Session: 04-08 Combustion Modeling I

Paper Number: 151173

GPU Accelerated Large Eddy Simulations of Combustion Instabilities in Industrial Gas Turbines Under EGR Conditions 

Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a promising technology for increasing CO2 concentrations in gas turbine exhaust, thereby enhancing the efficiency of downstream carbon capture processes. With EGR, part of the engine exhaust gas is recirculated back to the combustor inlet, mixed with fresh air and reintroduced into the combustion system. High recirculation rates are critical to maximizing the overall carbon capture potential; however, too much recirculation can induce combustion instabilities and present other operational challenges. In this study, large eddy simulation (LES) is used to investigate the effects of EGR on combustion instabilities and emissions in Solar Turbines' Taurus 60 SoLoNOx combustor. Grid-converged simulations are first performed for a double-injector 60^o sector combustor geometry using the Cadence Fidelity LES solver and a flamelet progress variable (FPV) model. The GPU-resident solver demonstrates significant computational speedup compared to previous CPU-based simulations. The LES model is validated against experimental temperature profile at the combustor exit for the atmospheric condition. The validated LES model is then applied to a wide range of EGR levels to quantify the impact of EGR on combustion instability and NOx emissions. The sensitivities of instability and NOx predictions to chemical reaction mechanisms are investigated. The impacts of the compressor exit guide vane and first-stage turbine nozzles on the prediction of combustor dynamics are further examined. Finally, LES of the entire T60 combustor using the full 360^o geometry is performed, demonstrating the code's excellent scalability, accuracy and efficiency.

Presenting Author: Islam Kabil Argonne National Laboratory

Presenting Author Biography: Islam Kabil is a postdoctoral Scholar at Argonne National Lab. He completed his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut in Dec 2023 where he mainly worked on plasma assisted ignition, chemical kinetic mechanism reduction and Combustion modeling. Currently he is been involved in Turbulent combustion modeling for multiple applications at Argonne National Lab

Authors:

Islam Kabil Argonne National Laboratory
Chao Xu Argonne National laboratory
Lee Shunn Cadence Design Systems
Jonathan Wang Cadence Design Systems
Yonduck Sung Solar Turbines Incorporated
Daniel Johnson Solar Turbines Incorporated
Chris Steele Solar Turbines Incorporated