Saturation of flames to multiple inputs at one frequency

Abstract

Existing experimental results show that swirling flames in annular combustors respond with a different gain to acoustic azimuthal modes rotating in either the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. The ratio R of these two gains is introduced, with R=1 being the conventional case of flames responding the same to the two forcing directions. To allow a difference in response to the different directions (R≠1), a multiple-input single-output azimuthal flame describing function is successfully implemented in a quaternion valued low-order model of an annular combustion chamber in the current work. Theoretical studies have explored this kind of symmetry breaking between the two acoustic wave directions in the past, but it has not been backed by experimental data. One of the main features of the new model proposed in this work is the potential difference in mode shapes between the acoustic and the heat release rate modes, which has recently been observed experimentally. This results in a gain-dependent equation for the nature of the mode, which has a significant influence on the fixed points of the system. For example, one of the spinning solutions and the standing solution can disappear through a saddle node bifurcation as the parameters are varied. The presence of only a single direction for the spinning solution matches experimental observations better than the conventional models, and the proposed model is shown to qualitatively describe experimental measurements well.