航空煤油火焰传播速度实验与动力学研究

航空煤油火焰传播特性对航空动力装置的研发与设计均具有重要意义。本文在液体燃料对冲火焰实验台上,使用相位多普勒粒子分析仪(PDPA)在较宽的当量比范围内,测量了三种煤油表征燃料与空气掺混气的层流火焰传播速度。在标准大气压下,初温378 K时正癸烷、甲基环己烷和初温388 K时甲苯与空气预混气燃烧时能够达到的最大火焰传播速度为64.2 cm/s、58.3 cm/s和52.4 cm/s。在实验数据的基础上,进一步采用Chemkin软件对预混火焰进行了动力学分析,探讨了造成三种燃料火焰传播性质差异的动力学原因。     

富燃料丙烷/空气预混火焰特性的微重力实验研究

地面常重力(1g)条件下,丙烷/空气预混火焰向上传播的富燃极限为9.2%C_3H_8,而向下传播时的富燃极限仅为6.3%C_3H_8,二者之间存在明显差距。利用微重力条件下的实验,对燃料浓度从6.5%到8.6%(微重力实验中测定的可燃极限)范围内的丙烷/空气预混火焰特性进行了研究。实验发现,重力对近极限丙烷/空气火焰的传播有显著影响,影响程度随着当量比的增加而增大。微重力下丙烷/空气的富燃极限为8.6%C_3H_8(φ=2.24),明显高于1g条件下向下传播火焰的可燃极限,略低于向上传播火焰的可燃极限。随着当量比的增大,根据压力变化曲线计算的火焰层流燃烧速度从8.5cm/s逐渐减小到2.7 cm/s,可燃极限处的层流燃烧速度与前人实验数据一致。     

稀甲烷/氢气预混湍流传播火焰实验研究

本文采用定容湍流燃烧弹获取了稀甲烷/氢气/空气在强湍流条件下的火焰发展历程,研究了湍流火焰在负马克斯坦数条件下的传播特性.结果表明,湍流火焰呈现自相似传播特性,即使在强湍流条件下,湍流传播火焰仍然会受到不稳定性的影响.并且随着马克斯坦数的减小,不稳定性对湍流传播火焰的影响增强。同时,本文获得一种新的湍流燃烧速度拟合公式,包含了负马克斯坦数条件下不稳定性对湍流燃烧速度的影响。     

甲烷层流和湍流预混火焰OH^*和CH^*的化学发光特性

化学发光能够对火焰结构和燃烧过程进行良好的表征,但利用化学发光对湍流火焰进行测量的研究相对较少。为了更深入地研究和发展湍流燃烧理论,设计了伴燃射流燃烧器,通过ICCD相机和相应滤波片获取了OH^*和CH^*的化学发光图像,对甲烷/空气层流和湍流预混火焰的化学发光特性进行了研究,并利用分布高度、峰值位置、强反应区占比、峰值等参数对不同速度和当量比时的OH^*和CH^*进行表征。结果表明,层流时OH^*和CH^*的分布明显不同,而湍流的混合作用导致二者的分布范围趋向一致。随着当量比增大,不同速度下OH^*和CH^*的分布高度都呈单调递增趋势,但湍流的增长趋势要相对平缓;峰值位置的变化趋势与分布高度几乎一致,间接表明OH^*和CH^*的主导生成反应不变。强反应区占比在层流和湍流状态下的表现完全相反:从贫燃到富燃,层流中由大于0.1降低到0.05以下,而湍流中则由0.05上升到0.1以上,表明湍流对贫燃时的燃烧反应起抑制作用,在富燃时反而起促进作用。另外, OH^*和CH^*的峰值变化可以对火焰的流动状态进行判断,且CH^*尤为明显:随当量比增加,如果峰值先升后降,则可以认为火焰为层流状态;如果峰值单调递增,则是湍流状态。以速度和当量比为自变量,以OH^*和CH^*的峰值比为因变量,提出了不同速度条件下利用化学发光对当量比进行定量表征的统一关系式,解决了不同速度时需要分别进行拟合的问题,对后续的化学发光燃烧诊断研究具有重要意义。     

H2/air旋流预混燃烧的流场特性和火焰结构分析

本文采用完全可压缩的N-S方程,对当量比为1.0的H₂/air旋流预混火焰进行了直接数值模拟研究。氢气和空气的化学反应采用9种组分19步的详细机理。模拟结果表明,强旋流流场中存在回流区,碗形旋流火焰稳定在回流区的外围。在火焰面上沿火焰法向提取了局部火焰结构,将局部湍流火焰结构与层流预混火焰的火焰结构进行了比较,发现局部湍流火焰比层流预混火焰更薄,燃烧强度更高。     

多孔介质中甲烷预混气火焰传播特性实验研究

本文对甲烷预混气在多孔介质中的火焰传播特性进行了实验研究,在开口竖直管中充填多孔介质,通过改变预混气氧含量使火焰在不同多孔介质中传播并测量火焰传播速度。预混气中氧含量最高达到29％。实验结果表明:多孔介质中甲烷可燃预混气火焰传播速度大于其层流火焰传播速度,可达到5倍以上(当量比的甲烷-空气预混气);多孔介质当量孔直径越大,或预混气层流火焰速度越高,则预混气火焰传播速度越高;多孔介质中可燃混气的火焰传播界限变小,当量孔直径大的多孔介质其界限值较大。实验结果与Babkin提出的多孔介质中的火焰传播机理相符。     

1-庚烯/空气的高压层流火焰传播研究

本文使用定容圆柱形燃烧弹,在初始温度373 K和初始压力1、2、5、10 atm的条件下,对当量比从0.7到1.5的1-庚烯/空气混合物的层流火焰传播进行了研究.利用记录的纹影图像处理得到层流火焰传播速度和马克斯坦长度.基于先前报道的1-己烯燃烧反应动力学模型,发展了1-庚烯的模型.该模型验证了本工作测量的1-庚烯层流火焰传播速度数据及文献中的1-庚烯着火延迟时间数据.通过开展敏感性分析和路径分析,帮助理解了1-庚烯在不同压力下的高温化学及其对层流火焰传播的影响.另外,比较了1-庚烯/空气和先前报道的正庚烷/空气的层流火焰传播.由于更强的放热性及反应活性,1-庚烯/空气的层流火焰传播速度在绝大多数条件下均快于正庚烷/空气的结果.     

近贫燃极限甲烷/空气火焰的层流燃烧速度研究

利用微重力条件下向外传播的球形火焰,对贫燃极限附近甲烷/空气预混火焰的层流燃烧速度进行了测量,得到当量比从0.512(本文微重力实验中测定的可燃极限)到0.601范围内的零拉伸层流燃烧速度,并与前人实验数据和使用3种化学反应动力学模型的计算结果进行了比较.本文实验结果与已有的微重力实验数据非常接近,而其他研究者在常重力...     

湍流对多孔介质内预混火焰影响的初步研究

当气流速度较大时,多孔介质内预混燃烧的模拟需要考虑湍流的影响,本文利用简化的k-ε双方程湍流反应流模型对多孔介质内的预混火焰进行了数值模拟.结果表明,湍流大大加强了气流的组分和能世扩散,计算得到的火焰传播速度、CO及NO的排放量都与实验值符合得比较好,与层流模型相比,湍流模型能够改善计算结果.     

不同管径的Y形微燃烧器内氢气-空气非预混燃烧的火焰传播特性

实验研究了内径分别为1 mm、2 mm和3 mm,水平通道长度为200 mm的Y形微燃烧器内氢气/空气扩散燃烧的火焰传播特性。首先,d=2 mm的燃烧器内的火焰传播模式最为丰富。其次,当燃烧器管径较大时,火焰更容易因扰动而发出噪音。在d=2和3 mm的燃烧器内能观察到两个阶段的噪音,而当d=1 mm时只有一个阶段的噪音。d=2 mm的燃烧器内平均火焰传播速度最小。而且,随着管径的增大,边界火焰更长。值得注意的是,在d=1 mm的燃烧器内,实验观察到了移动的"火焰街"。最后,基于系统的实验观察绘制了八种火焰传播模式的分布图。总之,本文不仅揭示了火焰传播特性与运行参数和尺度效应之间的关系,而且能为Y形微燃烧器的设计和运行提供指导。     

Studies of autoignition-assisted nonpremixed cool flames

Autoignition-assisted nonpremixed cool flames of diethyl ether (DEE) are investigated in both laminar counterflow and turbulent jet flame configurations. First, the ignition and extinction limits of laminar nonpremixed cool flames of diluted DEE are measured and simulated using detailed kinetic models. The laminar flame measurements are used to validate the kinetic models and guide the turbulent flame measurements. The results show that, below a critical mixture condition, for elevated temperature and dilute mixtures, the cool flame extinction limit and the low-temperature ignition limit merge, leading to autoignition-assisted cool flame stabilization without hysteresis. Based on the findings from the laminar flame experiments, autoignition-assisted turbulent lifted cool flames are established using a Co-flow Axisymmetric Reactor-Assisted Turbulent (CARAT) burner. The lift-off heights of the turbulent cool flames are quantified using formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence. Based on an analogy with autoignition-assisted lifted hot flames, a correlation is proposed such that the autoignition-assisted cool flame lift-off height scales with the product of the flow velocity and the square of the first-stage ignition delay time. Using this scaling, we demonstrate that the kinetic mechanism that most accurately predicts the laminar flame ignition and extinction limits also best predicts the turbulent cool flame lift-off height.     

On laminar premixed flame propagating into autoigniting mixtures under engine-relevant conditions

Usually premixed flame propagation and laminar burning velocity are studied for mixtures at normal or elevated temperatures and pressures, under which the ignition delay time of the premixture is much larger than the flame resistance time. However, in spark-ignition engines and spark-assisted compression ignition engines, the end-gas in the front of premixed flame is at the state that autoignition might happen before the mixture is consumed by the premixed flame. In this study, laminar premixed flames propagating into an autoigniting dimethyl ether/air mixture are simulated considering detailed chemistry and transport. The emphasis is on the laminar burning velocity of autoigniting mixtures under engine-relevant conditions. Two types of premixed flames are considered: one is the premixed planar flame propagating into an autoigniting DME/air without confinement; and the other is premixed spherical flame propagating inside a closed chamber, for which four stages are identified. Due to the confinement, the unburned mixture is compressed to high temperature and pressure close to or under engine-relevant conditions. The laminar burning velocity is determined from the constant-volume propagating spherical flame method as well as PREMIX. The laminar burning velocities of autoigniting DME/air mixture at different temperatures, pressures, and autoignition progresses are obtained. It is shown that the first-stage and second-stage autoignition can significantly accelerate the flame propagation and thereby greatly increase the laminar burning velocity. When the first-stage autoignition occurs in the unburned mixture, the isentropic compression assumption does not hold and thereby the traditional method cannot be used to calculate the laminar burning velocity. A modified method without using the isentropic compression assumption is proposed. It is shown to work well for autoigniting mixtures. Besides, a power law correlation is obtained based on all the laminar burning velocity data. It works well for mixtures before autoignition while improvement is still needed for mixtures after autoignition.     

Turbulent propagation of premixed flames in the presence of Darrieus–Landau instability

We investigate the role played by hydrodynamic instability in the wrinkled flamelet regime of turbulent combustion, where the intensity of turbulence is small compared to the laminar flame speed and the scale large compared to the flame thickness. To this end the Michelson–Sivashinsky (MS) equation for flame front propagation in one and two spatial dimensions is studied in the presence of uncorrelated and correlated noise representing a turbulent flow field. The combined effect of turbulence intensity, integral scale, and an instability parameter related to the Markstein length are examined and turbulent propagation speed monitored for both stable planar flames and corrugated flames for which the planar conformation is unstable. For planar flames a particularly simple scaling law emerges, involving quadratic dependence on intensity and a linear dependence on the degree of instability. For corrugated flames we find the dependence on intensity to be substantially weaker than quadratic, revealing that corrugated flames are more resilient to turbulence than planar flames. The existence of a threshold turbulence intensity is also observed, below which the corrugated flame in the presence of turbulence behaves like a laminar flame. We also analyze the conformation of the flame surface in the presence of turbulence, revealing primary, large-scale wrinkles of a size comparable to the main corrugation. When the integral scale is much smaller than the characteristic corrugation length we observe, in addition to primary wrinkles, secondary small-scale wrinkles contaminating the surface. The flame then acquires a multi-scale, self-similar conformation, with a fractal dimension, for one-dimensional flames, plateauing at 1.23 for large intensities. The existence of an intermediate integral scale is also found at which the turbulent speed is maximized. When two-dimensional flames are subject to turbulence, the primary wrinkling patterns give rise to polyhedral-cellular structures which bear a very close resemblance to those observed in experiments on hydrodynamically unstable expanding spherical flames.     

An assessment of large eddy simulations of premixed flames propagating past repeated obstacles

This paper presents an assessment of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) in calculating the structure of turbulent premixed flames propagating past solid obstacles. One objective of the present study is to evaluate the LES simulations and identify the drawbacks in accounting the chemical reaction rate. Another objective is to analyse the flame structure and to calculate flame speed, generated overpressure at different time intervals following ignition of a stoichiometric propane/air mixture. The combustion chamber has built-in repeated solid obstructions to enhance the turbulence level and hence increase the flame propagating speed. Various numerical tests have also been carried out to determine the regimes of combustion at different stages of the flame propagation. These have been identified from the calculated results for the flow and flame characteristic parameters. It is found that the flame lies within the ‘thin reaction zone’ regime which supports the use of the laminar flamelet approach for modelling turbulent premixed flames. A submodel to calculate the model coefficient in the algebraic flame surface density model is implemented and examined. It is found that the LES predictions are slightly improved owing to the calculation of model coefficient by using submodel. Results are presented and discussed in this paper are for the flame structure, position, speed, generated pressure and the regimes of combustion during all stages of flame propagation from ignition to venting. The calculated results are validated against available experimental data.     

RANS predictions of turbulent diffusion flames: comparison of a reactor and a flamelet combustion model to the well stirred approach

The flame stabilisation process in turbulent non-premixed flames is not fully understood and several models have been developed to describe the turbulence–chemistry interaction. This work compares the performance of the multiple Representative Interactive Flamelet (mRIF) model, the Volume Reactor Fraction Model (VRFM), and the Well-Stirred reactor (WS) model in describing such flames. The predicted ignition delay and flame lift-off length of n-heptane sprays are compared to experimental results published within the Engine Combustion Network (ECN). All of the models predict the trend of ignition delay reasonably well. At a low gas pressure (42 bar) the ignition delay is overpredicted compared to the experimental data, but the difference between the models is not significant. However, the predicted lift-off lengths differ. At high pressure (87 bar) the difference between the models is small. All models slightly underpredict the lift-off length compared to the experimental data. At low gas pressure (42 bar) the mRIF model gives the best results. The VRFM and WS models predict excessively short lift-off lengths, but the VRFM model gives better results than the WS model. The flame structures of the models are also compared. The WS model and the VRFM model yield a well defined flame stabilisation point whereas the mRIF model does not. The flame of the mRIF model is more diffuse and the model is not able to predict flame propagation. All models were able to predict the experimental trends in lift-off and ignition delay, but certain differences between them are demonstrated.     

Stabilization, propagation and instability of tribrachial triple flames

A tribrachial (or triple) flame is one kind of edge flame that can be encountered in nonpremixed mixing layers, consisting of a lean and a rich premixed flame wing together with a trailing diffusion flame all extending from a single point. The flame could play an important role on the characteristics of various flame behaviors including lifted flames in jets, flame propagation in two-dimensional mixing layers, and autoignition fronts. The structure of tribrachial flame suggests that the edge is located along the stoichiometric contour in a mixing layer due to the coexistence of all three different types of flames. Since the edge has a premixed nature, it has unique propagation characteristics. In this review, the propagation speed of tribrachial flames will be discussed for flames propagating in mixing layers, including the effects of concentration gradient, velocity gradient, and burnt gas expansion. Based on the tribrachial edge structure observed experimentally in laminar lifted flames in jets, the flame stabilization characteristics including liftoff height, reattachment, and blowout behaviors and their buoyancy-induced instability will be explained. Various effects on liftoff heights in both free and coflow jets including jet velocity, the Schmidt number of fuel, nozzle diameter, partial premixing of air to fuel, and inert dilution to fuel are discussed. Implications of edge flames in the modeling of turbulent nonpremixed flames and the stabilization of turbulent lifted flames in jets are covered.     

Detailed measurements of local scalar front structures in stagnation-type turbulent premixed flames

Local scalar front structures of OH mole fraction, reaction progress variable, and its three-dimensional gradient have been measured in stagnation-type turbulent premixed flames. The reaction progress variable front is observed to change with increasing turbulence from parallel iso-scalar contours but reduced progress variable gradients, called the lamella-like front, to disrupted non-parallel iso-contours that deviate substantially from those of wrinkled laminar flamelets, called the non-flamelet front. This transition is attributed to the different scales of interaction between the flame internal structure and a spectrum of turbulence extending from the integral scale to the Kolmogorov scale. The lamella-like front pattern occurs when the length scales of interaction are smaller than the laminar flame thickness but the time scales are greater than the flame residence time. The non-flamelet front pattern occurs when the length scales of interaction are greater than the laminar flame thickness but the time scales are smaller than the flame residence time. This difference corresponds to the change of combustion regime from complex-strain flame front to turbulent flame front on a revised regime diagram. A correlation is also proposed for the turbulent flame brush thickness as a function of turbulent Reynolds number and heat release parameter. The heat release parameter is considered to arise from the non-passive effects of flame-surface wrinkling.     

Dynamics of triple-flames in ignition of turbulent dual fuel mixture: A direct numerical simulation study

Pilot-ignited dual fuel combustion involves a complex transition between the pilot fuel autoignition and the premixed-like phase of combustion, which is challenging for experimental measurement and numerical modelling, and not sufficiently explored. To further understand the fundamentals of the dual fuel ignition processes, the transient ignition and subsequent flame development in a turbulent dimethyl ether (DME)/methane-air mixing layer under diesel engine-relevant conditions are studied by direct numerical simulations (DNS). Results indicate that combustion is initiated by a two-stage autoignition that involves both low-temperature and high-temperature chemistry. The first stage autoignition is initiated at the stoichiometric mixture, and then the ignition front propagates against the mixture fraction gradient into rich mixtures and eventually forms a diffusively-supported cool flame. The second stage ignition kernels are spatially distributed around the most reactive mixture fraction with a low scalar dissipation rate. Multiple triple flames are established and propagate along the stoichiometric mixture, which is proven to play an essential role in the flame developing process. The edge flames gradually get close to each other with their branches eventually connected. It is the leading lean premixed branch that initiates the steady propagating methane-air flame. The time required for the initiation of steady flame is substantially shorter than the autoignition delay time of the methane-air mixture under the same thermochemical condition. Temporal evolution of the displacement speed at the flame front is also investigated to clarify the propagation characteristics of the combustion waves. Cool flame and propagation of triple flames are also identified in this study, which are novel features of the pilot-ignited dual fuel combustion.     

Propagation of Darrieus–Landau unstable laminar and turbulent expanding flames

The propagation of laminar and turbulent expanding flames subjected to Darrieus–Landau (DL), hydrodynamic instability was experimentally studied by employing stoichiometric H₂/O₂/N₂ flames under quiescent and turbulent conditions performed in a newly developed medium-scale, fan-stirred combustion chamber. In quiescent environment, DL unstable laminar flame exhibits three-stage propagation, i.e. smooth expansion, transition acceleration, and self-similar acceleration. The self-similar acceleration is characterized by a power-law growth of acceleration exponent, α, with normalized Peclet number, which is different from the usually suggested self-similar propagation with a constant α. The imposed turbulence advances the onset of both transition acceleration and self-similar acceleration stages and promotes the strength of flame acceleration as additional wrinkles are invoked by turbulence eddies. A DL–turbulent interaction regime is confirmed to be the classical corrugated flamelets regime. Furthermore, the DL instability significantly facilitates the propagation of expanding flames in medium and even intense turbulence. The development of DL cells is not suppressed by turbulence eddies, and it needs to be considered in turbulent combustion.