Generation and transport of equivalence ratio fluctuations in an acoustically forced swirl burner

In the context of thermoacoustic instabilities, knowledge about the generation and transport of equivalence ratio fluctuations is highly important to correctly model their impact on the flame transfer function. In this work, spatially resolved equivalence ratio perturbations in the mixing section of an acoustically forced, partially premixed swirl burner typical of modern gas turbine combustors are investigated. Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy using a wavelength-modulation approach is applied to assess the spatially inhomogeneous equivalence ratio field in the radial direction. Particle image velocimetry is applied to measure the axial velocity field. Based on these results, a tomographic reconstruction is utilized to deduce the local fuel distribution at two axial locations. Integrated, global equivalence ratio fluctuations are calculated and compared to simple line-of-sight measurements. The influence of the forcing frequency and amplitude is investigated and good agreement was found between the different measurement approaches. Frequency dependent equivalence ratio perturbation generation mechanisms driven by air velocity fluctuations in the swirler, as well as pressure fluctuations at the fuel injector, are observed. Two different mixing transfer functions modeling diffusion and dispersion are compared to the results and reveal substantial differences, indicating a significant impact of coherent fluctuations of the transport velocity on the mixing that are not accounted for by either of the models. (C) 2019 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.