(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-05-12)
Fricker, Aimee Nicole
This study investigated the dynamics of bluff body stabilized combustion of liquid fuel jets injected into the cross flow of preheated air just upstream of V-guttered bluff body s wake. The dynamics of investigated combustion process were determined by using advanced analytical methods to analyze high speed movies of the combustion process and measured acoustic pressure oscillations. The objective of the analysis was to determine the dependence of the flame and flow characteristics upon the flow Mach number, temperature, oxygen content and fuel to air momentum ratio. The investigated flame and flow characteristics included distribution of heat release within the combustion region and the frequencies and amplitudes of excited asymmetrically shed vortices, first explained by Bérnard/von-Kármán. Tests were performed over a wide range of incoming Mach numbers, fuel-air ratios and V-gutter flame holder widths. It is shown that the intensity of von-Kármán oscillations increases as both equivalence ratio and the momentum ratio increase.