Research project: Swirl-Stabilised Turbulent Combustion
The use of swirl-stabilised combustion is widespread, including gas turbines, burners, internal combustion engines etc. Swirl can create different flow patterns such as vortex breakdown (VB) induced recirculation, coherent structures known as precessing vortex cores (PVC) and also improve flame stability in combustion application. Although the swirl and its applications have been exploited for some time, a comprehensive understanding of the nature of swirl remains an elusive goal, especially in combustion applications where the interaction between combustion dynamics and swirling shear layers, turbulence-chemistry interactions under different swirl strengths, the effects of swirl on global flame extinction known as lean blowout (LBO) which can lead to combustion instability and the structure of the droplet vaporisation with swirl in spray combustion systems remain poorly understood.
