The Influence of In Situ Reheat on Turbine-Combustor Performance

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical and experimental investigation of the in situ reheat necessary for the development of a turbine-combustor. The flow and combustion were modeled by the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the species conservation equations. The chemistry model used herein was a two-step, global, finite rate combustion model for methane and combustion gases. A numerical simulation was used to investigate the validity of the combustion model by comparing the numerical results against experimental data obtained for an isolated vane with fuel injection at its trailing edge. The numerical investigation was then used to explore the unsteady transport phenomena in a four-stage turbine-combustor. In situ reheat simulations investigated the influence of various fuel injection parameters on power increase, airfoil temperature variation, and turbine blade loading. The in situ reheat decreased the power of the first stage, but increased more the power of the following stages, such that the power of the turbine increased between 2.8% and 5.1%, depending on the parameters of the fuel injection. The largest blade excitation in the turbine-combustor corresponded to the fourth-stage rotor, with or without combustion. In all cases analyzed, the highest excitation corresponded to the first blade passing frequency.