Isothermal Flow Fields in a Research Combustor for Lean Blowout Studies

Abstract

A propane-fueled research combustor has been designed and developed to investigate lean blowouts in a simulated primary zone of the combustors for aircraft gas turbine engines. To understand the flow development better and to ensure that the special provisions in the combustor for optical access did not introduce undue influence, measurements of the velocity fields inside the combustor were made using laser-Döppler anemometry. These measurements were made in isothermal, constant density flow to relate the combustor flow field development to known jet behavior and to backward-facing step experimental data in the literature. The major features of the flow field appear to be consistent with the expected behavior, and there is no evidence that the provision of optical access adversely affected the flows measured.