Soot studies of laminar diffusion flames with recirculation zones

This paper describes the unusual sooting structure of three flames established by the laminar recirculation zones of a centerbody burner. The vertically mounted burner consists of an annular air jet and a central fuel jet separated by a bluff-body. The three ethylene fueled flames are identified as: fully sooting, donut-shape, and ring-shape sooting flames. Different shapes of the soot structures are obtained by varying the N₂ dilution in the fuel and air jets while maintaining a constant air and fuel velocity of 1.2 m/s. All three flames have the unusual characteristic that the soot, entrained into the recirculation zone, follows discrete spiral trajectories that terminate at the center of the vortex. The questions are what cause: (1) the unusual sooting structures and (2) the spiral trajectories of the soot? Flame photographs, laser sheet visualizations, and calculations with a 2D CFD-based code (UNICORN) are used to answer these questions. The different sooting structures are related to the spiral transport of the soot, the spatial location of the stoichiometric flame surface with respect to the vortex center, and the burnout of the soot particles. Computations indicate that the spiral trajectories of the soot particles are due to thermophoresis.     

Influence of supraglottal structures on the glottal jet exiting a two-layer synthetic, self-oscillating vocal fold model

A synthetic two-layer, self-oscillating, life-size vocal fold model was used to study the influence of the vocal tract and false folds on the glottal jet. The model vibrated at frequencies, pressures, flow rates, and amplitudes consistent with human phonation, although some differences in behavior between the model and the human vocal folds are noted. High-speed images of model motion and flow visualization were acquired. Phase-locked ensemble-averaged glottal jet velocity measurements using particle image velocimetry (PIV) were acquired with and without an idealized vocal tract, with and without false folds. PIV data were obtained with varying degrees of lateral asymmetric model positioning. Glottal jet velocity magnitudes were consistent with those measured using excised larynges. A starting vortex was observed in all test cases. The false folds interfered with the starting vortex, and in some cases vortex shedding from the false folds was observed. In asymmetric cases without false folds, the glottal jet tended to skew toward the nearest wall; with the false folds, the opposite trend was observed. rms velocity calculations showed the jet shear layer and laminar core. The rms velocities were higher in the vocal tract cases compared to the open jet and false fold cases.     

A swirling jet with vortex breakdown: three-dimensional coherent structures

The paper reports on shape of a three-dimensional coherent structure in a velocity field of a high-swirl turbulent jet with the bubble-type vortex breakdown. A set of the 3D instantenous velocity fields was measured by using the tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomographic PIV) technique and processed by the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method. The detected intensive coherent velocity component corresponded to a helical vortex core of the swirling jet and two secondary spiral vortices. The entire coherent structure was rotating around the jet axis in compliance with the direction of the flow swirl. From the 3D data it is concluded that the dynamics of the strsucture can be described by a traveling wave equation: Re[A(y, r)·e ^{i(mθ + ky - ωt)}] with the number of the spiral mode m = +1 for positively defined k and ω.     

Combustion dynamics of inverted conical flames

An inverted conical flame anchored on a central bluff-body in an unconfined burner configuration features a distinctive acoustic response. This configuration typifies more complex situations in which the thermo-acoustic instability is driven by the interaction of a flame with a convective vorticity mode. The axisymmetric geometry investigated in this article features a shear region between the reactive jet and the surrounding atmosphere. It exhibits self-sustained oscillations for certain operating conditions involving a powerful flame collapse phenomenon with sudden annihilation of flame surface area. This is caused by a strong interaction between the flame and vortices created in the outer jet shear layer, a process which determines the amplitude of heat release fluctuation and its time delay with respect to incident velocity perturbations. This process also generates an acoustic field that excites the burner and synchronizes the vortex shedding mechanism. The transfer functions between the velocity signal at the burner outlet and heat release are obtained experimentally for a set of flow velocities fluctuations levels. It is found that heat release fluctuations are a strong function of the incoming velocity perturbation amplitude and that the time delay between these two quantities is mainly determined by the convection of the large scale vortices formed in the jet shear layer. A model is formulated, which suitably describes the observed instabilities.     

Vortex formation and frequency tuning of periodically-excited jet diffusion flames

This paper presents an experimental study on the vortex formation and frequency tuning of jet diffusion flames under periodic excitations. The state-of-art laser diagnostic techniques were applied to provide temporally-resolved measurements for flame and flow structures. The results show that the fame surface deformation is synchronized with the convection of the inner vortex rings (IVRs), demonstrating the crucial role of IVRs in affecting the flame dynamics. The quantitative study on vortex formation and evolution is intended to understand two mechanisms: how the IVR forms, and how it is tuned to the forcing frequency of the perturbed fuel. The qualitative agreement between the predicted circulation growth and experimental data verifies the relevance of the classical starting vortex jet model in addressing the current problem, indicating the vortex growth is mainly dictated by the shear layer of the upstream fuel. The vortex tuning is closely related to the detachment of the main IVR, which is attributed to a secondary “razor vortex” when the shearing between the fuel jet and the coflow switches direction.     

浮力对矩形射流扩散火焰影响的大涡模拟

本文对浮力作用下的矩形射流扩散燃烧过程进行了三维大涡模拟。数值模拟结果展示了浮力作用下矩形射流扩散火焰的动态弯曲过程,比较分析了射流速度对火焰刚性的影响,发现射流速度越高火焰弯曲程度越小、燃料喷射距离越远。对浮力作用下的水平射流横截面流动分析结果表明,由于流向涡的卷吸作用在局部区域存在逆着浮力方向的流动。     

Visualization of concentration field in a vortex ring using acetone PLIF

To improve the understanding of flame propagation through a nonpremixed vortex ring, the characteristics of fuel concentration in a vortex ring have been investigated experimentally. The vortex ring was generated by the ejection of propane with a single stroke motion of a speaker. Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique was adopted by seeding acetone as a tracer to fuel stream, in which the PLIF signal intensity is directly proportional to the concentration of acetone. This technique provides non-intrusive and instantaneous measurement of concentration field. Results showed that fuel concentration and its gradient decreased with the evolution of a vortex ring. When a nonpremixed flame propagated through a vortex ring, the flame location coincides with the inner most spiral mixing layer of fuel and air in a vortex ring.     

Stability and emissions control using air injection and H2 addition in premixed combustion

We experimentally study lean premixed combustion stabilized behind a backward-facing step. For a propane–air mixture, the lean blowout limit is associated with strong pressure fluctuation arising simultaneously with strong flame–vortex interactions, which have been shown to constitute the mechanism of heat release dynamics in this flow. A high-speed air jet, issuing from a small slot and injected perpendicular to the main flow near the step, is used to disrupt this mechanism. For momentum ratio of jet to main flow below unity, the jet dilutes the mixture, further destabilizing the flame or leading to complete blowout. Above unity, the flame becomes more stable, and the pressure oscillations are suppressed. Flow visualization and OH*/CH* chemiluminescence measurements show that a strong jet produces a more compact flame that is less driven by the wake vortex, anchored closer to the step, and deflected upwards away from the lower wall of the channel. This renders the flame less vulnerable to heat loss and strong strains, which improves its stability and extends the flammability limit. Adding hydrogen to the main fuel improves the flame stability over the entire range of the air jet mass flow, with better results for momentum ratio larger than 1; H₂ pulls the flame further upstream, away from the shear zone and the unsteady vortex. NO_x emission benefits from the air jet, while, with H₂ addition, NO_x concentration is higher in the products as the overall burning temperature rises. However, hydrogen addition enables extending the flammability limit further by increasing air supply in the primary stream, hence achieving lower NO_x. The study suggests a simpler, almost passive, multi-objective combustion control technique and indicates that hydrogen addition can be a successful in situ approach for NO_x reduction.     

Formation of coherent structures at interaction between an impact jet and a flow reflected from an obstacle

The results of experimental research on interaction between an axisymmetric underexpanded jet and obstacles of various shapes (the plane one and in the form of a cylindrical cavity) are presented. It is found that a cavity provides formation of a reverse flow, whose interaction with a jet causes formation of the vortex spiral structures.     

A DNS study on the flame structures and flame stabilization mechanism of a laboratory-scale lean premixed jet flame in crossflow

In the present work, direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a laboratory-scale lean premixed reacting jet flame in crossflow was performed to understand the flame structures and the flame stabilization mechanism. In the DNS, an ethylene-air jet with an equivalence ratio of 0.6 was injected into a hot vitiated crossflow. The jet Reynolds number reaches 6161. The DNS results were compared with those of the experiment with a good agreement. It was found that the windward and leeward branches of the flame show significantly different behaviors. The windward flame branch, appearing lifted and discontinuous, is located in the shear layer regions with high temperature, low vorticity and low scalar dissipation rate. The location of the peak heat release rate shifts to a higher mixture fraction with increasing distance from the jet exit. The leeward branch of the flame anchors in the shear layer near the jet exit. The recirculation zone in the wake of the jet facilitates the stabilization of the leeward flame. The chemical explosive mode analysis (CEMA) and species budget analysis were employed to characterize the local combustion mode. Auto-ignition plays a key role in the stabilization of the windward flame where a large range of extinction is also found due to the high strain rate. In contrast, premixed flame propagation is dominant on the leeward side.     

Coherent structures of the near field flow in a self-oscillating physical model of the vocal folds

Current theories of voice production depend critically upon knowledge of the near field flow which emanates from the glottis. While most modern theories predict complex, three-dimensional structures in the near field flow, few investigations have attempted to quantify such structures. Using methods of flow visualization and digital particle image velocimetry, this study measured the near field flow structures immediately downstream of a self-oscillating, physical model of the vocal folds, with a vocal tract attached. A spatio-temporal analysis of the structures was performed using the method of empirical orthogonal eigenfunctions. Some of the observed flow structures included vortex generation, vortex convection, and jet flapping. The utility of such data in the future development of more accurate, low-dimensional models of voice production is discussed.     

变密度随机涡模型在湍流射流扩散火焰中的应用

采用变密度随机涡模型,对H₂/O₂/N₂湍流射流扩散火焰进行数值模拟,湍流过程通过涡的采样、涡的抑制和涡的翻转实现.其中,针对变密度反应流问题,提出一种大涡抑制的新机制,并详细讨论各种参数对模型预测效果的影响.计算结果表明,修改后的模型可以合理预测H₂/O₂/N₂射流火焰结构,能够反映湍流的涡特性;模型中与涡采样和涡抑制有关的参数对预测结果有一定影响.     

On the oscillating flame characteristics in nonpremixed laminar coflow-jets: An experimental and numerical study

This study investigates the characteristics of oscillating lifted flames in laminar coflow-jets experimentally and numerically by varying both fuel density (by varying propane and n-butane mixtures) and coflow density (by diluting air with N₂/He mixtures). Two different lifted flame oscillation behaviors are observed depending on these parameters: oscillating tribrachial lifted flame (OTLF) and oscillating mode-change lifted flame (OMLF), where a rapid increase in flame radius is observed. The regimes of the two flames are identified from experiments, which shows that OMLF occurs only when the effect of the negative buoyancy on the flow field by the fuel heavier than air becomes significant at low fuel jet velocity. OMLFs are also identified to distinguish OTLF regime from flame extinction, which implies that an OMLF can be extinguished when the positive buoyancy becomes weak, losing its stabilizing effect, or when the negative buoyancy becomes strong, further enhancing its destabilizing effect. Transient numerical simulations of both OTLF and OMLF reveal that the OMLF occurs by a strong toroidal vortex and a subsequent counterflow-like structure induced by relatively-strong negative buoyancy. Such a drastic flow redirection significantly changes the fuel concentration gradient such that the OMLF changes its mode from a tribrachial flame mode (decreasing edge speed with fuel concentration gradient) to the premixed flame-like transition mode when the fuel concentration gradient becomes very small (increasing edge speed with fuel concentration gradient). Again, a tribrachial flame mode is recovered during a rising period of flame edge and repeats an oscillation cycle.     

Mechanism of combustion dynamics in a backward-facing step stabilized premixed flame

Combustion dynamics leading to thermoacoustic instability in a rearward-facing step stabilized premixed flame is experimentally examined with the objective of investigating the fluid dynamic mechanism that drives heat release rate fluctuations, and how it couples with the acoustic field. The field is probed visually, using linear photodiode arrays that capture the spatiotemporal distribution of CH* and OH*; an equivalence ratio monitor; and a number of pressure sensors. Results show resonance between the acoustic quarter wave mode of the combustion tunnel and a fluid dynamic mode of the wake. Under unstable conditions, the flame is convoluted around a large vortex that extends several step heights downstream. During a typical cycle, while the velocity is decreasing, the vortex grows, and the flame extends downstream around its outer edge. As the velocity reaches its minimum, becoming mostly negative, the vortex reaches its maximum size, and the flame collides with the upper wall; its leading edge folds, trapping reactants pockets, and its trailing edge propagates far upstream of the step. In the next phase, while the velocity is increasing, the heat release grows rapidly as trapped reactant’ pockets are consumed by flames converging towards their centers, and the upstream flame is dislodged back downstream. The heat release rate reaches its maximum halfway into the velocity rise period, leading the maximum velocity by about 90°. In this quarter-wave mode, the pressure leads the velocity by 90° as well, that is, it is in phase with the heat release rate. Numerical modeling results support this mechanism. Equivalence ratio contribution to the instability mechanism is shown to be minor, i.e., heat release dynamics are governed by the cyclical formation of the wake vortex and its interaction with the flame.     

围压条件下空化磨料射流的冲蚀特性与机制分析

 磨料射流在水利水电、石油工程和海洋资源开发等领域有着广泛的应用,研究射流的冲蚀特性和破坏物料机制对提高水射流利用效率具有重要意义。利用自行研制的实验装置,研究了围压条件下自振空化、文丘里和锥形3种喷嘴形成的磨料射流冲蚀特性,分析了空化磨料射流冲蚀物料的机制。结果表明：自振空化喷嘴和文丘里喷嘴的冲蚀效果优于锥形喷嘴,空化作用有助于提高磨料射流的冲蚀效果;磨料射流的冲蚀效率随围压的增大而降低,主要原因是围压对纯水射流和空化磨料射流的压力脉动和冲击力具有抑制作用。分析认为,空化磨料射流冲蚀破碎物料的机制主要包括冲蚀、气蚀和共混磨蚀3 种作用。     

超音速射流火焰的DNS研究:计算方法与涡结构

介绍了可压缩反应流的计算方法,然后计算了超音速射流火焰,对超音速射流火焰中的涡结构进行了分析。认为超音速射流火焰中的涡结构特征,与亚音速射流中有本质差异,且涡结构在燃料与组分的混合中起到了重要作用,进而直接影响火焰结构和燃烧效率。     

Counter rotating vortex pair structure in a reacting jet in crossflow

This paper analyzes the time averaged flow structure of a reacting jet in cross flow (RJICF), emphasizing the structure of the counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) by using simultaneous tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV) and hydroxyl radical planar laser induced fluorescence (OH-PLIF). It was performed to determine the extent to which heat release, and the associated effects of gas expansion and baroclinic vorticity production, impact the structure of the CVP. These results show the clear presence of a CVP in the time averaged flow field, whose trajectory lies below the jet centerline on either side of the centerplane. Consistent with other measurements of high momentum flux ratio JICF in nonreacting flows, there is significant asymmetry in strength of the two vortex cores. The strength and structure of the CVP was quantified with vorticity and swirling strength (λ_ci), showing that some regions of the flow with high shear are not necessarily accompanied by large scale bulk flow rotation and vice-versa. The OH PLIF measurement allows for correlation of the flame position with the dominant vortical structures, showing that the leeward flame branch lies slightly above, as well as, in the region between the CVP cores.     

Identification and analysis of instability in non-premixed swirling flames using LES

Large eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent non-premixed swirling flames based on the Sydney swirl burner experiments under different flame characteristics are used to uncover the underlying instability modes responsible for the centre jet precession and large scale recirculation zone. The selected flame series known as SMH flames have a fuel mixture of methane-hydrogen (50:50 by volume). The LES solves the governing equations on a structured Cartesian grid using a finite volume method, with turbulence and combustion modelling based on the localised dynamic Smagorinsky model and the steady laminar flamelet model respectively. The LES results are validated against experimental measurements and overall the LES yields good qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental observations. Analysis showed that the LES predicted two types of instability modes near fuel jet region and bluff body stabilised recirculation zone region. The mode I instability defined as cyclic precession of a centre jet is identified using the time periodicity of the centre jet in flames SMH1 and SMH2 and the mode II instability defined as cyclic expansion and collapse of the recirculation zone is identified using the time periodicity of the recirculation zone in flame SMH3. Finally frequency spectra obtained from the LES are found to be in good agreement with the experimentally observed precession frequencies.     

Numerical analyses of deflagration initiation by a hot jet

Numerical simulations of axisymmetric reactive jets with one-step Arrhenius kinetics are used to investigate the problem of deflagration initiation in a premixed fuel–air mixture by the sudden discharge of a hot jet of its adiabatic reaction products. For the moderately large values of the jet Reynolds number considered in the computations, chemical reaction is seen to occur initially in the thin mixing layer that separates the hot products from the cold reactants. This mixing layer is wrapped around by the starting vortex, thereby enhancing mixing at the jet head, which is followed by an annular mixing layer that trails behind, connecting the leading vortex with the orifice rim. A successful deflagration is seen to develop for values of the orifice radius larger than a critical value a _c in the order of the flame thickness of the planar deflagration δ_L. Introduction of appropriate scales provides the dimensionless formulation of the problem, with flame initiation characterised in terms of a critical Damköhler number Δ_c=(a _c/δ_L)², whose parametric dependence is investigated. The numerical computations reveal that, while the jet Reynolds number exerts a limited influence on the criticality conditions, the effect of the reactant diffusivity on ignition is much more pronounced, with the value of Δ_c increasing significantly with increasing Lewis numbers . The reactant diffusivity affects also the way ignition takes place, so that for reactants with the flame develops as a result of ignition in the annular mixing layer surrounding the developing jet stem, whereas for highly diffusive reactants with Lewis numbers sufficiently smaller than unity combustion is initiated in the mixed core formed around the starting vortex. The analysis provides increased understanding of deflagration initiation processes, including the effects of differential diffusion, and points to the need for further investigations incorporating detailed chemistry models for specific fuel–air mixtures.     

Helical modes in low- and high-swirl jets measured by tomographic PIV

We report on a parallel study on properties of large-scale vortical structures in low- and high-swirl turbulent jets by means of the time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry technique. The high-swirl jet flow is featured by a well-established bubble-type vortex breakdown with a central recirculation zone. In the low-swirl flow, the mean axial velocity, while intermittently acquiring negative values, remains positive in the mean but with a local velocity defect immediately downstream from the nozzle exit, followed by a spiralling vortex core system and its eventual breakdown. Measurements of the 3D velocity fields allowed direct analysis of the azimuthal/helical modes via Fourier transform over the azimuthal angle and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis in the Fourier space. A precessing vortex core is detected for both swirl cases, whereas the POD analysis showed that the one originating in the bubble-type vortex breakdown is much more energetic and easier to detect.