Large eddy simulation of a partially-premixed gas turbine model combustor

Large-eddy simulations of a dual-swirl gas turbine model combustor (GTMC) are performed. This burner was experimentally studied by Meier et al. (2006), and is operated in the partially-premixed combustion regime. Two different LES-combustion formulations are employed to separately investigate modeling strategies for representing the combustion regime and the turbulence/chemistry interaction. A prior model analysis is conducted to examine the accuracy of describing the turbulent combustion regime inside this burner in terms of premixed or non-premixed flamelet solutions. Modeling results from three different LES computations are compared with measurements for velocity, temperature, and species-mass fractions of CO2, CO, and H2. Overall, the simulation results, obtained with a flamelet/progress-variable (FPV) model and a premixed-based filtered tabulated chemistry LES (F-TACLES) formulation, are in good agreement with experimental data. It is shown that the flow-field structure exhibits sensitivity to the representation of the turbulence/chemistry interaction. This is a result of the flame wrinkling at the lifted flame base in the nozzle-near region.