A preliminary investigation on a novel vortex-controlled flameholder for aircraft engine combustor

This study proposes a novel vortex-controlled flameholder (VCF) to enhance the combustion performance, particularly the lean ignition and blowout characteristics of afterburners in advanced aircraft engines across a wide range of operating conditions. Additionally, both experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to explore the effects of the cavity structure on the flow field, lean ignition, lean blowout, flame propagation characteristics, and outlet temperature rise distribution of the flameholder. Two distinct cavity structures designated closed-cavity (case-1) and open-cavity (case-2) were examined, the findings indicating that both case-1 and case-2 can generate large-scale vortex flow structures within the cavity, contributing to achieving excellent combustion stability. Case-2 demonstrated better lean ignition and blowout performance compared to case-1. Furthermore, both case-1 and case-2 exhibited the same ignition process, which comprised four distinct phases: Phase 1 involved the formation of an effective flame kernel; Phase 2 pertained to the ignition of the entire cavity by the flame kernel; Phase 3 represented the full development of the flame downstream of the cavity; Phase 4 described the formation of a fire tornado that anchors the flame front. Interestingly, the outlet temperature rise in case-1 is lower than that in case-2 at low fuel-to-air ratio (FAR) conditions. As the FAR increases, the difference in the outlet temperature rises between the two cases gradually narrows.