Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2009: Power for Land, Sea and Air

GT2009
June 8-12, 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA

GT2009-59089

INVESTIGATION OF TANGENTIAL TRAPPED VORTEX COMBUSTOR

Chi Zhang, Yuzhen Lin, Quanhong Xu and Gaoen Liu

School of Jet Propulsion
Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
National Key Laboratory on Aero-Engines
Beijing, 100191, P.R. China
E–mail: zhangchi@buaa.edu.cn

ABSTRACT direction to reduce the dynamic loss through the combustor.

An innovative concept of Tangential Trapped Vortex However, the outlet airflow of the compressor has a strong
Combustor (TTVC) applying a swirling flow to eliminate the tangential momentum, so deswirl guide vanes are need for the
guide vanes of the compressor and turbine in the future gas conventional combustor. In addition, the outlet hot gas of the
turbine engines is presented via theoretical analysis and combustor has no tangential momentum to drive the turbine,
experimental investigation. In TTVC, the airflow is mostly so it needs the guide vanes to produce the tangential velocity.
whirlblast, and the processes of evaporation, mixing, and Hence, the guide vanes at the entrance and exit of the
chemical reaction for the liquid spray combustion take place conventional combustor are necessary, leading to issues
along the tangential direction. It is shown that the TTVC regarding the length, weight, and configuration complexity.
operation has the potential of improving combustion Furthermore, the guide vanes would increase the aerodynamic
efficiency, widening combustion stability range, and reducing loss and degrade the engine performance.
emissions, mainly due to the effects of trapped vortex, high While the length of the conventional combustor needs to
centrifugal force, and periodical mixing. Experimental results shorten for size and weight reduction, the combustion
of the ignition and LBO limits in a small 4-cup annular TTVC efficiency and outlet temperature distribution can be in turns
operating at atmospheric pressure demonstrated that this affected, especially that the processes of fuel atomization,
innovative combustion technology has a good LBO limit evaporation, mixing, and combustion occur along the axial
performance to meet the requirements of advanced gas turbine direction. Since the potential of the tangential momentum of
engines. the airflow from the compressor is not fully utilized, this paper
aims to explore an innovative concept of Tangential Trapped
NOMENCLATURE Vortex Combustor (TTVC) for the development of advanced
a Centrifugal or gravitational acceleration, m/s2 gas turbine combustors.
F Force, N Specifically, TTVC employs the whirlblast at the inlet and
outlet of the combustor, utilizes the potential of the tangential
S Flame speed, m/s velocity, and avoids the dependence on the guide vanes. Thus,
T Temperature, K the aerodynamic layout in TTVC is different from the
u Velocity, m/s conventional combustor such that the airflow is mostly
v Volume, m3 whirlblast, and the processes of evaporation, mixing, and
chemical reaction for the liquid spray combustion are
ρ Density, kg/m3 completed along the tangential direction. The basic
Subscript configuration and combustion characteristics of TTVC are first
a Cold air described and analyzed in the following. Subsequently, the
experimental investigation on an annular combustor is
b Bubble
presented and discussed.
INTRODUCTION UNCONVENTIONAL COMBUSTOR TECHNOLOGY
Flame stabilization in the conventional gas turbine The recent progress of the research work about the
combustor is achieved using a local low velocity regime in the unconventional combustor technologies showcases that they
primary zone on the base of the main airflow along the axial have better performance potential than the conventional gas
direction. As such, it needs the change in the axial flow

1 Copyright © 2009 by ASME

turbine combustor. These novel technologies utilize the strong the fuel is introduced into this cavity, so the fuel-air mixture is
whirlblast and trapped vortex, such as Trapped Vortex rich, allowing much of the required combustion residence time
Combustor (TVC), Variable Residence Time (VRT), Ultra- to take place in the circumferential direction, rather than the
Compact Combustor (UCC), Cyclic Periodical Mixing conventional axial. The swirl flow within the cavity could
Combustion Process (CPMCP), and so on. generate high “g” loading and reduce the chemical residence
time, and the combustion products are recirculated in the
TVC cavity to stabilize flame. The centrifugal acceleration would
TVC has a pilot cavity for stability and a main combustor enhance the combustion process in the circumferential cavity
for power. The pilot utilizes cavities to trap the vortices to as a primary zone [7-10].
provide the recirculation zones to stabilize the cavity The UCC concept exhibits short combustion flame
combustion, as an ignition source for the main combustor. lengths compared to conventional combustor. The LBO and
Fuel and air are injected into the cavities to reinforce the combustion efficient performance are excellent. UCC
vortex and mixing. TVC has ability to shorten the combustor integrates compressor and turbine features which will enable a
length, simplify the configuration, and reduce the emissions shorter and potentially less complex gas turbine engine. In
[1-4]. fact, this type of combustion system can be used as the main
Sine the TVC concept was first evaluated in 1993 it has combustor and/or as a secondary combustor between the high
developed three generations. Compared to the conventional pressure and low pressure turbine to operate as a reheat cycle
gas turbine combustor, the advantage of TVC has been engine [11].
demonstrated, including up to a 50% improvement in ignition,
CPMCP
blow out, and altitude re-light; an operating range that is 40%
wider than conventional combustors with a combustion In order to reduce NOx emissions and to achieve CO
efficiency at or above 99%; and NOx emissions reduction emissions near the thermodynamic equilibrium, the concept of
ranging from 40% to 60% of the 1996 ICAO standard [1]. cyclic periodical mixing combustion process (CPMCP) was
investigated by Klab et al. [12, 13]. This CPMCP concept can
VRT achieve stable combustion at adiabatic flame temperatures
Melconian et al. [5] developed a concept of variable being considerably lower than the lean blowout temperature of
residence time which allowed large fuel droplets adequate aerodynamically stabilized flames. And the conceptual basis is
time to completely burn in the circumferential primary the periodic mixing of partially or fully burnt local reaction
combustion zone. products from the upstream reaction zone with the perfectly
The air entering the combustor has both axial and swirl premixed gaseous fuel and air injected in a reactor with a
velocities to provide circumferential mixing. Thus a combined swirling flow.
vortex is established within the primary zone. Fuel is also The feasibility of the CPMCP concept has been
injected along the tangential direction reinforcing the vortex. successfully demonstrated in the earlier theoretic and
Due to the centrifugal fore the heavier droplets are flung to the experimental research. The reaction can be stabilized down to
outer circumference of the annular primary zone. Upstream the the limit of 1550 K, approximately 150 K below the LBO-
secondary zone the fresh air is rapidly introduced to quench limit of aerodynamically stabilized premix flames. Hence, for
the rich flame. And in the secondary zone the air flows along perfectly premixed reactants NO emissions below 0.8 ppm(v)
tangential direction to maintain the swirl and complete the (15% O2, dry) was achieved in the entire experimental
combustion. When the cold air flows into the combustor in the operating range.
tangential direction, it can form a cooling film covering the It is obvious that the concept of cyclic periodical mixing
liner wall. The centrifugal force has an additive positive effect combustion process can provide combustion stability below
to form a cooling boundary layer to protect the outer liner. the LBO limit of aerodynamically stabilized premix flames.
VRT can circumferentially mix vortex flow for low outlet This technology can be utilized in the present TTVC concept
temperature patter factor. The Rich-Quench-Lean combustion to extend the operating range for gas turbine engines.
technology could be used for low emissions. Furthermore, the Additionally, in the tangential trapped vortex combustor the
circumferential mainstream adapts the compressor exit flow trapped vortex technology potentially offers a way to enhance
and turbine entrance flow, so the vanes could be eliminated or the combustion stability.
simplified.
THEORETIC ANALYSIS
UCC
TTVC Operating Principle
To provide large amounts of power extraction from the
low-pressure turbine, a near-constant-temperature (NCT) cycle The tangential trapped vortex combustor can simplify the
and an Inter-Turbine Burner (ITB) have been developed in configuration of aeroengine because of the independence on
recent years for aero gas turbine engines [6]. An ultra-compact the guide vanes, and have a larger potential for improved
combustor (UCC) concept [6-11] could take advantage of performance than the conventional combustor due to the
TVC lesson-learned and admit airflow like vortex to unique combustion characteristics. The airflow in the annular
experience high g loads. In the concept, a cavity runs around cavity of TTVC mostly circumrotates around the axis of the
the outer circumference of the turbine inlet guide vanes. All of engine forming a vortex structure in the combustor. The liquid

2 Copyright © 2009 by ASME

fuel spray and the whirlblast airflow are mixing in the cavity
and the mixture is burning completely. Finally the hot
production gases flow out the combustor in a circumrotating
manner. The strong whirlblast in the annular cavity is expected
to enhance the evaporation and mixing processes of the liquid
spray, increase the residence time of the reacting flow, and
intensify the overall burning rate and combustor performance
due to the centrifugal effect. The large fuel droplets are flung
to the outer layer of the annular cavity by the centrifugal force,
and the flame spreads from the outer to the inner by the
buoyancy force. Moreover, the circumferentially mixing
process may uniformize the outlet temperature distribution of
the combustor. The tangential trapped vortex combustor
mostly adopts the tangential whirl flow which better adapts the (c) Flowpath
inlet whirlblast, thereby avoiding high pressure loss as that for Fig.2 Tangential Trapped Vortex Combustor Configuration
the conventional combustor. The combustor can also increase
the stability of the thermodynamic process, because the hot Figure 2 shows the configuration and flowpath of the
gases circumferentially flow out from the inner exit of the tangential trapped vortex combustor. The tangential airflow
combustor. In order to enhance the flame stability, a local following the diffuser flows into the liner through the swirl-
small vortex may be adopted around the circumferential cups, primary holes and dilution holes. These air holes are
whirlblast, as shown in Fig. 1. located on the liner with a given inclination angle, so the
transmitted tangential momentum of the airflow produces the
whirlblast in the annular cavity and maintains the tangential
velocity profile upstream of the turbine blades, as shown in
Fig.3, a result of early CFD research. If the holes with
compound angle or inclined multiholes wall film cooling were
adopted, the local small vortex would occur like that in Fig.1.
In TTVC, pressure nozzles are located at the center of the
swirl cups to inject the liquid fuel into the combustor.
In the tangential cavity the fresh mixture from a swirl-cup
is ignited by the hot gas from the upstream reaction zone, so
the rich hot gas is produced to mix with the fresh air of the
adjacent downstream primary holes. Then the mixture burns
and produces hot reactants to ignite the next stage swirl-cup.
Therefore, it is also a periodical mixing combustion process as
indicated in CPMCP[12, 13].
Compared with the conventional combustor, the
combustion process in the tangential trapped vortex combustor
has two advantages: centrifugal effect by strong whirlblast and
trapped vortex effect in cavity, with active effect on improving
the combustion stability and efficiency and reducing the
Fig.1 Schematic of Tangential Trapped Vortex Combustor pollutant emission.
Whirlblast Structure

(a) Casing (b) Liner (a) Temperature Contours of Center Cross Section

3 Copyright © 2009 by ASME

 Where, Fb is the bubble force; Vb is the bubble volume.

ANNULAR COMBUSTOR EXPERIMENT

An experimental research was conducted on the lean
ignition and lean blow out (LBO) of a small annular tangential
trapped vortex combustor, which are two of the most
important performance parameters for the stably operating
range.
Experimental Apparatus
The liner of 4-cups annular tangential trapped vortex
combustor is illustrated in Fig.4. The swirl cups, primary holes
and igniter could be replaced on the combustor liner. The
coolant dilution center body was used to mix the hot gas with
cooling air, reducing the outlet temperature. But the
temperature was very high at the inner layer of the annular
cavity, so a multi-hole cooling was needed to protect the
dilution center body.
(b) Velocity Vectors of Inlet and Outlet
Fig.3 CFD Results of 10-Cups Annular TTVC

Centrifugal Effect on Combustion

The high centrifugal force has obvious influence on both
fuel and flame spreading of the spray combustion as that in
UCC [7, 9, 10]. It is the key action on the tangential trapped
vortex combustion. And there are many interesting topics
about the physical and chemical processes on the centrifugal
effect to research.
Compared to the laminar flame dominated by the thermal
conduction and diffusion and the turbulent flame by the flame
wrinkles and eddies [14, 15], the high-gravity flame spreading
is unique. In the high centrifugal force condition, the buoyancy Fig.4 Liner of 4-Cups Annular TTVC
force would become predominant and control the flame
spreading process, and the flame spreading speed increases
with the bubble velocity, including the bulky effect and
interface effect [16]. In the early research results for premixed
propane/air combustion, the centrifugal acceleration below
200g has little effect on the flame propagation controlled by
the turbulent flame. But when the centrifugal acceleration
exceeds 200g the flame speed increases, and the relation can
be represented by the equation:

Sb 
ρa
a (1)
ρb
Where, a is the centrifugal or gravitational acceleration; ρb is
Fig.5 Experimental Setup of 4-Cups Annular TTVC
the flame bubble density; ρa is the cold air density.
The spray combustion is more complex than the premixed To simulate the strong whirlblast at the entrance of the
combustion due to the evaporation and mixing processes, so combustion system, the swirl vanes with 65° angle were
the centrifugal effect may have difference for the two types of installed upstream of the combustor, as shown in Fig.5, so the
combustion. inlet airflow had a swirl number of 1.89. The measurement
As a result of the buoyancy force driven from the section is upstream of the swirl vanes to measure the inlet

Fb   a   b Vb a
centrifugal or gravitational force, the force acting on the flame pressure, temperature and airflow rate. Four large fan-shaped
bubble can be simply expressed as: quart windows were opened on the backside of the combustor
(2) to observe the flow and flame in the liner.

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 The airflow of the 4-cups annular tangential trapped
vortex combustor was supplied by an air-blower at
atmospheric pressure, and could be heated up to 200℃ by an
electrical heater. In the measurement section, an orifice
flowmeter and a thermocouple probe was used to measure the
flow rate and temperature, respectively. A pressure nozzle was
placed at the center of each swirl-cup to inject kerosene into
the combustor, and the fuel pressure was measured to calculate
the fuel flow rate.

Fig.8 Combustion Photograph of 4-Cups Annular TTVC

Figure 7 shows the photos of the 4-cups annular tangential
trapped vortex combustor experimental setup and the burned
Fig.6 Schematic of the Experimental Setup liner. The combustion produced carbon fouling on the liner
along the tangential direction due to the very rich fuel and air
mixture from the swirl cups, under the experimental operating
condition. Furthermore, a combustion photograph of the
combustor in operation is shown in Fig.8. In the experiment
the direction of the whirlblast in the tangential cavity was
counter-clockwise.
Operating Conditions
The experimental research on the annular combustor was
performed at atmospheric pressure. The temperature of inlet
air was from 10℃ to 200℃ and the flow rate was in the
range 0.07kg/s~0.16kg/s. As shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Operating Conditions of Experiment
Inlet Pressure (Pa) Atmospheric Pressure
(a) Experimental Setup Inlet Temperature (℃) 10~200
Airflow Rate (kg/s) 0.07~0.16
Pressure Drop across Liner 0.5%~2.0%

The airflows distribution of the combustor was measured

at atmospheric temperature before the combustion experiment.
The results were shown in Table 2. Notice that only the
airflows through the swirl-cups and primary holes into the
annular cavity mixed with the fuel to burn. Therefore, the
equivalence ratios for the tangential cavity were calculated
with the fuel flow rate and 66.3% of the total airflow rate into
the combustor.
Table 2 Airflows Distribution of 4-Cups Annular TTVC
Components Percentage
Swirl cups 18.3%
(b) 4-Cups Annular TTVC Liner
Primary Holes 48%
Fig.7 Photos of 4-Cups Annular TTVC Experimental Setup
Dilution and Cooling Holes 33.7%

5 Copyright © 2009 by ASME

 means higher flow velocity, so in the cavity the high speed
Experimental Results and Discussion tangential flow would enhance the transverse blowing effect
on the diffused flame jet from the swirl-cups to disturb the
Lean Ignition Limits ignition process.
A standard spark ignition unit was used to ignite the From the experimental results, the lean ignition
combustible mixture in the combustor, having a stored energy equivalence ratio in the tangential cavity, as the primary
of 12J and a sparking rate of 10 per second. The igniter was combustion zone of the combustor, had to be over 1.0 at
located upstream of a swirl-cup, where a local low velocity atmospheric pressure and temperature. Therefore, compared to
zone occurred near wall. After the mixture in this zone was the conventional combustor the ignition performance of the
ignited, the hot reactants could mix with the fresh fuel and air tangential trapped vortex combustor had no advantage in the
mixture from the adjacent downstream and burn. And then the present ignition form, mainly due to the combustion buildup.
process was periodically repeated four times per revolution in In the conventional combustor the flame in the primary zone is
the tangential trapped vortex combustor cavity. held on by the flow recirculation with evident low velocity
In Fig.9, the ignition limits data were plotted against the zone. Whereas, the main airflow in the tangential cavity flows
inlet airflow rate of the 4-cups annular combustor. The with high velocity as a transverse flow for the jet from the
experiment was performed at atmospheric pressure and 30℃ swirl-cup except a weak low velocity zone is downstream of
the primary hole. As a result the airflow can not provide a
~190℃ inlet temperature.
stable low velocity recirculation zone for the original flame
2.0
ball for the ignition process. If the spark ignitor was placed in
inlet 30℃ the local flow recirculation downstream of a swirl-cup perhaps
inlet 55℃
inlet 80℃ the ignition performance of the tangential trapped vortex
1.5 inlet 100℃ combustor would be improved.
inlet 150℃
inlet 190℃
Lean blow out Limits
1.0
The lean blow out limits data of the 4-cups annular
cav

tangential trapped vortex combustor were plotted as shown in

Fig. 10, including the effect of the inlet airflow rate and
temperature. And the LBO experiment was performed at
0.5
atmospheric pressure and 85℃~195℃ inlet temperature.
0.4
inlet 85℃
0.0 inlet 100℃
0.050 0.075 0.100 0.125 0.150 0.175 inlet 150℃
0.3 inlet 195℃
ma (kg/s)
Fig.9 Effect of Inlet Airflow Rate and Temperature on the
Ignition Equivalence Ratio of Tangential Cavity
0.2
cav

As seen in Fig.9, the inlet temperature greatly affects the

ignition limits of the combustor. When the inlet temperature
was only 30℃, the airflow rate could not over 0.075kg/s for
0.1
successfully ignition, but the lean ignition equivalence ratio in
the cavity was up to 1.74 all the same. The ignition limits
would be widened with increasing inlet temperature. While the
inlet temperature was 55℃, the ignition equivalence ratio was 0.0
0.050 0.075 0.100 0.125 0.150
0.86 and 1.12, respectively, for the inlet airflow rate of
0.075kg/s and 0.11kg/s, but the combustor could not be ignited ma (kg/s)
for higher airflow rate. The ignition equivalence ratio was Fig.10 Effect of Inlet Airflow Rate and Temperature on the
about 0.68 for the inlet airflow rate range from 0.07kg/s to LBO Equivalence Ratio of Tangential Cavity
0.15kg/s when the inlet temperature was 80℃. Whereas, as the On the curve of the 85℃ inlet temperature, the lean blow
inlet temperature was over 100℃, the ignition equivalence out (LBO) equivalence ratio in the tangential cavity was 0.23
ratio changed little with the inlet temperature but increased corresponding the 0.069kg/s inlet airflow rate, and it decreased
from 0.3 to 0.6 in the range of experimental inlet airflow rate. to 0.17 corresponding the 0.13kg/s airflow rate, with
Hence, the ignition limits of the combustor are related to decreasing scope of 26%. As the inlet temperature increased to
the inlet airflow rate and temperature. The inlet temperature 195℃, the LBO equivalence ratio decreased from 0.26 to 0.18
has great benefit to the ignition, because high temperature can with increasing airflow rate from 0.06kg/s to 0.11kg/s. Totally,
speed the evaporation process. Whereas, for a given as the inlet temperature increased from 85℃ to 195℃, the
geometrical configuration of combustor, more airflow rate LBO equivalence ratio of the combustor had little difference.

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