Combustion of Jet-A and Hydrogen in a Turboshaft Engine: A Numerical Solution

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the transition to a noncarbon fuel can be carried out by gradually reducing Jet A while dosing small amounts of hydrogen gas. Methodology begins by modeling a combustion can liner and then validating results. Once model integrity was established a combination of different fuel mass flow rates was investigated. Results showed that by reducing Jet A fuel from 35 to [Formula: see text] and adding a dose of [Formula: see text] hydrogen gas, the combustion outlet temperature was maintained. Emission results in ppm are as follows: a) [Formula: see text] increased from 80.2 to 90.2, b) [Formula: see text] emissions reduced from 15.0e3 to 108.3e3, c) soot emissions reduced from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text], d) unburned fuel escaping slightly increased from 0.25 to 0.26 but then dropped with higher hydrogen gas doses. Thus, we can conclude that it is possible to begin a gradual transition from a fossil-based hydrocarbon fuel to hydrogen by simply reducing Jet A and burning an amount of hydrogen gas such that the combustion can’s outlet temperature is maintained. CFD settings were as follows: non-premixed equilibrium chemistry, [Formula: see text] realizable with the new Menter-Lechner wall function, and the coupled solver, which performed exceptionally well. Validated results showed differences of 3.4–11% and within the physical data range.