Reciprocating propagation of premixed flame using time-variable-angle swirl vanes

The flow fields under unburned conditions were measured and the precession movement of the vortex core was clarified (Shtork et al., 2007). Numerical simulation was applied to analyze vortex breakdown, which occurred in an actual gas turbine combustor (Turrell et al., 2004). Abstract Lean premixed combustion can be expected to reduce the high-temperature area and NOx emission. However, it has a risk of flashback due to flame propagation. It can be thought to modulate the gas swirl intensity to prevent flashback and to stabilize combustion. In this research, we developed time-variable-angle swirl vanes which had 56 mm of the inner diameter, 70 mm of the outer diameter and consisted of 36 vanes, each vane was directly connected to a stepping motor, and the swirl intensity could be changed periodically by keeping the constant air ratio and flow rate. We confirmed the periodical movement of the swirl vane angle using a high-speed camera. The flame position could be made reciprocating move upstream and downstream by the periodic change of the swirl vane angle. The upstream direction flow at the tip of the flame appeared when the flame moved in the upstream direction with increasing vane angle and the downstream direction flow appeared when that moved in the downstream direction with decreasing the vane angle. When the flame propagation was changed from upstream direction to downstream, the upstream direction flow near the flame tip was weakened. In advance of changing the flame propagation from upstream direction to downstream, the axial velocity near the flame tip changed from decreasing to increasing.