Effect of Fuel System Impedance Mismatch on Combustion Dynamics

Combustion dynamics are a challenging problem in the design and operation of premixed gas turbine combustors. In premixed combustors, pressure oscillations created by the flame dynamic response can lead to damage. These dynamics are typically controlled by designing the combustor to achieve a stable operation for planned conditions, but dynamics may still occur with minor changes in ambient operating conditions or fuel composition. In these situations, pilot flames or adjustment to fuel flow splits can be used to stabilize the combustor, but often with a compromise in emission performance. As an alternative to purely passive design changes, prior studies have demonstrated that adjustment to the fuel system impedance can be used to stabilize combustion. Prior studies have considered just the response of an individual fuel injector and combustor. However, in practical combustion systems, multiple fuel injectors are used. In this situation, individual injector impedance can be modified to produce a different dynamic response from individual flames. The resulting impedance mismatch prevents all injectors from strongly coupling to the same acoustic mode. In principle, this mismatch should reduce the amplitude of dynamics and may expand the operating margin for stable combustion conditions. In this paper, a $30kW$ laboratory combustor with two premixed fuel injectors is used to study the effect of impedance mismatch on combustion stability. The two fuel injectors are equipped with variable geometry resonators that allow a survey of dynamic stability while changing the impedance of the individual fuel systems. Results demonstrate that a wide variation in dynamic response can be achieved by combining different impedance fuel injectors. A base line 7% rms pressure oscillation was reduced to less than 3% by mismatching the fuel impedance.