Spray and Flow Field Characteristics of a Five-Injector Lean Premixed Prevaporized Model Combustor

  • YU Bowen ,
  • CHEN Tao ,
  • LIU Dewen ,
  • YANG Yifan ,
  • WANG Guoqing ,
  • XU Liangliang ,
  • XIA Xi ,
  • QI Fei
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  • 1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
    2. AECC Commercial Aircraft Engine Company, Ltd., Shanghai 200241, China

Online published: 2025-10-29

Supported by

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52206163, 22227901, and 52006139) and AECC Commercial Aircraft Engine Company, Ltd.; we would like to acknowledge the assistance of Yongzhi REN, Qiuxiao WANG, Haodong ZHANG, and Linye LI in setting up the test rig and data acqusition system as well as processing the data. 

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025

Abstract

The spray and flow structures generated from the injectors of the lean premixed prevaporized (LPP) combustor are essential to the research and development of modern aero-engines. In this work, we develop an optical model combustor featuring five linearly arranged LPP injectors and a laser diagnostics system based on high-repetition-rate and high-energy pulse lasers to study the spray and flow field characteristics. The effects of varying fuel and airflow rates on the spray cone area and droplet spatial distribution as well as on the mean flow structures and dynamics are experimentally investigated using high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV), planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), and planar MIE scattering (PMIE). The results demonstrate that the impingement of adjacent sprays is crucial to the formation of the outer recirculation zones (ORZ) among injectors. The fuel-to-air ratio (FAR) has an overall significant effect in controlling the flow and spray characteristics. The combined analysis of the velocity fluctuations and spray reveals that, with increasing FAR, the turbulent intensity diminishes in the shear layer, contributing to an inhibition of the liquid fuel breakup and eventually a deteriorated atomization performance characterized by the denser distribution of large-size droplets in the central recirculation zone.

Cite this article

YU Bowen , CHEN Tao , LIU Dewen , YANG Yifan , WANG Guoqing , XU Liangliang , XIA Xi , QI Fei . Spray and Flow Field Characteristics of a Five-Injector Lean Premixed Prevaporized Model Combustor[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2025 , 34(6) : 2262 -2273 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-025-2196-0

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