Accounting for convective effects in zero-Mach-number thermoacoustic models

This paper presents a methodology to account for some mean-flow effects on thermoacoustic instabilities when using the zero-Mach-number assumption. It is shown that when a computational domain is represented under the M=0 assumption, a nonzero-Mach-number element can simply be taken into account by imposing a proper acoustic impedance at the boundaries so as to mimic the mean flow effects in the outer, not computed flow domain. A model that accounts for the coupling between acoustic and entropy waves is presented. It relies on a “delayed entropy coupled boundary condition” (DECBC) for the Helmholtz equation satisfied by the acoustic pressure. The model proves able to capture low-frequency entropic modes even without mean-flow terms in the fluctuating-pressure equation.