Numerical simulation of influence of equivalence ratio on turbine inter-vane burner

To investigate the performance of turbine inter-vane burner(TIB), 4 loading conditions with different equivalence ratios were designed. The realizable k-Ε turbulent model, PDF combustion model, DO radiation model and DPM model of FLUENT were used to simulate the turbulent flow and combustion in the burner. The TIB can increase the gas temperature by about 650, K under a wide range of equivalence ratio(2.59-0.81). The combustion efficiency remains above 96% with the total pressure loss less than 2.4%. As the equivalence ratio gets lower, the combustion efficiency is increased and the pollutant emissions of CO, UHC and NOx are decreased, thus improving the temperature distribution, but meanwhile increasing the total pressure loss. The optimal equivalence ratio equals 1.00, and in such a case, the combustion efficiency is above 99.95% and the total pressure loss is relatively low(1.5%). Meanwhile, a parabolic shape radial temperature profile emerges, which is appropriate for gas turbine engine design. The comparison with literature data shows that the loading conditions are reasonable and the numerical results provide an important reference to the design of TIB.