Experimental investigation of ethylene/air combustion instability in a model scramjet combustor using image-based methods

The combustion instabilities of supersonic combustion were investigated experimentally in a laboratory-scale scramjet combustor with a cavity flame holder. Ethylene was injected transversely from an orifice to the supersonic flow of Mach 2 with a stagnation temperature of 1900 K and a total pressure of 0.37 MPa. The dynamic pressure, CH* chemiluminescence and shadowgraph images were measured with a pressure sensor and a high-speed video camera. Dynamic pressure was analyzed by fast Fourier transform, and time-resolved CH* chemiluminescence images were modally decomposed by the sparsity-promoting dynamic mode decomposition (SP-DMD). The results indicated that two combustion instabilities were observed for cavity shear-layer stabilized combustion and the oscillation between jet-wake stabilized and cavity shear-layer ram combustions for the power spectral density (PSD) of pressure. In the case of the combustion instability of cavity shear-layer stabilized combustion, a dominant peak of approximately 128 Hz was observed for the PSD of pressure. This instability corresponded to an entire flame oscillation of the cavity shear-layer stabilized combustion, which was validated by the SP-DMD and a low rank reproduction with 10 modes. This was driven by a fuel injection oscillation in the injection orifice. In the case of oscillation between the jet-wake stabilized and the cavity shear-layer ram combustions, peaks around 1600 Hz were observed for the PSD of pressure. This mechanism was also explained by the SP-DMD modes and a low rank reproduction using within 10 modes. The DMD and shadowgraph images indicated that the vortex formed by a separation of the boundary layer induced a strong jet-wake flame, resulting in the temporal thermal choke followed by cavity shear-layer stabilized ram combustion. The data-driven approach with SP-DMD clarified the combustion instability mechanisms of the supersonic combustion in detail.     

Nonlinear hydrodynamic and thermoacoustic oscillations of a bluff-body stabilised turbulent premixed flame

Turbulent premixed flames often experience thermoacoustic instabilities when the combustion heat release rate is in phase with acoustic pressure fluctuations. Linear methods often assume a priori that oscillations are periodic and occur at a dominant frequency with a fixed amplitude. Such assumptions are not made when using nonlinear analysis. When an oscillation is fully saturated, nonlinear analysis can serve as a useful avenue to reveal flame behaviour far more elaborate than period-one limit cycles, including quasi-periodicity and chaos in hydrodynamically or thermoacoustically self-excited system. In this paper, the behaviour of a bluff-body stabilised turbulent premixed propane/air flame in a model jet-engine afterburner configuration is investigated using computational fluid dynamics. For the frequencies of interest in this investigation, an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach is found to be appropriate. Combustion is represented using a modified laminar flamelet approach with an algebraic closure for the flame surface density. The results are validated by comparison with existing experimental data and with large eddy simulation, and the observed self-excited oscillations in pressure and heat release are studied using methods derived from dynamical systems theory. A systematic analysis is carried out by increasing the equivalence ratio of the reactant stream supplied to the premixed flame. A strong variation in the global flame structure is observed. The flame exhibits a self-excited hydrodynamic oscillation at low equivalence ratios, becomes steady as the equivalence ratio is increased to intermediate values, and again exhibits a self-excited thermoacoustic oscillation at higher equivalence ratios. Rich nonlinear behaviour is observed and the investigation demonstrates that turbulent premixed flames can exhibit complex dynamical behaviour including quasiperiodicity, limit cycles and period-two limit cycles due to the interactions of various physical mechanisms. This has implications in selecting the operating conditions for such flames and for devising proper control strategies for the avoidance of thermoacoustic instability.     

Mechanism of combustion dynamics in a backward-facing step stabilized premixed flame

Combustion dynamics leading to thermoacoustic instability in a rearward-facing step stabilized premixed flame is experimentally examined with the objective of investigating the fluid dynamic mechanism that drives heat release rate fluctuations, and how it couples with the acoustic field. The field is probed visually, using linear photodiode arrays that capture the spatiotemporal distribution of CH* and OH*; an equivalence ratio monitor; and a number of pressure sensors. Results show resonance between the acoustic quarter wave mode of the combustion tunnel and a fluid dynamic mode of the wake. Under unstable conditions, the flame is convoluted around a large vortex that extends several step heights downstream. During a typical cycle, while the velocity is decreasing, the vortex grows, and the flame extends downstream around its outer edge. As the velocity reaches its minimum, becoming mostly negative, the vortex reaches its maximum size, and the flame collides with the upper wall; its leading edge folds, trapping reactants pockets, and its trailing edge propagates far upstream of the step. In the next phase, while the velocity is increasing, the heat release grows rapidly as trapped reactant’ pockets are consumed by flames converging towards their centers, and the upstream flame is dislodged back downstream. The heat release rate reaches its maximum halfway into the velocity rise period, leading the maximum velocity by about 90°. In this quarter-wave mode, the pressure leads the velocity by 90° as well, that is, it is in phase with the heat release rate. Numerical modeling results support this mechanism. Equivalence ratio contribution to the instability mechanism is shown to be minor, i.e., heat release dynamics are governed by the cyclical formation of the wake vortex and its interaction with the flame.     

Suppression of self-excited thermoacoustic instabilities by convective-acoustic interference

In this paper we demonstrate direct suppression of self-excited thermoacoustic instabilities over a range of operating conditions using targeted convective-acoustic interference. Premixed hydrogen enriched methane-air flames were confined in a cylindrical pipe resulting in self-excited instabilities that corresponded to the quarter wave mode of the pipe. To suppress the instability, the phenomenon of lock-in (synchronisation) between the acoustic mode and vortex shedding from a set of cylinders placed upstream was used to produce destructive interference and suppress the self-excited modes. This was done by varying the location of the cylinders to control the convective time-delay between the convective and acoustic modes so that their combined effect on the flame response was tuned to suppress the global fluctuation of the heat release rate. This leads to a reduction in the limit-cycle amplitude and stable operation without a significant change to the flame structure. Measurements were taken over a wide range of equivalence ratios to demonstrate that the method is capable of stabilising the system for all conditions. Using a methodology which relies on time-delays related to hydrodynamic instability, rather than flame-related parameters, enables its application to fuel-flexible systems, often designed to operate within a wide range of power outputs.     

Dynamical systems and complex systems theory to study unsteady combustion

Reacting flow fields are often subject to unsteadiness due to flow, reaction, diffusion, and acoustics. Further, flames can also exhibit inherent unsteadiness caused by various intrinsic instabilities. Interaction between various unsteady processes across multiple scales often makes combustion dynamics complex. Characterizing such complex dynamics is essential to ensure the safe and reliable operation of high efficiency combustion systems. Tools from nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory provide new perspectives to analyze and interpret the data from real systems. They could also provide new ways of monitoring and controlling combustion systems. We discuss recent advances in studying unsteady combustion dynamics using the tools from dynamical systems theory and complex systems theory. We cover a range of problems involving unsteady combustion such as thermoacoustic instability, flame blowout, fire propagation, reaction chemistry and flow flame interaction.     

Measurements of self-excited instabilities and nitrogen oxides emissions in a multi-element lean-premixed hydrogen/methane/air flame ensemble

Understanding the distinguishing physical properties of multi-element lean-premixed high hydrogen content flames is expected to be integral to the development of carbon-neutral, and ultimately carbon-free, gas turbine combustion systems. Despite their fundamental importance, the thermoacoustic and emission-related characteristics of such small-scale flame ensembles are not thoroughly understood, particularly for the full range of 0 to 100% hydrogen content blended with methane fuel. Here we investigate the structure and collective behavior of a multi-element lean-premixed hydrogen/methane/air flame ensemble using measurements of nitrogen oxides emissions and self-excited instability, combined with OH* and OH PLIF flame visualizations. Our results indicate that the system's responses can be classified into several distinctive stages according to their static and dynamic stability, including flame blowoff and thermoacoustically stable regions under relatively low hydrogen concentration conditions, low-frequency self-excited instabilities in intermediate hydrogen concentration, and triggering of intense pressure perturbations at about 1.7 kHz under high- or pure hydrogen combustion conditions. While the low-frequency combustion dynamics are dominated by axisymmetric translational movements of parallel flame fronts, the higher frequency response originates from significant lateral modulations accompanied by small-scale vortical rollup and flame surface annihilation due to front merging and pinch-off. Longitudinal-to-transverse dynamic transition is observed to play a mechanistic role in kinematically accommodating higher-frequency heat release rate fluctuations, and this newly identified mechanism suggests the possibility of high-frequency transverse modes, if such lateral motions are strong enough to induce inter-element flame interactions. In contrast to the substantial differences in thermoacoustic properties for different fuel compositions, the total nitrogen oxides emissions are found to depend primarily on adiabatic flame temperature; the influence of fuel composition is limited to approximately 20% under the inlet conditions considered.     

Phase synchronization and collective interaction of multiple flamelets in a laboratory scale spray combustor

In this paper, we investigate the coupled behvior of the acoustic field in the confinement and the unsteady flame dynamics in a laboratory scale spray combustor. We study this interaction during the intermittency route to thermoacoustic instability when the location of the flame is varied inside the combustor. As the flame location is changed, the synchronization properties of the coupled acoustic pressure and heat release rate signals change from desynchronized aperiodicity (combustion noise) to phase synchronized periodicity (thermoacoustic instability) through intermittent phase synchronization (intermittency). We also characterize the collective interaction between the multiple flamelets anchored at the flame holder and the acoustic field in the system, during different dynamical states observed in the combustor operation. When the signals are desynchronized, we notice that the flamelets exhibit a steady combustion without the exhibition of a prominent feedback with the acoustic field. In a state of intermittent phase synchronization, we observe the existence of a short-term coupling between the heat release rate and the acoustic field. We notice that the onset of collective synchronization in the oscillations of multiple flamelets and the acoustic field leads to the simultaneous emergence of periodicity in the global dynamics of the system. This collective periodicity in both the subsystems causes enhancement of oscillations during epochs of amplitude growth in the intermittency signal. On the contrary, the weakening of the coupling induces suppression of periodic oscillations during epochs of amplitude decay in the intermittency signal. During phase synchronization, we notice a sustained synchronized movement of all flamelets with the periodicity of the acoustic cycle in the system.     

The impact of N2 micro-jets on the V-to-M flame shape transition in a premixed swirl burner

Injection of N₂ through micro-jets located on the dump plane of a lean premixed swirl stabilized combustor is investigated as a new method for mitigating combustion instabilities. This study focuses on the chemical and fluid dynamic processes by which the N₂ micro-jets impact the flame dynamics. An experimental and numerical investigation is performed to characterize the combustion instability during the V-to-M flame shape transition in a swirl burner fueled with premixed CH₄/air, at an equivalence ratio of 0.62. Reasonable agreements have been found between the experimental measurements and simulation results. Both of them present that the flame changes from V-shape to M-shape periodically, and a low-frequency instability around 10 Hz is observed accordingly. It is confirmed that intermittent flame extinction in the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) is the source of the combustion instability. Furthermore, injection of N₂ through micro-jets located on the combustor dump plane, into the outer recirculation zone, results in a stable V shape flame. It is clearly seen that the ORZ dilution can eliminate the combustion instability without inhibiting the combustion efficiency. A special focus is placed on the impact of the diluent injection on the local flame-flow interaction. The nitrogen micro-jets increase the local nitrogen concentration by 7% on average, lowering the flame speed and extinction strain rates by 27% and 17% respectively. Moreover, the micro-jets increase the turbulence intensity in the ORZ, leading to a significant increase in the Karlovitz number and transferring the local combustion regime from the thin reaction zone regime to the broken reaction zone regime. Hence, the nitrogen micro-jets impact on both the turbulence and the chemical reaction rates prevents flame propagation into the ORZ and results in a stable flame.     

Numerical visualization of vortical structures in a lean premixed swirl combustor using LES

Abstract  

Large eddy simulation was performed to visualize the three-dimensional vortical structures interacting with a turbulent premixed in a lean premixed swirl combustor with varied equivalence ratio. It was found that the fluctuation of unsteady heat release due to the deformation of flame surface was significantly decreased as the equivalence ratio increased because of the change in interaction between inner vortical structures and flames. This phenomenon was another evidence of the amplification mechanism in the combustion instabilities due to the strong flame–vortex interactions under lean premixed conditions.     

Impact of turbulence on flame brush development of acoustically excited rod-stabilized flames

Coherent structures, such as those arising from hydrodynamic instabilities or excited by thermoacoustic oscillations, can significantly impact flame structure and, consequently, the nature of heat release. The focus of this work is to study how coherent oscillations of varying amplitudes can impact the growth of the flame brush in a bluff-body stabilized flame and how this impact is influenced by the free stream turbulence intensity of the flow approaching the bluff body. We do this by providing external acoustic excitation at the natural frequency of vortex shedding to simulate a highly-coupled thermoacoustic instability, and we vary the in-flow turbulence intensity using perforated plates upstream of the flame. We use high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry to obtain the three-component velocity field and we use the Mie-scattering images to quantify the behavior of the flame edge. Our results show that in the low-turbulence conditions, presence of high-amplitude acoustic excitation can cause the flame brush to exhibit a step-function growth, indicating that the presence of strong vortical structures close to the flame can suppress flame brush growth. This impact is strongly dependent on the in-flow turbulence intensity and the flame brush development in conditions with higher levels of in-flow turbulence are minimally impacted by increasing amplitudes of acoustic excitation. These findings suggest that the sensitivity of the flow and flame to high-amplitude coherent oscillations is a strong function of the in-flow turbulence intensity.     

DMD和POD对超燃冲压发动机凹腔流动的稳定性分析

开式凹腔作为超燃冲压发动机中增加掺混和稳焰的装置, 其流动稳定性的研究对深入理解凹腔增加掺混和稳焰机理以及凹腔的设计有着重要的学术意义和工程应用价值.基于大涡模拟方法对超燃冲压发动机开式凹腔流动进行数值模拟, 分别采用动力学模态分解(dynamic mode decomposition, DMD)和本征正交分解方法(proper orthogonal decomposition, POD)对自激振荡流动进行稳定性分析. DMD方法可准确提取凹腔的振荡频率, 与Rossiter模型以及压力脉动FFT分析得到的频率吻合较好, 且DMD中对应Rossiter前3阶频率的模态在流动中的主导作用顺序也与FFT分析结果一致, 自激振荡中RossiterⅢ模态占据主导作用, 同时DMD方法对Rossiter 3阶以上模态频率的预测能力明显强于FFT分析方法.在对低频的提取方面, DMD方法比Rossiter模型更具有优势.与前6阶Rossiter模态对应DMD模态均缓慢收敛, 主要表现为剪切层中的分离涡结构和中部及下游区域中的涡结构.前3阶不稳定模态中的分离涡结构主要集中在中部剪切层以及后缘附近区域. POD方法中较少的模态包含流场绝大部分的能量.但是, 通过POD方法提取的模态频率在分辨率上效果不佳, 提取到最低频率为Rossiter 3阶模态对应的频率, 且模态中均存在次频, 次频与主频之间的耦合导致模态的形态相差较大.另外, 与DMD方法相比POD方法无法判断所提取的模态的稳定性.      

Study of vortex core precession in combustion chambers

The article presents the results of experimental investigation of swirling flow of lean propane/air flame in a model combustion chamber at atmospheric pressure. To study the unsteady turbulent flow, the particle image velocimetry technique was used. It was concluded that dynamics of high swirl flows with and without combustion was determined by a global helical mode, complying with a precessing double-spiral coherent vortex structure. The studied low swirl flame had similar size and stability characteristics, but amplitude of the coherent helical structure substantially oscillated in time. The oscillations were associated with intermittently appearing central recirculation zone that was absent in the nonreacting flow. It is expected that the low swirl flow without the permanent central recirculation zone should be more sensitive to an external active control. In particular, this result may be useful for suppression of thermoacoustic resonance in combustion chambers.     

Experimental and LES investigation of premixed methane/air flame propagating in a tube with a thin obstacle

In this paper, an experimental and numerical investigation of premixed methane/air flame dynamics in a closed combustion vessel with a thin obstacle is described. In the experiment, high-speed video photography and a pressure transducer are used to study the flame shape changes and pressure dynamics. In the numerical simulation, four sub-grid scale viscosity models and three sub-grid scale combustion models are evaluated for their individual prediction compared with the experimental data. High-speed photographs show that the flame propagation process can be divided into five stages: spherical flame, finger-shaped flame, jet flame, mushroom-shaped flame and bidirectional propagation flame. Compared with the other sub-grid scale viscosity models and sub-grid scale combustion models, the dynamic Smagorinsky–Lilly model and the power-law flame wrinkling model are better able to predict the flame behaviour, respectively. Thus, coupling the dynamic Smagorinsky–Lilly model and the power-law flame wrinkling model, the numerical results demonstrate that flame shape change is a purely hydrodynamic phenomenon, and the mushroom-shaped flame and bidirectional propagation flame are the result of flame–vortex interaction. In addition, the transition from “corrugated flamelets” to “thin reaction zones” is observed in the simulation.     

Direct comparison of self-excited instabilities in mesoscale multinozzle flames and conventional large-scale swirl-stabilized flames

The present experimental investigation demonstrates important trends and offers physical insights into self-excited combustion instabilities in mesoscale multinozzle flames composed of sixty small injectors. Here we focus on the response of a prototypical micromixer-type injector assembly, fabricated using an additive manufacturing technique, in comparison with the behavior of conventional large-scale swirl-stabilized flames. Our results highlight that the development of self-excited instabilities in unconventional mesoscale flames is fundamentally different from that in large-scale swirl flames, in terms of the onset of instabilities, nonlinear modal dynamics, and amplitude/frequency of limit cycle oscillations under the same operating conditions. These differences are attributable to the alteration in local flow/flame structures and the resulting flame-to-flame/flame-wall interaction mechanisms. An integrated analysis of large datasets reveals that the two interacting swirl-stabilized flames tend to couple strongly with a low-frequency L1 mode at about 220 Hz, whereas the sixty-injector small-scale flames are capable of triggering multiple higher-frequency instabilities at ～ 310, ～ 470, and ～ 600 Hz. That is, the use of the micromixer-type injector assembly in a lean-premixed system causes the occurrence of combustion instabilities to shift toward a higher equivalence ratio. However, due to the absence of a large recirculation zone near the primary reaction region, the combustion system equipped with the small-scale multinozzle injectors was found to suffer from lean blowoff phenomena at low equivalence ratio.     

Investigation of azimuthal staging concepts in annular gas turbines

In this work, the influence of azimuthal staging concepts on the thermoacoustic behavior of annular combustion chambers is assessed theoretically and numerically. Staging is a well-known and effective method to abate thermoacoustic pulsations in combustion chambers. However, in the case of, for example, fuel staging the associated inhomogeneity of equivalence ratio may result in increased levels of NO_x emissions. In order to minimize this unwanted effect a staging concept is required in which the transfer functions of the burners are changed while affecting the equivalence ratio as little as possible. In order to achieve this goal, a theoretical framework for predicting the influence of staging concepts on pulsations has been developed. Both linear and nonlinear analytical approaches are presented and it is shown that the dynamics of azimuthal modes can be described by coupled Van der Pol oscillators. A criterion based on the thermoacoustic coupling strength and on the asymmetry degree provides the modal behavior in the annular combustor, i.e. standing or traveling waves. The model predictions have been verified by numerical simulations of a heavy-duty gas turbine using an in-house thermoacoustic network-modeling tool. The interaction between the heat release of the flame and the acoustic field was modeled using measured transfer functions and source terms. These numerical simulations confirmed the original theoretical considerations.     

Nonlinear simulations of combustion instabilities with a quasi-1D Navier-Stokes code

As lean premixed combustion systems are more susceptible to combustion instabilities than non-premixed systems, there is an increasing demand for improved numerical design tools that can predict the occurrence of combustion instabilities with high accuracy. The inherent nonlinearities in combustion instabilities can be of crucial importance, and we here propose an approach in which the one-dimensional (1D) Navier-Stokes and scalar transport equations are solved for geometries of variable cross-section. The focus is on attached flames, and for this purpose a new phenomenological model for the unsteady heat release from a flame front is introduced. In the attached flame method (AFM) the heat release occurs over the full length of the flame. The nonlinear code with the use of the AFM approach is validated against analytical results and against an experimental study of thermoacoustic instabilities in oxy-fuel flames by Ditaranto and Hals [Combustion and Flame 146 (2006) 493-512]. The numerical simulations are in accordance with the experimental measurements and the analytical results and both the frequencies and the amplitudes of the resonant acoustic pressure modes are reproduced with good accuracy.     

Exploring a critical diameter for thermo-acoustic instability of downward propagating flames in tubes

Thermo-acoustic oscillations are observed when a flame ignited at open end of a tube propagates towards the closed end due to interaction between unsteady heat release rate fluctuations from flame and acoustic fluctuations. In our past work, it was found that thermo-acoustic instability increases with decreasing diameter from 7.0 cm to 3.0 cm. A recent study in flame propagation in Hele–Shaw cells showed that thermo-acoustic instability is not observed for plate separation less than or equal to 0.4 cm. Thermoacoustic instabilities cannot be observed in very narrow tubes due to excessive damping from the wall. This opens up the possibility of a critical diameter where thermo-acoustic instability would be maximum. In this work we perform flame propagation experiments with diameter of combustion tube in the range 0.5 cm to 3 cm for a fixed length of 70.2 cm. It was found that thermo-acoustic parametric instability begins at lowest laminar burning velocity when the diameter is around 1.0 cm. This diameter is termed as critical diameter. Critical diameter is found to be independent of Lewis number of mixtures. Existence of a critical diameter is thus proved experimentally. Growth rates of primary instability increase with decreasing diameter and show a maximum around the critical diameter and decrease with further decrease in tube diameter. But, growth rates of secondary instability as well as maximum pressure fluctuation amplitude decreases continuously with decreasing diameter. Mechanisms responsible for these observations and existence of a critical diameter are clarified.     

Experimental evaluation of DC electric field effect on the thermoacoustic behaviour of flat premixed flames

One promising approach to eliminate thermoacoustic instabilities in combustion appliances is the use of adaptive control of the flame/burner acoustic transfer function (TF). Application of a DC electric field (EF) as a spatially distributed, easily and quickly adjustable and low-energy method to affect the flame behaviour may be considered as a possible actuation method to control the flame TF. Experimental evaluation of such a possibility is the main goal of the present study. The effect of a DC EF on the acoustic TF of premixed flat burner-surface stabilized flames is studied systematically as a function of the following parameters: flow velocity, equivalence ratio, applied voltage and burner geometry. It is established that the response of the flame TF on the DC EF can be characterized as a TF shift towards higher frequencies. The mechanism of TF alteration is related to the decrease of the flame stand-off distance and the related increase of the burner deck surface temperature. From a practical point of view, the efficiency of the EF control of the flat flame TF is restricted to a relatively narrow frequency range around the position of the TF resonance peak. To get insight into the physics of the EF–flame interaction, the method of [1] to measure the EF effect on the adiabatic flame speed is improved and the measurement range is extended. The new measurements allow a revision of previous results and allow an explanation for the ambiguity in the old measurements.     

An experimental study into the effect of injector pressure loss on self-sustained combustion instabilities in a swirled spray burner

Combustion instabilities depend on a variety of parameters and operating conditions. It is known, especially in the field of liquid rocket propulsion, that the pressure loss of an injector has an effect on its dynamics and on the coupling between the combustion chamber and the fuel manifold. However, its influence is not well documented in the technical literature dealing with gas turbine combustion dynamics. Effects of changes in this key design parameter are investigated in the present article by testing different swirlers at constant thermal power on a broad range of injection velocities in a well controlled laboratory scale single injector swirled combustor using liquid fuel. The objective is to study the impact of injection pressure losses on the occurrence and level of combustion instabilities by making use of a set of injectors having nearly the same outlet velocity profiles, the same swirl number and that establish flames that are essentially identical in shape. It is found that combustion oscillations appear on a wider range of operating conditions for injectors with the highest pressure loss, but that the pressure fluctuations caused by thermoacoustic oscillations are greatest when the injector head loss is low. Four types of instabilities coupled by two modes may be distinguished: the first group features a lower frequency, arises when the injector pressure loss is low and corresponds to a weakly coupled chamber-plenum mode. The second group appears in the form of a constant amplitude limit cycle, or as bursts at a slightly higher frequency and is coupled by a chamber mode. Spontaneous switching between these two types of instabilities is also observed in a narrow domain.     

Fishbone-like instability in a looped-tube thermoacoustic engine

Quasi-periodic bursts of acoustic oscillations were observed during the start-up process in a looped-tube thermoacoustic engine. The acoustic oscillations have a constant frequency of 111 Hz, while the bursts have "quasi-periods" in the order of 14-25 s. The quasi-periodic bursts show a new mode of amplitude growth in this thermoacoustic engine. The envelope of the acoustic oscillations has a fishbone-like shape. The nature of the observed fishbone-like instabilities suggests a strong interaction between the acoustic and temperature field.