Transported PDF simulation of turbulent CH4/H2 flames under MILD conditions with particle-level sensitivity analysis

Transported probability density function (TPDF) simulation with sensitivity analysis has been conducted for turbulent non-premixed CH₄/H₂ flames of the jet-into-hot-coflow (JHC) burner, which is a typical model to emulate moderate or intense low oxygen dilution combustion (MILD). Specifically, two cases with different levels of oxygen in the coflow stream, namely HM1 and HM3, are simulated to reveal the differences between MILD and hot-temperature combustion. The TPDF simulation well predicts the temperature and species distributions including those of OH, CO and NO for both cases with a 25-species mechanism. The reduced reaction activity in HM1 as reflected in the peak OH concentration is well correlated to the reduced oxygen in the coflow stream. The particle-level local sensitivities with respect to mixing and chemical reaction further show dramatic differences in the flame characteristics. HM1 is less sensitive to mixing and reaction parameters than HM3 due to the suppressed combustion process. Specifically, for HM1 the sensitivities to mixing and chemical reactions have comparable magnitude, indicating that the combustion progress is controlled by both mixing and reaction in MILD combustion. For HM3, there is however a change in the combustion mode: during the flame initialization, the combustion progress is more sensitive to chemical reactions, indicating that finite-rate chemistry is the controlling process during the autoignition process for flame stabilization; at further downstream where the flame has established, the combustion progress is controlled by mixing, which is characteristic of nonpremixed flames. An examination of the particles with the largest sensitivities reveals the difference in the controlling mixtures for flame stabilization, namely, the stoichiometric mixtures are important for HM1, whereas, fuel-lean mixtures are controlling for HM3. The study demonstrates the potential of TPDF simulations with sensitivity analysis to investigate the effects of finite-rate chemistry on the flame characteristics and emissions, and reveal the controlling physio-chemical processes in MILD combustion.     

On the experimental validation of combustion simulations in turbulent non-premixed jets

A Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) based combustion model, which incorporated the conditional source-term estimation (CSE) method for the closure of the chemical source term and the trajectory generated low-dimensional manifold (TGLDM) method for the reduction of detailed chemistry, was applied to predict the OH radical distribution in a combusting non-premixed methane jet. The results of the numerical prediction were compared with the results of a complementary experimental study in which the OH radical fields of combusting non-premixed methane jets were visualized using planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF). It is well known within the modelling community that RANS based models are unable to capture the stochastic nature of turbulent combustion and autoignition, and are therefore unable to predict individual realizations of the flame. In this study, the agreement between the predicted OH field and a well-converged ensemble average of the experimental results was also shown to be poor. The lack of agreement between the numerical results and the ensemble averaged experimental results expose the potential significance of the known weakness in the RANS method. A statistical analysis of the experimental results was also performed. The results of the analysis showed that a minimum of 100 individual realizations was required to provide a well-converged average OH field for the combusting non-premixed jet under investigation. The significance of this result with respect to the validation of large-eddy simulations (LES) of combusting jets is discussed.     

高温空气燃烧炉内湍流混合特性的数值研究

应用自行研发的三维流动、燃烧、传热和污染物NO_x湍流生成的数值模拟程序,对高温空气燃烧实验模型炉进行了湍流扩散燃烧混合特性的数值模拟.数值预报了燃烧室内气体燃料和空气的混合物分数及其湍流脉动的三维分布.数值研究结果表明:在一定的几何条件和气体动力学条件下,高温空气燃烧的湍流混合在更广泛的区域内以较小梯度的进行;混合物分数的脉动主要分布在燃烧区,这表明高温空气燃烧的火焰厚度更大,具有燃烧释热更趋均匀的特性.数值模拟结果与相关的实验结果有相同的规律.     

Ray tracing of chemiluminescence in an unconfined non-premixed turbulent jet flame using large-eddy simulation

Optical diagnostic techniques, such as chemiluminescence imaging, are commonly used to study turbulent flames. Inherent to turbulent flames is the spatio-temporal variation of the volumetric distribution of temperature and chemical composition. In consequence, the index of refraction varies accordingly and causes distortion of any optical ray intersecting the turbulent flame. This distortion is well known as beam steering. Beam steering may degrade imaging quality by reducing the overall spatial resolution. Its impact of course depends on the actual specifications of the imaging system itself. In this study a methodology is proposed to tackle this issue numerically and is exemplified for chemiluminescence imaging in a well-known turbulent hydrogen-fueled jet flame. Large-eddy simulation (LES) of this unconfined non-premixed flame is used to simulate instantaneous volumetric distributions of the flow and scalar fields including the local index of refraction. This simulation additionally predicts local concentrations of electronically excited chemiluminescent active species. At locations with significantly high concentrations of luminescent species, optical rays are initiated in the direction of the array detector used for recording single chemiluminescence images. Assuming the validity of geometrical optics, these rays are tracked along their pathways. Their direction of propagation changes according to the local instantaneous distribution of the index of refraction. After leaving the computational domain of the ray tracing code which is fed by the LES, each ray is processed by the commercial code ZEMAX^® and imaged onto an array detector. Measured and numerically simulated ensemble-averaged chemiluminescence images are compared to each other. Overall, a satisfying agreement is observed. The primary aim of this paper is the exposition of this method where numerical and experimental results are not any more compared in the flame but where this comparison is shifted to the imaging plane. Future extensions to higher pressures in enclosed combustors or internal combustion engines where beam-steering effects are much more pronounced than in atmospheric jet flames are addressed.     

Analysis of turbulent premixed flame structure using simultaneous PIV-OH PLIF

In the present study, we used a simultaneous PIV-OH PLIF measurement to acquire the strain rate and the chemical intensity and suggested a new combustion phase diagram. This simultaneous measurement was used to analyze the flame structure and to classify the combustion regimes of the opposed impinging jet combustor according to the change of the orifice diameters at the pre-chambers. The shear strain rates were obtained from the velocity measurement by PIV to represent flow characteristics and the OH radical intensities were obtained from OH PUF to indicate the flame characteristics. When the strain rate and OH intensity at each point of the measurement zones are plotted at the strain rate-chemical intensity diagram, the distribution of each case showed the characteristics of each flame regime. The change of combustor condition made different distribution in the combustion phase diagram. As the orifice diameter of the pre-chamber decreases, well-mixed turbulent flames are produced and the combustion phase is moved from the moderated turbulence regime to the thickened reaction regime.     

Spherical turbulent flame propagation of pulverized coal particle clouds in an O2/N2 atmosphere

The present study aims to clarify the effects of turbulence intensity and coal concentration on the spherical turbulent flame propagation of a pulverized coal particle cloud. A unique experimental apparatus was developed in which coal particles can be dispersed homogeneously in a turbulent flow field generated by two fans. Experiments on spherical turbulent flame propagation of pulverized coal particle clouds in a constant volume spherical chamber in various turbulence intensities and coal concentrations were conducted. A common bituminous coal was used in the present study. The flame propagation velocity was obtained from an analysis of flame propagation images taken using a high-speed camera. It was found that the flame propagation velocity increased with increasing flame radius. The flame propagation velocity increases as the turbulence intensity increases. Similar trends were observed in spherical flames using gaseous fuel. The coal concentration has a weak effect on the flame propagation velocity, which is unique to pulverized coal combustions in a turbulent field. These are the first reports of experimental results for the spherical turbulent flame propagation behavior of pulverized coal particle clouds. The results obtained in the present study are obviously different from those of previous pulverized coal combustion studies and any other results of gaseous fuel combustion research.     

显示OH浓度分布图像的平面激光诱导荧光技术

用平面激光诱导荧光 (PLIF)技术测量平面火焰炉、狭缝火焰炉的单脉冲激光诱导OH荧光。由平面荧光图可得到氢氧基相对浓度分布和它的宽度。对于扩散火焰 ,高温区在OH带内侧 ;而对于预混火焰 ,二者基本一致。湍流火焰的PLIF图则清晰地显示出火焰面的不规则性。氢氧基的PLIF图像是研究火焰结构和流场的有力工具。     

Numerical simulation of a mixed-mode reaction front in a PPC engine

The ignition process, mode of combustion and reaction front propagation in a partially premixed combustion (PPC) engine running with a primary reference fuel (87% iso-octane, 13% n-heptane by volume) is studied numerically in a large eddy simulation. Different combustion modes, ignition front propagation, premixed flame and non-premixed flame, are observed simultaneously. Displacement speed of CO iso-surface propagation describes the transition of premixed auto-ignition to non-premixed flame. High temporal resolution optical data of CH₂O and chemiluminescence are compared with simulated results. A high speed ignition front is seen to expand through fuel-rich mixture and stabilize around stoichiometry in a non-premixed flame while lean premixed combustion occurs in the spray wake at a much slower pace. A good qualitative agreement of the distribution of chemiluminescence and CH₂O formation and destruction shows that the simulation approach sufficiently captures the driving physics of mixed-mode combustion in PPC engines. The study shows that the transition from auto-ignition to flame occurs over a period of several crank angles and the reaction front propagation can be captured using the described model.     

Modelling of turbulent lifted jet flames using flamelets: a priori assessment and a posteriori validation

This study focuses on the modelling of turbulent lifted jet flames using flamelets and a presumed Probability Density Function (PDF) approach with interest in both flame lift-off height and flame brush structure. First, flamelet models used to capture contributions from premixed and non-premixed modes of the partially premixed combustion in the lifted jet flame are assessed using a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data for a turbulent lifted hydrogen jet flame. The joint PDFs of mixture fraction Z and progress variable c, including their statistical correlation, are obtained using a copula method, which is also validated using the DNS data. The statistically independent PDFs are found to be generally inadequate to represent the joint PDFs from the DNS data. The effects of Z–c correlation and the contribution from the non-premixed combustion mode on the flame lift-off height are studied systematically by including one effect at a time in the simulations used for a posteriori validation. A simple model including the effects of chemical kinetics and scalar dissipation rate is suggested and used for non-premixed combustion contributions. The results clearly show that both Z–c correlation and non-premixed combustion effects are required in the premixed flamelets approach to get good agreement with the measured flame lift-off heights as a function of jet velocity. The flame brush structure reported in earlier experimental studies is also captured reasonably well for various axial positions. It seems that flame stabilisation is influenced by both premixed and non-premixed combustion modes, and their mutual influences.     

Turbulence/flame/wall interactions in non-premixed inclined slot-jet flames impinging at a wall using direct numerical simulation

In the present work, three-dimensional turbulent non-premixed oblique slot-jet flames impinging at a wall were investigated using direct numerical simulation (DNS). Two cases are considered with the Damköhler number (Da) of case A being twice that of case B. A 17 species and 73-step mechanism for methane combustion was employed in the simulations. It was found that flame extinction in case B is more prominent compared to case A. Reignition in the lower branch of combustion for case A occurs when the scalar dissipation rate relaxes, while no reignition occurs in the lower branch for case B due to excessive scalar dissipation rate. A method was proposed to identify the flame quenching edges of turbulent non-premixed flames in wall-bounded flows based on the intersections of mixture fraction and OH mass fraction iso-surfaces. The flame/wall interactions were examined in terms of the quenching distance and the wall heat flux along the quenching edges. There is essentially no flame/wall interaction in case B due to the extinction caused by excessive turbulent mixing. In contrast, significant interactions between flames and the wall are observed in case A. The quenching distance is found to be negatively correlated with wall heat flux as previously reported in turbulent premixed flames. The influence of chemical reactions and wall on flow topologies was identified. The FS/U and FC/U topologies are found near flame edges, and the NNN/U topology appears when reignition occurs. The vortex-dominant topologies, FC/U and FS/S, play an increasingly important role as the jet turbulence develops.     

Capturing multi-regime combustion in turbulent flames with a virtual chemistry approach

Multiple flame regimes are encountered in industrial combustion chambers, where premixed, stratified and non-premixed flame regions may coexist. To obtain a predictive tool for pollutant formation predictions, chemical flame modeling must take into account the influence of such complex flame structure. The objective of this article is to apply and compare two reduced chemistry models on both laminar and turbulent multi-regime flame configurations in order to analyze their capabilities in predicting flame structure and CO formation. The challenged approaches are (i) a premixed flamelet-based tabulated chemistry method, whose thermochemical variables are parameterized by a mixture fraction and a progress variable, and (ii) a virtual chemical scheme which has been optimized to retrieve the properties of canonical premixed and non-premixed 1-D laminar flames. The methods are first applied to compute a series of laminar partially-premixed methane-air counterflow flames. Results are compared to detailed chemistry simulations. Both approaches reproduced the thermal flame structure but only the virtual chemistry captures the CO formation in all ranges of equivalence ratio from stoichiometry premixed flame to pure non-premixed flame. Finally, the two chemical models combined with the Thickened Flame model for LES are challenged on a piloted turbulent jet flame with inhomogeneous inlet, the Sydney inhomogeneous burner. Mean and RMS of temperature and CO mass fraction radial profiles are compared to available experimental data. Scatter data in mixture fraction space and Wasserstein metric of numerical and experimental data are also studied. The analyses confirm again that the virtual chemistry approach is able to account for the impact of multi-regime turbulent combustion on the CO formation.     

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent flame expansion in fine sprays

Direct Numerical Simulations of expanding flame kernels following localized ignition in decaying turbulence with the fuel in the form of a fine mist have been performed to identify the effects of the spray parameters on the possibility of self-sustained combustion. Simulations show that the flame kernel may quench due to fuel starvation in the gaseous phase if the droplets are large or if their number is insufficient to result in significant heat release to allow for self-sustained flame propagation for the given turbulent environment. The reaction proceeds in a large range of equivalence ratios due to the random location of the droplets relative to the igniter location that causes a wide range of mixture fractions to develop through pre-evaporation in the unreacted gas and through evaporation in the preheat zone of the propagating flame. The resulting flame exhibits both premixed and non-premixed characteristics.     

Problems of predicting turbulent burning rates

Different approaches to the modelling of turbulent combustion first are reviewed briefly. A unified, stretched flamelet approach then is presented. With Reynolds stress modelling and a generalized probability density function (PDF) of strain rate, it enables a source term, in the form of a probability of burning function, P_b, to be expressed as a function of Markstein numbers and the Karlovitz stretch factor. When P_b is combined with some turbulent flame fractal considerations, an expression is obtained for the turbulent burning velocity. When it is combined with the profile of the unstretched laminar flame volumetric heat release rate plotted against the reaction progress variable and the PDF of the latter, an expression is obtained for the mean volumetric turbulent heat release rate. Through these relationships experimental values of turbulent burning velocity might be used to evaluate P_b and hence the CFD source term, the mean volumetric heat release rate.

Different theoretical expressions for the turbulent burning velocity, including the present one, are compared with experimental measurements. The differences between these are discussed and this is followed by a review of CFD applications of these flamelet concepts to premixed and non-premixed combustion. The various assumptions made in the course of the analyses are scrutinized in the light of recent direct numerical simulations of turbulent flames and the applications to the flames of laser diagnostics. Remaining problem areas include a sufficiently general combination of strain rate and flame curvature PDFs to give a single PDF of flame stretch rate, the nature of flame quenching under positive and negative stretch rates, flame responses to changing stretch rates and the effects of flame instabilities.     

Planar laser-fluorescence imaging of combustion gases

An overview is provided of the planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) method, which currently allows simultaneous combustion measurements at more than 10⁵ flowfield points. Important advantages of the method include its relatively high signal strength, ease of interpretation, and applicability for determining several flowfield variables (including concentration, temperature, velocity, pressure and density). Example results are shown for a turbulent non-premixed flame, a spray flame, a rod-stabilized premixed flame, and a diffusion flame from a fuel jet in cross-flow.     

Thermal and chemical effects of differential diffusion in turbulent non-premixed H2 flames

As a renewable fuel, hydrogen (H₂) may play an increasingly important role in the development and control of piston and gas turbine engines to achieve zero carbon emissions. Predictive modeling of H₂-fueled combustion processes requires a clear understanding of differential diffusion (DD) due to the high diffusivity of H₂. On the assumption that turbulent mixing is a far more dominant process than molecular mixing, DD effects are typically neglected in turbulent combustion simulations to reduce modeling complications. While this assumption is reasonable for hydrocarbon fuels, it is less valid for H₂ combustion, where DD is significant. In this work, two three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of temporally evolving turbulent H₂ jet flames with and without considering DD are performed and compared with laminar flamelet solutions to assess DD effects under turbulent conditions. The emphasis is placed on assessing the suitability of classical mixture fraction Z and Bilger mixture fraction Z_Bilger as conditioning variables for non-premixed turbulent combustion modeling through analyzing DD effects on flame structure, chemical reactions, and tangential diffusion (TD). Furthermore, the persistence of DD effects under turbulent conditions and the suitability of a conventional DD parameter are investigated by comparing the turbulent flames to laminar flamelet solutions. It is found that conditioning the thermochemical state on Z_Bilger helps to capture DD effects and mitigate the relative contribution of TD, which gives Z_Bilger advantages over Z when employing flamelet modeling. Due to close coupling between DD and local chemical reactions, DD can affect the turbulent/laminar flames in the form of thermal effects due to the change in flame temperature, chemical effects due to the change in chemical reactions, and transport effects due to multiple species with varying diffusivities that could result in the difference between Z and Z_Bilger. While the transport effects are suppressed, significant chemical and thermal effects of DD still persist under turbulent conditions, which indicates that the DD parameter is probably unsuitable for comprehensively characterizing and assessing DD effects on the structure of turbulent non-premixed flames.     

A new modeling approach for mixture fraction statistics based on dissipation elements

The probabilty density function (PDF) of the mixture fraction is of integral importance to a large number of combustion models. Here, a novel modelling approach for the PDF of the mixture fraction is proposed which employs dissipation elements. While being restricted to the commonly used mean and variance of the mixture fraction, this model approach individually considers contributions of the laminar regions as well as the turbulent core and the turbulent/non-turbulent interface region. The later region poses a highly intermittent part of the flow which is of high relevance to the non-premixed combustion of pure hydrocarbon fuels. The model assumptions are justified by means of the gradient trajectory based analysis of high fidelity direct numerical simulation (DNS) datasets of two turbulent inert configurations and a turbulent non-premixed jet flame. The new dissipation element based model is validated against the DNS datasets and a comparison with the beta PDF is presented.     

FTIR光谱遥测红外药剂的燃烧温度

本文利用遥感FTIR光谱，对红外药剂的燃烧特性进行了研究。在分辨率为4cm^-1时，收集4700－740cm^-1波段的光谱。从HF等燃烧产物发射的分子振转基带精细结构的谱线强度分布，可以对燃烧温度进行遥感测定，并给出了燃烧温度随时间的变化关系，实验结果表明燃烧表面附近温度梯度很大，存在着急剧的变化温度场，同时也说明，在不干扰火焰温度场的情况下，利用遥感FTIR光谱对剧烈的、非稳态快速燃烧的火焰温度进行连续实时的遥感测量，是一种快速、准确、灵敏度高的测温方法，显示了它在燃烧温度测量、产物浓度测试以及燃烧机理研究等方面的应用前景。     

Spatial scales of extinction and dissipation in the near field of non-premixed turbulent jet flames

Simultaneous high-resolution Rayleigh scattering imaging and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH are combined to measure the dissipative scales associated with thermal mixing and the structure and scales of extinguished regions of the reaction zone. Measurements are performed throughout the near field (x/d = 5, 10, 15, 20) of two turbulent, non-premixed methane/hydrogen/nitrogen jet flames with Re = 15,200 and 22,800 (flames DLR-A and DLR-B of the TNF workshop). Locally extinguished regions are identified by discontinuities in the OH layers, and the extinction hole sizes are measured. For each flame, the probability density function of the hole sizes is very similar throughout the entire near field, with the most likely hole size being 1.9 mm in DLR-A and 1.1 mm in DLR-B. Extinction events are equally probable at all measurement locations in DLR-A. In the DLR-B flame, there is a progression from frequent extinction close to the nozzle to more continuous reaction zones further downstream. The approximate instantaneous location of the stoichiometric contour is determined using the OH-PLIF images, enabling statistical analysis of dissipative scales conditioned on rich and lean conditions. The widths of the thin, elongated structures that dominate the thermal dissipation field are measured. Statistics of this microscale are qualitatively similar in both flames, with the higher Reynolds number producing smaller scales throughout the flow field. For dissipation layers in rich regions, the layer widths increase significantly with increasing temperature, while on the lean side the layer widths decrease with increasing temperature.     

Application of advanced laser diagnostics for the investigation of the ionization sensor signal in a combustion bomb

The ionization sensor is an electrical probe for diagnostics in internal combustion engines. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging of fuel, hydroxyl (OH), and nitric oxide (NO) distributions has been employed to extend our knowledge about the governing processes leading to its signal. By monitoring the flame propagation in quiescent and turbulent mixtures, the cycle-to-cycle variations in the early sensor signal was attributed to the stochastic contact between flame front and electrodes. An analysis of the relationship between gas temperature and sensor current in the post-flame gas suggests a dominant role of alkali traces in the ionization process at the conditions under study. Significant cooling of the burned gas in the vicinity of the electrodes was observed in quiescent mixtures. Imaging of the post-flame gas in turbulent combustion revealed moving structures with varying NO and OH concentrations, which were identified as sources of variation in the sensor current. PACS 51.50.+v; 42.62.Fi; 47.27.-i     

甲烷/氧气层流同轴射流扩散火焰OH*自由基的数值研究

OH*自由基是火焰中主要的激发态自由基之一,它所产生的化学发光可用于描述火焰的结构、拉伸率、氧燃当量比和热释放速率等特征信息,因此被广泛应用于火焰燃烧状态的在线诊断。以甲烷/氧气层流同轴射流扩散火焰作为研究对象,采用GRI-Mech 3.0机理结合OH*自由基生成和淬灭反应进行数值计算,对OH*自由基的二维分布特性进行研究,分析不同区域内OH*自由基的生成路径,并探讨不同氧燃当量比例和不同喷嘴出口尺寸对OH*自由基强度和分布特性的影响。模拟结果与实验研究基本吻合,表明计算模型能够准确描述火焰中OH*自由基的二维分布。结果表明：在甲烷/氧气层流同轴射流扩散火焰中,OH*自由基存在两种不同形态的分布区域,分别由反应CH+O₂=OH*+CO和H+O+M=OH*+M生成;随着氧燃当量比提高,OH*自由基的分布区域逐渐向火焰下游扩张,根据其分布形态的变化可以对火焰燃烧状况进行判断;如果OH*自由基仅分布于火焰的上游区域且呈断开形态,则说明火焰处于贫氧燃烧状态。如果OH*分布呈环状形态,则说明火焰处于富氧燃烧状态;相同氧气流量条件下,缩小喷嘴出口的环隙尺寸有助于加强燃料和氧气的化学反应程度,从而使火焰中OH*自由基的摩尔分数显著提高,增强OH*化学发光的辐射强度,提高火焰光谱诊断的准确性。