Vortex breakdown and its topologies in turbulent flows within a typical swirl combustor geometry

TL;DR

This study uses large-eddy simulations to analyze vortex breakdown and its topologies in turbulent swirl flows within a combustor, identifying key parameters and flow behaviors that influence vortex stability and dynamics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a detailed analysis of vortex breakdown topologies in turbulent swirl flows, including the use of a specific swirl-number formulation and topology mapping for flow prediction.

Findings

Single-helix vortex core dominates across vane-angles

Double-helix signatures appear at certain vane-angles

Vortex precession is driven by stable and marginally stable modes

Abstract

We investigate vortex breakdown (VB) and its dominant topologies in turbulent, non-reacting flows within a canonical swirl combustor using large-eddy simulations (LES). A baseline configuration and operating conditions are first used to validate the LES solver, then five additional cases differing only by swirler vane-angle are simulated. The onset of VB is quantified using the generic swirl-number formulation, SNg, by detecting an internal recirculation zone (IRZ) in the mean flow, excluding highly-intermittent VB cases. Analysis of the mean flow shows that SNg measured within 40 mm downstream of swirler best represents the flow's swirl-strength compared with commonly used alternatives. A stable-VB first appears in the flow with 25{\deg} vane-angle, SNg=0.35. Q-criterion iso-surfaces and velocity time-series at VC footprints show a single-helix VC to prevail across all investigated vane-angles; up to 60{\deg}, SNg=0.98. Weaker double-helix signatures also appear, resulting from quadratic self-interaction of single-helix tone for vane-angles <= 50{\deg}. They are quadratically independent in 60{\deg} case, indicating association with a distinct helical hydrodynamic mode. Axisymmetric IRZ oscillations interact with helical-VC dynamics in 25{\deg} and 60{\deg} cases. VC precesses as stable limit-cycle oscillation via a marginally stable mode in 40{\deg} to 50{\deg} cases, while it waxes and wanes strongly in 25{\deg} and 60{\deg} cases driven by stochastic forcing of a slightly stable mode. Alongside the coherent VC-strand, a weakly-coherent strand originates from swirler. Its precession frequency matches with the lowest coherent precession frequency, corroborating its precession-based origin. Overall, we establish critical-values, evaluation locations and a topology-map for predicting and interpreting VB-states in isothermal swirl combustor flows.