Effect of nozzle damage on performance of annular backflow combustor

The effects of different atomization performance caused by nozzle damage on the annular backflow combustor performance were studied by using Fluent software. Three-dimensional two-phase spray combustion flow fields in a model annular backflow combustor were numerically simulated using realizable k-ε model, DPM (discrete phase model) with UDF(user defined function) subroutines tracking fuel trajectory, n-heptane as surrogate fuel and laminar flamelet model. The results reveal that the numerical method is reasonable to predict combustion flow of annular backflow combustor. The outlet temperature non-uniformity deterirated with the atomization performance's change caused by nozzle damage. And the combustion efficiency also decreased.When the fuel flow rate was reduced by 19%, the performance of the combustor was not conformity with the operational requirements.