Thermoacoustic Oscillations in Multipath Heated Fuel Circuits

Abstract

Pressure oscillations in supercritical jet-A fuel flowing through four parallel heated tubes connected to common manifolds have been observed in this study. Tests were performed with fuel inlet temperatures ranging from 70 °F to 700 °F, and fuel pressures ranging from 360 to 700 psi. Total fuel flow rate ranged from 5 to 55 lb/h. Tubes were heated by blowing 800–950 °F nitrogen over them. Acoustic-mode oscillations, typically ranging from 100 to 500 Hz, occurred only when a large temperature gradient was created inside the heated fuel tubes. Pressure oscillation amplitudes ranged from 0.1 to 1.0 psi. Oscillations at the inlet and outlet manifolds that were caused by a mode with the characteristic length of a single fuel tube were separated by a phase lag that was a function of the manifold cross-passage diameter. A lower frequency mode was also observed, which had a characteristic length based on the summed lengths of a single fuel tube and a single manifold passage. An acoustic simulation using the comsol acoustics module was performed to predict frequencies based on geometry and flow conditions of the experiment.