Measuring Sound Pressure Levels during Thermoacoustic Instabilities in Large Engines: Case Study

Abstract

This paper attempts to present some registers of sound pressure levels during the operation of large diesel engines (10 MW). During these registers we have found the preparation, occurrence and ending of events of thermoacoustic instability. They appear after a loosing of chaos period or a reduction in fluctuations in some frequencies. The most interesting phenomena were registered at low frequencies. However, they were accompanied by variations in sound emissions at medium and high frequencies. As there has been very little published data concerning these phenomena at real scale, it is imperative to point out that every quasi-stationary state we have measured during these episodes has lasted some minutes, significantly much more time than that of lab scale results.