Bernd Prade

THERMOACOUSTIC STABILITY CHART FOR HIGH-INTENSITY GAS TURBINE COMBUSTION SYSTEMS

Abstract The operating range of heavy duty gas turbines that feature lean premixed combustion to achieve low NO* emissions is limited by thermoacoustic oscillations. To extend the operational envelope of the gas turbine, passive means have to be developed to suppress thermoacoustic instabilities. In order to develop passive means the complex interaction between acoustics and thermal heat release has to be taken into account. A new stability chart applicable to the qualification of industrial design has been developed that accounts for the acoustic properties of the combustion system including its boundary conditions and the flame response data. The method has been validated using detailed measurements of the eigenmodes in an operating gas turbine as well as experimental data from component test rigs. An explanation is given of the significant extension of the operation envelope of the gas turbine as an effect of cylindrical extensions to the burner nozzle.

Syngas Capable Combustion Systems Development for Advanced Gas Turbines

In the age of volatile and ever increasing natural gas fuel prices, strict new emission regulations and technological advancements, modern IGCC plants are the answer to growing market demands for efficient and environmentally friendly power generation. IGCC technology allows the use of low cost opportunity fuels, such as coal, of which there is a more than a 200-year supply in the U.S., and refinery residues, such as petroleum coke and residual oil. Future IGCC plants are expected to be more efficient and have a potential to be a lower cost solution to future CO2 and mercury regulations compared to the direct coal fired steam plants. Siemens has more than 300,000 hours of successful IGCC plant operational experience on a variety of heavy duty gas turbine models in Europe and the U.S. The gas turbines involved range from SGT5-2000E to SGT63000E (former designations are shown on Table 1). Future IGCC applications will extend this experience to the SGT5-4000F and SGT6-4000F/5000F/6000G gas turbines. In the currently operating Siemens’ 60 Hz fleet, the SGT6-5000F gas turbine has the most operating engines and the most cumulative operating hours. Over the years, advancements have increased its performance and decreased its emissions and life cycle costs without impacting reliability. Development has been initiated to verify its readiness for future IGCC application including syngas combustion system testing. Similar efforts are planned for the SGT6-6000G and SGT5-4000F/SGT6-4000F models. This paper discusses the extensive development programs that have been carried out to demonstrate that target emissions and engine operability can be achieved on syngas operation in advanced F-class 50 Hz and 60 Hz gas turbine based IGCC applications.

Thermoacoustic Flame Response of Swirl Flames

The operating range of heavy duty gas turbines featuring lean premix combustion to achieve low Nox emissions may be limited by thermoacoustic oscillations. The most promising way to extend the operational envelope of the gas turbine is to modify the burner outlet conditions which itself strongly affect the flame response on acoustic perturbations. The objective of the present paper is the analysis and prediction of the flame response of premixed swirl flames which are typical for gas turbine combustion. The flame response has been determined experimentally by measuring the velocity fluctuations of a forced pulsated burner flow with hot wire probes and the resulting heat release fluctuations OH radiation. The experimentally determined flame response function for the swirl premixed flame follows almost a time lag law. Hence, reasonable agreement has been found between measurements and calculations using a time lag model.Copyright

Investigation of Thermoacoustic Stability Limits of an Annular Gas Turbine Combustor Test-Rig With and Without Helmholtz-Resonators

Providing gas turbine combustion chambers with Helmholtz-resonators is a promising approach for extending the operating range of gas turbines towards higher thermal power input whilst minimizing the risk of thermoacoustic instabilities. The work currently being reported gives an overview of experimental and computational analyses carried out for a full annular combustor test-rig located at Gioia del Colle in Italy. The thermoacoustic stability characteristics of this test-rig were thoroughly analyzed both for a base configuration without Helmholtz-resonators and for an extended configuration with 14 Helmholtz-resonators. An increase of power input to the combustor by 8.5–20% can be realized when the test-rig is equipped with resonators. The experimental analyses are reproduced by a computational model.Copyright

V64.3A Gas Turbine Natural Gas Burner Development

From the very first beginning of the V64.3A development the HR3 burner was selected as standard design for this frame. The HR3 burner was originally developed for the Vx4.2 and Vx4.3 fleet featuring silo combustors in order to mitigate the risk of flashback and to improve the NOx-emissions (Prade, Streb, 1996). Due to its favourable performance characteristics in the Vx4.3 family the advanced HR3 burner was adapted to the Vx4.3A series with annular combustor (hybrid burner ring – HBR). This paper reports about the burner development for V64.3A gas turbines to reach NOx emissions below 25 ppmvd and CO emissions below 10 ppmvd. It is described how performance and NOx emissions have been optimised by implementation of fuel system and burner modifications. The development approach, emission results and commercial operation experiences as well are described. The modifications of the combustion system were successfully and reliably demonstrated on commercially running units. NOx emissions considerably below 25ppmvd were achieved at and above design baseload. An outlook to further steps of V64.3A burner development in the near future will be given in this paper.Copyright

Advanced Burner Development for the VX4.3A Gas Turbines

The Vx4.3A gas turbine family has already been well received by the market. Nevertheless the market drives technology towards both increased turbine inlet temperatures and reduced emissions.The HR3 burner was originally developed for the V4.2 and Vx4.3 fleet featuring silo combustors in order to mitigate the risk of flashback and to improve the NOx- emissions (Prade, Streb, 1996). Due to its favourable performance characteristics in the Vx4.3 family the advanced HR3 burner was adapted to the Vx4.3A series with annular combustor.The paper reports upon the design, testing and field evaluation steps which were necessary to implement the burner for the 50 and 60 cycle gas turbines.With CFD calculations the flow field and the mixing of natural gas and combustion air have been optimised. A number of tests in the Siemens test facilities confirmed these predictions. The atmospheric 3 burner segment combustion test rig allows to test flame interaction, stability and exhaust gas emission simultaneously.In the Siemens Berlin Test Facility which provides a platform for full scale gas turbine testing 24 HR3-burners were implemented into a V84.3A gas turbine with a base load power output of 184 MW at ISO conditions for prototype testing before introducing this new burner generation into the bigger 50 cycle family V94.3A.Implementation of 24 scaled HR3 burners were installed in the V94.3A of Cottam Development Centre (Great Britain) and demonstrated an excellent performance. The gas turbine reached an ISO base load output of 265 MW with NOx emissions well below 25 ppmvd.Due to the very promising test results in Berlin and Cottam, this burner modification, which can be retrofitted to all VX4.3A gas turbines, was implemented nearly fleet wide.Copyright

Assessment of a Gas Turbine NOx Reduction Potential Based on a Spatiotemporal Unmixedness Parameter

The paper presents a one-dimensional approach to assess the reduction potential of NOx emissions for lean premixed gas turbine combustion systems. NOx emissions from these systems are known to be mainly caused by high temperatures, not only from an averaged perspective but especially related to poor mixing quality of fuel and air. The method separates the NOx chemistry in the flame front zone and the postflame zone (slow reaction). A one-dimensional treatment enables the use of detailed chemistry. A lookup table parameterized by reaction progress and equivalence ratio is used to improve the computational efficiency. The influence of mixing quality is taken into account by a probability density function of the fuel element–based equivalence ratio, which itself translates into a temperature distribution. Hence, the NOx source terms are a function of reaction progress and equivalence ratio. The reaction progress is considered by means of the two-zone approach. Based on unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data, the evolution of the probability density function with residence time has been analyzed. Two types of definitions of an unmixedness quantity are considered. One definition accounts for spatial as well as temporal fluctuations, and the other is based on the mean spatial distribution. They are determined at the location of the flame front. The paper presents a comparison of the modeled results with experimental data. A validation and application have shown very good quantitative and qualitative agreement with the measurements. The comparison of the unmixedness definitions has proven the necessity of unsteady simulations. A general emissions-unmixedness correlation can be derived for a given combustion system.

Validation of Advanced Computational Methods for Determining Flame Transfer Functions in Gas Turbine Combustion Systems

The operation envelope of modern gas turbines is affected by thermoacoustically induced combustion oscillations. The understanding and development of active and passive means for their suppression is crucial for the design process and field introduction of new gas turbine combustion systems. Whereas the propagation of acoustic sound waves in gas turbine combustion systems has been well understood, the flame induced acoustic source terms are still a major topic of investigation. The dynamics of combustion processes can be analyzed by means of flame transfer functions which relate heat release fluctuations to velocity fluctuations caused by a flame. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and to validate a novel computational approach to reconstruct flame transfer functions based on unsteady excited RANS simulations and system identification. Resulting time series of velocity and heat release are then used to reconstruct the flame transfer function by application of a system identification method based on Wiener-Hopf formulation. CFD/SI approach has been applied to a typical gas turbine burner. 3D unsteady simulations have been performed and the flame transfer results have been validated by comparison to experimental data. In addition the method has been benchmarked to results obtained from sinusoidal excitations.© 2007 ASME

Advanced Combustion Modeling in Gas Turbines With ILDM Approach

One of the greatest challenges in modern gas turbine engineering is to optimize the combustion system for the reduction of emissions. For better understanding of combustion systems and hence having the possibility of systematic innovation of gas turbine combustion systems, a permanent improvement of design tools is essential. Demonstrated here is the use of an advanced combustion model — the INTRINSIC LOW DIMENSIONAL MANIFOLD (ILDM) approach — in Computational Flow Dynamics (CFD) analysis. In the past, chemical kinetic models used in CFD-calculations were based on empirical parameters and so called “global mechanisms” which are in fact “local” models and can be used only when modeling one operating point of the gas turbine combustion system. The scope of the integration of the ILDM approach into CFD is the use of a generalized approach for modeling chemical kinetics in CFD. Turbulence-chemistry interaction is considered by a presumed Probability Density Function (PDF) approach. The benefit of this method is a realistic prediction of all relevant flame characteristics e.g. piloting of premixed flames. This offers the possibility to integrate the whole combustion modeling tool in an overall emission prevention strategy. This work here will present the results of applying this new approach to an atmosperic test rig and first validation results.Copyright

Burner Development for Flexible Engine Operation of the Newest Siemens Gas Turbines

The newest Siemens gas turbine family has already been well received by the market. Nevertheless, the market drives continuing development of the family and the combustion system. Central focus is put on further increasing reliability and component lifetime and on increased inspection cycles, as well as increasing the engine power output and efficiency, which is directly linked to higher turbine inlet temperatures. Increasing attention, however, is given to the flexibility concerning fuel quality and according fluctuations. Additionally, more and more strict emission requirements must be considered. This paper especially reports on demonstration of the capability of the Siemens gas turbines with an annular combustion system to fulfil the requirements for the highest operational flexibility. Thus, the combustion system has been tested and qualified for the highest operating flexibility with special fuel requirements such as burning Naphtha, Light Oil #2 and Natural gas with an extremely wide range of heating values as well. Also special operation modes such as fuel changeover, fastest load changes for island grid operation, frequency response and load rejection require this highly flexible combustion system without any hardware exchange. In different frames when fired with natural gas, base load is reached with the NOx emissions ranging well below 25 ppmvd, confirming the high potential of this advanced hybrid burner. In liquid fuel operation, dry NOx emissions of 75ppmvd were demonstrated but by injecting fuel / water emulsion NOx emissions were reduced to below 42 ppmvd with different liquid fuel qualities. Combustion dynamics, unburned Hydrocarbons, CO and soot emissions remained always below the required limits.Copyright