2007 OUTAGE HANDBOOK

CDM PRIMER

Monitoring—and mitigating—
combustion dynamics
By Phil Karwowski, Siemens Power Generation Inc

D
ry low-NOx (DLN) combus- components, dynamics of these fre- ultra-lean fuel/air ratios, on the very
tors have dramatically low- quencies can range from benign to edge of flame instability. This yields
ered pollutant emissions highly destructive. Trouble begins the low emissions demanded today,
and reduced the consump- only when the vibrations are exces- but inherently makes them more sus-
tion of high-purity water at gas- sive in amplitude, or when they ceptible to pressure pulsations.
turbine-based powerplants. But occur at frequencies corresponding to
they are prone to flame instability
under certain operating conditions.
natural resonances in that particular
system. Trouble can culminate with
Design solutions
Resulting pressure pulsations can fatigue failure of combustor compo- The turbine designer has several
damage both combustors and down- nents, which when broken free are options to minimize the impact of
stream hot-gas-path components. launched downstream to inflict sec- combustion dynamics. These include
To mitigate these so-called “com- ondary damage on other hot-gas-path varying combustor geometries,
bustion dynamics,” GT manufactur- components. changing fuel-injector manufactur-
ers have developed sophisticated GT combustor dynamics can ing tolerances, and beefing up the
monitoring and control equipment increase with variations in the fuel/air components known to be vulnerable.
to warn of impending instability and ratio, changes in fuel composition, or However, the design and fabrication
ensure stable combustion. What fol- modifications to the combustor hard- of combustion systems involves mul-
lows is a brief primer on combustion ware. They also can decrease with tiple tradeoffs, including:
dynamics, their poten- n P h y s i c a l c o n -
tial effects on gas-tur- C-stage fuel injection straints, principally
bine components, and axial length of the
action items that users Basket with thick combustor and area
thermal barrier coating
should consider. within the chamber.
Dual-fuel
pilot nozzle n Cooling and coat-
Always been Transition piece ing requirements that
must be balanced
there with the overall air
Combustion dynamics flow.
are not unique to DLN n Thermal expansion
combustors, or even to considerations. Con-
GTs. Whenever com- sider that the metal
bustion is present—in a temperatures expe-
Pilot water-
coal-fired furnace, a die- injection skid rienced by an F-class
sel-engine cylinder, a transition piece range
trash incinerator, etc— from ambient temper-
there are combustion Dynamic monitoring sensor ature while the unit
dynamics. They are the is on turning gear to
pressure waves of defined amplitudes 1. In the can-annular combustor of approximately 1500F when the
and frequencies that are an inherent a typical GT—such as the 15-ppm unit is at full-fire.
result of the combustion process. The DLN combustor for the W501F shown For resistance to intermediate-fre-
dynamics are caused by small pres- here—combustion dynamics can quency dynamics, the likely design
sure oscillations in the flame zone. range in frequency from 50 to 5000 solution is to make affected com-
Anyone who has heard the popping Hz. These may be benign, or highly ponents more robust, in order to
of a gaseous welding torch when the destructive, depending on their ampli- withstand low-cycle fatigue mecha-
gas flow rate is adjusted has expe- tudes and on the resonant frequencies nisms. To combat higher frequency
rienced combustion dynamics. The of GT components dynamics, the likely design solution
popping noise is a common example requires keeping the amplitudes of
of pressure oscillations created in the appropriate changes in these factors, the dynamics low enough to avoid
audible range of frequencies. and by injecting water or steam into high-cycle fatigue.
In the typical can-annular combus- the combustion zone or adding tuned Remember, it’s not just large
tor of a GT, combustion dynamics resonators to the combustion compo- amplitudes that the designer must
can range in frequency from below nents. The reason you hear so much evaluate, but also resonant frequen-
50 Hz to around 5000 Hz (Fig 1). about combustion dynamics today cies. Each pilot-nozzle assembly,
In terms of their impact on turbine is that DLN combustors operate at for example, may have a different
COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2006 OH-
CDM PRIMER 2007 OUTAGE HANDBOOK
2. Intermediate-frequency combus-
tion dynamics caused damage at the
lower panel of this transition piece
natural frequency because of slight
differences in their diameters, wall
thicknesses, and lengths. Think of
a large pipe organ: The pitch (or
natural frequency) of each individual
pipe depends on its length and inner
diameter. Short pipes with small
diameters produce high notes; larger,
longer pipes produce the bass tones.
Complicating the designer’s chal-
lenge is the fact that any one com-
bustion component may have several
natural frequencies. For example,
the panels of a transition piece may
exhibit relatively low natural frequen-
cies (100 to 200 Hz), while the end-rail
assemblies of that transition piece
may have higher natural frequencies
(typically greater than 500 Hz).
Dynamics in the intermediate-
frequency range (defined here as
100 to 1500 Hz) are what damaged
the lower panel of a transition piece
in one gas turbine (Fig 2). Investi-
gation revealed that the root cause
was an incorrect valve position on
the combustor bypass system. The
incorrect valve position substantially
increased the amplitudes of these
intermediate-frequency combustor
dynamics, leading to a fatigue fail-
ure and propagation of the crack.
Potential design solutions included
elimination of the combustor-bypass
system, and a more robust design of
the transition piece.
Dynamics in the high-frequen-
cy range (above 1500 Hz) caused
damage to combustor baskets at
three different powerplants (Fig 3).
In these cases, equipment changes
apparently had reduced the damping
in the system as originally designed.
Potential solutions here included
equipping the baskets with resona-
tors, adjusting the inlet-guide-vane
position schedule, and increasing the
amount of steam injection (on the
turbines that use steam for power
augmentation). Full-scale tests using
various combinations of combustor
baskets and transition pieces iden-
tified configurations with improved
damping capabilities.
The accompanying table is helpful
for identifying the potential causes
of combustion dynamics in the can-
annular systems common to many
late-model GTs.
 
At the plant level
While GT manufacturers are work-
ing continually to improve combus-
tor designs, users can take steps at
the plant level to monitor and detect

3. High-frequency dynamics were the culprit at three different powerplants, where combustor baskets were damaged

Matrix assists in identifying cause of combustion dynamics

Amplitude
alarm
Frequency setpoint, Component
Description range, Hz psig risks Potential causes Mitigation strategies

Low- 0 to 25 0.5 • Swirler damage • Flashback indications • Increase pilot-stage fuel

frequency • Basket damage • Lean blowout fraction
dynamics 25 to 100 1.0 • Nozzle damage • Damaged swirler(s) • Increase C-stage fuel fraction
• Air-flow restriction • Repair/replace the basket
• High injection flow rates • Remove air-side obstructions
• Pilot-nozzle distress • Reduce the injection flow rate
Intermediate- 100 to 500 2.0 • Transition panels • Fuel composition • Combustion tuning
frequency • Transition seals • Fuel splits • Active tuning
dynamics • Fretting • Bypass-valve distress
• Wear
Intermediate- 500 to 1500 1.0 • Downstream • Equipment distress • Inspect and repair combustor
frequency components components
dynamics • Fretting
• Wear
High- 500 to 5000 0.5 • Baskets • Over-firing • Install Helmholtz resonators
frequency • Cross-flame • IGV position error • Adjust IGV position
dynamics tubes • Fuel composition • Increase steam injection
• Flashback • System damping • Preheat the fuel
thermocouples • Basket distress
OH- COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2006

(compared to emissions when
200
firing pipeline natural gas)
180
NOx emissions, %
160
140
120
100
80
1340 1360 1380 1400
Wobbe Index, Btu/scf (based on higher heating value, HHV)
dynamics before they cause extensive
damage. In fact, a GT’s flame-stabili-
ty margin is, to a large extent, a func-
tion of site-specific, dynamic parame-
ters—including fuel composition, the
amount of wear on combustion-liner
seals, and ambient conditions.
For example, a sudden decrease in
the content of higher hydrocarbons
in your fuel will increase combustion
dynamics. Similarly, a change in fuel
composition that leans out the fuel-air
ratio will increase combustion dynam-
ics—though your regulatory-compli-
ance manager may be pleased because
NOx emissions would likely drop.
Caution: Just because you’re get-
ting pipeline natural gas from the
same supplier you’ve always used
doesn’t mean your fuel composition
isn’t changing. In recent years, many
pipeline suppliers have cut back
on the processing of their product,
allowing more ethane (C2), propane
(C3), and butanes (the C4s) to remain
in the pipeline gas that users once
thought of as only methane (CH4).
The result is greater variability in
heating values and an increased ten-
dency to form damaging liquids. (An
article specifically addressing fuel-
quality concerns appears elsewhere
in the 2007 Outage Handbook.)
Because of the possible variability
in fuel composition, and other site-
specific factors, each DLN combustor
should be tuned during plant com-
missioning, and periodically there-
after. Many plants follow a regimen
of semi-annual tuning as the seasons
change, typically bringing in the
OEM’s specially trained engineer to
perform the sensitive adjustments
using portable pressure-monitoring
equipment.
But an increasingly popular alter-
native is to permanently install an
online monitoring system that con-
tinuously measures the dynamic
pressure pulsations and provides
early warning that the combustor
is out-of-tune. Robust software and
skilled analysts can interpret the
data collected by this combustion
dynamics monitoring (CDM) system.
The latest CDM systems even pro-
COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2006 OH-
2007 OUTAGE HANDBOOK CDM PRIMER
4. Variability in fuel composition—tracked using the
Wobbe Index—can change the NOx emissions, and cor-
respondingly the amplitudes of combustor dynamics.
Using the same engine and combustor settings, emis-
sions were driven higher by increasing the content of
the non-methane components of natural gas—ethane,
propane, and butane
5. Installation of tuned resonators is one way to
dampen high-frequency combustion dynamics. Use of
1420 1440 1460 1480 thick thermal barrier coatings on combustor baskets
also reduces the potential for HFD
Resonators to reduce dynamics
Thick TBC on baskets reduces cooling flow
vide protection logic to automatically dynamics also has been achieved
unload and protect the GTs during with the installation of Helmholtz
excursions of combustion dynamics. resonators, which attenuate specific
These “active systems” provide the frequencies in the combustion system
best level of protection against dam- (Fig 5). These resonators are passive
aging amplitudes and frequencies. devices, and are tuned for specific fre-
The CDM system can be designed quencies where dynamics are known
to monitor the Wobbe Index (WI, to occur. Helmholtz resonators typi-
sometimes referred to as the Gas cally are effective for combustor
Index). This parameter indicates the dynamics at frequencies above 1000
relationship between the fuel’s volu- Hz. ccj oh
metric flow and its energy content.
Specifically, the WI is the ratio of the
higher heating value to the square
root of gas specific gravity.
Even more instructive is the Modi-
fied Wobbe Index, which takes into
account the temperature of the fuel.
The MWI is the ratio of the lower
heating value to the square root of
the product of the specific gravity
and the absolute gas temperature.
Using this real-time data as input, an
effective method of reducing combus-
tion dynamics is to increase the fuel
temperature—which reduces its den-
sity, hence increases its velocity for a
given mass flow rate (Fig 4).
To learn more about the WI and
MWI and the fuel variability being
experienced by others, access the fol-
lowing articles from the COMBINED
CYCLE Journal at www.psimedia. The authoritative
info/ccjarchives:
n CTOTF Spring Turbine Forum information resource for
report, 4Q/2005 (refer to section owner/operators of gas-
“Gas quality concerns most GT turbine-based
owner/operators”).
n “Improve GT operating flexibility, peaking, cogen, and
reliability with fuel-system mods,” combined-cycle plants.
2006 Outage Handbook supple- Subscribe via the Internet, access:
ment to the 3Q/2005 issue. www.psimedia.info/subscriptions.htm
Effective control of combustor