RANS Simulations of a Series of Turbulent V-Shaped Flames using Conditional Source-term Estimation

In the present study, Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations are applied to a series of turbulent V-shaped flames. Two formulations of Conditional Source-term Estimation (CSE) are developed using singly and doubly conditioned averages for turbulent premixed and partially premixed flames, respectively. Detailed chemistry is included. Conditionally averaged chemical source terms are closed by conditional averaged scalars which are obtained by inverting an integral equation. The objectives are to study a turbulent premixed V-shaped flame using the premixed CSE approach and apply the Doubly Conditional CSE (DCSE) combustion model to a case of stratified combustion. The partially premixed implementation involves double conditioning on two variables, mixture fraction and progress variable. The present study represents the first application of DCSE for a series of turbulent stratified flames. First, CSE is analysed for fully premixed conditions. A sensitivity analysis on the number of CSE ensembles and different scalar dissipation model closures is performed. Good results are obtained in terms of velocity and progress variable profiles. Finally, the partially premixed formulation is applied to the stratified case at three different conditions, corresponding to two different turbulence grids and three different profiles of the equivalence ratio, providing promising results.     

Heat Transfer Modeling in the Context of Large Eddy Simulation of Premixed Combustion with Tabulated Chemistry

Tabulated chemistry models like the Flamelet Generated Manifolds method are a good approach to include detailed information on the reaction kinetics in a turbulent flame at reasonable computational costs. However, so far, not all information on e.g. heat losses are contained in these models. As those often appear in typical technical applications with enclosed flames in combustion chambers, extensions to the standard FGM approach will be presented in this paper, allowing for the representation of non-adiabatic boundaries. The enthalpy as additional control variable for the table access is introduced, such that the chemistry database becomes three-dimensional with mixture fraction, reaction progress variable and enthalpy describing the thermo-chemical state. The model presented here is first validated with a two-dimensional enclosed Bunsen flame and then applied within the Large Eddy Simulations of a turbulent premixed swirl flame with a water-cooled bluff body and a turbulent stratified flame, where additional modeling for the flame structure using artificially thickened flames was included. The results are encouraging, as the temperature decrease towards the bluff body in the swirl flame and the cooling of the pilot flame exhaust gases in the stratified configuration can be observed in both experiments and simulation.     

Large eddy simulation of turbulent premixed and stratified combustion using flame surface density model coupled with tabulation method

Large eddy simulations (LESs) are performed to investigate the Cambridge premixed and stratified flames, SwB1 and SwB5, respectively. The flame surface density (FSD) model incorporated with two different wrinkling factor models, i.e., the Muppala and Charlette2 wrinkling factor models, is used to describe combustion/turbulence interaction, and the flamelet generated manifolds (FGM) method is employed to determine major scalars. This coupled sub-grid scale (SGS) combustion model is named as the FSD-FGM model. The FGM method can provide the detailed species in the flame which cannot be obtained from the origin FSD model. The LES results show that the FSD-FGM model has the ability of describing flame propagation, especially for stratified flames. The Charlette2 wrinkling factor model performs better than the Muppala wrinkling factor model in predicting the flame surface area change by the turbulence. The combustion characteristics are analyzed in detail by the flame index and probability distributions of the equivalence ratio and the orientation angle, which confirms that for the investigated stratified flame, the dominant combustion modes in the upstream and downstream regions are the premixed mode and the back-supported mode, respectively.     

Optimizing progress variable definition in flamelet-based dimension reduction in combustion

An automated method to optimize the definition of the progress variables in the flamelet-based dimension reduction is proposed. The performance of these optimized progress variables in coupling the flamelets and flow solver is presented. In the proposed method, the progress variables are defined according to the first two principal components (PCs) from the principal component analysis (PCA) or kernel-density-weighted PCA (KEDPCA) of a set of flamelets. These flamelets can then be mapped to these new progress variables instead of the mixture fraction/conventional progress variables. Thus, a new chemistry look-up table is constructed. A priori validation of these optimized progress variables and the new chemistry table is implemented in a CH₄/N₂/air lift-off flame. The reconstruction of the lift-off flame shows that the optimized progress variables perform better than the conventional ones, especially in the high temperature area. The coefficient determinations (R2 statistics) show that the KEDPCA performs slightly better than the PCA except for some minor species. The main advantage of the KEDPCA is that it is less sensitive to the database. Meanwhile, the criteria for the optimization are proposed and discussed. The constraint that the progress variables should monotonically evolve from fresh gas to burnt gas is analyzed in detail.     

Finite Rate Chemistry Effects in Highly Sheared Turbulent Premixed Flames

Detailed scalar structure measurements of highly sheared turbulent premixed flames stabilized on the piloted premixed jet burner (PPJB) are reported together with corresponding numerical calculations using a particle based probability density function (PDF) method. The PPJB is capable of stabilizing highly turbulent premixed jet flames through the use of a small stoichiometric pilot that ensures initial ignition of the jet and a large shielding coflow of hot combustion products. Four lean premixed methane-air flames with a constant jet equivalence ratio are studied over a wide range of jet velocities. The scalar structure of the flames are examined through high resolution imaging of temperature and OH mole fraction, whilst the reaction rate structure is examined using simultaneous imaging of temperature and mole fractions of OH and CH₂O. Measurements of temperature and mole fractions of CO and OH using the Raman–Rayleigh–LIF-crossed plane OH technique are used to examine the flame thickening and flame reaction rates. It is found that as the shear rates increase, finite-rate chemistry effects manifest through a gradual decrease in reactedness, rather than the abrupt localized extinction observed in non-premixed flames when approaching blow-off. This gradual decrease in reactedness is accompanied by a broadening in the reaction zone which is consistent with the view that turbulence structures become embedded within the instantaneous flame front. Numerical predictions using a particle-based PDF model are shown to be able to predict the measured flames with significant finite-rate chemistry effects, albeit with the use of a modified mixing frequency.     

Joint Scalar versus Joint Velocity-Scalar PDF Simulations of Bluff-Body Stabilized Flames with REDIM

Two transported PDF strategies, joint velocity-scalar PDF (JVSPDF) and joint scalar PDF (JSPDF), are investigated for bluff-body stabilized jet-type turbulent diffusion flames with a variable degree of turbulence–chemistry interaction. Chemistry is modeled by means of the novel reaction-diffusion manifold (REDIM) technique. A detailed chemistry mechanism is reduced, including diffusion effects, with N ₂ and CO ₂ mass fractions as reduced coordinates. The second-moment closure RANS turbulence model and the modified Curl’s micro-mixing model are not varied. Radiative heat loss effects are ignored. The results for mean velocity and velocity fluctuations in physical space are very similar for both PDF methods. They agree well with experimental data up to the neck zone. Each of the two PDF approaches implies a different closure for the velocity-scalar correlation. This leads to differences in the radial profiles in physical space of mean scalars and mixture fraction variance, due to different scalar flux modeling. Differences are visible in mean mixture fraction and mean temperature, as well as in mixture fraction variance. In principle, the JVSPDF simulations can be closer to physical reality, as a differential model is implied for the scalar fluxes, whereas the gradient diffusion hypothesis is implied in JSPDF simulations. Yet, in JSPDF simulations, turbulent diffusion can be tuned by means of the turbulent Schmidt number. In the neck zone, where the turbulent flow field results deteriorate, the joint scalar PDF results are in somewhat better agreement with experimental data, for the test cases considered. In composition space, where results are reported as scatter plots, differences between the two PDF strategies are small in the calculations at hand, with a little more local extinction in the joint scalar PDF results.     

Coupling tabulated chemistry with Large Eddy Simulation of turbulent reactive flows

A new modeling strategy is developed to introduce tabulated chemistry methods in the LES of turbulent premixed combustion. The objective is to recover the correct laminar flame propagation speed of the filtered flame front when the subgrid scale turbulence vanishes. The filtered flame structure is mapped by 1D filtered laminar premixed flames. Closure of the filtered progress variable and the energy balance equations are carefully addressed. The methodology is applied to 1D and 2D filtered laminar flames. These computations show the capability 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 introducing subgrid scale wrinkling effects on the flame front propagation. Finally, the LES of a 3D turbulent premixed flame is performed. To cite this article: R. Vicquelin et al., C. R. Mecanique 337 (2009).     

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and fuel mole fraction using acetone planar induced fluorescence and Rayleigh scattering in stratified flames

The use of acetone as a tracer for planar laser induced of fluorescence (PLIF) measurements is very popular both for mixing investigations and for premixed or partially premixed combustion systems when evaluating the local mixture fraction (or equivalence ratio) in the fresh gases. The local structure of a flame front can be investigated by using Rayleigh scattering, and this technique has been quite frequently used in combustion. We present here an application of simultaneous imaging of temperature and fuel mole fraction with both acetone PLIF and Rayleigh scattering techniques. The strong influence of temperature on fluorescence signals can be corrected if the local temperature is known. Simultaneously, the contribution of the acetone Rayleigh cross-section can be evaluated through the local value of acetone mole fraction. An iterative process enables the fuel mole fraction (in the limit of the preheat zone) and temperature fields to be obtained in a reactive configuration. The technique is limited by the maximum temperature that can be corrected and by the tracer specificities. Tests in laminar homogeneous stabilized flames and in stratified stabilized flames demonstrate the ability to record the instantaneous flame structure and fuel mole fraction field. Finally, the paper presents correlations of the local flame thickness with the local methane mole fraction, which underline the strong influence of large scales of the equivalence ratio on the local flame structure.     

The improvement of blowout limit in partially/fully premixed flames with geometrically modified bluffbody bases

The improvement of the lean blowout limit of bluffbody stabilized methane flames is investigated. The flame configuration consists of a hybrid of partially and fully premixed flames, which is produced by injecting methane jets from a streamline-shaped bluffbody into a fully premixed methane/air crossflow. Additional geometric modifications from the original bluffbody base are such that the base has two-dimensionally modified geometries and three-dimensional local cavities. We observe that the blowout limit of the hybrid configuration is extended by up to ~12% (in terms of the equivalence ratio of the crossflow) with the modified geometries. Gas chromatographic sampling and particle image velocimetry (PIV) show that high fuel mole fraction regions coexist with regions of low speed flow for the modified geometries. Further PIV analysis shows that the downstream flow fields of the modified bases generally have a larger number of incoherent vortices and lower strain rate in comparison with those of the unmodified base.     

Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Premixed Swirling Flames Using Dynamic Thickened Flame with Tabulated Detailed Chemistry

A sub-grid scale (SGS) combustion model by combining dynamic thickened flame (DTF) with flamelet generated manifolds (FGM) tabulation approach (i.e. DTF-FGM) is developed for investigating turbulent premixed combustion. In contrast to the thickened flame model, the dynamic thickening factor of the DTF model is determined from the flame sensor, which is obtained from the normalized gradient of the reaction progress variable from the one-dimensional freely propagating premixed flame simulations. Therewith the DTF model can ensure that the thickening of the flame is limited to the regions where it is numerically necessary. To describe the thermo-chemistry states, large eddy simulation (LES) transport equations for two characteristic scalars (the mixture fraction and the reaction progress variable) and relevant sub-grid variances in the DTF-FGM model are presented. As to the evaluation of different SGS combustion models, another model by utilizing the combination of presumed probability density function (PPDF) and FGM (i.e. PPDF-FGM) is also described. LES of two cases with or without swirl in premixed regime of the Cambridge swirl burner flames are performed to evaluate the developed SGS combustion model. The predicted results are compared with the experimental data in terms of the influence of different LES grids, model sensitivities to the thickening factor, the wrinkling factor, and the PPDF of characteristic scalars, the evaluation of different modelling approaches for the sub-grid variances of characteristic scalars, and the predictive capability of different SGS combustion models. It is shown that the LES results with the DTF-FGM model are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data, and better than the results with the PPDF-FGM approach due to its ability to predict better in regions where flame is not resolved.     

奇异摄动在层流预混火焰理论研究中的应用

奇异摄动被广泛应用于求取力学问题的近似解.一个典型问题就是流体力学中的边界层.郭永怀先生曾发展了适用于平板黏性流动边界层问题的奇异摄动理论.类似于流体力学中的边界层,燃烧研究中的层流预混火焰也可以通过奇异摄动理论进行分析,在燃烧研究中通常称其为大活化能渐近分析.本文介绍了大活化能渐近分析在一维平面预混火焰和球形传播火焰中的应用及相关研究进展.首先介绍了预混火焰结构及其涉及的不同特征尺度,分析了大活化能条件下出现的特征尺度分离,并给出了关于平面预混火焰大活化能渐近分析的详细推导,讨论了热辐射对火焰传播的影响;然后介绍了大活化能渐近分析在点火与球形传播火焰方面的应用,指出了只有能够同时描述点火与球形火焰传播的理论才能准确地预测临界点火条件,并讨论了考虑链式反应的点火与火焰传播理论,分析了热辐射对球形火焰传播的影响,给了关于火焰稳定性理论研究的发展趋势.最后,基于当前研究进展对未来的研究方向进行了展望,其中涉及多步化学反应、低温冷火焰、复杂流动、辐射重吸收等.      

Effect of turbulence on flame radiative emission

A collection of radiative emissions by several flames is analyzed. Such flames have been obtained in a number of burners, either premixed or not, fed with different fuels, while radiative emission is collected by means of a photo-diode, whose sampled signal is able to carry a large quantity of information about chemistry of flames and its interaction with turbulence. All the spectra computed show a decaying trend towards high frequencies with a slope of −5/3, that is known to be the inertial scaling of kinetic energy for homogeneous, isotropic, nonreacting turbulent flows. The aim of this work is to propose a physical model for the interpretation of the radiant energy scaling law coming from this simple instrument. To this purpose radiative emission of the flame has been splitted into two contributions, and its dynamics analyzed. The first contribution is the chemiluminescence effect, whereas the other is to be accounted for thermal emission of a gray/black body, ruled by Planck radiative equation. The time fluctuation of radiative emission is proposed to be linked to a thin reacting surface fluctuating in time and space under the constraint of turbulent fluid dynamic field. The thin reacting surface should be considered as the local flame front in premixed combustion, and as the local stoichiometric mixture fraction front in nonpremixed case. Taking into account such emission mechanisms, a physical interpretation of the −5/3 slope is proposed.     

Finite Rate Chemistry Effects in Turbulent Reacting Flows

The classical “fast chemistry” analysis by Damköhler remains a common basis for calculation methods aimed at turbulent reacting flows. Perturbation approaches can be used to introduce finite rate chemistry effects, particularly where a distinct chemical time-scale separation is present, though more comprehensive techniques, e.g. based on a transported joint probability density function (JPDF), are typically required. Potential difficulties with the JPDF technique include issues related to the intrinsic structure of turbulent flames, particularly at low Reynolds numbers, and models for molecular mixing. The ability to predict the formation of NO is particularly interesting in this context given the strong sensitivity to chemical kinetic and non-adiabatic effects. The current work initially provides an assessment of uncertainties in the formation chemistry of NO in the context of new quantitative measurements, obtained in non-premixed laminar methane/air counterflow flames using ps-LIF, and subsequently explores how these translate to turbulent flames. A consistent systematically reduced (16 independent, 4 dependent and 28 steady state scalars) reaction mechanism is applied to model the turbulent flames of Barlow and co-workers (8200 ≤Re≤ 44000). The highest Re number flame additionally permits an investigation into the ability of the transported JPDF technique to deal with emissions of nitric oxide in flames close to global extinction. The work shows that the technique has the potential to reproduce NO levels and conditional PDFs under conditions with significant local extinction/re-ignition to within the uncertainties associated with the principal elementary reaction steps.     

Noise Correction and Length Scale Estimation for Scalar Dissipation Rate Measurements in Turbulent Partially Premixed Flames

A recently developed conditional sampling-based method for correcting noise effects in scalar dissipation rate measurements and for estimating the extent of resolution of the dissipation rate is employed to analyze the data obtained in turbulent partially premixed (Sandia) flames. The method uses conditional sampling to select instantaneous fully resolved local scalar fields, which are analyzed to determine the measurement noise and to correct the Favre mean, conditional, and conditionally filtered dissipation rates. The potentially under-resolved local scalar fields, also selected using conditional sampling, are corrected for noise and are analyzed to examine the extent of resolution. The error function is used as a model for the potentially under-resolved local scalar to evaluate the scalar dissipation length scales and the percentage of the dissipation resolved. The results show that the Favre mean dissipation rate, the mean dissipation rate conditional on the mixture fraction, and dissipation rate filtered conditionally on the mixture fraction generally are well resolved in the flames. Analyses of the dissipation rates filtered conditionally on the mixture fraction and temperature show that the length scale increases with temperature, due to lower dissipation rate and higher diffusivity. The dissipation rate is well resolved for temperatures above 1,300 K but is less resolved at lower temperatures, although the probability of very low temperature events is low. To fully resolve these rare events the sample spacing needs to be reduced by approximately one half. The present study further demonstrates the effectiveness of the new noise correction and length scale estimation method.     

Assessing the Predictive Capabilities of Combustion LES as Applied to the Sydney Flame Series

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and flamelet-based combustion models were applied to four bluff-body stabilized nonpremixed and partially premixed flames selected from the Sydney flame series, based on Masri’s bluff-body test rig (University of Sydney). Three related non-reacting flow cases were also investigated to assess the performance of the LES solver. Both un-swirled and swirled cases were studied exhibiting different flow features, such as recirculation, jet precessing and vortex breakdown. Due to various fuel compositions, flow rates and swirl numbers, the combustion characteristics of the flames varied greatly. On six meshes with different blocking structure and mesh sizes, good prediction of flow and scalar fields using LES/flamelet approaches and known fuel and oxidizer mass fluxes was achieved. The accuracy of predictions was strongly influenced by the combustion model used. All flames were calculated using at least two modeling strategies. Starting with calculations of isothermal flow cases, simple single flamelet based calculations were carried out for the corresponding reacting cases. The combustion models were then adjusted to fit the requirements of each flame. For all flame calculations good agreement of the main flow features with the measured data was achieved. For purely nonpremixed flames burning attached to the bluff-body’s outer edge, flamelet modeling including strain rate effects provided good results for the flow field and for most scalars. The prediction of a partially premixed swirl flame could only be achieved by applying a flamelet-based progress variable approach.     

A Lagrangian-based flame index for the transported probability density function method

We propose a new flame index for the transported probability density function(PDF) method. The flame index uses mixing flux projections of Lagrangian particles on mixture fraction and progress variable directions as the metrics to identify the combustion mode, with the Burke-Schumann solution as a reference. A priori validation of the flame index is conducted with a series of constructed turbulent partially premixed reactors. It indicates that the proposed flame index is able to identify the combustion mode based on the subgrid mixing information. The flame index is then applied the large eddy simulation/PDF datasets of turbulent partially premixed jet flames. Results show that the flame index separate different combustion modes and extinction correctly. The proposed flame index provides a promising tool to analyze and model the partially premixed flames adaptively.     

Effects of Turbulence on Self-sustained Combustion in Premixed Flame Kernels: A Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) Study

The effects of mean flame radius and turbulence on self-sustained combustion of turbulent premixed spherical flames in decaying turbulence have been investigated using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) with single step Arrhenius chemistry. Several flame kernels with different initial radius or initial turbulent field have been studied for identical conditions of thermo-chemistry. It has been found that for very small kernel radius the mean displacement speed may become negative leading ultimately to extinction of the flame kernel. A mean negative displacement speed is shown to signify a physical situation where heat transfer from the kernel overcomes the heat release due to combustion. This mechanism is further enhanced by turbulent transport and, based on simulations with different initial turbulent velocity fields, it has been found that self-sustained combustion is adversely affected by higher turbulent velocity fluctuation magnitude and integral length scale. A scaling analysis is performed to estimate the critical radius for self-sustained combustion in premixed flame kernels in a turbulent environment. The scaling analysis is found to be in good agreement with the results of the simulations.     

Computation of Conditional Average Scalar Dissipation in Turbulent Jet Diffusion Flames

The modelling of conditional scalar dissipation in locally self-similar turbulent reacting jets is considered. The streamwise dependence in the transport equation of the conserved scalar pdf is represented by a function solely dependent on centreline mixture fraction. This procedure provides a simple model suitable for non-homogeneous flows and ensures positive values for conditional scalar dissipation. It has been tested in pure hydrogen-air jet diffusion flames using a Conditional Moment Closure method with detailed 12species, 23 reactions chemistry. The calculations show good agreement of the averaged scalar dissipation with reference values and the model proves to be superior to previous models based on homogeneous flows if the distribution of the conditional scalar dissipation in mixture fraction space is compared with experimental results. A dependence of NO predictions on the model of conditional scalar dissipation can be observed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.