Mobility functions involving rotational velocities and moment excitations must be determined for the prediction of the responses of certain types of structures in dynamic analyses. Previous investigators have approached the difficult task of experimentally measuring such mobilities with the use of special fixturing attached I am also grateful to Professor Emmett A. Witmer of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics for his aid in connection with the method of finite differences. Many thanks go to fellow student Charles Gedney for his pointers on the operation of the Acoustics and Vibration Laboratory minicomputer; to Dr. Richard Dedong of Cambridge Collaborative, Inc. for sharing some of his vibration testing experience; and to Mary Toscano for her diligence in the typing of this thesis. I owe a debt of gratitude to my employer, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, for having awarded me a B.G. Lamme Graduate Scholarship enabling me to pursue a course of study in vibration and acoustics at MIT. I am especially thankful to my wife, Jerry, and to our daughters, Julia and Allison, for the encouragement they gave me and the many hours of family time they sacrificed throughout the year of my studies at MIT.
Described are sub-scale tests that successfully demonstrate active feedback control as a means of suppressing damaging combustion oscillations in natural-gas-fueled, lean-premix combustors. The control approach is to damp the oscillations by suitably modulating an auxiliary flow of fuel injected near the flame. The control system incorporates state observer software that can ascertain the frequency, amplitude, and phase of the dominant modes of combustion oscillation, and a sub-scale fuel flow modulator that responds to frequencies well above 1 kHz.The demonstration was conducted on a test combustor that could sustain acoustically coupled combustion instabilities at preheat and pressurization conditions approaching those of gas-turbine engine operation. With the control system inactive, two separate instabilities occurred with combined amplitudes of pressure oscillations exceeding 70 kPa (10 psi). The active control system produced four-fold overall reduction in these amplitudes. With the exception of an explainable control response limitation at one frequency, this reduction represented a major milestone in the implementation of active control.
Described are sub-scale tests that successfully demonstrate active feedback control as a means of suppressing damaging combustion oscillations in natural-gas-fueled, lean-premix combustors. The control approach is to damp the oscillations by suitably modulating an auxiliary flow of fuel injected near the flame. The control system incorporates state observer software that can ascertain the frequency, amplitude, and phase of the dominant modes of combustion oscillation, and a sub-scale fuel flow modulator that responds to frequencies well above 1 kHz. The demonstration was conducted on a test combustor that could sustain acoustically coupled combustion instabilities at preheat and pressurization conditions approaching those of gas-turbine engine operation. With the control system inactive, two separate instabilities occurred with combined amplitudes of pressure oscillations exceeding 70 kPa (10 psi). The active control system produced four-fold overall reduction in these amplitudes. With the exception of an explainable control response limitation at one frequency, this reduction represented a major milestone in the implementation of active control. [S0742-4795(00)00702-X]
This paper presents the results of an investigation of active control of combustion instabilities in a natural gas, high-pressure, full-scale gas turbine combustor that was retrofitted with an Active Control System (ACS). The combustor test rig simulates the geometry, inlet airflow distribution, and pressurization of a can-type combustor that exhibits dynamic flame instabilities at some off-design operating conditions. Two essential features of the investigated ACS are 1) a real-time mode observer that identified the frequencies, amplitudes and phases of the dominant modes in the pressure signal and 2) a fast response servo valve that can modulate a large portion of the gaseous fuel. Two active control configurations were studied. In the first configuration, the actuator was mounted on one of two premixed fuel stages, and in the second configuration it was mounted on the inlet to the stabilizing diffusion stage. In both configurations, the ACS damped combustion instabilities, attenuating the dominant mode by up to 15dB and reducing the overall broadband noise by 30-40%. NOx emissions were also reduced by approximately 10% when control was applied. Finally, this study demonstrated the importance of having a fast multiple-mode observer when dealing with complex combustion processes with inherently large time delays.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.