A filtered-laminar-flame PDF sub-grid-scale closure for LES of premixed turbulent flames: II. Application to a stratified bluff-body burner

Large eddy simulation of the two stratified nonswirling configurations of the Cambridge burner studied by Sweeney et al. (2012) is presented. The sub-grid-scale combustion closure relies on a physical space filtering operation with a filter size determined locally depending on the resolved and sub-grid-scale flame properties, which is discussed in a companion paper. Similarly to the premixed configuration of the same burner, the modeling reproduces the differential diffusion effects leading to accumulation of carbon and an enhancement of mixture fraction in the recirculation zone, an effect that is less pronounced than in the fully lean premixed case, because of the modification of the topology of the reaction zone that is induced by the mixture stratification. The study of the LES combustion regimes shows that the reaction zones develop under a quite large range of flame topologies, from wrinkled flamelets up to thin reaction zones. Instantaneous and time-averaged LES data were analyzed to extract information concerning the degree of stratification and the orientation of flame and mixing vectors. A decomposition of the flame response into premixed, diffusion, and partially premixed flamelets is performed, to conclude that the premixed mode dominates close to the burner, with a partially premixed burning regime further downstream. Overall, the length scales associated with stratification were found to be much larger than that of the reaction zone and flame, resulting in a quasi-homogeneous propagation, predominantly in a back supported stratified combustion regime. Overall good agreement between simulation and measurements was obtained for either configurations.     

CH4/air预混气体双层多孔介质燃烧特性数值模拟研究

基于局部热平衡假设,定义了无量纲参数——火焰宽度比,在过量空气系数为1.2条件下,研究了CH_4/air预混气体在双层多孔介质中浸没燃烧和表面燃烧的燃烧特性。结果表明:表面燃烧具有更高的烟气出口温度以及更高的火焰宽度比。浸没燃烧火焰轮廓类似抛物线,而表面燃烧的火焰宽度比则基本不变;入口速度不同时,距离着火面同一位置浸没燃烧火焰宽度基本保持不变,火焰轮廓仍类似于抛物线;而对于表面燃烧,相同位置的火焰宽度比在很小范围内(约为0.03)呈现先增大后减小的变化规律。同时研究也表明表面燃烧具有更高的NO_x排放,且随着速度的增加两种燃烧方式NO_x排放变化规律一致,均呈现先增大后减小再增加的变化规律。在速度为1.1～1.2μm/s左右时,两种燃烧方式NO_x排放大致相当,这表明在不扩大污染的条件下,可以使用表面燃烧获得更多的对外辐射以节约能源。     

The influence of radiation on the flame propagation through micro organic dust particles with non-unity Lewis number

In this paper, the analytical study of effects of radiation and non-unity Lewis number on the laminar premixed flames of organic dust clouds has been done. The research is focused on a combustion model for premixed flames and the flame structure is composed of preheat-vaporization, narrow reaction and finally the post-flame zone. The normalized governing equations with help of boundary and matching conditions are solved by perturbation method. The results show that increasing equivalence ratio and decreasing Lewis number are resulted in the increase of flame temperature and burning velocity. For the sake of this model validation, fuel conversion is compared by published experimental data and shows an acceptable agreement.     

DNS analysis of partially premixed combustion in spray and gaseous turbulent flame-bases stabilized in hot air

Direct numerical simulations of weakly turbulent-lifted flame bases are examined in the case of both gaseous and spray fuel jet injection. Simplified transport properties and an adjustable single-step chemistry that matches the flame response to equivalence ratio are used. The flames are stabilized within a coflowing stream of heated air. The properties of the zone where burning starts are found to strongly depend on the type of fuel injection. The gaseous flame base is essentially composed of an edge flame, with a large contribution of partially premixed combustion. This partially premixed flame takes two different forms, a nearly stoichiometric propagating kernel and a rich trailing flame whose burning rate is diffusion controlled. The rich premixed flame is parallel to the stoichiometric line, along which a diffusion flame burns the fuel left by this rich trailing flame, up to the very leading edge of the flame base. In the spray case, a nonnegligible amount of oxidizer is entrained within the dilute spray, also leading to an important contribution of partially premixed burning. However, diffusion and premixed burning are found more distributed in space in the spray case than with gaseous injection. A progress variable that is generalized to partially premixed combustion is discussed and the relative contributions of the terms of its balance equation are analyzed from the DNS. A flame partitioning into premixed and diffusion types is then examined and the stabilization zone is decomposed into basic flame prototypes. A subgrid scale flame decomposition is further discussed from a direct filtering of DNS and some a priori tests of subgrid scale modeling are reported.     

Characteristics of Lean Premixed Flame in Various Oxygen Concentrations Measured by Laser Imaging Techniques

For heavy-duty gas-turbine engines, one of the promising approaches to reducing NO_X emissions is the adoption of lean premixed combustion. This technique could be combined with the conventional technique of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). However, the reduction in the oxygen concentration will influence the burning velocity and reaction zone characteristics of the lean premixed flame. To elucidate this effect, in this study, we measured the lean premixed flame temperature and OH concentration distributions for various oxygen concentrations instantaneously and simultaneously using laser imaging techniques. Based on the results, we investigated the characteristics of a lean premixed flame under various oxygen concentrations and found that the OH laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) intensity in the reaction zone decreased with the oxygen concentration, as did the flame temperature at a given axial distance from the exit nozzle. The characteristics of the premixed flame changed from a small-scale convexo-concave surface to a smoother one, leading to a decrease in the ratio of turbulent to laminar burning velocity. In addition, local extinction of the premixed flame was observed under conditions with a high air ratio and low oxygen concentration.     

Theoretical analysis for the centrifugal effect on premixed flame speed in a closed tube

A theoretical analysis is described to study the effect of centrifugal acceleration, especially high centrifugal acceleration, i.e. more than 200 times of gravity acceleration (200g), on the premixed flame speed in a rotating closed tube. Based on one-dimensional (1-D) steady adiabatic flame model, simplified governing equations are directly solved by integration method in the reaction zone. A theoretical prediction that describes the premixed flame speed in a rotating closed tube is obtained. The theoretical prediction agrees well with the experimental data obtained by Lewis & Smith. The result verifies that the flame speed accelerated by the centrifugal force is nearly proportional to the square root of the centrifugal acceleration. It is shown by theoretical analysis that the flame speed in a rotating closed tube is determined by the initial temperature, the critical ignition temperature, the adiabatic flame temperature and the thicknesses of reaction zone. The premixed flame speed in a rotating closed tube increases nearly linearly with the increasing of the initial temperature or square root of the thicknesses of reaction zone, or with decreasing of the critical ignition temperature or the adiabatic flame temperature.     

A filtered tabulated chemistry model for LES of premixed combustion

A new modeling strategy called F-TACLES (Filtered Tabulated Chemistry for Large Eddy Simulation) is developed to introduce tabulated chemistry methods in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of turbulent premixed combustion. The objective is to recover the correct laminar flame propagation speed of the filtered flame front when subgrid scale turbulence vanishes as LES should tend toward Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The filtered flame structure is mapped using 1-D filtered laminar premixed flames. Closure of the filtered progress variable and the energy balance equations are carefully addressed in a fully compressible formulation. The methodology is first applied to 1-D filtered laminar flames, showing the ability of the model to recover the laminar flame speed and the correct chemical structure when the flame wrinkling is completely resolved. The model is then extended to turbulent combustion regimes by including subgrid scale wrinkling effects in the flame front propagation. Finally, preliminary tests of LES in a 3-D turbulent premixed flame are performed.     

Study on the potential of BML-approach and G-equation concept-based models for predicting swirling partially premixed combustion systems: URANS computations

In this work the potential of two combustion modeling approaches (BML and G-equation based models) for partially premixed flames in combustion systems of various complexities is investigated using URANS computations. The first configuration consists of a nonconfined swirled premixed methane/air flame (swirl number 0.75) exhibiting partially premixed effects due to coflowing. The system is studied either in the isothermal case or in the reacting mode and for different thermal powers. The second configuration represents a model GT combustion chamber and features the main properties of real GT combustors: a confined swirled flow with multiple recirculation zones and reattachment points, resulting in a partially premixed methane/air aerodynamically stabilized flame and an additional diffusion flame formed by the fuel and oxidizer not consumed in the premixed flame. This makes it possible to subject the modeling to variation of different parameters, such as confinement, Re-number or flame power, or adiabatic or nonadiabatic conditions. For this purpose an extended Bray-Moss-Libby model and a G-equation-based approach, both coupled to the mixture fraction transport equation to account for partially premixed effects, are used following the so-called conditional progress variable approach (CPVA). The radiation effects are also taken into account. To account for the turbulence-chemistry interaction, a (multivariate) presumed PDF approach is applied. The results are compared with LDV, Raman, and PLIF measurements. Beyond a pure validation, the URANS is used to capture the presence of the precessing vortex core and to analyze the performance of different modeling strategies of partially premixed combustion in capturing the expansion ratio, species formation conditioned on the flame front, and flame front stabilization. It appears that the combustion models used are able to achieve plausible results in the complex combustion systems under study, while the BML-based model affords less computational time.     

乙醇-氢气-空气混合物层流燃烧特性研究

氢气是一种高效的添加剂,可以改善生物质燃料的层流燃烧特性。为研究氢气对乙醇-空气预混层流火焰燃烧特性的影响,利用定容燃烧弹结合高速纹影摄像技术,系统研究了初始温度为400 K,初始压力为0.1 MPa和0.4 MPa,氢气含量为0%、10%、30%、50%、70%和90%,当量比为0.7 ~ 1.4时的氢气-乙醇-空气混合燃料的层流燃烧速度（LBV）、火焰厚度和马克斯坦长度等参数,并采用辐射校正公式使LBV更加精准。通过数值仿真构建预混火焰模型,与实验结果进行对比。结果表明,氢气比例的增加可以提高混合燃料的层流燃烧速度。当氢气比例小于50%时,LBV随氢气比例的增加线性增长。而当氢气比例大于50%,LBV随氢气的增加呈指数增长。初始压力的上升虽然降低了LBV,但提高了LBV的增长率。此外,随着氢气比例和初始压力的增加,火焰厚度减小,马克斯坦长度降低,火焰的不稳定性增强。     

Model of flame dynamics of laminar premixed flame subject to the low frequency equivalence ratio oscillations

The effect of the non-uniform profile of scalar variables, such a fuel at the upstream and temperature at the downstream of the flame zone was discussed theoretically to elucidate; (1) the deviation of motion from the steady state case and (2) the hysteresis of premixed flames response to the equivalence ratio oscillations seen in an experimental and numerical works. One-dimensional integral model for the non-uniform scalar variable profile with low frequency equivalence ratio oscillation has been developed. Here, the wavelength of the oscillation is assumed to be larger than the nominal flame thickness. Through the integral analysis, we obtained the relation of the flame propagation speed for steady and unsteady cases depending on the non-uniform scalar profile at the upstream and downstream of the flame zone. Hysteresis of the flame propagation speed is found due to the transport of fuel and heat by the non-uniform scalar profile at the upstream and downstream of the flame zone. This result qualitatively agreed with the numerical results of a response of the stagnation laminar CH₄/air premixed flames for a low equivalence ratio oscillation frequency.     

Blowoff mechanism of harmonically forced bluff body stabilized turbulent premixed flames

Flame blowoff under harmonic forcing of upstream mixture velocity is analyzed for bluff-body stabilized conical premixed flames in a laboratory burner. It is found that the forced vortex shedding phenomenon within the recirculation zone, accompanies flame blowoff when the convective wavelength of the imposed oscillation is larger than the recirculation zone length in the streamwise direction. The experimental results obtained from combined particle image velocimetry and planar laser induced fluorescence of OH radical provide evidence for this behavior. The differences between forced and unforced flame blowoff are also discussed.     

The anchoring mechanism of a bluff-body stabilized laminar premixed flame

The objective of this work is to investigate the mechanism of the laminar premixed flame anchoring near a heat-conducting bluff-body. We use unsteady, fully resolved, two-dimensional simulations with detailed chemical kinetics and species transport for methane–air combustion. No artificial flame anchoring boundary conditions were imposed. Simulations show a shear-layer stabilized flame just downstream of the bluff-body, with a recirculation zone formed by the products of combustion. A steel bluff-body resulted in a slightly larger recirculation zone than a ceramic bluff-body; the size of which grew as the equivalence ratio was decreased. A significant departure from the conventional two-zone flame-structure is shown in the anchoring region. In this region, the reaction zone is associated with a large negative energy convection (directed from products to reactants) resulting in a negative flame-displacement speed. It is shown that the premixed flame anchors at an immediate downstream location near the bluff-body where favorable ignition conditions are established; a region associated with (1) a sufficiently high temperature impacted by the conjugate heat exchange between the heat-conducting bluff-body and the hot reacting flow and (2) a locally maximum stoichiometry characterized by the preferential diffusion effects.     

Flame structure in aluminized wide-distribution AP composite propellants

Flame structure in wide-distribution ammonium-perchlorate (AP), hydroxyl-terminated-polybutadiene (HTPB) binder, aluminum (Al) composite propellants is studied using 2-D laminates with oxygenated binder. Very fine (2-μm) AP (FAP) is used to produce fuel-rich, matrix propellant (oxygenated binder) with a FAP/binder ratio of 75/25. Coarse AP (CAP) is simulated by pressed AP lamina. A flame-structure regime map for the CAP/oxy-fuel matrix interaction flame is generated as a function of oxy-fuel matrix thickness and pressure using high-speed video imaging analysis. The flame structure is found to be similar to that previously described using UV and IR imaging for non-aluminized laminates with split (diffusion) flame structure at high pressures (P) and low fuel thicknesses (L) and merged (partially premixed) flame structure for low P and L. The CAP/matrix flame regime boundary is shown to be correlated by Peclet number, indicating the relevance of conserved-scalar (Shvab-Zeldovich) theory with simple, global AP/hydrocarbon chemistry to describe the CAP/matrix diffusion-flame stoichiometry. Other findings include a slight stabilizing effect of Al on the 1-D premixed combustion of the marginally stable fuel-rich matrix. Also, when burning in 2-D laminates assisted slightly by the CAP/matrix interaction flame, the 75/25 matrix is found to burn flat (perpendicular to regression direction) even in the split-flame regime, in contrast to lower FAP/binder ratio matrices, which protrude into the gas-phase. Findings such as these are essential for developing a fundamental understanding of and truly predictive simulation capability for combustion of wide-distribution AP propellants, including plateau, mesa and bi-plateau propellants.     

Response of curved premixed flames to single-frequency and wideband acoustic waves

The dynamic response of a premixed curved flame interacting with sinusoidal acoustic waves has been numerically studied in the present work. Flame/acoustic interactions are particularly important both from a theoretical point of view and for practical purposes, as a possible trigger mechanism for combustion instabilities. Flames found in practical devices show a complex geometry, far from the planar configuration usually considered in theoretical studies. The particular purpose of the current study is to assess quantitatively the effects of acoustic waves on curved premixed flames, considering both single and wideband frequencies in order to mimic the conditions encountered in practical systems. The interaction process is studied by using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) including detailed physicochemical processes and differential molecular diffusion. The chemical reactions are modeled by a 25-step skeletal scheme involving 16 species to describe methane oxidation. The numerical results show strong flame front oscillations back and forth during interaction of the wave with the curved premixed flame. Moreover, the results demonstrate that a single-frequency acoustic wave has a magnifying effect on the preexisting wrinkling of the flame. This extending flame front leads to increasing fuel consumption rate. The effect is found to be maximum at an intermediate excitation frequency of 500 Hz. Interestingly, a wideband excitation from 100 to 1000 Hz leads to significant flame oscillation and the fuel consumption rate is highly increased in that case. As a whole, this study shows that curved flames are much more sensitive to acoustic excitations compared to planar flames, due to the baroclinic torque in combination with other inherent instabilities. An oblique acoustic wave has a similar but slightly enhanced disturbance to the premixed flame. Moreover, non-unity Lewis numbers have significant effects on curved flame-acoustic interaction, even in the present stoichiometric methane flame. However, it presented highly sensitive to the interaction.     

A model for the laminar flame speed of binary fuel blends and its application to methane/hydrogen mixtures

Recent studies have demonstrated promising performance of adding hydrogen to methane in internal combustion engines and substantial attention has been devoted to binary fuel blends. Due to the strong nonlinearity of chemical reaction process, the laminar flame speed of binary fuel blends cannot be obtained from linear combination of the laminar flame speed of each individual fuel constituent. In this study, theoretical analysis is conducted for a planar premixed flame of binary fuel blends and a model for the laminar flame speed is developed. The model shows that the laminar flame speed of binary fuel blends depends on the square of the laminar flame speed of each individual fuel component. This model can predict the laminar flame speed of binary fuel blends when three laminar flame speeds are available: two for each individual fuel component and the third one for the fuel blends at one selected blending ratio. The performance of this model as well as models reported in the literature is assessed for methane/hydrogen mixtures. It is demonstrated that good agreements with calculations or measurements can be achieved by the present model prediction. Moreover, it is found that the present model also works for other binary fuel blends besides methane/hydrogen.     

部分预混旋流燃烧的大涡模拟

采用耦合涡耗散概念模型的大涡模拟方法,探究了Re和组分变化对部分预混旋流火焰动力学特性的影响。通过与实验结果定性和定量的比较,验证了大涡程序模拟燃烧过程的可靠性。计算结果显示Re的增加,会明显提高空-燃混合效率,从而导致部分预混火焰中预混燃烧模式的比例有所增加,且预混燃烧区域向上游移动,Re的增加也会使得火焰下游产生更多更快的涡破碎结构。N_2含量的增加,会减小流向回流区尺寸,降低空-燃混合效率,但对减小火焰温度具有明显效果,从而对降低NO_x排放产生积极作用。结论为进一步研究部分预混旋流燃烧室的不稳定性及燃烧效率提供了理论和方法上的指导。     

Numerical simulation and theoretical analysis of premixed low-velocity filtration combustion

This paper investigates combustion wave characteristics of lean premixtures in a porous medium burner. Heat recuperation originated by the porous medium is examined by an one-dimensional numerical model. Attention is focused on the influences of solid properties, heat loss, equivalence ratio, etc., on the combustion wave speed and the maximum combustion temperature attained in the wave. Based on the flame sheet assumption a relationship between the combustion wave speed and the maximum combustion temperature is given. Then an approach from the laminar premixed flame theory is applied and the entire flame zone is divided into a pre-heating region and a reaction region, and treated separately. In this way, the second relationship between the two parameters is deduced. Thus a closed analytical solution for the combustion wave speed and the maximum combustion temperature is obtained. Over a wide range of working conditions, the numerical predictions and theoretical results show qualitative agreements with experimental data available from the literature. The results reveal that the mechanism of superadiabatic combustion is attributed to the overlapping of the thermal wave and combustion wave under certain conditions.     

Numerical study of methane and air combustion inside a small tube with an axial temperature gradient at the wall

A numerical study on CH₄ and air premixed combustion inside a small tube with a temperature gradient at the wall was undertaken to investigate the effects of inlet velocity, equivalence ratio and combustor size on combustion characteristics. The simulation results show that the inlet velocity has a significant influence on the reaction zone, and the flame front shifts downstream as the inlet velocity increases. The results also show that, the inlet velocity has no obvious effects on the flame temperature. The highest flame temperature is obtained if the equivalence ratio is set to 1. It is disclosed that the combustor size strongly influences the combustion characteristics. The smaller the combustor size is, the more difficult it is to maintain the steady combustion. The smallest combustor size that the stable flame can be sustained is determined mainly by the wall temperature of the micro-combustor under the given conditions. The higher the wall temperature is, the smaller the smallest combustor size. Therefore increasing wall temperature is an effective way to realize flame stabilization for a given combustor size.     

Study on the characteristics of evaporation–atomization–combustion of biodiesel

A great deal of research is being carried out on renewable diesel fuels. The number of raw materials (especially waste, animal, and vegetable oils), production technologies, and additives of biodiesel is increasing. In our work, a evaporation–atomization–combustion system consisting of a biomass liquid fuel was designed to produce a laminar premixed flame for studying the combustion–emission characteristics of biodiesel. The combustion characteristics of biodiesel including flame height, flame front area, flame speed, and OH total signal intensity were studied by planar laser-induced fluorescence of OH (OH-PLIF). The emission characteristics of biodiesel (CO, CO₂, and NO) were studied with a flue gas analyzer. The experimental results showed that the flame height, flame front area, flame speed, and the OH total signal intensity changed with the equivalence ratio (Φ). The relationship between the OH radical intensity and the emission of CO/CO₂ was obtained from the OH-PLIF average signal intensity. The [CO]/[CO₂] ratio decreased with the OH-PLIF average signal intensity. Finally, we obtained the relationship between the OH-PLIF average signal intensity and the NO emissions.