Assessment of manifold-based combustion models for combustion of sustainable aviation fuel in a gas turbine combustor

Uncertainty and risk associated with how differing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) properties affect combustor performance relative to petroleum-based jet fuel is a major barrier to certification and widespread adoption of these fuels. Predictive simulations of SAF combustion in realistic aviation gas turbine combustors can help to hasten the adoption of these fuels by providing confidence that the fuels will meet certification requirements. In this talk, we present progress toward this capability by assessing candidate reduced-order manifold combustion models including flamelet generated manifolds and flamelet/progress variable models for use in large eddy simulations of the multi-modal combustion in a lean premixed prevaporized gas turbine combustor. These comparisons are based on results using the PeleLMeX solver, which incorporates mutliphysics modeling capability with adaptive mesh refinement to allow for high-fidelity simulation of realistic combustors. Using these models, the combustion of Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA), a leading SAF candidate, is compared to the combustion of Jet-A fuel. The HEFA simulations take advantage of recent physical properties measurements and chemical kinetics surrogate development in order to accurately compare combustion characteristics.