Parametric Studies of Gas Turbine Combustion NOx Emissions Using KIVA With a Reduced Mechanism

Abstract A numerical study was conducted to determine the effects of combustion condition parameters, including inlet temperature and pressure, fuel spray characteristics on NOx emissions in gas turbine combustion using the KIVA-3V code. Log-normal spray distribution was assumed for the simulation of real fuel spray distributions at injection. A simplified mechanism with 17-species and 26-step was employed for chemical reactions of Jet A in a formula of C12H23. A sector model of a typical annular combustor was used in calculations. Flow fields and temperature distributions were analyzed. A wide range of operating condition was varied with the inlet pressure from 0.1 to 2.0 MPa, inlet temperature from 400 to 900 K, and overall fuel/air ratio from 0.012 to 0.08. The results reasonably agreed with those from experimental data and Chemkin modeling, which demonstrates the applicability of KIVA-3V and the chemical mechanism to the predictions of NOx emissions. With respect to the inlet temperature, NOx productions show a trend of monotone increasing. As the inlet pressure increases, NOx emissions increase at the beginning and then decrease. The droplet mean diameter as well as injection velocity and angle were independently varied to distinguish the separate effects of variables involved. It is found that the NOx emissions decrease with the Sauter mean diameter, but increase with the injection velocity and angle of fuel sprays. It appears that KIVA-3V code can be a valuable tool for the development of low emission combustors.