A Reinforcement-Learning-Augmented Liquid-Fueled Reactor Network Model for Predicting Lean Blowout in Gas Turbine Combustors

Abstract:This study introduces a reinforcement learning (RL) framework for generating optimal liquid-fueled reactors to improve lean blowout (LBO) predictions in gas turbine combustors. Existing approaches for determining cluster boundaries rely on manual heuristics or distance-based metrics in the input space. In contrast, the proposed method is goal-oriented, explicitly accounting for the target metric (e.g., LBO prediction accuracy) during cluster formation. The framework employs a multi-stage clustering--classification strategy: an initial clustering step (e.g., $k$-means clustering) generates a large set of homogeneous micro-clusters, followed by an actor-critic RL agent that merges them into optimal reactor zones. The validation study, performed using a Jet-A mechanism (119 species, 841 reactions), shows the RL framework offers improved predictive fidelity compared to $k$-means and captures the correct LBO trends, while achieving substantial speedups relative to the high-fidelity computational model. Overall, the RL-driven approach demonstrates strong potential as a computationally efficient reduced-order modeling technique that can complement high-fidelity simulations for rapid design-space exploration.

Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2607.19281 [cs.LG]

(or arXiv:2607.19281v1 [cs.LG] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.19281 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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