Turbulent Combustion of Hydrogen–CO Mixtures

Laminar and turbulent burning velocities were measured in a closed-volume fan-stirred vessel for H₂–CO mixtures using two independent methods of flame definition. It has been shown that the unsteady flame development is an important factor and it needs to be taken into account for comparison of the burning rates obtained in different experiments. For the atmospheric pressure flames, the mixtures with faster laminar flame velocities burnt faster in turbulent flow despite the fact that the lean flames exhibit cellular structures. However, even a modest increase of the initial pressure promotes strongly cellularity and causes a significant acceleration of a lean laminar flame. The same lean flame burns faster in turbulent flow as well and this increase in the rate of combustion is greater that can be deduced from variation of the molecular heat diffusivity and laminar flame speed.     

Comparison of Combustion Models and Assessment of Their Applicability to the Simulation of Premixed Turbulent Combustion in IC-Engines

In order to simulate the turbulent combustion process occurring in spark-ignition (IC) engines, it is necessary to provide suitable and numerically economical models, the latter being particularly important in the application to industrial problems. Moreover, these models must deliver sufficiently accurate results for the unsteady operation of spark combustion engines, concerning variable geometries, temperatures, pressures and charge development in different configurations. In this work different turbulent combustion models for premixed hydrocarbon combustion are compared with respect to their ability to accurately predict the propagation of turbulent perfectly premixed flames. As a first configuration a cylinder of constant volume was studied. Transient calculations were used to simulate the propagation of the turbulent flame and to evaluate the resulting turbulent burning velocity. These calculations were performed for a perfect mixture of air and hydrocarbons at stoichiometric mixture and different initial conditions concerning pressure, temperature and turbulence intensity. As a second configuration a stationary turbulent bunsen-type flame with methane fuel was used to validate the turbulent combustion model of [Lindstedt and Vaos, Combust. Flame 116 (1999) 461] at different pressures. Calculated results were then compared to experimental data of [Kobayashi, Tamura, Maruta and Niioka. In: Proceedings of the 26th Symposium on Combustion, 1996, p. 389] and show excellent agreement for the turbulent burning velocity at several pressure levels using only a single set of model parameters.     

A pore scale study on turbulent combustion in porous media

This paper presents pore scale simulation of turbulent combustion of air/methane mixture in porous media to investigate the effects of multidimensionality and turbulence on the flame within the pores of porous media. In order to investigate combustion in the pores of porous medium, a simple but often used porous medium consisting of a staggered arrangement of square cylinders is considered in the present study. Results of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent viscosity ratio, temperature, flame speed, convective heat transfer and thermal conductivity are presented and compared for laminar and turbulent simulations. It is shown that the turbulent kinetic energy increases from the inlet of burner, because of turbulence created by the solid matrix with a sudden jump or reduction at the flame front due to increase in temperature and velocity. Also, the pore scale simulation revealed that the laminarization of flow occurs after flame front in the combustion zone and turbulence effects are important mainly in the preheat zone. It is shown that turbulence enhances the diffusion processes in the preheat zone, but it is not enough to affect the maximum flame speed, temperature distribution and convective heat transfer in the porous burner. The dimensionless parameters associated with the Borghi–Peters diagram of turbulent combustion have been analyzed for the case of combustion in porous media and it is found that the combustion in the porous burner considered in the present study concerns the range of well stirred reactor very close to the laminar flame region.     

汽油蒸气/空气预混火焰的无拉伸层流燃烧速率

为了研究汽油蒸气/空气的爆炸特性,介绍了汽油蒸气/空气预混火焰的无拉伸层流燃烧速率。通过实验研究了无拉伸层流燃烧速率,与汽油的主要组分异辛烷和正庚烷与空气的预混火焰层流燃烧速率做了对比,发现汽油蒸气/空气的无拉伸层流燃烧速率小于异辛烷和正庚烷与空气的预混火焰无拉伸层流燃烧速率,但无拉伸层流燃烧速率随当量比的变化规律相同,随着当量比增大,无拉伸层流燃烧速率呈先增大、再减小的变化趋势,最大值在当量比为1处取得。     

Statistical Analysis of Turbulent Flame-Droplet Interaction: A Direct Numerical Simulation Study

Turbulent combustion of mono-disperse droplet-mist has been analysed based on three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in canonical configuration under decaying turbulence for a range of different values of droplet equivalence ratio (?_d), droplet diameter (a_d) and root-mean-square value of turbulent velocity (u^′). The fuel is supplied in liquid phase and the evaporation of droplets gives rise to gaseous fuel for the flame propagation into the droplet-mist. It has been found that initial droplet diameter, turbulence intensity and droplet equivalence ratio can have significant influences on the volume-integrated burning rate, flame surface area and burning rate per unit area. The droplets are found to evaporate predominantly in the preheat zone, but some droplets penetrate the flame front, reaching the burned gas side where they evaporate and some of the resulting fuel vapour diffuses back towards the flame front. The combustion process in gaseous phase takes place predominantly in fuel-lean mode even for ?_d > 1. The probability of finding fuel-lean mixture increases with increasing initial droplet diameter because of slower evaporation of larger droplets and this predominantly fuel-lean mode of combustion exhibits the attributes of low Damköhler number combustion and gives rise to thickening of flame with increasing droplet diameter. The chemical reaction is found to take place under both premixed and non-premixed modes of combustion and the relative contribution of non-premixed combustion to overall heat release increases with increasing droplet size. The statistical behaviours of the flame propagation and mode of combustion have been analysed in detail and detailed physical explanations have been provided for the observed behaviour.     

Development and characterization of a variable turbulence generation system

Experimental turbulent combustion studies require systems that can simulate the turbulence intensities [u′/U ₀ ~ 20–30% (Koutmos and McGuirk in Exp Fluids 7(5):344–354, 1989)] and operating conditions of real systems. Furthermore, it is important to have systems where turbulence intensity can be varied independently of mean flow velocity, as quantities such as turbulent flame speed and turbulent flame brush thickness exhibit complex and not yet fully understood dependencies upon both U ₀ and u′. Finally, high pressure operation in a highly pre-heated environment requires systems that can be sealed, withstand high gas temperatures, and have remotely variable turbulence intensity that does not require system shut down and disassembly. This paper describes the development and characterization of a variable turbulence generation system for turbulent combustion studies. The system is capable of a wide range of turbulence intensities (10–30%) and turbulent Reynolds numbers (140–2,200) over a range of flow velocities. An important aspect of this system is the ability to vary the turbulence intensity remotely, without changing the mean flow velocity. This system is similar to the turbulence generators described by Videto and Santavicca (Combust Sci Technol 76(1):159–164, 1991) and Coppola and Gomez (Exp Therm Fluid Sci 33(7):1037–1048, 2009), where variable blockage ratio slots are located upstream of a contoured nozzle. Vortical structures from the slots impinge on the walls of the contoured nozzle to produce fine-scale turbulence. The flow field was characterized for two nozzle diameters using three-component Laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and hotwire anemometry for mean flow velocities from 4 to 50 m/s. This paper describes the key design features of the system, as well as the variation of mean and RMS velocity, integral length scales, and spectra with nozzle diameter, flow velocity, and turbulence generator blockage ratio.     

粉尘空气混合物层流燃烧速度的实验测定

给出了计算粉尘层流火焰速度的直接方法,此法简便易行,在粉尘浓度较低时,计算精度较高。实验结果表明:粉尘浓度对火焰传播速度和燃烧速度有很大的影响,粉尘浓度过大时,粒子运动轨迹就难观测,用直接法计算层流火焰速度的误差增大;管径大小也对燃烧速度有很大影响;小管径中的所得值比大管径中的所得值约低８％。     

Stationary modes of combustion in a fine-scale turbulent stream

The majority of models of the turbulent combustion of gases are based mainly on intuitive concepts concerning the processes occurring in the flame. The characteristics of a turbulent flame are estimated from considerations of dimensionality and similarity. A detailed review of works on turbulent combustion is given in [1]. Problems on the calculation of the combustion rate in a turbulent stream as a proper value of the equations of heat and mass transfer and of the corresponding boundary conditions have recently been raised. Here too one must rest on assumptions of a semiempirical nature, which in large measure is connected with the inadequate level of development of turbulence theory. In the present work the equation of propagation of the zone of chemical reactions in the stream is averaged statistically by analogy with studies of turbulent flows. Correct averaging is possible at scales of hydrodynamic disturbances smaller than the flame thickness (fine-scale turbulence). The temperature pulsations are related with the size of the heat flux using the theory of mixing lengths. The main influence is specific to effects arising during averaging of the heat release function. Two stationary modes, distinguished by the normal propagation velocity ₁, are isolated within the framework of the Cauchy problem with a given initial mixture temperature and zero heat flux in the burned gas. A heat conduction mode occurs with a stream velocity > ₁ and an induction mode with < ₁. An expression is found for ₁ which reflects the principal effects in the flame and which in the limit coincides with the equation of Zel'dovich and Frank-Kamenetskii for a laminar flame. In those cases when the distorting effect of the heat release function is small, the turbulence affects the combustion rate through mechanisms of intensification of transport processes.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 5, pp. 118–124, September–October, 1973.     

Towards an Extension of TFC Model of Premixed Turbulent Combustion

In order to determine the mean rate of product creation within the framework of the Turbulent Flame Closure (TFC) model of premixed combustion, the model is combined with a simple closure of turbulent scalar flux developed recently by the present authors based on the flamelet concept of turbulent burning. The model combination is assessed by numerically simulating statistically planar, one-dimensional, developing premixed flames that propagate in frozen turbulence. The mean rate of product creation yielded by the combined model decreases too slowly at the trailing edges of the studied flames, with the effect being more pronounced at longer flame-development times and larger ratios of rms turbulent velocity u′ to laminar flame speed S _L . To resolve the problem, the above closure of turbulent scalar flux is modified and the combination of the modified closure and TFC model yields reasonable behaviour of the studied rate. In particular, simulations indicate an increase in the mean combustion progress variable associated with the maximum rate by u′/S _L , in line with available DNS data. Finally, the modified closure of turbulent scalar flux is validated by computing conditioned velocities and turbulent scalar fluxes in six impinging-jet flames. The use of the TFC model for simulating such flames is advocated.     

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.     

CH4/O2/CO2预混体系爆炸动力学研究

为探究甲烷在富氧条件下的火焰动力学规律,以CH₄/O₂/CO₂预混体系为研究对象,在小尺度方形透明管道中进行了一系列爆炸实验,探讨了初始环境温度波动对爆炸参数的影响,并对预混体系的燃烧机理进行分析。结果表明:在273 K的环境温度下,化学当量比φ=0.8~1.0且氧气相对比γ<0.30和φ=1.2且γ<0.35的预混体系不能被点燃,而其他预混体系均可被点燃,最终产生郁金香与非郁金香两种火焰类型,并且根据郁金香火焰独特的演变特征,又划分为T形郁金香火焰和不对称郁金香火焰;随着γ的增大,无量纲火焰传播速度v/(S_Lσ)的变化趋势由“两升两降”转变为“一升一降”。初始环境温度的升高并未对火焰传播速度和爆炸超压的变化趋势产生影响,但是会导致最大爆炸超压p_max和最大火焰传播速度降低。值得注意的是,初始环境温度对爆炸强度的影响随化学当量比的减小而增强。另外,与最大爆炸超压相比,最大火焰传播速度与层流燃烧速度之间的关系更紧密。从敏感性分析中可知:层流燃烧速度对自由基链式反应R38(即H+O₂=O+OH)表现出最大的正敏感度,对R52(即H+CH₃(+M)=CH₄(+M))表现出最大的负敏感度,并且对自由基OH的生成速率最敏感,当初始环境温度升高至303 K时,层流燃烧速度对R38(正)和R52(负)的敏感度降低;H、O和OH自由基总摩尔分数的增大会削弱热扩散的不稳定性,增强流体力学的不稳定性。     

Does Density Ratio Significantly Affect Turbulent Flame Speed?

In order to experimentally study whether or not the density ratio σ substantially affects flame displacement speed at low and moderate turbulent intensities, two stoichiometric methane/oxygen/nitrogen mixtures characterized by the same laminar flame speed S _L = 0.36 m/s, but substantially different σ were designed using (i) preheating from T _u = 298 to 423 K in order to increase S _L , but to decrease σ, and (ii) dilution with nitrogen in order to further decrease σ and to reduce S _L back to the initial value. As a result, the density ratio was reduced from 7.52 to 4.95. In both reference and preheated/diluted cases, direct images of statistically spherical laminar and turbulent flames that expanded after spark ignition in the center of a large 3D cruciform burner were recorded and processed in order to evaluate the mean flame radius \(\bar {R}_{f}\left (t \right )\) and flame displacement speed \(S_{t}=\sigma ^{-1}{d\bar {R}_{f}} \left / \right . {dt}\) with respect to unburned gas. The use of two counter-rotating fans and perforated plates for near-isotropic turbulence generation allowed us to vary the rms turbulent velocity \(u^{\prime }\) by changing the fan frequency. In this study, \(u^{\prime }\) was varied from 0.14 to 1.39 m/s. For each set of initial conditions (two different mixture compositions, two different temperatures T _u , and six different \(u^{\prime })\), five (respectively, three) statistically equivalent runs were performed in turbulent (respectively, laminar) environment. The obtained experimental data do not show any significant effect of the density ratio on S _t . Moreover, the flame displacement speeds measured at u′/S _L = 0.4 are close to the laminar flame speeds in all investigated cases. These results imply, in particular, a minor effect of the density ratio on flame displacement speed in spark ignition engines and support simulations of the engine combustion using models that (i) do not allow for effects of the density ratio on S _t and (ii) have been validated against experimental data obtained under the room conditions, i.e. at higher σ.     

Numerical Simulation of Delft-Jet-in-Hot-Coflow (DJHC) Flames Using the Eddy Dissipation Concept Model for Turbulence–Chemistry Interaction

In this paper, we report results of a numerical investigation of turbulent natural gas combustion for a jet in a coflow of lean combustion products in the Delft-Jet-in-Hot-Coflow (DJHC) burner which emulates MILD (Moderate and Intense Low Oxygen Dilution) combustion behavior. The focus is on assessing the performance of the Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) model in combination with two-equation turbulence models and chemical kinetic schemes for about 20 species (Correa mechanism and DRM19 mechanism) by comparing predictions with experimental measurements. We study two different flame conditions corresponding to two different oxygen levels (7.6% and 10.9% by mass) in the hot coflow, and for two jet Reynolds number (Re = 4,100 and Re = 8,800). The mean velocity and turbulent kinetic energy predicted by different turbulence models are in good agreement with data without exhibiting large differences among the model predictions. The realizable k-ε model exhibits better performance in the prediction of entrainment. The EDC combustion model predicts too early ignition leading to a peak in the radial mean temperature profile at too low axial distance. However the model correctly predicts the experimentally observed decreasing trend of lift-off height with jet Reynolds number. A detailed analysis of the mean reaction rate of the EDC model is made and as possible cause for the deviations between model predictions and experiments a low turbulent Reynolds number effect is identified. Using modified EDC model constants prediction of too early ignition can be avoided. The results are weakly sensitive to the sub-model for laminar viscosity and laminar diffusion fluxes.     

Flame Structure and Propagation in Turbulent Flame-Droplet Interaction: A Direct Numerical Simulation Analysis

Three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in canonical configuration have been employed to study the combustion of mono-disperse droplet-mist under turbulent flow conditions. A parametric study has been performed for a range of values of droplet equivalence ratio ?_d, droplet diameter a_d and root-mean-square value of turbulent velocity u^′. The fuel is supplied entirely in liquid phase such that the evaporation of the droplets gives rise to gaseous fuel which then facilitates flame propagation into the droplet-mist. The combustion process in gaseous phase takes place predominantly in fuel-lean mode even for ?_d>1. The probability of finding fuel-lean mixture increases with increasing initial droplet diameter because of slower evaporation of larger droplets. The chemical reaction is found to take place under both premixed and non-premixed modes of combustion: the premixed mode ocurring mainly under fuel-lean conditions and the non-premixed mode under stoichiometric or fuel-rich conditions. The prevalence of premixed combustion was seen to decrease with increasing droplet size. Furthermore, droplet-fuelled turbulent flames have been found to be thicker than the corresponding turbulent stoichiometric premixed flames and this thickening increases with increasing droplet diameter. The flame thickening in droplet cases has been explained in terms of normal strain rate induced by fluid motion and due to flame normal propagation arising from different components of displacement speed. The statistical behaviours of the effective normal strain rate and flame stretching have been analysed in detail and detailed physical explanations have been provided for the observed behaviour. It has been found that the droplet cases show higher probability of finding positive effective normal strain rate (i.e. combined contribution of fluid motion and flame propagation), and negative values of stretch rate than in the stoichiometric premixed flame under similar flow conditions, which are responsible for higher flame thickness and smaller flame area generation in droplet cases.     

Direct Numerical Simulations of Hotspot-induced Ignition in Homogeneous Hydrogen-air Pre-mixtures and Ignition Spot Tracking

A systematic study relying on Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of premixed hydrogen-air mixtures has been performed to investigate the hotspot ignition characteristics and ignition probability under turbulent conditions. An ignition diagram is first obtained under laminar conditions by a parametric study. The impact of turbulence intensity on ignition delays and ignition probability is then quantified in a statistically-significant manner by repeating a large number of independent DNS realizations. By tracking in a Lagrangian frame the ignition spot, the balance between heat diffusion and heat of chemical reaction is observed as function of time. The evolution of each chemical species and radicals at the ignition spot is checked and the mechanism leading to ignition or misfire are analyzed. It is observed that successful ignition is mostly connected to a sufficient build-up of a HO₂ pool, ultimately initiating production of OH. Turbulence always delays ignition, and ignition probability goes to zero at sufficiently high turbulence intensity when keeping temperature and size of the initial hotspot constant.     

Interaction between an Inclined Shock and Boundary and High-Entropy Layers on a Flat Plate

The flow structure and heat exchange in the zone of interference between an inclined shock and the surface of a flat plate are investigated experimentally and theoretically as functions of many parameters, the interference being studied in both the presence and the absence of bluntness of the leading edge. The experiments were carried out at Mach numbers M = 6, 8, and 10 and the Reynolds numbers Re _L , calculated using the plate length L = 120 mm and the free-stream parameters, varied over the range from 0.24 ? 10⁶ to 1.31 ? 10⁶. The bluntness radius of the leading edge of the plate, the intensity of the impinging shock, and its location with respect to the leading edge were varied. The numerical simulation was carried out by solving the complete two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and averaged Reynolds equations using the q-ω turbulence model. The laminar boundary layer became turbulent inside the separation zone induced by the shock. It is shown that the plate bluntness significantly reduces the heat exchange intensity in the interference zone, this effect intensifying with increase in the Mach number.     

Numerical simulation of turbulent impinging jet on a rotating disk

The calculations of quasi‐three‐dimensional momentum equations were carried out to study the influence of wall rotation on the characteristics of an impinging jet. The pressure coefficient, the mean velocity distributions and the components of Reynolds stress are calculated. The flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible and turbulent. The finite volume scheme is used to solve the continuity equation, momentum equations and k–ε model equations. The flow characteristics were studied by varying rotation speed ω for 0?ω?167.6 rad/s, the distance from nozzle to disk (H/d) was (3, 5, 8 and 10) and the Reynolds number Re base on V_J and d was 1.45 × 10⁴. The results showed that, the radial velocity and turbulence intensity increase by increasing the rotation speed and decrease in the impingement zone as nozzle to disk spacing increases. When the centrifugal force increases, the radial normal stresses and shear stresses increase. The location of maximum radial velocity decreases as the local velocity ratio (α) increases. The pressure coefficient depends on the centrifugal force and it decreases as the distance from nozzle to plate increases. In impingement zone and radial wall jet, the spread of flow increases as the angular velocity decreases The numerical results give good agreement with the experiment data of Minagawa and Obi (Int. J. of Heat and Fluid Flow 2004; 25 :759–766). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct Numerical Simulations of Localised Forced Ignition in Turbulent Mixing Layers: The Effects of Mixture Fraction and Its Gradient

The effects of mixture fraction value ξ and the magnitude of its gradient |∇ξ| at the ignitor location on the localised forced ignition of turbulent mixing layers under decaying turbulence is studied based on three-dimensional compressible Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) with simplified chemistry. The localised ignition is accounted for by a spatial Gaussian power distribution in the energy transport equation, which deposits energy over a prescribed period of time. In successful ignitions, it is observed that the flame shows a tribrachial structure. The reaction rate is found to be greater in the fuel rich side than in stoichiometric and fuel-lean mixtures. Placing the ignitor at a fuel-lean region may initiate ignition, but extinction may eventually occur if the diffusion of heat from the hot gas kernel overcomes the heat release due to combustion. It is demonstrated that ignition in the fuel lean region may fail for an energy input for which self-sustained combustion has been achieved in the cases of igniting at stoichiometric and fuel-rich locations. It is also found that the fuel reaction rate magnitude is negatively correlated with density-weighted scalar dissipation rate in the most reactive region. An increase in the initial mixture fraction gradient at the ignition centre for the ignitor placed at stoichiometric mixture decreases the spreading of the burned region along the stoichiometric mixture fraction isosurface. By contrast, the mass of the burned region increases with an increase in the initial mixture fraction gradient at the ignition location, as for a given ignition kernel size the thinner mixing layer includes more fuel-rich mixture, which eventually makes the overall burning rate greater than that compared to a thicker mixing layer where relatively a smaller amount of fuel-rich mixture is engulfed within the hot gas kernel. Submitted as a full-length article to Flow Turbulence and Combustion.     

Reynolds number effects on the behavior of a non-buoyant round jet

The behavior of a non-buoyant circular water jet discharged from a contraction nozzle was experimentally investigated. In this experiment, the Reynolds number of the jet, based on the mean velocity results obtained by particle image velocimetry (PIV), ranged from 177 to 5,142. From the experimental results, we found that the cross-sectional profile of the axial velocity for a laminar flow near the nozzle did not show a top-hat distribution, whereas the profiles with Reynolds number higher than 437 were almost top-hat. The length of the zone of flow establishment (ZFE) was found to decrease with increasing Reynolds number. The measured centerline velocity decayed more rapidly and, consequently, approached the theoretical equation earlier near the nozzle as the Reynolds number increased. The decay constant for the centerline velocity of the turbulent cases was relatively lower than that discovered in theory. It is assumed that this probably resulted from the use of the contraction nozzle. Verifying the similarity of the lateral velocity profiles demonstrated that the Gaussian curve was properly approximated only for the turbulent jets and not for the laminar or transitional flows. The jet half width seldom grew for the laminar or transitional flows, whereas it grew with increasing axial distance for the turbulent flows. The spreading rates for the turbulent flows gradually decreased with increasing Reynolds number. The normalized turbulence intensity along the jet centerline increased more rapidly with the axial distance as the Reynolds number increased, and tended to the constant values proposed by previous investigators. The Reynolds shear stress levels were also found to increase as the Reynolds number increased for the turbulent jets.     

Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Turbulence and Mixing on Autoignition Chemistry

The autoignition of acetylene, released from a finite-sized circular nozzle into a turbulent coflow of hot air confined in a pipe, has been the subject of a recent experimental study to supplement previous work for hydrogen and n-heptane. As with hydrogen and n-heptane, autoignition appears in the form of well-defined localized spots. Quantitative information is presented concerning the effects of turbulence intensity, turbulent lengthscale and injector diameter on the location of autoignition. The effects of these parameters on inhomogeneous autoignition have not been investigated experimentally before. The present study establishes that increasing the bulk velocity increases the autoignition length, as was reported for hydrogen and n-heptane. For the same turbulence intensity, the autoignition length increases as the injector diameter increases and as the turbulent lengthscale decreases. A simultaneous decrease in turbulence intensity and increase in lengthscale causes a reduction in autoignition length. Further, the frequency of appearance of the autoignition spots has also been measured. It is found to increase when autoignition occurs closer to the injector, and also at higher velocities. The observed trends are consistent with expectations arising from the dependence of the mixture fraction and the scalar dissipation rate on the geometrical and flow parameters. The data can be used for the validation of turbulent combustion models.