Numerical prediction of combustion induced vibro-acoustical instabilities in a gas turbine combustor

Introduction of lean premixed combustion to gas turbine technology reduced the emission of harmful exhaust gas species, but due to the high sensitivity of lean flames to acoustic perturbations, the average life time of gas turbine engines was decreased significantly. Very dangerous to the integrity of the gas turbine structure is the mutual interaction between combustion, acoustics and wall vibration. This phenomenon can lead to a closed loop feedback system, with as a result fatigue failure of the combustor liner and fatal damage to the gas turbine rotor. In this paper the use of numerical tools for CFD and CSD analysis is described to predict the hazardous frequencies at which the instabilities can occur. The two way interaction of the combustible compressible flow and structural walls is investigated with the application of the partitioning fluid-structure interaction approach. In this technique the fluid and structural model are considered as individual but coupled dynamic systems. Information of conditions at the fluid-structure interface is exchanged at given time steps through the interface connection created between the numerical domains. Therefore, the partitioned approach can take the full advantage of existing, well developed and tested codes for both, fluid and structure analysis. Next to the fluid-structure interaction analysis, acousto-elastic and modal models are applied to get insight into the acoustic and vibration pattern during the instability process. The calculations use elements devoted to the solution of the acoustic and structural fields. This approach has the advantage of high resolution of the acoustics, but takes into account only one way combustion dynamics (taken from the CFD results). All numerical solutions are compared to experimental results obtained on a laboratory test rig. The data is evaluated for both, pressure and velocity fields.