The operating range of heavy duty gas turbines that feature lean premixed combustion to achieve low NO, emissions is limited by thermoacoustic oscillations. T o extend the operational envelope of the gas turbine, passive means have to be developed to suppress thermoacoustic instabilities. In order to develop passive means the complex interaction between acoustics and thermal heat release has to be taken into account. A new stability chart applicable to the qualification of industrial design has been developed that accounts for the acoustic properties of the combustion system including its boundary conditions and the flame response data. The method has been validated using detailed measurements of the eigenmodes in an operating gas turbine as well as experimental data from component test rigs. An explanation is given of the significant extension of the operation envelope of the gas turbine a s an effect of cylindrical extensions to the burner nozzle.

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Environmental compatibility requires low emission burners for gas turbine power plants.In the past, significant progress has been made developing low NO x and CO burners by introducing lean premixed techniques in combination with annular combustion chambers. Unfortunately, these burners often have a more pronounced tendency to produce combustion-driven oscillations than conventional burner designs. The oscillations may be excited to such an extent that the risk of engine failure occurs. For this reason, the prediction of these thermoacoustic instabilities in the design phase of an engine becomes more and more important. A method based on linear acoustic four-pole elements has been developed to predict instabilities of the ring combustor of the 3A-series gas turbines. The complex network includes the whole combustion system starting from both compressor outlet and fuel supply system and ending at the turbine inlet. The flame frequency response was determined by a transient numerical simulation (step-function approach). Based on this method, possible improvements for the gas turbine are evaluated in this paper. First, the burner impedance is predicted theoretically and compared with results from measurements on a test rig for validation of the prediction approach. Next, the burner impedance in a gas turbine combustion system is analyzed and improved thermoacoustically. Stability analyses for the gas turbine combustion system show the positive impact of this improvement. Second, the interaction of the acoustic parts of the gas turbine system has been detuned systematically in circumferential direction of the annular combustion chamber in order to find a more stable configuration. Stability analyses show the positive effect of this measure as well. The results predicted are compared with measurements from engine operation. The comparisons of prediction and measurements show the applicability of the prediction method in order to evaluate the thermoacoustic stability of the combustor as well as to define possible countermeasures. Downloaded From: http://gasturbinespower.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/24/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms Fig. 16 Stability limits for different cylindrical burner outlet "CBO… configurations "Berendbrink and Hoffman †19 ‡… Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power JULY 2001, Vol. 123 Õ 565 Downloaded From: http://gasturbinespower.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/24/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

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Providing gas turbine combustion chambers with Helmholtz-resonators is a promising approach for extending the operating range of gas turbines towards higher thermal power input whilst minimizing the risk of thermoacoustic instabilities. The work currently being reported gives an overview of experimental and computational analyses carried out for a full annular combustor test-rig located at Gioia del Colle in Italy. The thermoacoustic stability characteristics of this test-rig were thoroughly analyzed both for a base configuration without Helmholtz-resonators and for an extended configuration with 14 Helmholtz-resonators. An increase of power input to the combustor by 8.5–20% can be realized when the test-rig is equipped with resonators. The experimental analyses are reproduced by a computational model.