Development of a new small gas turbine combustor was
accompanied with numerous tests to achieve the desired temperature radial
profile at combustor exit and it was delayed for many months because of the
need to overcome different design problems such as thermal damage to
vaporizers. Available and reliable CFD model would allow to spare large part of
the tests and shorten significantly the time needed to bring the combustor to
the final working configuration. The present research focuses on the modeling
and simulation of gas turbine combustor. This study provides insight into
physical and chemical processes in combustion, and evaluates variations of
combustion performance and exit temperature profiles for different
configurations of combustion chamber. The primary objectives of this study are:
1) to establish an efficient end accurate numerical framework for the support
of development stage of a new combustor; and 2) to investigate the parameters
and mechanisms influencing and responsible for the temperature profile at the
combustion chamber exit. Simulation results showed good agreement with
experimental data and were able to obtain and point out the exact place of
thermal damage caused to the vaporizer. Numerical study was expanded to include
last changes made to the vaporizer and showed its impact on the combustor exit
temperature profile. Simulation of the modified combustor at turbine engine
design point showed significant difference with optimal temperature radial
profile at combustor exit. This finding is raising serious worry about turbine
life time at given conditions and requires additional experiments to be
conducted to check it out. The last part of this study presents an optimization
process in which the objective was to receive the optimal temperature profile
at combustion chamber exit. This objective is received in a relatively small
number of iterations and this is due to parametric approach and advanced
visualization tools of software postprocessor.
