A Numerical Study of Spray Injected in a Gas Turbine Lean Pre-Mixed Pre-Vaporized Combustor

The authors have performed a numerical study to investigate the spray evolution in a modern gas turbine combustor of the Lean Pre-Mixed Pre-vaporized type. The CFD tool is able to simulate the injection conditions, by isolating and studying some specific phenomena. The calculations have been performed by using a 3-D fluid dynamic code, the FLUENT flow solver, by choosing the injection models on the basis of a comparative analysis with some experimental data, in terms of droplet diameters, obtained by PDA technique. In a first phase of the investigation, the numerical simulation refers to non-evaporating flow conditions, in order to validate the estimation of the fundamental spray parameters. Next, the calculations employ boundary conditions close to those occurring in the actual combustor operation, in order to predict the fuel vapour distribution throughout the premixing chamber. The results obtained allow the authors to perform combustion simulation in the whole domain.