Lean Blowout Research in a Generic Gas Turbine Combustor With High Optical Access

Abstract

The U. S. Air Force is conducting a comprehensive research program aimed at improving the design and analysis capabilities for flame stability and lean blowout in the combustors of aircraft gas turbine engines. As part of this program, a simplified version of a generic gas turbine combustor is used. The intent is to provide an experimental data base against which lean blowout modeling might be evaluated and calibrated. The design features of the combustor and its instrumentation are highlighted, and the test facility is described. Lean blowout results for gaseous propane fuel are presented over a range of operating conditions at three different dome flow splits. Comparison of results with those of a simplified research combustor is also made. Lean blowout behavior is complex, so that simple phenomenological correlations of experimental data will not be general enough for use as design tools.