Experimental study on impacts of fuel type on thermo-acoustic instability in a gas turbine model combustor

Effects of liquid fuel composition variations on characteristics of self-excited thermo-acoustic instabilities in a lean premixed, pre-vaporized gas turbine model combustor were experimentally studied. Test fuels included practical RP-3 jet fuel and its blending with iso-octane and n-dodecane, which were branched and linear alkanes respectively. Under the test conditions, dynamic pressure measurements indicated that the dominant instability frequency was highest for RP-3 flame, while RP-3/n-dodecane flame exhibited the strongest instability strength. A further analysis showed that the instability frequency correlated well with the profiles of adiabatic flame temperature, and the strength of the instability highly depended on the ignition delay times of the fuels. Measurements of the flame structure and flow field with OH* chemiluminescence (CL) imaging and two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques indicated that changes in the fuel composition did not alter the unstable modes and general sequences of flame-flow structure oscillations. Further power spectra and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis suggested that axial oscillations along with precessing vortex core (PVC) induced helical motion predominated periodic flame structure and flow field oscillations.