Large Eddy Simulation and Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition of Flow-Flame Interaction in a Lean Premixed Low Swirl Stabilized Flame

In this paper, numerical studies are reported on the effect of flow-flame interaction at large and medium scales and its impact on flame stabilization in a lean premixed low swirl stabilized methane/air flame. The numerical simulations are based on a large eddy simulation (LES) approach with a three-scalar flamelet model with equations for mixture fraction and fuel mass fraction and the level-set G-equation to account respectively for stratification of the mixture, fuel leakage at the trailing edge of the flame, and tracking of the flame front. Distinct frequencies, associated with the flame stabilization process, are identified from point data of LES in the outer and inner shear layers of the burner induced flow field. To understand the effect of the spatial structures related to the observed flow frequencies, a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) is performed. Based on the analysis of LES data, frequency specific coherent flow structures are extracted along with associated flame structures through an extended version of DMD. The inner shear layer generated vortices are associated with recurring frequency specific coherent structures of both flow and flame and contribute to the flame stabilization in the outer regions of the flow.     

Role of Buoyancy on Instabilities and Structure of Transitional Gas Jet Diffusion Flames

Transitional jet diffusion flames provide the link between dynamics of laminar and turbulent flames. In this study, instabilities and their interaction with the flow structure are explored in a transitional jet diffusion flame, with focus on isolating buoyancy effects. Experiments are conducted in hydrogen flames with fuel jet Reynolds number of up to 2,200 and average jet velocity of up to 54 m/s. Since the fuel jet is laminar at the injector exit, the transition from laminar to turbulent flame occurs by the hydrodynamic instabilities in the shear layer of fuel jet. The instabilities and the flow structures are visualized and quantified by the rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique coupled with a high-speed imaging system. The schlieren images acquired at 2,000 frames per second allowed exposure time of 23 μs with spatial resolution of 0.4 mm. Results identify a hitherto unknown secondary instability in the flame surface, provide explanation for the observed intermittency in the breakpoint length, show coherent vortical structures downstream of the flame breakpoint, and illustrate gradual breakdown of coherent structures into small-scale random structures in the far field turbulent region.     

A Comparison of the Blow-Off Behaviour of Swirl-Stabilized Premixed, Non-Premixed and Spray Flames

Confined short turbulent swirling premixed and non-premixed methane and heptane spray flames stabilized on an axisymmetric bluff body in a square enclosure have been examined close to the blow-off limit and during the extinction transient with OH* chemiluminescence and OH-PLIF operated at 5 kHz. The comparison of flames of different canonical types in the same basic aerodynamic field allows insights on the relative blow-off behaviour. The flame structure has been examined for conditions increasingly closer to blow-off. The premixed flame was seen to change from a cylindrical shape at stable burning condtions, with the flame brush closing across the flow at conditions close to blow-off. The PLIF images show that for the gaseous non-premixed flame, holes appear along the flame sheet with increasing frequency as the blow-off condition is approached, while the trend is less obvious for the spray flame. Non-premixed and spray flames showed randomly-occurring lift-off, which is further evidence of localised extinction. The mean lift-off height increased with increasing fuel jet velocity and decreased with increasing air velocity and approaches zero (i.e. the flame is virtually attached) just before the blow-off condition, despite the fact that more holes were evident in the flame sheet as extinction was approached. It was found that the average duration of the blow-off event, when normalised with the characteristic flow time d/U _b (d being the bluff-body diameter and U _b the bulk velocity) was in the range 9–38 with the spray flame extinction lasting a shorter time than the gaseous flames. Finally, it was found that correlations based on a Damköhler number collapse the blow-off velocity data for all flames with reasonable accuracy. The results can help the development of advanced turbulent combustion models.     

Flow visualization of interactions among large coherent structures in an axisymmetric jet

Interactions between large coherent structures are visualized with both schlieren photography in two air jets and dye photography in a water jet. The density difference needed for the schlieren technique is provided by an electrically heated wire ring surrounding the jet. External forcing with either single axisymmetric, single non-symmetric, combined axisymmetric or combined non-symmetric modes was applied. It was found that forcing the jet with a pair of different spinning modes leads to azimuthal distortions of the mean flow. This observation confirms and explains existing hotwire data. Simultaneous excitation with two axisymmetric modes may produce structures of higher modes or even cause structurally undistinguishable development. Streamwise structures are observed both in the unforced jet and in the axisymmetrically forced jet. They do not seem to be caused by a Görtier instability from the concave curvature of the conventional nozzle, since they were also found in a jet flow from a specially designed nozzle with only convex contraction surface.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MSM 8900086 and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, Fi178/34-1     

Vortical structure evolutions and spreading characteristics of a plane jet flow under anti-symmetric long-wave excitation

The vortical evolutions and spreading characteristics of a low-speed plane jet under anti-symmetric long-wave excitations are investigated experimentally. The perturbation is introduced with two oscillating strips located at the nozzle exit. The experiments were operated at Reynolds number of 8.2 × 10³ based on the nozzle exit height. Mixing and spreading properties are influenced obviously by long-wave excitation after the end of potential core. The increments of half-width, momentum thickness, and volume flow rate depend on the excitation frequency. The results of flow visualization also reveal the dependence of excitation frequency. The power spectra of fluctuating velocities shows that the evolution of coherent structure is significantly influenced by the long-wave excitation in the downstream, but it is similar to the natural jet in the near field. The long-wave excitation at certain frequencies can promote large-scaled anti-symmetric vortical structures in the far field.     

Hydrodynamics During the Transient Evolution of Open Jet Flows from/to Wall Attached Jets

Swirl stabilized flows are the most widely deployed technology used to stabilize gas turbine combustion systems. However, there are some coherent structures that appear in these flows close to the nozzle whose occurrence and stability are still poorly understood during transition. The external recirculation zone and the Precessing Vortex Core to/from the Coanda effect are some of them. Thus, in this paper the transition of an Open Jet Flow-Medium Swirl flow pattern to/from a Coanda jet flow is studied using various geometries at a fixed Swirl number. Phase Locked Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry and High Speed Photography experiments were conducted to determine fundamental characteristics of the phenomenon. It was observed that the coherent structures in the field experience a complete annihilation during transition, with no dependency between the structures formed in each of the flow states. Moreover, transition occurs at a particular normalized step size whilst some acoustic shifts in the frequencies of the system were noticed, a phenomenon related to the strength of the vortical structures and vortices convection. It is concluded that a transient, precessing, Coanda Vortex Breakdown is formed, changing flow dynamics. The structure progresses to a less coherent Trapped Vortex between the two states. During the phenomenon there are different interactions between structures such as the Central Recirculation Zone, the High Momentum Flow Region and the Precessing Vortex Core that were also documented.     

一种三阶有限体积法及其在欠膨胀射流激波结构数值模拟中的应用

以喷管出口欠膨胀射流为研究对象,在Lagrange坐标系下建立欠膨胀射流二维积分形式的流动方程。通过在单元交接面处进行三阶ENO(essentially nonoscillatory)格式插值,构造得到一种适用于求解该方程的三阶ENO有限体积法。采用该格式对一维Sod激波管算例和喷管出口欠膨胀射流进行数值计算。计算结果表明,该方法具有高精度、基本无振荡的特点,能很好地捕捉包含激波、滑移线以及三波交点等复杂流场波系结构。计算得到的波系结构中马赫盘的位置与实验结果吻合很好,相对误差小于1.1%。     

Instability of buoyant diffusion flames

Buoyant jet diffusion flames are known to exhibit large scale vortical flow structures strongly interacting with flame structures. In the present work, the formation and evolution of coherent flow structures is studied in a methane/ air coflow arrangement. This is accomplished by utilizing visualization techniques (planar laser induced hydroxyl fluorescence and Mie-scattering) and Laser Doppler Velocimetry. A striking repeatability and correlation of evolving coherent structures of the air co-flow and the reaction zone is observed. In the transitional region, flow and flame structures oscillate at very pure frequencies ranging from 10–15 Hz. A local absolutely unstable velocity profile close to the burner rim seems to be responsible. Self-excited axisymmetric wavelike structures propagate up- and downstream of this location. We study the influence of the exit velocities and the type of coflowing oxidizer (air or oxygen) on the location of transition to periodic flow structures and related frequencies. Conditional averages of image and velocity data are employed to describe the evolution of coherent flow structures and their interaction with flame structures.The authors wish to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support under contract Kn 118/22-2.     

The stabilization mechanism of the lifted jet diffusion flame in the hysteresis region

Recent experimental efforts focused on near-field coherent vortex dynamics, and their impact on stabilization of a lifted jet diffusion flame in the hysteresis region are reported. Simultaneous jet flow and flame visualizations are conducted first to obtain a global feature of flow/flame interaction. The statistical liftoff heights are calculated by a DIP (digital image processing) method. The gas concentration and velocity distributions induced by the vortex evolution as well as the corresponding flame front motion are deduced from phase-averaged measurements of planar Mie-scattering gas concentration images, LDV and ion-signals, respectively. The planar gas concentration technique employed here extends our previous work (Chao et al. 1990, 1991 a) to include phase-averaging. Results of the experiments show that the most probable flame base locations in the hysteresis region are at the coherent vortex roll-up and pairing locations. The deeply entrained air lump caused by large-scale vortices during roll-up and pairing is the main obstruction to flame propagation back to the nozzle exit and causes the hysteresis phenomenon.     

基于模态分解的轴对称超声速射流啸声产生位置数值分析

不完全膨胀超声速射流的势核中会产生准周期的激波栅格结构, 其与剪切层内拟序结构的相互作用会产生激波噪声. 啸声是主要向上游方向传播的、具有离散频率的高强度激波噪声, 其产生是受一种非线性的声反馈环机制驱动. 精确定位啸声的声源位置是定量理解啸声反馈环机制和发展准确的啸声预测模型的一个关键所在. 为了分析近场啸声, 本文采用高精度数值方法直接求解轴对称可压缩Navier-Stokes方程, 数值模拟了完全膨胀射流马赫数为1.10和1.15的圆形声速喷管欠膨胀超声速冷射流, 得到了A₁和A₂两种轴对称模态啸声. 通过傅里叶模态分解、本征模态分解和动态模态分解, 分析了射流时序压力场和速度场, 研究了啸声关联拟序流动结构的空间演化, 精确定位了轴对称模态啸声的声源位置. 研究表明: 啸声关联拟序流动结构存在饱和态区域, 啸声声波是在其饱和态区域产生并向外传播; 在本文所涉及的射流马赫数范围内, A₁和A₂两种轴对称模态啸声的有效声源位置分别是在第4和第3个激波栅格结构的尾缘.      

Experimental Study on Lifted Flames Operated with Liquid Kerosene at Elevated Pressure and Stabilized by Outer Recirculation

This study deals with the impact of the operating conditions, e.g. pressure, preheating temperature, pressure drop across the nozzle, nozzle size and stoichiometry, on the reaction zone location and spray evaporation progress in case of a lifted flame. Lifted flames are highly valued for their NO_x reduction potential and for their low susceptibility to flash-back and thermo-acoustic instabilities. These advantageous features arise from the improved homogeneity of the fuel-air mixture provided to the reaction zone. One distinctive feature of the lifted flames is the presence of the so called lift-off zone located between nozzle outlet and main reaction zone. Within the lift-off zone fuel and oxidizer remain a certain time in contact and mix together prior to the onset of the combustion reaction. This leads to a more uniform heat release distribution and lowers the nitrogen oxides emissions at lean conditions by reducing the temperature spikes. In contrast to many other studies the subject of investigation was not a plain jet flame, but a modified version of the airblast nozzle, widely used in industrial applications. The nozzle was operated with liquid kerosene. As liquid fuels are easier to handle than gaseous or solid, it is expected that many efforts in the future will focus on the development of liquid fuels surrogates. Our previous investigations have shown, that the nozzle is well suited to be operated with gaseous fuels as well (Fokaides et al, J Eng Gas Turbine Power 130, 011508 2008). The position of the reaction zone was determined by means of chemiluminescence of the OH^? radicals and from its location the lift-off height was derived. In addition the fuel evaporation progress was measured by means of light scattering, revealing that fuel droplets and main reaction zone are well separated. It was found that the operating conditions have a versatile impact on the length of the lift-off zone and spray cone and thus on the degree of pre-evaporation and premixing. Thus, it may be concluded, that through a proper choice of operating conditions and combustor size a desired lift-off height can be adjusted in accordance with criteria, like available space, required emission levels etc.     

Large-Eddy Simulations of Forced Three-Dimensional Impinging Jets

Large-eddy simulations of the flow field around twin three-dimensional impinging jets were carried out to simulate the near-ground hover configuration of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Both the impinging jet and the upwash caused by the collision of the wall jets are modeled in this study. The evolution of the vortical structures in the impinging jet flow field, due to the introduction of axisymmetric and azimuthal perturbations at the jet exit, has been investigated. The vortical structures formed in the jet shear layer due to azimuthal forcing, show significant three-dimensional vortex stretching effects when compared to the structures formed during axisymmetric forcing. Breakdown of the large-scale structures into smaller vortices also occurs much earlier during azimuthal forcing. When compared to the upwash formed during axisymmetric forcing, the azimuthally perturbed jet forms an upwash that is less coherent and results in a weaker upload or lift-off force on the aircraft undersurface. Comparison with available experimental data indicates good agreement for the centerline velocity decay, the wall pressure variation and the phase speed of the vortical structures.     

Schlieren measurement of turbulent structure in a diffusion flame

The regular and random mixing structures in a turbulent diffusion flame were investigated using the quantitative, dynamic crossed-beam schlieren method. Evidence was found close to the nozzle relating to the vortexlike structure of eddies surrounding the central fuel jet flow. The observations also make possible resolution of turbulent intensity, scales, convection, and spectra within the diffusion flame without the use of seeding or intrusion of measuring probes. It is found that length scales and other turbulence parameters in the diffusion flame progressively revert to values similar to those expected and observed in scalar passive mixing as the combustion reaction intensity reduces with axial distance from the nozzle system.     

Noncircular jets in combustion systems

Combustion dynamics of burners with corners were studied using Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) imaging. The effect of sharp corners on the air flow dynamics, shown earlier in cold flow tests, was also found in the reacting flow of a flame. The sharp corners interrupted the coherent structures generated in an axisymmetric shear flow. The combustion at the flat sections of the flame occurred in periodic, coherent large scale structures but was continuous and homogeneous in the vertices sections. The azimuthal structure of the noncircular flame changed in a pattern similar to that found in nonreacting flows. Combined regions of small- and large-scale mixing in the same flow, a unique feature of burners having sharp corners, is beneficial for combustion applications.     

Shock structure in separated nozzle flows

In the case of high overexpansion, the exhaust jet of the supersonic nozzle of rocket engines separates from nozzle wall because of the large adverse pressure gradient. Correspondingly, to match the pressure of the separated flow region, an oblique shock is generated which evolves through the supersonic jet starting approximately at the separation point. This shock reflects on the nozzle axis with a Mach reflection. Thus, a peculiar Mach reflection takes place whose features depend on the upstream flow conditions, which are usually not uniform. The expected features of Mach reflection may become much difficult to predict, depending on the nozzle shape and the position of the separation point along the divergent section of the nozzle.      

An experimental study of the under-expanded swirling jet with secondary coaxial stream

The present study addresses experimental results for investigating the details of the near field flow characteristics produced in an under-expanded, dual, coaxial, swirling jet. The under-expanded swirling jet is discharged from a sonic inner nozzle. An outer annular nozzle produces co- and counter-swirling streams relative to the inner primary swirling jet. The interaction between both the outer annular swirling stream and inner under-expanded swirling jet is quantified by impact and static pressure measurements, and visualized by using the shadowgraph method. Experiments are performed for several different pressure ratios. The results show that the outer secondary co-swirling jet significantly changes the structure of the inner under-expanded swirling jet, such as the shock structures and the recirculation region generated at the jet axis. The effect of the outer secondary stream on the major structures of the inner primary swirling jet is strongly dependent on the pressure ratio of the inner swirling jet, regardless of the swirl direction of the outer stream.Received: 17 May 2004, Accepted: 27 September 2004, Published online: 26 November 2004[/PUBLISHED]H.D. Kim: Correspondence to     

Confinement-Induced Instabilities in a Jet-Stabilized Gas Turbine Model Combustor

Self-sustained jet flapping is observed in a confined, premixed and preheated methane-air turbulent flame, generated in a single-nozzle jet-stabilized gas turbine model combustor designed based on the FLOX ^? concept. The flapping frequency and its complex motion within the confinement of the combustor are characterized in detail using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the flow fields measured by particle imaging velocimetry (PIV). The influence of jet flapping on combustion stability is examined using simultaneous PIV/OH chemiluminescence imaging and PIV/planar laser-induced fluorescence of OH radicals (OH PLIF) at 5 kHz repetition rate. By influencing the size and location of the recirculation zones, jet flapping modifies the flame shape and flame lift-off height. It also controls the amount of hot gas entrainment into the recirculation zones. In extreme cases, jet flapping is found to cause temporary local extinction of the flame, due to jet impingement on the combustor wall and partial blockage of burned gas entrainment. The flame is only able to recover after the jet detaches from the wall and reopens the back flow channel. The results suggest that jet flapping could play a key role in the stabilization mechanisms in similar jet-stabilized combustors.     

Structures and stabilization of low calorific value gas turbulent partially premixed flames in a conical burner

Experiments are carried out on partially premixed turbulent flames stabilized in a conical burner. The investigated gaseous fuels are methane, methane diluted with nitrogen, and mixtures of CH₄, CO, CO₂, H₂ and N₂, simulating typical products from gasification of biomass, and co-firing of gasification gas with methane. The fuel and air are partially premixed in concentric tubes. Flame stabilization behavior is investigated and significantly different stabilization characteristics are observed in flames with and without the cone. Planar laser induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging of a fuel-tracer species, acetone, and OH radicals is carried out to characterize the flame structures. Large eddy simulations of the conical flames are carried out to gain further understanding of the flame/flow interaction in the cone. The data show that the flames with the cone are more stable than those without the cone. Without the cone (i.e. jet burner) the critical jet velocities for blowoff and liftoff of biomass derived gases are higher than that for methane/nitrogen mixture with the same heating values, indicating the enhanced flame stabilization by hydrogen in the mixture. With the cone the stability of flames is not sensitive to the compositions of the fuels, owing to the different flame stabilization mechanism in the conical flames than that in the jet flames. From the PLIF images it is shown that in the conical burner, the flame is stabilized by the cone at nearly the same position for different fuels. From large eddy simulations, the flames are shown to be controlled by the recirculation flows inside cone, which depends on the cone angle, but less sensitive to the fuel compositions and flow speed. The flames tend to be hold in the recirculation zones even at very high flow speed. Flame blowoff occurs when significant local extinction in the main body of the flame appears at high turbulence intensities.     

Buoyancy-Driven Coherent Structures in Free Round Flame

Complex interactions between fluid dynamics and combustion processes areamong the topics most often undertaken in recent years. The free roundflames dominated by large-scale vortex structures seem to be a veryinteresting type of flow as indicated by the many experimental resultsavailable in literature. The so-called outer coherent structures whichare believed to be generated as a result of buoyancy-driven instabilitywere experimentally investigated by means of laser Doppler anemometry.The results of spectral analysis of fluctuating velocity componentsrevealed the regular oscillations of the flow field with well-defineddiscrete frequencies depending upon the mixture composition. Theexternal excitation of coherent structures at a frequency matching theirnatural shedding frequency allowed the construction of velocity vectormaps of organised vorticity. From the results obtained one may statethat the coherent vortices are located in the outer part of flame withthe trajectory of their centres moving far from the flame front. Theirlocation and very large sizes (comparable with the flow width) suggesttheir important role in mixing and, especially, in the entrainmentprocesses which are the essential in combustion systems.The dimensionalanalysis taking into account the characteristic parameters of vorticesand thermal structure of the flame suggests that buoyancy forces havesignificant impact on organised vorticity and can be considered asresponsible for its origin.     

Liftoff of a Co-Flowing Non-Premixed Turbulent Methane Flame: Effect of the Fuel Nozzle Orifice Geometry

This paper reports an experimental study on the effect of the fuel nozzle orifice geometry on the stability of turbulent non-premixed methane flame. Different internal geometries (orifice equivalent diameter, length to diameter ratio and contraction angle) of a circular and a rectangular nozzle with an aspect ratio of 2 were examined. The strength of the co-airflow was also varied to assess its impact on the jet flame stability. The experimental data revealed that the level of turbulence in the jet near-field is, in general, higher for the rectangular nozzle in comparison with the circular nozzle. This high level of turbulence was found to accelerate the liftoff transition of the attached flame. The results revealed also that there is a clear interplay between the flame liftoff height and the jet flow characteristics. That is, a rectangular jet, which spreads faster along the minor axis and generates higher near-field turbulence, results in a flame base sitting closer to the nozzle exit in comparison with that of its circular nozzle counterpart. Finally, the presence of a moderate co-airflow resulted in a higher flame liftoff velocity and height. It also led to the appearance of a hysteresis phenomenon in the low jet velocity range regardless of the exit orifice shape of the fuel nozzle.