Session: 03-08 Sustainable Aviation Fuels

Paper Number: 122463

122463 - Further Studies in Hydrogen Micromix Combustor Technologies for Aircraft Applications 

Within the context of future aircraft turbine engine development technology, hydrogen has fast become one of the most favored candidates as an alternative fuel due to the possibility of producing extremely low levels of pollutants in particular NOx. The principal component of such an engine technology is the hydrogen micro-mix combustor which provides a solution to safe hydrogen combustion avoiding auto-ignition and flashbacks by addressing novel methods of hydrogen-air mixing. The current design concepts include a typical injection manifold composed of multiple concentric arrays of micro-mix combustors which producing hundreds of miniature low temperature diffusion flames having very low NOx levels.

The present paper builds on previous studies of a typical micro-mix combustor evaluated using turbulent chemical interaction models by examining the effects on pollutant levels using laminar diffusion flamelets employing the Flamelet Generated Manifold model. Results for several different combustion kinetic mechanisms obtained with the latter method are compared with those obtained using the more classical turbulent chemical interaction models. The effects of the choice of segregated model for the convective fluxes and adiabatic boundary conditions are also studied.

Of particular interest are also the extension of the above methods to simulations of combustion chamber fluxes at high pressures of 15 to 20 atmospheres which are relevant to the development of future ultra-high bypass ratio engines which are envisaged to come into service around 2050. In line with these future developments, additional micro-mix combustor geometries are examined

Presenting Author: Ainslie French CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)

Presenting Author Biography: Dr Ainslie French : Senior Researcher at CIRA (Centre of Italian Aerospace Research) based in Capua, Italy.

I joined CIRA in 1994 and have worked in areas of Parallel Computing, Aerodynamics and Aerothermodynamics.

I am currently working in the field of Combustion Modeling with the aim of developing future aircraft turbine engines powered using hydrogen or alternative sustainable aviation fuels. I am also responsible for the GARTEUR exploratory group (Aeronautics Research and Technology Group in Europe) working on this topic.

I previously worked as a Researcher at the Defence and Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) (UK) - now QINETIQ in the Aerodynamics Department from 1990 to 1994.

Prior to this I did my PhD in Flight Mechanics at Cranfield University (UK) from 1986 to1990. The title of my thesis was "Solution of the Euler Equations on Cartesian Grids". This PhD was funded by the British Ministry of Defence.

I have a Masters in Aerodynamics also from Cranfield University obtained in the period 1986 to 1987

I have a Degree in Maths and Physics from Bangor University in North Wales (UK) obtained in the period 1983 to 1986

Authors:

Ainslie French CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)
Giuseppe Mingione CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)
Antonio Schettino CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)
Luigi Cutrone CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)
Pietro Roncioni CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)
Pier Luigi Vitagliano CIRA (Centro Italiano di Ricerche Aerospaziali)