Lean premixed combustors are highly susceptible to combustion instabilities, caused by the coupling between heat release fluctuations and combustor acoustics. In order to predict the conditions under which these instabilities occur and their limit cycle amplitudes, understanding of the amplitude dependent response of the flame to acoustic excitation is required. Extensive maps of the flame response were obtained as a function of perturbation amplitude, frequency, and flow velocity. These maps illustrated substantial nonlinearity in the perturbation velocity - heat release relationship, with complex topological dependencies that illustrate folds and kinks when plotted in frequency-amplitude-heat release space. A detailed analysis of phase locked OH PLIF images of acoustically excited swirl flames was used to identify the key controlling physical processes and qualitatively discuss their characteristics. The results illustrate that the flame response is not controlled by any single physical process but rather by several simultaneously occurring processes which are potentially competing, and whose relative significance depends upon forcing frequency, amplitude of excitation, and flame stabilization dynamics. An in-depth study on the effect of acoustic forcing on the turbulent flame properties was conducted in a turbulent Bunsen flame using PIV measurements. The results showed that the flame brush thickness and the local consumption speed were modulated in the presence of acoustic forcing. These results will not only be a useful input to help improve combustion dynamics predictions but will also help serve as validation data for models.

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Ce travail de thèse porte sur l’analyse des effets de la recirculation des gaz de combustion, via l’étude de la dilution par le dioxyde de carbone et plus particulièrement de la vapeur d’eau sur des flammes méthane/air enrichi en dioxygène, dans le cas d’une combustion prémélangée pressurisée rencontrée dans les turbines à gaz. Des mesures de vitesses de flammes CH4/O2/H2O/N2 laminaires pressurisées ont été obtenues à l’aide d’une flamme sphérique se propageant librement dans une enceinte close. L’analyse des résultats expérimentaux a permis de vérifier la validité du schéma cinétique GRIMech ?3.0 au travers des calculs numériques de flammes libres monodimensionnelles. Des calculs complémentaires ont permis l’établissement d’une base de données (vitesse de flamme laminaire, longueur de Markstein et nombre de Lewis, température adiabatique de combustion et épaisseur de flamme) en fonction des paramètres d’entrées de la combustion (température, pression, X(H2O), richesse et enrichissement en dioxygène. L’étude expérimentale complémentaire en régime turbulent des flammes diluées à l’H2O ou au CO2 a permis de mettre en avant l’effet de la vitesse laminaire de flamme sur les structures moyennes et la stabilité des flammes turbulentes. Elle a également permis d’analyser les paramètres (température adiabatique, X(H2O), X(CO2), X(N2), Vitesse de flamme laminaire) ayant un rôle important sur la production des polluants CO et NO. / This PhD thesis deals with the analysis of the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) through the study of the dilution by carbon dioxide and more particularly of the water steam on dioxygen enriched methane/air flames, in the case of a premixed pressurized combustion encountered in gas turbines. CH4/O2/H2O/N2 pressurized laminar burning velocity measurement were obtained using a spherical flame propagating freely in a closed chamber. The analysis of the experimental results made it possible to check the validity of the kinetic scheme GRIMech.3.0 through numerical calculations of one-dimensional free flames. Further calculations allowed the establishment of a database (laminar burning velocity, Markstein length and Lewis number, adiabatic combustion temperature and flame thickness) as a function of combustion input parameters (temperature, pressure, X(H2O), equivalence ratio and dioxygen enrichment). The additional experimental study under turbulent regime, the flames diluted with H2O and CO2 allowed to highlight the effect of the laminar burning velocity on the average structures and the stability of turbulent flames. It also allowed to analyze the parameters (adiabatic flame temperature, pressure, X(H2O), X(CO2), X(N2), laminar burning velocity) which have an important role in the production of CO pollutants and NO.