RAPID MIX CONCEPTS FOR LOW EMISSION COMBUSTORS IN GAS TURBINE ENGINES

INNOVATIVE RAPID MIX CONCEPTS ARE PROPOSED FOR RICK BURN/QUICK QUENCH/LEAN BURN (RQL) GAS TURBINE COMBUSTORS APPLICABLE TO FUTURE HIGH-SPEED AIRCRAFT. CONVENTIONAL QUICK QUENCH SECTIONS FOR CIRCULAR FLAMETUBE CONFIGURATIONS HAVE EMPLOYED RADIAL INFLOW HOLES OR SLOTS, AND LITTLE MIXING OPTIMIZATION HAS BEEN PERFORMED. TWO CONCEPTS ARE PROPOSED FOR IMPROVED MIXING: 1) ASYMMETRIC JET PENETRATION (AJP); AND 2) LOBE MIXER (LM). IN PHASE I, THE AJP CONCEPT WILL BE STUDIED. TWO SCHEMES OF THE AJP CONCEPT WILL BE ANALYZED: 1) COUNTER-VORTEX SCHEME; AND 2) CO-VORTEX SCHEME. THESE SCHEMES PRODUCE MULTIPLE VORTEX PATTERNS WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE CONVENTIONAL CONCEPT AND HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF ENHANCING OVERALL MIXING. THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) TECHNIQUES WILL BE EMPLOYED TO ANALYZE AND COMPARE THE PROPOSED AJP SCHEMES WITH A CONVENTIONAL RAPID MIX CONCEPT. IN PHASE II, THE SAME CFD METHODS WILL BE EMPLOYED TO SCREENTHE LM CONCEPT. THE MOST PROMISING AJP OR LM CONCEPT WILL BE SELECTED, OPTIMIZED, AND EXPERIMENTALLY TESTED TO SHOW ITS POTENTIAL OF MINIMIZING NOX FORMATION.