Active Combustion Control of Augmentor Dynamics using Robust High-Frequency Energy Deposition Navy STTR FY2014.A Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2014.A Topic No.: N14A-T004 Topic Title: Active Combustion Control of Augmentor Dynamics using Robust High-Frequency Energy Deposition Proposal No.: N14A-004-0202 Firm: Physics, Materials & Applied Math Research, L.L.C. 1665 E. 18th Street, Suite 112 Tucson, Arizona 85719 Contact: Nathan Tichenor Phone: (979) 485-9232 Web Site: www.physics-math.com Abstract: Combustion instability, or screech, occurs in many modern gas turbine systems, and is due to the complex physical coupling of the acoustic resonances in the combustion chamber with fluctuations in the heat release of the combustion process. These instabilities can produce large pressure fluctuations that can be severe enough to damage engine hardware. Next-generation gas turbines will increase the desired range of operability for the system and further challenge the ability to manage instabilities. Active control of such oscillations will allow for more efficient, lower emissions engine designs. In an effort to increase engine performance, while simultaneously enabling system weight reductions, PM&AM Research, in collaboration with Texas A&M University, propose to demonstrate the feasibility of depositing energy using robust, high-frequency "plasma" actuators within a thrust augmentor to achieve efficient active screech suppression in high-performance gas turbine engines. Our novel and patented technologies will be leveraged in a systematic development campaign, utilizing modeling, laboratory demonstrations, and engine testing, to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of our active screech suppression approach. Benefits: Our novel technology/approach has true potential for dual-use applications by suppressing combustion instabilities in both military and civil gas turbine engines, since our methodology is light-weight, easily integratable, and will provide increased engine performance for a wide range of systems. Our approach relies on fast-response electronic-controlled actuation rather than spatial changes to the combustor hardware as practiced currently in combustion instability problems, making our suppression system significantly more cost effective while simultaneously allow robust tweaking to maximize performance/efficiency for any engine. Return