Abstract
The gas turbine engine is an essential component of the global energy infrastructure which accounts for a significant portion of the total fossil fuel consumption in transportation and electric power generation sectors. For this reason there is significant interest in further increasing the efficiency and reducing the pollutant emissions of these devices. Conventional approaches to this goal, which include increasing the compression ratio, turbine inlet temperature, and turbine/compressor efficiency, have brought modern gas turbine engines near the limits of what may be achieved with the conventionally applied Brayton cycle. If a significant future step increase in gas turbine efficiency is to be realized some deviation from this convention is necessary. The pressure gain gas turbine concept is a well established new combustion technology that promises to provide a dramatic increase in gas turbine efficiency by replacing the isobaric heat addition process found in conventional technology with an isochoric process. The thermodynamic benefit of even a small increase in stagnation pressure across a gas turbine combustor translates to a significant increase in cycle efficiency. To date there have been a variety of methods proposed for achieving stagnation pressure gains across a gas turbine combustor and these concepts have seen a broad spectrum of levels of success. The following chapter provides an introduction to one of the proposed pressure gain methods that may be most easily realized in a practical application. This approach, known as pulse combustor driven pressure gain combustion, utilizes an acoustically resonant pulse combustor to approximate isochoric heat release and thus produce a rise in stagnation pressure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Akbari P, Nalim R, Mueller N (2006) A review of wave rotor technology and its applications. J Eng Gas Turbines Power 128:717
Akbari P, Nalim R (2009) Review of recent developments in wave rotor combustion technology. J Propul Power 25:833–844
Bellest FE (1986) Pulse combustion. Prog Energy Combust Sci 12:43–79
Dean AJ (2007) A review of PDE development for propulsion applications. In: 45th AIAA aerospace sciences meeting & exhibit
Gemens R, Richards G, Janus M (1995) Pressure-gain combustion for gas turbines. In: Advanced coal-power systems ’95 review meeting. Morgantown, West Virginia
Heffer J, Miller R (2009) Performance of choked unsteady ejector-nozzles for use in pressure gain combustors. In: 47th AIAA aerospace sciences meeting including the new horizons forum and aerospace exposition
Hishida M, Fujiwara T, Wolanski P (2009) Fundamentals of rotating detonations. Shock Waves 19:1–10
Kailasanath K (2000) Review of propulsion applications of detonation waves. AIAA J 38:1698–1708
Kailasanath K (2009) Research on pulse detonation combustion systems? a status report. AIAA Paper
Kentfield JAC, Rehman M, Marzouk ES (1977) A simple pressure-gain combustor for gas turbines. J Eng Power 99:153
Kentfield JAC, Yerneni P (1987) Pulsating combustion applied to a small gas turbine. Int J Turbo Jet Engines 4:45–54
Kentfield JAC, Fernandes LCV (1990) Improvements to the performance of a prototype pulse, pressure- gain, gas turbine combustor. J Eng Gas Turbines Power 112:67–72
Kendfield JAC (1991) Performance implications of gas-turbine pressure-gain combustors. In: 27th joint propulsion conference
Keller JO, Bramlette TT, Dec JE, Westbrook CK (1989) Pulse combustion: the importance of characteristic times. Combust Flame 75:33–44
Lefebvre AH (2010) Gas turbine combustion. Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom
Lisanti JC, Roberts WL (2016) Design of an actively valved and acoustically resonant pulse combustor for pressure-gain combustion applications. In: 54th AIAA aerospace sciences meeting. San Diego, California
Lockwood RM (1962) Summary report on investigation of miniature valveless pulsejets. Hiller Aircraft Company
Lu F, Braun EM, Massa L, Wilson DR (2011) Rotating detonation wave propulsion: experimental challenges, modeling, and engine concepts. In: 47th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE joint propulsion conference & exhibit, vol 30, pp 1125–1143
Meng X, de Jong W, Kudra T (2016) A state-of-the-art review of pulse combustion: principles, modeling, applications and R&D issues. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 55:73–114
Muller J (1971) Theoretical and practical aspects of the application of resonant combustion chambers in gas turbines. J Mech Eng Sci 13:137–150
Nicholls JA, Wilkinson HR, Morrison RB (1957) Intermittent detonation as a thrust-producing mechanism. J Jet Propul 27:534–541
Nikitin VF, Dushin VR, Phylippov YG, Legros JC (2009) Pulse detonation engines: technical approaches. Acta Astronaut 64:281–287
Pavri R, Moore, GD (2001) Gas turbine emissions and control. GE Energy Services
Paxson DE, Wilson J, Dougherty KT (2002) Unsteady ejector performance: an experimental investigation using a pulsejet driver. In: 38th AIAA/ASME/SAW/ASEE joint propulsion meeting and exhibit. Indianapolis, Indiana
Paxson DE, Wernet MP, Wentworth J (2004) An experimental investigation of unsteady thrust augmentation using a speaker-driven jet. In: 42nd aerospace sciences meeting and exhibit. Reno, Nevada
Paxson DE, Dougherty K (2005) Ejector enhanced pulsejet based pressure gain combustors: an old idea with a new twist. In: 41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE joint propulsion conference & exhibit. Tucson, Arizona
Paxson DE, Dougherty K (2008) Ejector enhanced pulsejet based pressure gain combustors: an old idea with a new twist. In: 46th aerospace sciences meeting and exhibit. Reno, Nevada
Porter CD (1958) Valveless-gas-turbine combustors with pressure gain. In: ASME 1958 gas turbine power conference and exhibit. 58-GTP-11:1–9
Pressure Gain Combustion Program Committee (2016) Resources. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://info.aiaa.org/tac/pc/PGCPC/Resources/Resources.aspx. Accessed 20 Oct 2016
Rayleigh J (1976) Theory of sound. Dover Publications, United States of America
Reynst F (1961) Pulsating combustion: the collected works of FH Reynst. Pergamom Press, United Kingdom
Sawyer RT, Hawthorne WR (1994) Reflections on United Kingdom aircraft gas turbine history. J Eng Gas Turbines Power 116:495–510
Ward CM, Duffin M, Miller RJ, Heffer JH (2010) Unsteady ejectors; the effect of driver jet mark-space ratio. In: 48th AIAA aerospace sciences meeting including the new horizons forum and aerospace exposition. Orlando, Florida
Ward CM, Miller R (2012) Performance analysis of an ejector enhanced pressure gain combustion gas turbine. Aerospace Sciences Meetings, Nashville, Tennessee
Wolański P (2013) Detonative propulsion. Proc Combust Inst 34:125–158
Wood A (1945) Acoustics. Interscience Publishers Inc., New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lisanti, J.C., Roberts, W.L. (2017). Pulse Combustor Driven Pressure Gain Combustion for High Efficiency Gas Turbine Engines. In: Agarwal, A., De, S., Pandey, A., Singh, A. (eds) Combustion for Power Generation and Transportation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3785-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3785-6_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-3784-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-3785-6
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)