Dynamics of an edge flame in a mixing layer

The dynamics of an edge flame in a mixing layer is considered. The flame, which stands at a well-defined distance from the plate separating the fuel and oxidizer streams, is stabilized by heat conducted back to the relatively cold plate. It has a tribrachial structure that consists of a lean premixed segment leaning toward the oxidizer side, a rich premixed segment leaning toward the fuel side, and a diffusion flame trailing behind. Within the context of a diffusive-thermal model, we describe numerically the steady and unsteady behavior of the flame. The primary objective is to systematically identify the conditions for the onset of oscillations examining, in particular, the influence of differential diffusion, mixture strength, flow rate, and radiative heat losses.     

Influence of edge velocity on flame front position and displacement speed in turbulent premixed combustion

Using a novel concept, the present study experimentally investigates underlying physics pertaining to statistics of the flame front position and the flame front velocity in turbulent premixed V-shaped flames. The concept is associated with characteristics of the reactants velocity at the vicinity of the flame front, referred to as the edge velocity. The experiments are performed using simultaneous Mie scattering and Particle Image Velocimetry techniques. Three mean streamwise exit velocities of: 4.0, 6.2, and 8.6 m/s along with three fuel–air equivalence ratios of: 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 are examined. The results show that fluctuations of the flame front position and the flame front velocity are induced by the fluctuations of the component of the edge velocity transverse to the mean flow direction. Analysis of the results show that the mean of the flame front velocity in the normal direction to the flame front is significantly dependent on the vertical distance from the flame-holder. Relatively close to the flame-holder, the mean of the flame front velocity in the direction normal to the flame front is about zero; however, it increases to values several times larger than the laminar flame speed by increasing the vertical distance from the flame-holder.     

Determination of laminar flame speeds using stagnation and spherically expanding flames: Molecular transport and radiation effects

The uncertainties associated with the extraction of laminar flame speeds through extrapolations from directly measured experimental data were assessed using one-dimensional direct numerical simulations with focus on the effects of molecular transport and thermal radiation loss. The simulations were carried out for counterflow and spherically expanding flames given that both configurations are used extensively for the determination of laminar flame speeds. The spherically expanding flames were modeled by performing high fidelity time integration of the mass, species, and energy conservation equations. The simulation results were treated as “data” for stretch rate ranges that are encountered in experiments and were used to perform extrapolations using formulas that have been derived based on asymptotic analyses. The extrapolation results were compared then against the known answers of the direct numerical simulations. The fuel diffusivity was varied in order to evaluate the flame response to stretch and to address reactant differential diffusion effects that cannot be captured based on Lewis number considerations. It was found that for large molecular weight hydrocarbons at fuel-rich conditions, the flame behavior is controlled by differential diffusion and that the extrapolation formulas can result in notable errors. Analysis of the computed flame structures revealed that differential diffusion modifies the fluxes of fuel and oxygen inside the flame and thus affect the reactivity as stretch increases. Radiation loss was found to affect notably the extracted laminar flame speed from spherically expanding flame experiments especially for slower flames, in agreement with recent similar studies. The effect of radiation could be eliminated however, by determining the displacement speed relative to the unburned gas. This can be achieved in experiments using high-speed particle image velocimetry to determine the flow velocity field within the few milliseconds duration of the experiment. In general, extrapolations were found to be unreliable under certain conditions, and it is proposed that the raw experimental data in either flame configurations are compared against results of direct numerical simulations in order to avoid potential falsifications of rate constants upon validation.     

Simulations of laminar flame propagation in droplet mists

In order to clarify the conditions conducive to propagation of premixed flames in quiescent sprays, a one-dimensional code with detailed chemistry and transport was used. n-Heptane and n-decane, distinguished by their volatility, were studied under atmospheric and low temperature, low pressure conditions. The effects of initial droplet diameter, overall equivalence ratio ?₀ and droplet residence time before reaching the flame front were examined. Increasing the residence time had an effect only for n-heptane, with virtually no evaporation occurring before the flame front for n-decane. The trends were only marginally correlated with the local gaseous equivalence ratio ?_eff at the location of maximum heat release rate. ?_eff could be as low as 0.4 (beyond the lean flammability limit), but the flame speed could still be 40% of the gaseous stoichiometric flame speed S_L,0. For n-heptane, ?_eff increased towards ?₀ with smaller droplets while high flame speeds occurred when ?_eff was near 1. This implied that the highest flame speed was achieved with small droplets for ?₀ ? 1 and with relatively large droplets for ?₀ > 1. In the latter case, the oxidiser was completely consumed in the reaction zone and droplets finished evaporating behind the flame where the fuel was pyrolysed. The resulting small species, mainly C₂H₂, C₂H₄ and H₂, diffused back to the oxidation zone and enhanced the reaction rate there. Ultimately, this could result in flame speeds higher than S_L,0 even with ?₀ = 4. For n-decane, the same trends were followed but smaller droplets were needed to reach the same ?_eff due to the slow evaporation rate. Under low pressure and low temperature, the effects of pressure and temperature on ?_eff and the flame speed were competitive and resulted in values close to the ones at atmospheric conditions.     

Tulip flame - the mechanism of flame front inversion

The paper explains the mechanism of tulip flame formation in horizontal combustion chambers closed at the ignition end. The explanations are based essentially on the PIV images and the direct visualization of the process. The obtained results demonstrate that the tulip flame is a purely hydrodynamic phenomenon which results from the competition between the backward movement of deflected burned gases expanding from the lateral flame skirts and the forward movement of unburned gases accelerated in the phase of finger-shaped flame. In some configurations a supplementary global movement imposed by the confinement (for example: acoustic waves) is superposed on the two above mentioned, and modifies the parameters of the process. The results also prove that the intrinsic instabilities of the flame front (Rayleigh–Taylor, Richtmyer–Meshkov or Darrieus–Landau) are not involved in this process. The convex shape of the flame front has no influence on the phenomenon.     

Experiment on the effect of Pt-catalyst on the characteristics of a small heat-regenerative CH4–air premixed combustor

Heat-regenerative small combustors consisting of a combustion space and a pair of counter-current-channels were fabricated. The methane–air combustion characteristics in the combustion space were examined with and without catalytic platinum wires. The installing locations and scale effects of the platinum wires were varied to distinguish between thermo-fluidic and catalytic effects. Temperature distribution through the channels and the compositions of burned gas were measured. Conclusively, the platinum wires in the upstream channel slightly enhanced flame stabilization by an enhanced heat transfer, not by a catalytic reaction. In contrast, the platinum wire located within the recirculation area of the combustion space promoted the catalytic reaction and extended the self-sustainable reaction conditions when it had sufficient surface area. Two reaction regimes, of an ordinary gas reaction and of a catalytic reaction, were distinguished and a hysteresis in the reaction-mode transition was confirmed through the comparison of CO, O₂, and methane across the transition conditions.     

Flame propagation enhancement by plasma excitation of oxygen. Part II: Effects of O2(aΔg)

The isolated effect of O₂(a¹Δ_g) on the propagation of C₂H₄ lifted flames was studied at reduced pressures (3.61 kPa and 6.73 kPa). The O₂(a¹Δ_g) was produced in a microwave discharge plasma and was isolated from O and O₃ by NO addition to the plasma afterglow in a flow residence time on the order of 1 s. The concentrations of O₂(a¹Δ_g) and O₃ were measured quantitatively through absorption by sensitive off-axis integrated-cavity-output spectroscopy and one-pass line-of-sight absorption, respectively. Under these conditions, it was found that O₂(a¹Δ_g) enhanced the propagation speed of C₂H₄ lifted flames. Comparison with the results of enhancement by O₃ found in part I of this investigation provided an estimation of 2-3% of flame speed enhancement for 5500 ppm of O₂(a¹Δ_g) addition from the plasma. Numerical simulation results using the current kinetic model of O₂(a¹Δ_g) over-predicts the flame propagation enhancement found in the experiments. However, the inclusion of collisional quenching rate estimations of O₂(a¹Δ_g) by C₂H₄ mitigated the over-prediction. The present isolated experimental results of the enhancement of a hydrocarbon fueled flame by O₂(a¹Δ_g), along with kinetic modeling results suggest that further studies of C_nH_m + O₂(a¹Δ_g) collisional and reactive quenching are required in order to correctly predict combustion enhancement by O₂(a¹Δ_g). The present experimental results will have a direct impact on the development of elementary reaction rates with O₂(a¹Δ_g) at flame conditions to establish detailed plasma-flame kinetic mechanisms.     

Experimental study on premixed hydrogen/air and hydrogen–methane/air mixtures explosion in 90 degree bend pipeline

Nowadays, hydrogen is being utilized massively in industries as a clean fuel. Displacing of hydrogen due to unique chemical and physical properties has adversely affect on pipeline network, hence increases the potential risk of explosion. This study was carried out to determine the flame propagation of hydrogen/air and hydrogen–methane/air mixtures in pipeline. A 90° pipeline with L/D ratio of 40 was used. Pure hydrogen/air mixture with equivalence ratio, φ = 0.13, 0.17, 0.2, 0.24, 0.27 and 0.30 were used in this work. Different composition of hydrogen–methane–air mixtures were tested in this study i.e. 3%H₂ + 97CH₄, 4%H₂ + 96CH₄, 6%H₂ + 94CH₄ and 8%H₂ + 92CH₄. All mixtures were operated at ambient condition. The results show that bending is the critical part of pipeline and higher concentration of hydrogen can affect on maximum overpressure, flame speed and temperature rise of both pure hydrogen/air and methane-hydrogen/air mixtures.     

Characteristics of premixed hydrogen/air squish flame in a confined vessel

The appearance of the squish flame is of great significance to accelerate burning progress and improve the combustion efficiency. In this paper, we experimentally studied the characteristics of the squish flame in a cylindrical constant volume vessel under different initial pressures and equivalence ratios by using high-speed schlieren photometry. Due to the compression of the main flame front, “squish flow” was induced in the analogous triangular vertebrae region besieged by the convex flame front, the concave wall and the flat optical windows, which provided the perturbation of large wavelength to promote the appearance of the squish flame. When the squish flames occur, as the initial pressure increases, the main flame propagation distance becomes shorter, the main flame propagation velocity increases first and then gradually saturates to a certain value; as the equivalence ratio increases, the main flame propagation distance becomes longer, the main flame propagation velocity rises first and then declines, and the maximum is obtained in the vicinity of Φ = 1.0. There exists a critical initial pressure at each equivalence ratio below which no squish flame appears, and it takes on a U-shaped trend with the increase of equivalence ratio. The hydrodynamic instability plays a key role in the formation of the squish flame. The squish flame tends to appear at higher hydrodynamic instability. The formation mechanism and the critical feature of the squish flame obtained in this paper can provide a theoretical guide to achieve fast controllable combustion.     

Numerical investigation of the effect of slit-width on the combustion characteristics of a micro-combustor with a centrally slotted bluff body

The effect of slit-width on the combustion characteristics of a micro-combustor with a centrally slotted bluff body is numerically studied. The non-dimensional fractional slit-width (d) is varied in the range of 0.1–0.8. Simulations are performed for inlet velocities ranging from 6 m/s to 35 m/s. The effect of slit-width on the combustion efficiency is observed to be a function of the inlet velocity. At smaller inlet velocities, the combustion efficiency increases upon increasing the slit-width initially (d ≤ 0.4), decreases (d = 0.4 to 0.5) and monotonously increases from thereon. On the contrary, at higher values of inlet velocity, the combustion efficiency monotonously increases with the increasing slit-width. It is observed that the average exhaust gas temperature increases with the increasing slit-width, reaches a maximum at moderate slit-widths (d = 0.6 and 0.7) and then decreases. It is observed that the local exhaust gas temperature at moderate slit-widths for higher values of inlet velocities follows a bi-modal distribution. It is also observed that the operating range of the micro-combustor with moderate slit-width (d = 0.6 and 0.7) is limited by the phenomenon of longitudinal flame splitting.     

Effect of electric fields on the propagation speed of tribrachial flames in coflow jets

The effect of electric fields on the propagation speed of tribrachial (or triple) flames has been investigated in a coflow jet by observing the transient flame propagation behavior after ignition. The propagation speed of tribrachial edges when no electric fields were applied showed typical behavior by having an inverse proportionality to the mixture fraction gradient at the flame edge. The behavior of flame propagation with electric fields was investigated by applying high voltage to the central fuel nozzle, thereby having a single-electrode configuration. The enhancement of propagation speed has been observed by varying the applied voltage and frequency for ac electric fields. The propagation speed of tribrachial flames was also investigated by applying positive and negative dc voltages to the nozzle, and similar improvements of the propagation speed were also observed. The propagation speeds of tribrachial flames in both the ac and dc electric fields correlated well with the electric field intensity, defined by the applied electric voltage divided by the distance between the nozzle electrode and the edge of the tribrachial flame.     

Outward propagation velocity and acceleration characteristics in hydrogen-air deflagration

Propagation characteristics of hydrogen-air deflagration need to be understood for an accurate risk assessment. Especially, flame propagation velocity is one of the most important factors. Propagation velocity of outwardly propagating flame has been estimated from burning velocity of a flat flame considering influence of thermal expansion at a flame front; however, this conventional method is not enough to estimate an actual propagation velocity because flame propagation is accelerated owing to cellular flame front caused by intrinsic instability in hydrogen-air deflagration. Therefore, it is important to understand the dynamic propagation characteristics of hydrogen-air deflagration. We performed explosion tests in a closed chamber which has 300 mm diameter windows and observed flame propagation phenomena by using Schlieren photography. In the explosion experiments, hydrogen-air mixtures were ignited at atmospheric pressure and room temperature and in the range of equivalence ratio from 0.2 to 1.0. Analyzing the obtained Schlieren images, flame radius and flame propagation velocity were measured. As the result, cellular flame fronts formed and flame propagations of hydrogen–air mixture were accelerated at the all equivalence ratios. In the case of equivalent ratio φ = 0.2, a flame floated up and could not propagate downward because the influence of buoyancy exceeded a laminar burning velocity. Based upon these propagation characteristics, a favorable estimation method of flame propagation velocity including influence of flame acceleration was proposed. Moreover, the influence of intrinsic instability on propagation characteristics was elucidated.     

Characterization of hydrogen triple flame propagation in vitiated laminar coaxial flow

This paper numerically analyzes the propagation characteristics of a hydrogen flame in coaxial vitiated flow in a confined quartz tube. The transient propagation of the flame is calculated using Li's Mechanism of hydrogen oxidation, and the propagation characteristics are discussed based on these calculations. The formation of the reaction zone, the ignition of fuel, the transformation of the flame's base structure, and the propagation behavior of the hydrogen jet flame base are characterized in the present study. The flame characteristics is analyzed based on calculated results, the information provide several insight into the flame propagation and ignition layer at the leading edge in vitiated situations. The results show that the leading point of a hydrogen flame in coaxial fresh air propagates along the preferred equivalence ratio isoline as the flame has a triple flame structure. On the contrary, in vitiated coaxial flow, the propagation of the hydrogen flame fits triple flame theory more precisely. The flame's kinetic properties show that hydrogen flame propagation in coaxial vitiated flow is still dominated by the triple flame. The results also suggest that the transformation of the flame during propagation is affected by the pool of radicals as well as the chemical reactions.     

Experimental study of premixed syngas/air flame deflagration in a closed duct

The propagation behaviour of a deflagration premixed syngas/air flame over a wide range of equivalence ratios is investigated experimentally in a closed rectangular duct using a high-speed camera and pressure transducer. The syngas hydrogen volume fraction, φ, ranges from 0.1 to 0.9. The flame propagation parameters such as flame structure, propagation time, velocity and overpressure are obtained from the experiment. The effects of the equivalence ratio and hydrogen fraction on flame propagation behaviour are examined. The results indicate that the hydrogen fraction in a syngas mixture greatly influences the flame propagation behaviour. When φ, the hydrogen fraction, is ≥0.5, the prominently distorted tulip flame can be formed in all equivalence ratios, and the minimum propagation time can be obtained at an equivalence ratio of 2.0. When φ < 0.5, the tulip flame distortion only occurs in a hydrogen fraction of φ = 0.3 with an equivalence ratio of 1.5 and above. The minimum flame propagation time can be acquired at an equivalence ratio of 1.5. The distortion occurs when the maximum flame propagation velocity is larger than 31.27 m s^?1. The observable oscillation and stepped rise in the overpressure trajectory indicate that the pressure wave plays an important role in the syngas/air deflagration. The initial tulip distortion time and the plane flame formation time share the same tendency in all equivalence ratios, and the time interval between them is nearly constant, 4.03 ms. This parameter is important for exploring the quantitative theory or models of distorted tulip flames.     

层流预混火焰传播速度与火焰稳定传播界限的测定

采用本生灯法和直管法测定了液化石油气（LPG）、甲烷与氢燃料质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）阳极尾气与空气的三种不同浓度混合气的层流火焰传播速度。此外,对三种不同浓度可燃混合气火焰的稳定传播界限也进行了测定。实验结果为多燃料燃烧器的开发提供了设计依据。     

Nonlinear effects in the extraction of laminar flame speeds from expanding spherical flames

Various factors affecting the determination of laminar flames speeds from outwardly propagating spherical flames in a constant-pressure combustion chamber were considered, with emphasis on the nonlinear variation of the stretched flame speed to the flame stretch rate, and the associated need to nonlinearly extrapolate the stretched flame speed to yield an accurate determination of the laminar flame speed and Markstein length. Experiments were conducted for lean and rich n-butane/air flames at initial pressure, demonstrating the complex and nonlinear nature of the dynamics of flame evolution, and the strong influences of the ignition transient and chamber confinement during the initial and final periods of the flame propagation, respectively. These experimental data were analyzed using the nonlinear relation between the stretched flame speed and stretch rate, yielding laminar flame speeds that agree well with data determined from alternate flame configurations. It is further suggested that the fidelity in the extraction of the laminar flame speed from expanding spherical flames can be facilitated by using small ignition energy and a large combustion chamber.     

A numerical study of laminar flame speed of stratified syngas/air flames

Numerical simulations are performed to study the flame propagation of laminar stratified syngas/air flames with the San Diego mechanism. Effects of fuel stratification, CO/H₂ mole ratio and temperature stratification on flame propagation are investigated through comparing the distribution of flame temperature, heat release rate and radical concentration of stratified flame with corresponding homogeneous flame. For stratified flames with fuel rich-to-lean and temperature high-to-low, the flame speeds are faster than homogeneous flames due to more light H radical in stratified flames burned gas. The flame speed is higher for case with larger stratification gradient. Contrary to positive gradient cases, the flame speeds of stratified flames with fuel lean-to-rich as well as with temperature low-to-high are slower than homogeneous flames. The flame propagation accelerates with increasing hydrogen mole ratio due to higher H radical concentration, which indicates that chemical effect is more significant than thermal effect. Additionally, flame displacement speed does not match laminar flame speed due to the fluid continuity. Laminar flame speed is the superposition of flame displacement speed and flow velocity.