Design and Analytical Evaluation of a Swirler-Injector System

Abstract

Combustion chambers operating with liquid fuels are one of the main components in propulsion systems and power generation units. Designing a high-efficiency burner could provide the opportunity of operating in an environment-friendly regime with a desirable performance. Current literature on burner design highlights that there is no coupled design procedure for the fuel injector and the swirler. This study aims to address the lack of connection between the semi-empirical design algorithms of a pressure-swirl injector and an axial swirler. For this purpose, a novel design algorithm is proposed which utilizes the length of the recirculation zone as the key parameter to link the design procedure of the swirler and the injector. In order to complete the link, Maximum Entropy Formalism (MEF) is used to predict the injection characteristics, e.g., diameter distribution and the velocity of the fuel droplets; thus, provides a rational to confirm the injector design. The proposed idea could be used to design any burner consists of an injector and a swirler.