Method for protecting a gas turbine engine against high dynamical process values and gas turbine engine for conducting the method

A gas turbine engine comprising:

• a compressor;
• a combustor;
• a turbine;
• a gas turbine control unit having an input;
• a signal processing unit;
• at least one sensor configured and arranged to measure pulsations within the combustor and generate a pulsation signal, said at least one sensor being connected to the signal processing unit;
• wherein the signal processing unit is configured and arranged to divide the frequency spectrum of the measured pulsation signal up into pre-defined band pass sections;
• compute the root mean square (rms) of the signal for each band;
• weight the computed frequency/frequency band rms with predetermined weighting factors;
• cumulate the weighted frequency/frequency band rms values to derive a Pulsation Limit Criterion (PLC) value,
• wherein said weighting factors are predetermined based on a structural model for a complete structure of the combustor and other affected components, and by computing the stresses as a response to the acoustic load resulting from pulsations in the combustor;
• and
• a comparing device configured and arranged to receive said derived Pulsation Limit Criterion (PLC) value from said signal processing unit and compare the PLC value to a reference value and generate an output, and the output of the comparing device is connected to the input of the gas turbine control.