Flame Holder Designs for Improved Augmentor Stability

Augmentor stability is critical to the operational performance of military aircraft that rely on gas turbine propulsion. Compared to early augmentor designs, the distance between the point of fuel injection and the flame holder has become progressively shorter in modern augmentors. These so called close-coupled designs help avoid autoignition issues associated with higher augmentor inlet temperatures. A negative aspect of such close-coupled designs is that the fuel is not optimally mixed in the flame holding region, leading to static and dynamic stability issues. Creare and our partners propose a new close-coupled augmentor flame holder design that will greatly extend stability margins, especially in the high altitude, low Mach (Ma) number part of the flight envelope where stability issues are of greatest concern. During Phase I we will demonstrate our flame holder concept in an augmentor test facility. We will also conduct numerical analysis to predict the fuel distribution in our novel design and the anticipated improvement in static stability. Based on the experimental and analytical results, we will develop optimized designs for further development and testing during Phase II.