LIMOUSINE · Limit cycles of thermo-acoustic oscillations in gas turbine combustors

In LIMOUSINE multi-disciplinary research and training is provided to address the problem and provide tools to design and operate gas turbine engines in a robust way with a diversity of fuels and operation conditions. Their robustness is dependent on their design and operation however. The major risk of failure is due to mechanical failure of combustor components. This failure is most often caused by fatigue of liner or burner parts, that have been exposed to an anomalous oscillating pressure load. This load is caused by thermo-acoustic instabilities. LIMOUSINE is a multi-disciplinary project providing training in mathematics, structural mechanics, acoustics, fluid mechanics, combustion experimental techniques, and control systems theory. The project objective in research is to predict the mechanical vibration in a gas turbine engine and the resulting fatigue and time to failure. Active and passive control processes will be developed to allow safe operation of the gas turbine on a variety of fuels and operating conditions.