Design of a Laboratory Annular Combustor

Abstract

Combustion lies at the heart of gas turbine technology. The combustor is the power source that aids the acceleration of flight. It provides the core functionality of adding heat through the controlled burn of the air-fuel mixture, converted into mechanical energy with the help of turbines. This extracted power has been used to produce thrust in the case of aircraft or to produce electrical energy in the case of industrial gas turbines. Designing an annular combustor involves a rigorous iterative process, and there is no systematic procedure available to design a small-scale laboratory combustor, used for research and academic purposes. This paper aims to resolve those problems and provides the step-by-step procedural design of small-scale laboratory combustors.

Authors

• Dharmalingam, Sathish Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Kothari, Kartik Dolarkumar Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Keywords

• annular combustor
• combustor design
• gas turbine engine
• laboratory combustor
• Propulsion and Power