This paper presents numerical predictions of the flow field in the swirl-stabilized OP16 DLE combustor using hydrogen as a fuel. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations employing unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Wall Modelled Large Eddy Simulations (WMLES) are performed without including reaction mechanisms. The objective is to gain insights into scalar mixing predictions of the two approaches when hydrogen and air undergo shear-driven turbulent mixing. Accurate scalar mixing predictions are crucial in the combustors’ design process to assess the uniformity of fuel-air mixing as localized regions of high fuel concentrations can lead to increased NOx emissions and to identify locations with a propensity for Boundary Layer Flashback (BLF). Results are compared and analyzed in terms of time-averaged equivalence ratio, unmixedness and Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) profiles. TKE predictions are lower in URANS, leading to significantly lower fuel-air mixing levels than WMLES, indicating differences in their predictions of shear-layer interactions in the mixing region and the swirl section of the combustor.@en

The demand for more environmentally friendly and economic power production has led to an increasing interest to utilize alternative fuels. In the past, several investigations focusing on the effect of low-calorific fuels on the combustion process and steady-state performance have been published. However, it is also important to consider the transient behavior of the gas turbine when operating on nonconventional fuels. The alternative fuels contain very often a large amount of dilutants resulting in a low energy density. Therefore, a higher fuel flow rate is required, which can impact the dynamic behavior of the gas turbine. This paper will present an investigation of the transient behavior of the all-radial OP16 gas turbine. The OP16 is an industrial gas turbine rated at 1.9 MW, which has the capability to burn a wide range of fuels including ultra-low-calorific gaseous fuels. The transient behavior is simulated using the commercial software GSP including the recently added thermal network modeling functionality. The steady-state and transient performance model is thoroughly validated using real engine test data. The developed model is used to simulate and analyze the physical behavior of the gas turbine when performing load sheds. From the simulations, it is found that the energy density of the fuel has a noticeable effect on the rotor over-speed and must be considered when designing the fuel control.

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