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Cylindrical ducts with axial mean temperature gradient and mean flows are typical elements in rocket engines, can combustors, and afterburners. Accurate analytical solutions for the acoustic waves of the longitudinal and transverse modes within these ducts can significantly improve the performance of low order acoustic network models for analyses of acoustic behaviours and combustion instabilities in these kinds of ducts. Here, we derive an acoustic wave equation as a function of pressure perturbation based on the linearised Euler equations (LEEs), and the modified WKB approximation method is applied to derive analytical solutions based on very few assumptions. The eigenvalue system is built based on the proposed solutions and applied to predict the resonant frequencies and growth rate for transverse modes. Validations of the proposed solutions are performed by comparing them to the numerical results directly calculated from the LEEs. Good agreements are found between analytical reconstruction and numerical results of three-dimensional transverse modes. The system with both mean temperature profile and mean flow presents a larger absolute value of the growth rate than the condition of either uniform mean temperature or no mean flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cylindrical ducts with axial mean temperature gradient and mean flows are typical elements in rocket engines, can combustors, and afterburners. Accurate analytical solutions for the acoustic waves of the longitudinal and transverse modes within these ducts can significantly improve the performance of low order acoustic network models for analyses of acoustic behaviours and combustion instabilities in these kinds of ducts. Here, we derive an acoustic wave equation as a function of pressure perturbation based on the linearised Euler equations (LEEs), and the modified WKB approximation method is applied to derive analytical solutions based on very few assumptions. The eigenvalue system is built based on the proposed solutions and applied to predict the resonant frequencies and growth rate for transverse modes. Validations of the proposed solutions are performed by comparing them to the numerical results directly calculated from the LEEs. Good agreements are found between analytical reconstruction and numerical results of three-dimensional transverse modes. The system with both mean temperature profile and mean flow presents a larger absolute value of the growth rate than the condition of either uniform mean temperature or no mean flow.

Predictions of thermoacoustic instabilities in annular combustors are essential but difficult. Axial variations of flow and thermal parameters increase the cost of numerical simulations and restrict the application of analytical solutions. This work aims to find approximate analytical solutions for the acoustic field in annular ducts with linear gradients of axially non-uniform cross-sectional area and mean temperature. These solutions can be applied in low-order acoustic network models and enhance the ability of analytical methods to solve thermoacoustic instability problems in real annular chambers. A modified WKB method is used to solve the wave equation for the acoustic field, and an analytical solution with a wide range of applications is derived. The derivation of the equations requires assumptions such as low Mach number, high frequency and small non-uniformity. Cases with arbitrary distributions of cross-sectional surface area and mean temperature can be solved by the piecewise method as long as the assumptions are satisfied along the entire chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-order acoustic network models, treating the complex combustor geometry as a network of simple geometry elements, are typically used to analyse circumferential combustion instabilities in annular combustion chambers. These elements are typically assumed to have uniform cross-sectional surface area and average radius so that the analytical solutions of the acoustic field within them can be directly obtained. However, this may lead to errors in the combustion instability analyses. The present work derives the analytical solutions of the acoustic field in annular combustion chambers with both varying cross-sectional surface area and average radius sustaining a mean flow. A wave equation for the pressure perturbation is firstly derived based on very few assumptions. Analytical solutions of the acoustic field are then derived based on a modified WKB approximation. These solutions are then validated by comparing them to results by numerically resolving the linearised Euler equations. Results show that accurate predictions can always be obtained for a smooth change of the cross-sectional surface area and small-to-moderate subsonic axial Mach numbers as long as the frequency is larger than a certain value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]