Forced Response: Laminar Flat Flame Burner

Since a large number of physical parameters influence the flame dynamics in a full scale gas turbine combustor, it is virtually impossible to develop physically correlated reduced order models for flame dynamics by directly studying these complex reacting flows. Even the Rijke tube combustor system, though comprising of a simple geometry and a flat flame, shows a strong nonlinear coupling between acoustics and the heat release rate of the flame. This coupling mechanism can not be understood or analyzed by continuing to investigate the reacting flow in the Rijke tube combustor. A first step in understanding the dynamics of complex flames seen in gas turbines is by performing linear stability analysis of a flame in a simple geometry, such as a planar flame.