. LES of this configuration is performed with the AVBP solver, in which ARC has been implemented. By comparison with global chemistry and tabulated chemistry, results highlight the importance of accurately capturing the flow-flame interactions for a good prediction of pollutants and soot. The second configuration is a swirled twophase flow burner featuring a lean direct injection system and burning Jet-A2. A novel methodology to real fuel modeling (HyChem approach) is employed, which allows subsequent ARC derivation. The excellent results in comparison with measurements constitute an additional validation of the methodology, and provide valuable qualitative and quantitative insights on the flame-spray interactions and on the pollutant formation (NOx) mechanisms in complex flame configurations.

Durante as últimas décadas, um dos desafios da indústria aeroespacial é em relação ao aumento da eficiência dos motores de turbinas a gás. A eficiência dos motores é limitada principalmente pela temperatura dos gases de combustão, que não pode ser aumentada devido às limitações intrínsecas relacionadas ao uso das superligas à base de Ni nas partes quentes da turbina, onde as temperaturas podem atingir valores acima de 1000 °C. Este trabalho visa caracterizar novos materiais do sistema Nb-Ti para aplicações aeronáuticas, materiais de baixa massa específica que podem substituir as superligas de Ni. As ligas foram produzidas através de fusão a arco, tratadas termicamente a 1200 °C durante 48 h e expostas a temperaturas semelhantes às encontradas na seção de baixa pressão de um turborreator. Os materiais foram caracterizados em termos de composição química, propriedades mecânicas e microestrutura. Foram utilizadas as seguintes técnicas: difração de raios; microscopia eletrônica de varredura, espectrometria de raios X por energia dispersiva e Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão. A caracterização microestrutural revelou que as ligas expostas a 1000 °C durante 168 h apresentam uma microestrutura de duas fases composta principalmente de uma matriz ?0-BCC (Nb/Ti) com precipitados de uma segunda fase rica em titânio. Microestruturas de duas fases também foram observadas para as ligas expostas a 800 °C durante 168 h, na qual uma matriz ?0-BCC (Nb/Ti) com precipitados de uma segunda fase identificada como O2-Ti2NbAl foi observada. As ligas estudadas apresentaram massa específica inferior às superligas à base de Ni normalmente utilizadas na indústria aeronáutica. Em termos de propriedades mecânicas, as amostras expostas e testadas a 1000°C apresentaram valores baixos de resistência à compressão (100 MPa) quando comparado as amostras expostas e testadas a 800 °C (565 MPa). Pelos resultados de oxidação observou-se uma maior resistência a oxidação das ligas testadas a 800 °C, porém tanto a 1000 °C como a 800 °C não houve a formação de um filme protetor. / During the last decades, one of the challenges in the aerospace industry is with respect to increase the efficiency of gas turbine engines. The efficiency of the engines is a function of temperatures of the fluel gas, which cannot be increased because of intrinsic limitations related the use of Ni-based superalloys in the hot parts, where temperatures can reach values above 1000 °C. This work aims to investigate new materials in the Nb-Ti system, with low-density materials that may substitute Ni superalloys. The alloys were processed via arc melting, heat treated at 1200°C for 48h and exposed at temperatures similar to those encountered at the low-pressure section in a turbojet engine. The materials were characterized in terms of chemical composition, mechanical properties and microstructure. The following techniques have been used: X-ray diffraction; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The microstructural characterization have revealed that the alloys exposed at 1000 °C for 168 hours present a two-phase microstructure composed mainly of a ?0-BCC (Nb/Ti) matrix with precipitations of a second phase rich in titanium. Two-phase microstructures were also observed for the alloys exposed at 800 °C for 168 hours, where a ?0-BCC (Nb/Ti) matrix is observed with precipitates of a second phase identified as O2-Ti2NbAl. The studies alloys reported a lower density when comparing with the Ni based superalloys normally used in the aeronautical industry. In terms of mechanical properties, specimens exposed and tested at 1000 °C showed lower values of compressive strength (100 MPa) than those exposed and tested at 800 °C (565 MPa). The oxidation results allowed to observe a higher oxidation resistance of the alloys tested at 800 °C, however there was no protective film formation at 1000 °C as at 800 °C.

A lot of research effort is spent worldwide in order to reduce the environmental impact of the transportation and power generation sector. To minimize the environmental pollution the role of hydrogen fuelled gas turbines is intensively discussed in several research scenarios, like the IGCC-technology or the application of hydrogen as large scale storage for renewable energy sources. The adaptation of the applied gas turbine combustion chamber technology and control technology is mandatory for a stable and secure low NOx operation of a hydrogen fuelled gas turbine.<p>The micromix combustion principle was invented at Aachen University of Applied Sciences and achieves a significant reduction of the NOx-emissions by the application of multi miniaturized diffusion-type flamelets. Based on the research experiences, gained during the two European hydrogen research programs EQHHPP and Cryoplane at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the intention of this thesis was to continue the scientific research work on low NOx hydrogen fuelled gas turbines. This included the experimental characterization of the micromix combustion principle, the design of an improved combustion chamber, based on the micromix combustion principle, for industrial gas turbine applications and the improvement of the gas turbine’s control and metering technology.<p>The experimental characterization of the micromix combustion principle investigated the impact of several key parameters, which influence the formation of the NOx-emissions, and allows therefore the definition of boundary conditions and design laws, in which a low NOx operation of the micromix combustion principle is practicable. In addition the ability of the micromix combustion principle to operate at elevated energy densities up to 15 MW/(m2bar) was successfully demonstrated. The improved combustion chamber design concept includes the experiences gained during the experimental characterization and covers the industrial needs regarding scalability and manufacturability.<p>The optimization and testing is done with an Auxiliary Power Unit GTCP 36-300. The original kerosene fuelled gas turbine was modified for the hydrogen application. Therefore several hardware and software modifications were realized. The improved gas turbine’s control and metering technology enables stable and comparable operational characteristics as in kerosene reference. An improved hydrogen metering unit, which is controlled by the industrial Versatile Engine Control Box, was successfully implemented. <p>The combination of the micromix combustion technology and of the optimized control and metering technology allows a stable, secure and low NOx hydrogen fuelled gas turbine operation.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The growing need of mobile power sources with high energy density and the robustness to operate also in the harshest environmental surroundings lead to the idea of downscaling gas turbines to ì-scale. Classified as PowerMEMS devices, a couple of design attempts have emerged in the last decade. One of these attempts was the Belgian “PowerMEMS” design started back in 2003 and aiming towards a ì-scale gas turbine rated at 1 kW of electrical power output.<p>This PhD thesis presents the scientific evaluation and development history of different combustion chamber designs based upon the “PowerMEMS” design parameters. With hydrogen as chosen fuel, the non-premixed diffusive “micromix” concept was selected as combustion principle. Originally designed for full scale gas turbine applications in two different variants, consequently the microcombustor development had to start with the downscaling of these two principles towards ì-scale. Both principles have the advantage to be inherently safe against flashback, due to the non-premixed concept, which is an important issue even in this small scale application when burning hydrogen. By means of water analogy and CFD simulations the hydrogen injection system and the chamber geometry could be validated and optimized. Besides the specific design topics that emerged during the downscaling process of the chosen combustion concepts, the general difficulties of microcombustor design like e.g. high power density, low Reynolds numbers, short residence time, and manufacturing restrictions had to be tackled as well.<p>As full scale experimental test campaigns are still mandatory in the field of combustion research, extensive experimental testing of the different prototypes was performed. All test campaigns were conducted with a newly designed test rig in a combustion lab modified for microcombustion investigations, allowing testing of miniaturized combustors according to full engine requirements with regard to mass flow, inlet temperature, and chamber pressure. The main results regarding efficiency, equivalence ratio, and combustion temperature were obtained by evaluating the measured exhaust gas composition. Together with the performed ignition and extinction trials, the evaluation and analysis of the obtained test results leads to a full characterization of each tested prototype and delivered vital information about the possible operating regime in a later UMGT application. In addition to the stability and efficiency characteristics, another critical parameter in combustor research, the NOx emissions, was investigated and analyzed for the different combustor prototypes.<p>As an advancement of the initial downscaled micromix prototypes, the following microcombustor prototype was not only a combustion demonstrator any more, but already aimed for easy module integration into the real UMGT. With a further optimized combustion efficiency, it also featured an innovative recuperative cooling of the chamber walls and thus allowing an cost effective all stainless steel design.<p>Finally, a statement about the pros and cons of the different micromix combustion concepts and their correspondent combustor designs towards a possible ì-scale application could be given. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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Gas turbine components for cooling purposes including other unique and complex three-dimensional designs could be made explicitly possible through additive manufacturing using SLM technology in contrary to the conventional machining processes. Nevertheless, the surface roughness and subsequently the friction factor governs thepressure drop in these components implicitly, thus, influencing the secondary air flow system of a gas turbine. Research studies to understand and predict flow behaviours through especially AM parts are still in a budding stage, and thus, in this scope of thesis, the same has been attempted through experimentation to quantifypressure losses in additively manufactured rectangular orices. With the purpose of a brief analogy, a set of aluminium circular samples were also tested which were manufactured by the conventional process of machining. A total of 9 rectangular MA247 samples of different lengths and hydraulic diameters were tested as continuation to the ongoing research at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB and further on to that, 5 Aluminium Alloy- AW-6082 T6 material samples of circular geometry with varying lengths were tested. The on-going research focuses on the additively manufactured geometries for both rectangular and circular, and hence, the data for circular orifices were used to draw a comparison with its Aluminium counterpart. Pressure losses here were described using the coefficient of discharge and the investigations on roughness were by calculating Darcy frictional factor and Colebrooks equation. Classical theories such as the boundary layer theory, Hagen's power law, Ward-Smith's theory for vena contracta and other works by previous researchers were used to validate the results. The coefficient of discharge could be deployed to restrict and measure the mass flow in the secondary air systems, whereas the results from the calculated frictional factors could be held to simulate the flow distribution in cooling geometries. / <p>E-presentation via Zoom due to the pandemic.</p> / Part of the on-going research on pressure loss study for Gas Turbine cooling purposes by Siemens Energy