UC Irvine

This work represents a first step in the establishment of a data base to study the interaction and influence of liquid fuel injection, wall jet interaction, and dome geometry on the fuel air mixing process in a flowfield representative of a practical combustor. In particular, the aerodynamic and thermal fields of a model gas turbine combustor are characterized via detailed spatial maps of velocity and temperature. Measurements are performed at an overall equivalence ratio of 0. 3 with a petroleum JP-4 fuel. The results reveal that the flowfield characteristics are significantly altered in the presence of reaction. Strong on-axis backmixing in the dome region, present in the isothermal flow, is dissipated in the case of reaction. The thermal field exhibits the primary, secondary and dilution zone progression of temperatures characteristic of practical gas turbine combustors. A parametric variation on atomizing air reveals a substantial sensitivity of the mixing in this flow to nozzle performance and spray symmetry.