Session: 04-41 Combustion Experiments V

Paper Number: 152896

Characterization of Heat Transfer in a Trapped-Vortex Combustor Designed for High-Temperature Material Testing 

Next generation gas turbines will reduce carbon emissions by improving their cycle efficiencies and implementing hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel. The combined-cycle efficiency can be improved by increasing the combustor outlet temperature and decreasing the cooling air required for hot section parts. Ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composites (CMC) can survive increasingly extreme environments due to their strong mechanical properties at expected conditions. The introduction of CMCs in high-hydrogen flame environments requires testing at realistic conditions that mimic the thermochemical and fluid mechanic states in gas turbine combustors. In this work, we describe a new experiment that has been designed to test high-temperature materials in this combustor-relevant environment. Its trapped-vortex combustor chamber design allows for high levels of fuel flexibility and wide flame stability limits. Testing of monolithic silicon carbide (SiC) samples in this environment was done to characterize the heat transfer to material samples over a wide range of operating conditions, including variations in fuel composition, equivalence ratio, and Reynolds number. Heat flux measurements are benchmarked with previous literature to verify the operation of the facility with heated air. Testing shows wide stability margins given the intensity of the trapped vortex, allowing for high levels of heat flux to the material samples in the combustor cavity.

Presenting Author: Porter Richins Pennsylvania State University

Presenting Author Biography: Porter Richins is a graduate research assistant in the Reacting Flow Dynamics Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University.

Authors:

Porter Richins Pennsylvania State University
Caleb Clark Pennsylvania State University
Madelyn Cassens Gonzaga University
Stephen Lynch Pennsylvania State University
Jacqueline O'Connor Pennsylvania State University