Flow dynamics in a swirl combustor

A hybrid simulation approach is used to investigate the flow patterns in an axisymmetric swirl combustor configuration. Effective inlet boundary conditions are based on velocity data from Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes or actual laboratory measurements at the outlet of a fuel-injector nozzle, and large eddy simulations are used to study the unsteady non-reactive swirl flow dynamics downstream. Case studies ranging from single-swirler to more complex triple-swirler nozzles are presented to emphasize the importance of initial inlet conditions on the behaviour of the swirling flow entering a sudden expansion area, including swirl and radial numbers, inlet length and characteristic velocity profiles. Swirl of sufficient strength produces an adverse pressure gradient which can promote flow reversal or vortex breakdown, and the coupling between swirl and sudden expansion instabilities depends on the relative length of the inlet. The flow is found to be very sensitive to the detailed nature of the velocity radial profiles. The critical challenge of specification of suitable inlet boundary conditions to emulate the turbulent conditions in the laboratory experiments is raised in this context.