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Linear stability analysis is applied to a swirl-stabilized combustor flow with the aim to understand how the flame shape and associated density field affects the manifestation of self-excited flow instabilities. In isothermal swirling jets, self-excited flow oscillations typically manifest in a precessing vortex core and synchronized growth of large-scale spiral-shaped vortical structures. Recent theoretical studies relate these dynamics to a hydrodynamic global instability. These global modes also emerge in reacting flows, thereby crucially affecting the mixing characteristics and the flame dynamics. It is, however, observed that these self-excited flow oscillations are often suppressed in the reacting flow, while they are clearly present at isothermal conditions. This study provides strong evidence that the suppression of the precessing vortex core is caused by density inhomogeneities created by the flame. This mechanism is revealed by considering two reacting flow configurations: The first configuration represents a perfectly premixed steam-diluted detached flame featuring a strong precessing vortex core. The second represents a perfectly premixed dry flame anchoring near the combustor inlet, which does not exhibit self-excited oscillations. Experiments are conducted in a generic combustor test rig and the flow dynamics are captured using PIV and LDA. The corresponding density fields are approximated from the seeding density using a quantitative light sheet technique. The experimental results are compared to the global instability properties derived from hydrodynamic linear stability theory. Excellent agreement between the theoretically derived global mode frequency and measured precession frequency provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the self-excited oscillations are, indeed, driven by a global hydrodynamic instability. The effect of the density field on the global instability is studied explicitly by performing the analysis with and without density stratification. It turns out that the significant change in instability is caused by the radial density gradients in the inner recirculation zone and not by the change of the mean velocity field. The present work provides a theoretical framework to analyze the global hydrodynamic instability of realistic combustion configurations. It allows for relating the flame position and the resulting density field to the emergence of a precessing vortex core.

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Humidified gas turbines and steam-injected gas turbines are promising technologies to lower the emissions and increase the efficiency and fuel flexibility of gas turbines. In the current study, the influence of steam-dilution on swirl-stabilized methane and hydrogenfired flames is experimentally investigated at Reynolds numbers in the range of 22,000 to 32,000. Velocity fields and flame positions were measured using high-speed particle image velocimetry and OH * chemiluminescence. An extension of the quantitative light sheet technique was employed to estimate the temperature fields. The combined results reveal strong changes in the flame position, the velocity field, and the temperature field with increasing rates of steam dilution. In particular, three different flow and flame patterns are encountered: At dry conditions, a V-shaped flame stabilizes in a broad inner recirculation zone with low local turbulent kinetic energy; at moderate steam content, the flame changes into a trumpet-like shape; and at very high rates of steam-dilution, the flame detaches and shows an annular shape. The associated coherent flow structures are extracted from the particle image velocimetry data employing proper orthogonal decomposition. The isothermal flow is dominated by a helical instability arising near the combustor inlet. This structure is completely suppressed for the dry flame and reappears for the heavily steam-diluted detached flame with a similar shape and frequency as for the isothermal case. The flow field of the trumpet-like flame at intermediate to high steam dilution rates features a helical instability of lower frequency that is located further downstream than in the isothermal and very wet case. A conceptional explanation is presented that relates the suppression of the helical instability to the specific encountered temperature fields and flame shapes.

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