Effect of dilution holes on the performance of a triple swirler combustor

A triple swirler combustor is considered to be a promising solution for future high temperature rise combustors. The present paper aims to study dilution holes including primary dilution holes and secondary dilution holes on the performance of a triple swirler combustor. Experimental investigations are conducted at different inlet airflow velocities (40–70 m/s) and combustor overall fuel–air ratio with fixed inlet airflow temperature (473 K) and atmospheric pressure. The experimental results show that the ignition is very difficult with specific performance of high ignition fuel–air ratio when the primary dilution holes are located 0.6H (where H is the liner dome height)downstream the dome, while the other four cases have almost the same ignition performance. The position of primary dilution holes has an effect on lean blowout stability and has a large influence on combustion efficiency. The combustion efficiency is the highest when the primary dilution holes are placed 0.9H downstream the dome among the five different locations. For the secondary dilution holes, the pattern factor of Design A is better than that of Design B.