Single Cavity Trapped Vortex Combustor Dynamics – Part-1: Experiments

Abstract

In the present work, a water-cooled, modular, atmospheric pressure Trapped Vortex Combustor (TVC) test rig is designed and fabricated for reacting and non-reacting flow experiments. The unique features of this rig consist of a continuously variable length-to-depth ratio (L/D) of the cavity and optical access through quartz plates provided on three sides for visualization. Flame stabilization in the single cavity TVC was successfully achieved with methane as fuel and the range of flow conditions for stable operation were identified. From these, a few cases were selected for detailed experimentation. Reacting flow experiments for the selected cases indicated that reducing L/D ratio and increasing cavity-air velocity favour stable combustion. The pressure drop across the single cavity TVC is observed to be lower as compared to conventional combustors. Temperatures are measured at the exit using thermocouples and corrected for radiative losses. Species concentrations are measured at the exit using an exhaust gas analyzer. The combustion efficiency is observed to be around 97-99 % and the pattern factor is observed to be in the range of 0.08 to 0.13. High-speed imaging made possible by the optical access indicates that the overall combustion is fairly steady, and there is no vortex shedding downstream.