Effects of fuel injection on the combustion and emission performance of a trapped vortex combustor

An experimental study was conducted at atmospheric pressure at 473 K to investigate the effects of fuel injection strategy on the combustion and emission characteristics of a trapped vortex combustor. In the test, the combustor was fueled by a simple pressure-swirl atomizer and novel atomizer to realize a normal circular spray pattern and fan spray pattern, respectively. The combustion and emission char-acteristics of the combustor were fully examined under a variety of Mach numbers and fuel-to-air ratios. The effects were directly explored in terms of combustion efficiency, pattern factor, and pollutant emissions. The results indicated that the combustion and emission characteristics of the combustor are highly dependent on the fuel injection strategy. When compared to the simple pressure-swirl atomizer, the novel atomizer realized evident advantages in terms of combustion efficiency, pattern factor, and pollutant emissions of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons under a wide range of operating conditions. This is mainly attributed to the suitable spray pattern and smaller droplet size realized by the novel atomizer. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.