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Journal of Polymer & Composites Original Research Special issue Open Access

Numerical Simulation of Air Flow Field of A Gas Turbine Engine Air blast Atomizer

  1. Syeed Habeebur Rahaman Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology
  2. P.N. Tengli Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology
  3. Rampada Rana Gas Turbine Research Establishment
  4. Srikanth H.V. Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology

Abstract

One of the most crucial process that occurs before the fuel is burned in the combustion chamber is atomization. The performance of a engine will be depend mainly on the fuel mixture. Performance of the engine depends on atomization process because it breaks the bulk fuel into small droplets and injects it into the combustion chamber, in order to make this happen consequently the dimensions of most of the fuel droplets ought to have Sauter Mean Diameter/Same Diameter (SMD) in order that the time for combustion of each fuel droplet remains same. The air blast atomizer uses the kinetic energy of a flowing airstream to disintegrate fuel into ligaments and then into small droplets. Since numerical simulation of the atomizer is complex it is very important to understand the air flow, which is used for fuel atomization in air blast atomizer. CFD analysis at atmospheric conditions was performed in this paper using ANSYS Fluent to validate modelling methodology from accuracy and reliability point of view. The following analysis involves the studies of downstream domain parametrically and selection of the final downstream domain which conforms to the physics of the flow field which have been discussed in detail. Studies on the opted downstream domain were further continued using various air mass flows. Plots were drawn for axial, radial, and tangential velocities, as well as the recirculation zone. Because the flow field in atmospheric settings may be utilized to investigate droplets tracking to compare the test performance data at atmospheric conditions, this research aids in understanding the type of downstream domain needed for atmospheric conditions.

Keywords

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