Technology Development for Next Generation of Gas Turbine Engines: Turbulent Combustion Science and Thermoacoustics

2016年，飞机和发电行业为加拿大政府贡献了约700亿加元的收入。如今，这些行业面临着与其燃气涡轮机发动机的使用相关的两个主要挑战。首先，它们使用化石燃料，而化石燃料是有限的自然资源，需要用未来的替代燃料（例如不可食用的生物质）取代。与燃气涡轮机发动机条件相关的化石燃料和替代燃料燃烧速率相关的当前知识是有限的，并且这种限制阻碍了我们开发下一代燃气涡轮机发动机的能力。需要开发知识和技术，以估计和提高燃气涡轮机发动机中化石燃料和未来替代燃料的燃烧速率。*这些行业面临的第二个挑战是污染物的排放，例如氮氧化物和颗粒物。这部分导致了2016年约7.22亿吨的温室气体排放;通过国际协议，加拿大已承诺在30年内将排放量减少约80%。如今，通过利用燃料喷射技术，减少氮氧化物和颗粒物的排放已经成为可能，该燃料喷射技术允许在燃烧之前增强燃料和空气的预混合。然而，预混火焰容易产生热声振荡（这对发动机运行是有害的），需要开发允许减轻这些振荡的技术。拟议的研究计划将追求两个平行的战线：（I）提高预混火焰的燃烧速率（气体以及液体化石/替代燃料），和（II）减轻热声振荡。对于气体燃料，将首先研究强湍流和预混火焰相互作用的动力学（这与发动机应用有关）。所产生的知识然后将用于开发允许增强的气体燃料燃烧速率的新颖的流量控制装置。该装置将与贫油预混合和预蒸发装置集成，以研究化石燃料和替代液体燃料的燃烧速率。将开发相应燃烧率的模型，并将其转让给相关行业。在第二方面，将首先研究喷雾火焰中的热声振荡动力学。然后，这项研究将通过开发一种新的燃料喷射技术来补充，该技术可以减轻热声振荡。该计划将产生开发未来燃气轮机所需的知识和技术，这些燃气轮机具有提高燃料燃烧率，减少温室气体排放和提高发动机寿命的特点。这将节省加拿大的自然资源，帮助加拿大政府遵守与污染物排放有关的国际协议，减缓全球变暖，并提高飞机发动机的安全性。

Aircraft and electric power generation industries contributed to about $70B CAD revenue for the government of Canada in 2016. Today, these industries face two main challenges relating to their use of gas turbine engines. First, they operate with fossil fuels which are limited natural resources and need to be replaced by future alternative fuels (e.g. non-edible biomass). Current knowledge related to both fossil and alternative fuels burning rates relevant to gas turbine engine conditions is limited, and this limitation has hindered our capability of developing the next generation of gas turbine engines. Both knowledge and technology need to be developed to estimate and enhance the burning rate of fossil and future alternative fuels in gas turbine engines.******The second challenge these industries face is the emission of pollutants, e.g. nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. These partly contributed to about 722 mega tonnes of greenhouse gas emission in 2016; and, through international agreements, Canada has committed to reduce this emission by about 80% in thirty years. Today, reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter has been made possible by utilizing fuel injection technology that allows for enhanced fuel and air premixing prior to combustion. However, premixed flames are prone to thermoacoustic oscillations (which are detrimental to engine operation) and technology that allows for mitigation of these oscillations needs to be developed.******The proposed research program will pursue two parallel fronts: (I) enhancing burning rate of premixed flames (for both gaseous as well as liquid fossil/alternative fuels), and (II) mitigating thermoacoustic oscillations. For gaseous fuels, dynamics of intense turbulent flow and premixed flames interaction (which is relevant to engine applications) will be first investigated. The generated knowledge will then be used to develop a novel flow control apparatus that allows for enhanced gaseous fuel burning rate. This apparatus will be integrated with a lean premixing and prevaporizing unit to study burning rate of both fossil and alternative liquid fuels. Models for the corresponding burning rate will be developed and transferred to the relevant industry. On the second front, dynamics of thermoacoustic oscillations in spray flames will be first investigated. Then, this study will be complemented by development of a novel fuel injection technology that allows for mitigation of thermoacoustic oscillations.******The proposed program will generate knowledge and technology required for development of future gas turbines that feature enhanced fuel burning rate, reduced greenhouse gas emission, and improved engine life-time. These will save Canadian natural resources, help the government of Canada comply with its international agreements related to pollutants emission, decelerate global warming, and enhance aircraft engines safety.