Effects of inlet guide-vane number on flowfields in a side-dump combustor

Abstract The flowfields of a side-dump combustor with various number of side-inlet guide-vane are measured using laser-Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The Reynolds number based on the bulk mean velocity and combustor diameter was 2.6×10 4 . Quantities such as mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulent kinetic energy, vorticity, friction factor, and wall static pressure oscillation are used to characterize the fluid flow. In the dome region of the inlet-jet plane, there is one pair of counter-rotating vortices for the no-vane, one-vane, and two-vane cases and two pairs of counter-rotating vortices for the three-vane case, respectively. This trend is reversed in the impinging plane. The combustor flowfield downstream of the X c * =2.5 station is found to be insensitive to the variation of inlet guide-vane number. In addition, the guide-vane number which provides the least pressure loss and the lowest pressure oscillation is identified for the first time. Based on the presented data, a better guide-vane number for practical reference is suggested.