The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines are used in a wide variety of applications, such as power generation, aircraft, and various machinery. Gas turbine engines generally combust a fuel with an oxidant (e.g., air) in a combustor section to generate hot combustion products, which then drive one or more turbine stages of a turbine section. The turbine stages, when driven by the hot combustion products, transfer rotational power to a shaft. The rotating shaft, in turn, drives one or more compressor stages of a compressor section to compress oxidant for intake into the combustor section, and can also drive an electrical generator to produce electrical energy.
In certain instances, the temperature of combustion within the combustor section may be at levels suitable for oxidizing nitrogenous and sulfur-based species, which can produce nitrous oxides (hereinafter NOx), and sulfur oxides (hereinafter SOx), respectively, in the hot combustion products. These oxidized by-products are generally undesirable, and can render exhaust gases generated from the hot combustion products unusable for further applications.
In addition, because the products of combustion have a relatively high temperature, components that they contact may, in turn, become heated. This heating can, in some instances, result in thermal expansion of the components. When such thermal expansion occurs in moving parts, a clearance between the moving parts and stationary parts can be affected.