Towards developing highly-efficient hydrogen gas turbines
R&D Focus Areas:
Electricity, Safety and standards
Lead Organisation:
The University of Melbourne
Partners:
European Centre for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computing (CERFACS)
Status:
Active
Start date:
January 2024
Completion date:
December 2027
Key contacts:
Associate Professor Mohsen Talei: mohsen.talei@unimelb.edu.au
Funding:
Australian Research Council (ARC) – AUD$509,131
Project total cost:
ARC component shown above.
Project summary description:
Gas turbines are a critical group of end-use technologies, playing a central role in safeguarding the security of the energy network. They currently account for about 20% of the registered capacity in the Australian electricity market, with a similar share in the global market. Important characteristics of gas turbines include their responsiveness, ability to modulate their power output, and ability to provide so-called ‘ancillary services’, all of which help compensate for the intermittency of renewable energy generation.
Gas turbines used for electricity generation commonly burn natural gas. One of the challenges with burning hydrogen in gas turbines is a problem called thermoacoustic instability, particularly for premixed systems where fuel and air are mixed before they enter the combustion chamber. Thermoacoustic instability occurs when the flame and pressure oscillations in the combustor interact in a way that causes energy to build up and potentially leads to the combustor failure. Hydrogen has certain combustion characteristics that can contribute to thermoacoustic instability. For example, hydrogen tends to burn faster and feature higher combustion temperatures than natural gas, leading to more intense combustion noise and thermoacoustic instability.
This project aims to comprehensively characterise a laboratory combustor for hydrogen premixed flames across various conditions relevant to gas turbines. Furthermore, the project will conduct high-fidelity simulations of the combustor, validating the results against the experimental data and providing complementary information about the system dynamics. By leveraging both experimental and numerical results, the project will develop low-order models capable of predicting thermoacoustic instability in a much more time-efficient manner than high-fidelity simulations. These advancements hold significant promise for the design of cutting-edge hydrogen gas turbines.
Related publications and key links:
No publications at this stage.
Higher degree studies supported:
Two PhD students will be supported by this project.
Uploaded: May 2024