Experiments on symmetry breaking of azimuthal combustion instabilities and their analysis combining acoustic energy balance and flame describing functions

Combustion instabilities in annular systems raise fundamental issues that are also of practical importance to aircraft engines and ground-based gas turbine combustors. Recent studies indicate that the injector plays a significant role in the stability of combustors by defining the flame dynamical response and setting the inlet impedance of the system. The present investigation examines the effects of combinations of injectors of two different types (U and S) on thermoacoustic instabilities in a laboratory-scale annular combustor and compares different circumferential staging strategies. The combustor operates in a stable fashion when all injection units belong to the S -family, but exhibits large amplitude pressure oscillations when all these units are of the U -type. When the system comprises a mix of U - and S -injectors, it is possible to determine the number of S -injectors leading to stable operation. For a fixed proportion of U - and S -injectors, some arrangements give rise to stable operation while others do not. Results also show that introducing symmetry-breaking elements affects the system's modal dynamics. These experimental observations are interpreted in an acoustic energy balance framework used to derive an expression for the growth rate as a function of the describing functions of the flames formed by the different injectors and their respective azimuthal locations. Growth rates are determined for the different configurations and used to explain the various observations, estimate the system damping rate and predict the location of the nodal line when the standing mode prevails.