Studies of the Precessing Vortex Core in Swirling Flows

Large scale coherent structures play an important role in the behavior of the combustion regime inside any type ofcombustor stabilized by swirl, with special impact on factors such as flame stability, blow off, emissions and theoccurrence of thermo-acoustic oscillations. Lean premixed combustion is widely used and is known to impact many ofthese factors, causing complex interrelationships with any coherent structure formed. Despite the extensiveexperimentation in this matter, the above phenomena are poorly understood. Numerical simulations have been usedto try to explain the development of different regimes, but their extremely complex nature and lack of time dependentvalidation show varied and debatable results. The precessing vortex core (PVC) is a well-known coherent structurewhose development, intensity and occurrence has not been well documented. This paper thus adopts an experimentalapproach to characterize the PVC in a simple swirl burner under combustion conditions so as to reveal the effects ofswirl and other variables on the latter. Aided by a high speed photography (HSP) system, the recognition and extentof several different types of PVCs were observed and discussed.