Investigation of the Response of an Air Blast Atomiser Combustion Chamber Configuration on Forced Modulation of Air Feed at Realistic Operating Conditions

DLR investigated forced combustion oscillations of two liquid fuel burners in a research combustion chamber at elevated pressures simulating idle conditions of aircraft engine combustors. The work was performed in collaboration with MTU Munich. An existing combustion chamber with optical access, capable to operate up to 20 bar, was upgraded with an air flow pulsator, that bypasses air from the combustor plenum to the exhaust with a sinusoidal massflow variation up to 700 Hz. Pressure transducers in the plenum and the flame tube monitored the forced disturbances. A photomultiplier recorded the OH* chemiluminescence of the flame. For the agreed operating conditions frequency scans of these values were registered. Additionally images of the OH* chemiluminescence were taken at selected frequencies and evaluated in a statistical manner, to separate turbulent and periodic behaviour. From the analysis of the pressure data, it can be concluded, that serious thermo-acoustic feedback was not observed for both burners. However burner 2 with the flame detached from the wall exhibited a higher fluctuation level as burner 1 with the wall attached flame. A resonant behaviour was observed near the characteristic frequency of the sound room comprised of plenum, flame tube and burner nozzle as connecting passage. The chemiluminescence images show different modes of spatial fluctuation for the burners and for burner 2 they also vary with the operating condition.