Abstract
A numerical study has been conducted to characterize the transient flow in a utility gas turbine burning natural gas. The solution domain encompasses the supply gas pressure regulator to the combustor of the gas turbine that employs multi-nozzle fuel injectors. Some results produced for verification in the present study agree suite well with the experimental ones. It is found that the total gas flow may decrease noticeably during its combustion mode change, which would be the reason of momentary combustion upset, when a reference case of opening ratios of control valves in the system is applied. Several parameters are then varied in order to make the total gas flow stable over that period of time. Results of this study may be useful to understand the unsteady behavior of combustion system burning natural gas.