Experimental Study on the Role of Entropy Waves in Low-Frequency Oscillations in a RQL Combustor

“Rumble” is a self-excited combustion instability, usually occurring at the start-up of aero-engines with fuel-spray atomizers at sub-idle and idle conditions, and exhibiting low limit frequencies in the range of $50Hzto150Hz$⁠. Entropy waves at the (nearly) choked combustor outlet are supposed to be the key feedback mechanism for the observed self-excited pressure oscillations. The experimental study presented here aims at clarifying the role of entropy waves in the occurrence of rumble. A generic air-blast atomizer with a design prone to self-excitation has been incorporated into a thermoacoustic combustor test rig with variable outlet conditions. The thermoacoustic response of the flame was characterized by recording the $OH*$ chemiluminescence, the dynamic pressures, the dynamic temperatures, and by applying PIV. The measurements have shown the occurrence of periodic hot spots traveling with the mean flow with considerable dispersion. Measurements have been conducted with an open-ended resonance tube in order to eliminate the impact of entropy waves on the mechanism of self-excitation. The oscillation obtained, comparable in amplitude and frequency, proved that self-excitation primarily depends on convective time delays of the droplets in the primary zone and thus on the atomization characteristics of the nozzle.