Development and Evaluation of a Novel Fuel Injector Design Method using Hybrid-Additive Manufacturing

Overview

This work directly addresses the need of better integrating advanced manufacturing in use for hot gas path turbine components. In particular, this work addresses the need for novel new design methodologies to address the critical operational issues in low-emissions, fuel-flexible, high-efficiency gas turbine combustors. These operational issues, including flame static stability and thermoacoustic oscillations, are first-order drivers of improved engine performance, particularly at higher operating temperatures. Design for these operational issues will be co-optimized with design for additive manufacturing, including the use of advanced post-processing techniques. The goal of the work is to use adjoint-based optimal design and additive manufacturing (AM) to radically re-imagine the design and manufacturing of fuel injection hardware for power generation gas turbines to improve key combustor operability challenges. This tool will use large-eddy simulation, hydrodynamic stability analysis, and constraints based on both flow/flame stability as well as AM limitations to optimize both the flow and the shape of the fuel injector simultaneously using a constrained optimization framework. The resulting designs will be additively manufactured and post-processed using state-of-the-art technologies, with a focus on post-processing methods that allow for optimal flow over aerodynamic components. The fuel injectors will be tested at a range of operating conditions, including variations in fuel compositions, in a model gas turbine combustor facility to characterize the performance of the new injector designs as compared to current injector technology. This methodology is developed in partnership with industry to ensure that the methods developed are directly applicable to design and manufacturing in industry. The outcome of the work will be the framework for this new design methodology and its integration into production.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In collaboration with Dr. Guha Manogharan and Dr. Yuan Xuan

Jalui, S., Xuan, Y., Manogharan, G., O’Connor, J. (2024) “Development of A Method for Shape Optimization for A Gas Turbine Fuel Injector Design Using Metal-AM,” Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, in press. (open access)

Mohanty, P., Jalui, S., Manogharan, G., O’Connor, J., Xuan, Y. (2024) “Flashback characterization of additively manufactured swirl-stabilized fuel injector with varying surface roughness.” Spring Technical Meeting of the Eastern State Section of the Combustion Institute. Author accepted pre-print available here.