Systems and methods for flame holding avoidance in gas turbine combustors

A method, comprising:

• receiving one or more sensor signals from a fuel composition sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a flow sensor, or a combination thereof, disposed in a fuel conduit included in a gas turbine engine system;
• executing a gas turbine model by applying the one or more sensor signals as input to derive a plurality of estimated gas turbine engine parameters;
• executing a flame holding model that comprises a flame holding boundary derived via a Damkohler equation by applying the one or more sensor signals and the plurality of estimated gas turbine engine parameters as input to derive a steam flow to fuel flow ratio that minimizes or eliminates flame holding in a fuel nozzle of the gas turbine engine system, wherein a steam flow comprises a high pressure steam produced by a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) system, an intermediate steam produced by the HRSG system, or a combination thereof;
• controlling,via a controller, delivery of a steam produced from the HRSG system based on the steam flow to fuel flow ratio so that a flame holding operating limit for the gas turbine engine system operates the gas turbine engine system near the flame holding boundary and within a margin from the flame holding boundary, wherein the controller is configured to operatively couple to the gas turbine engine system and to the HRSG system when in use, wherein the margin comprises a percent margin between 0.1% and 10% from the flame holding boundary;
• and
• delivering the steam to a mixing chamber for mixing the steam with a fuel, the mixing chamber being located immediately downstream from a first heat exchanger and immediately upstream of a second heat exchanger.

A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising:

• instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
• receive one or more sensor signals from a fuel composition sensor, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a flow sensor, or a combination thereof, disposed in a fuel conduit included in a gas turbine engine system;
• execute a gas turbine model by applying the one or more sensor signals as input to derive a plurality of estimated gas turbine engine parameters;
• execute a flame holding model that comprises a flame holding boundary derived via a Damkohler equation by applying the one or more sensor signals and the plurality of estimated gas turbine engine parameters as input to derive a steam flow to fuel flow ratio that minimizes or eliminates flame holding in a fuel nozzle of the gas turbine engine system;
• control,via a controller, delivery of a steam produced from a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) system and a fuel based on the steam flow to fuel flow ratio so that a flame holding operating limit for the gas turbine engine system operates the gas turbine engine system near the flame holding boundary and within a margin from the flame holding boundary, wherein the margin comprises a percent margin between 0.1% and 10% from the flame holding boundary, wherein the control delivery of the steam comprises controlling delivery of an intermediate pressure steam, a high pressure steam, or a combination thereof, wherein the intermediate pressure steam, the high pressure steam, or the combination thereof is produced by the HRSG system fluidly coupled downstream from the gas turbine engine system and configured to receive an exhaust from the gas turbine engine system, wherein the controller is configured to operatively couple to the gas turbine engine system and to the HRSG system when in use;
• and
• deliver the steam to a mixing chamber for mixing the steam with the fuel, the mixing chamber being located immediately downstream from a first heat exchanger and immediately upstream of a second heat exchanger.