Environmental performance, sustainability and durability improvements in fuel-flexible combustors for stationary and motive engines

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The proposed collaborative research effort will produce new knowledge, advanced engineering design tools, and innovative technology concepts needed to generate step change improvements in combustion stability, emissions, and fuel-flexibility for future gas turbine engines. The overarching goals are to improve the environmental performance, sustainability, and durability of these engines, while reducing development and maintenance costs. The vast majority (over 85%) of global energy is generated by combustion, including virtually all energy used in transportation. Canada is one of the most fuel-rich nations in the world, and combustion therefore will inevitably remain a major factor in Canada's energy and transportation sectors. Gas turbine engines are used in nearly all air transport, as well as in large-scale power plants and smaller-scale distributed power systems. The need for the research arises both from environmental/social demands for reduced pollutant emissions and increased sustainability through adoption of alternative fuels, and economic demands for major Canadian companies to achieve innovative new advanced engine designs in a cost-effective manner. The potential benefits of non-oil-based alternative gas turbine fuels for transportation and power generation are particularly attractive in Canada due to the abundance of biomass and coal. The aim of this research effort therefore is to generate new knowledge and understanding related to combustion and emissions at high pressures, as well as thermo-acoustic coupling and combustion dynamics, and thereby bring about a step-change improvement in prediction and control of combustion stability, while simultaneously reducing emissions and increasing fuel-flexibility for alternative fuels. The objectives will be achieved through a combined and highly integrated experimental and computational research program. The experimental effort will involve state-of-the-art measurement techniques and leverage existing world-class facilities. The numerical studies will bring to bear advanced high-fidelity computational methods and combustion models, in conjunction with available high-performance computing facilities.