Experimentation of Flame Stabilization Using Flat Plate Gutter Made of Porous Material for Afterburner Applications

Abstract

Present experimental study is focused on the flat plate gutter made of different porous materials is to stabilize the flames for afterburner applications. The porous materials used for the gutters as a flame holder are Silicon Carbide (SiC), Zirconium Oxide (ZrO₂) and Aluminium Oxide (Al₂O₃). The porous material flat plate gutters with different orientation angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° to the main stream flow. The flat plate shaped gutters made of porous materials are expected to produce strong recirculation zone in the downstream, which enhances the mixing process and increases the flame stabilization. Non-reactive flow studies are carried out and the recirculation zone area for each porous materials at five different orientations of the gutter are obtained experimentally. The experiments are conducted in the combustor test rig and the flat plate gutters are fitted in the combustor test rig with the help of plug type fixture. Air is fed through a radial blower with constant flow velocity of 4.5 m/s. The parameter of interest in the non-reactive flow studies are the recirculation zone length and wake width behind the gutter. The plots are drawn for the velocity fluctuations along the length of the combustor for different porous materials. It is observed that, due to irregular pores in the porous materials, the velocity fluctuations are higher immediately behind the gutter and gradually reduces in the downstream up to the exit plane. It is also observed that the recirculation zone length and wake width differs for different porous materials at different gutter orientation angles. The recirculation zone area is obtained by recirculation zone length and wake width and the maximum recirculation zone area is obtained at an angle 90° for all the three porous materials.

Keywords: Flat plate gutter, combustor test rig, porous materials, recirculation zone area, gutter orientation angles, flow velocity

Cite this Article

Parammasivam K.M., Suganya G, Abdul Basidh N, Devanathan D. Experimentation of Flame Stabilization Using Flat Plate Gutter Made of Porous Material for Afterburner Applications. Journal of Aerospace Engineering and Technology. 2016; 6(2): 71–77p.