Effects of Hydrogen-Enrichment on Flame-Holding of Natural Gas Jet Flames in Crossflow at Elevated Temperature and Pressure

Flow, Turbulence and Combustion - The effect of hydrogen ( $$\mathrm {H}_{\mathrm {2}}$$ ) enrichment on the flame-holding characteristics of two natural gas jet flames in crossflow is investigated...     

Large Eddy Simulation of Stratified and Sheared Flames of a Premixed Turbulent Stratified Flame Burner Using a Flamelet Model with Heat Loss

This paper presents large eddy simulations (LES) of the Darmstadt turbulent stratified flame burner (TSF) at different operating conditions including detailed heat loss modeling. The target cases are a non-reacting and two reacting cases. Both reacting cases are characterized by stratification, while one flame additionally features shear. In the regime diagram for premixed combustion, the studied flames are found at the border separating the thin reaction zones regime and the broken reaction zones regime. A coupled level set/progress variable model is utilized to describe the combustion process. To account for heat loss, an enthalpy defect approach is adopted and reformulated to include differential diffusion effects. A novel power-law rescaling methodology is proposed to integrate the enthalpy defect approach into the level set/progress variable model which is extensively validated in two validation scenarios. It is demonstrated that the LES with the newly developed model captures the influence of heat loss well and that the incorporation of heat loss effects improves the predictions of the TSF-burner over adiabatic simulations, while reproducing the experimentally observed flame lift-off from the pilot nozzle.     

Effects of Body Forces on the Statistics of Flame Surface Density and Its Evolution in Statistically Planar Turbulent Premixed Flames

Flow, Turbulence and Combustion - Body forces such as buoyancy and externally imposed pressure gradients are expected to have a strong influence on turbulent premixed combustion due to the...     

Porous Burner for Application in Stationary Gas Turbines: An Experimental Investigation of the Flame Stability, Emissions and Temperature Boundary Condition

A possible solution to ensure the stability of lean premixed flames over an extended operational range is to provide enhanced heat recirculation by employing porous inert material. A potential application of the porous burner concept is the generation of the pilot flames based on lean premixed combustion which is a prerequisite for ultra low NO_x emission. For the optimization of the porous burner an experimental study investigating flame stability and emissions was conducted. In particular axial concentration profiles of the stable species and temperature within the porous burner reaction zone are presented. Furthermore the surface temperature of the burner having a 10 PPI SiSiC material was measured for various operating conditions using two colour pyrometry.     

湍流的诱导及其对瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰和爆炸波的作用

在实验的基础上,研究了管内瓦斯爆炸过程中湍流的诱导及其对瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰和爆炸波的影响作用.研究结果表明,管道面积突变对瓦斯爆炸过程中湍流的产生具有重要影响.管道面积突变(变大、变小)时,产生附加湍流,并使下游火焰气流的湍流度增加,瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰的传播速度迅速提高,并可诱导激波的产生.在80×80mm等截面直管中(瓦斯浓度为理论上最猛烈的爆炸浓度9.5%),瓦斯爆炸最大火焰传播速度为40.8m/s,管内各点均为压力波信号,当管道加装一Φ300mm圆管形成面积突扩11倍和突缩11倍两断面后,面积突扩处(L/D=22)火焰速度增大5.05倍,达到64.4m/s,面积突缩处(L/D=28)火焰速度为156.0m/s, 增大4.55倍,并在L/D=48倍处形成激波(超压1.6976atm、波速416.7m/s),在L/D=98倍处,激波强度最大.在面积突变管内加装加速环可使瓦斯爆炸过程中湍流度加剧,火焰的传播速度更高,激波生成的位置(L/D=28)、最强点位置(L/D=70)均前移,激波强度增大.研究结果对指导现场如何防治瓦斯爆炸,减轻瓦斯爆炸的威力具有一定的指导意义.     

Modeling of Liquid Fuel Injection, Evaporation and Mixing in a Gas Turbine Burner Using Large Eddy Simulations

The interaction of turbulence, temperature fluctuation, liquid fuel transport, mixing and evaporation is studied by using Large Eddy Simulations (LES). To assess the accuracy of the different components of the methods we consider first isothermal, single phase flow in a straight duct. The results using different numerical methods incorporating dynamic Sub-Grid-Scale (SGS) models are compared with DNS and experimental data. The effects of the interactions among turbulence, temperature fluctuation, spray transport, evaporation and mixing of the gaseous fuel are studied by using different assumptions on the temperature field. It has been found that there are strong non-linear interactions among temperature-fluctuation, evaporation and turbulent mixing which require additional modeling if not full LES is used. The developed models and methods have been applied to a gas turbine burner into which liquid fuel is injected. The dispersion of the droplets in the burner is described. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Studies on Lifted Jet Flames in Coflow: The Stabilization Mechanism in the Near- and Far-Fields

This paper presents the results of a parametric study concerning the phenomenon of liftoff of a nonpremixed jet flame. The dependence of liftoff height on jet exit velocity and coflow velocity is described. It is shown that lifted flames become less sensitive to jet exit velocity as the stabilization point recedes from the burner exit. The results reveal that in cases of extreme liftoff height, increases in jet exit velocity with a constant coflow cause some ethylene flames to stabilize closer to the burner. The success of current theories on lifted flame stabilization in comparison to the experimental results of this study are assessed. The existence of multiple regimes for flame stabilization, incorporating aspects of both premixed and nonpremixed combustion, is proposed.     

Analysis and Modeling of the Turbulent Diffusion of Turbulent Kinetic Energy in Natural Convection

Buoyant flows often contain regions with unstable and stable thermal stratification from which counter gradient turbulent fluxes are resulting, e.g. fluxes of heat or of any turbulence quantity. Basing on investigations in meteorology an improvement in the standard gradient-diffusion model for turbulent diffusion of turbulent kinetic energy is discussed. The two closure terms of the turbulent diffusion, the velocity-fluctuation triple correlation and the velocity-pressure fluctuation correlation, are investigated based on Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data for an internally heated fluid layer and for Rayleigh–Bénard convection. As a result it is decided to extend the standard gradient-diffusion model for the turbulent energy diffusion by modeling its closure terms separately. Coupling of two models leads to an extended RANS model for the turbulent energy diffusion. The involved closure term, the turbulent diffusion of heat flux, is studied based on its transport equation. This results in a buoyancy-extended version of the Daly and Harlow model. The models for all closure terms and for the turbulent energy diffusion are validated with the help of DNS data for internally heated fluid layers with Prandtl number Pr = 7 and for Rayleigh–Bénard convection with Pr = 0.71. It is found that the buoyancy-extended diffusion model which involves also a transport equation for the variance of the vertical velocity fluctuation gives improved turbulent energy diffusion data for the combined case with local stable and unstable stratification and that it allows for the required counter gradient energy flux.     

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.     

Statistical Analysis and a-priori Modelling of Flame Surface Density Transport in Turbulent Stratified Flames: A Direct Numerical Simulation Study

Statistically planar turbulent premixed and stratified flames for different initial intensities of decaying turbulence have been simulated for global equivalence ratios <???> = 0.7 and <???> = 1.0 using three-dimensional simplified chemistry based Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). The simulation parameters are chosen such that the thin reaction zones regime combustion is realised in all cases and a random bi-modal distribution of equivalence ratio ? is introduced in the unburned gas ahead of the flame to account for the mixture inhomogeneity for stratified flames. The modelling of the unclosed terms (i.e. the turbulent transport term T ₁, the tangential strain rate term T ₂, the propagation term T ₃, and the curvature term T ₄) of the generalised FSD transport equation has been addressed in the context of RANS simulations. It has been found that the turbulent transport term T ₁ remains small in comparison to the leading order contributions of the tangential strain rate and curvature terms (i.e. T ₂ and T ₄, respectively) in the globally stoichiometric cases, but T ₁ begins to play a more important role in the globally fuel-lean cases. The strain rate term T ₂ remains positive throughout the flame brush and acts as a leading order source term for all the flames considered in this analysis. It is has been found that the magnitude of T ₂ decreases with decreasing root-mean-square velocity fluctuations u ^′ (<???>) for a given value of <???> (u ^′). The contribution of the propagation term T ₃ remains generally positive towards the unburned gas side of the flame brush but assumes generally negative values towards the burned gas side of the flame brush. Moreover, whilst the order of magnitude of the propagation term T ₃ is comparable in all cases, T ₃ remains small in comparison to the leading order contributors (i.e. T ₂ and T ₄) in the globally stoichiometric cases however it plays a more important role in the globally fuel-lean cases. The curvature term T ₄ acts as a leading order sink term in all cases except towards the unburned gas side of the flame brush in low u ^′ globally stoichiometric (i.e. <???> = 1.0) flames. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the magnitude of T ₄ decreases with decreasing u ^′ (<???>) for a given value of <???> (u ^′). Appropriate model expressions have been identified for T ₁, T ₂, T ₃ and T ₄ based on an a-priori analysis of the DNS data.     

LES Modeling of the Impact of Heat Losses and Differential Diffusion on Turbulent Stratified Flame Propagation: Application to the TU Darmstadt Stratified Flame

Common combustion chambers often exhibit turbulent flames propagating in partially-premixed mixtures. This propagation is generally governed by aerodynamics, unsteady mixing and chemical processes and may also be affected by conductive heat losses when the reactive zone develops close to the burner lips. The Filtered TAbulated Chemistry for Large Eddy Simulation (F-TACLES) model has been recently developed to include tabulated chemistry in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of adiabatic stratified flames in flamelet regimes. The present article proposes a modeling approach to account for both differential diffusion and non-adiabatic effects on flame consumption speed following the F-TACLES formalism. The adiabatic F-TACLES model is first detailed using a generalized formalism for diffusive fluxes allowing either to account for differential diffusion or not. The F-TACLES model is then extended to non-adiabatic situations. A correction factor based on the non-adiabatic consumption rate is introduced to recover a realistic filtered flame consumption speed. The objective is here to tackle flame stabilization mechanisms when heat losses affect the reaction zone. The proposed approach is validated through the simulation of the unconfined stratified turbulent jet flame TSF-A for which stabilization process is affected by heat losses. Five simulations are performed for both adiabatic and non-adiabatic flow conditions comparing unity Lewis number and complex diffusion assumptions. The adiabatic F-TACLES model predicts a flame anchored at the burner lip disagreeing with experimental data. The non-adiabatic simulation exhibits local extinction due to heat losses near the burner exit. The flame is then lifted improving the comparison with experiments. Results also show a significant impact of molecular diffusion model on both mean flame consumption rate and angle.     

Effects of Lewis Number on Head on Quenching of Turbulent Premixed Flames: A Direct Numerical Simulation Analysis

The head on quenching of statistically planar turbulent premixed flames by an isothermal inert wall has been analysed using three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data for different values of global Lewis number Le(0.8, 1.0 and 1.2) and turbulent Reynolds number Re_t. The statistics of head on quenching have been analysed in terms of the wall Peclet number Pe (i.e. distance of the flame from the wall normalised by the Zel’dovich flame thickness) and the normalised wall heat flux Φ. It has been found that the maximum (minimum) value of Φ(Pe) for the turbulent Le=0.8 cases are greater (smaller) than the corresponding laminar value, whereas both Pe and Φ in turbulent cases remain comparable to the corresponding laminar values for Le=1.0 and 1.2. Detailed physical explanations are provided for the observed Le dependences of Pe and Φ. The existing closure of mean reaction rate \(\overline {\dot {\omega }}\) using the scalar dissipation rate (SDR) in the near wall region has been assessed based on a-priori analysis of DNS data and modifications to the existing closures of mean reaction rate and SDR have been suggested to account for the wall effects in such a manner that the modified closures perform well both near to and away from the wall.     

瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰厚度测定及其温度场数值模拟分析

本文通过实验的方法，探讨了瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰厚度变化特性及其影响因素，并对瓦斯爆炸过程中的温度场变化进行了数值模拟。研究结果表明，障碍物存在时，瓦斯爆炸过程中产生的火焰厚度常常会小于无障碍物存在时所产生的火焰厚度；膜片所处位置对瓦斯爆炸过程中火焰厚度也有重要影响，膜片距离爆炸源较近时，火焰厚度明显增大，瓦斯爆炸后，火焰阵面着附近区域与管封闭端附近区域温度变化较为陡峭，而火焰阵面后一段区域的温度变化较平缓，且火焰阵面附近温度较高，在障碍物附近温度很快上升到最大值，然后温度开始下降。研究结果对指导现场防治瓦斯爆炸，减轻瓦斯爆炸灾害具有一定的指导意义。     

Effects of Differential Diffusion on Predicted Autoignition Delay Times Inspired by H2/N2 Jet Flames in a Vitiated Coflow Using the Linear Eddy Model

Mixing and chemistry interactions in a H₂/N₂ jet flame into a vitiated coflow are considered key factors affecting autoignition. A 1-D numerical model under laminar flow condition first is simulated to reveal the effects of fuel species, pressure, and coflow properties on the autoignition with and without the consideration of preferential diffusion among species. Proper laminar reference autoignition delays are proposed and examined for different diffusion models. Next, the reference autoignition delays defined from laminar simulations are investigated in an example turbulent flow using the Linear Eddy Model (LEM). LEM is used to model the effect of turbulent mixing on autoignition, where we specifically investigate if the effect of turbulence on autoignition can be classified in two regimes, which are dependent on a proper reference laminar autoignition delay and turbulence time scale. The trend of the effect of differential diffusion on autoignition versus turbulence Reynolds is simulated and analyzed, and several tentative conclusions are drawn.     

Quenching of Premixed Flames at Cold Walls: Effects on the Local Flow Field

The presence of a turbulent premixed flame strongly influences the properties of the adjacent velocity boundary layer. This influence is studied here using a generic configuration where at atmospheric pressure turbulent premixed methane/air flames interact with a temperature stabilized wall. The experiment is optimized for well-defined boundary conditions and optical accessibility in the zone where the flame impinges at the wall. Laser based diagnostic methods are used to measure two components of the velocity field by particle image velocimetry simultaneously with the flame front position using laser induced fluorescence of the OH molecule. Two measurement planes are selected that are aligned perpendicularly to the surface of the wall. Based on this data, the flow field near the wall is analyzed by different methodologies using laboratory-fixed and flame-conditioned statistics, a quadrant splitting analysis of the Reynolds stresses and an evaluation of the production term of the turbulent kinetic energy. The results of chemically reactive cases are compared to their corresponding non-reactive flows for otherwise identical inflow conditions. In the zone of flame-wall interactions the boundary layer structure and its turbulence are dominated by the turbulent flame. Important features are that the flame compresses the boundary layer already upstream the location where the flame is finally quenched and that ejection and sweeps are no longer the dominant mechanisms as in non-reactive boundary layers. This experimental data may serve additionally as a database for model development for near wall reactive flows.     

Effect of Fuel Stratification on OH and $${\mathrm {CH}}_{2}\hbox {O}$$ CH 2 O PLIF Multiplication of Turbulent Hydrogen-Enriched Flames

Multiplication of hydroxyl and formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence signals for turbulent hydrogen-enriched methane–air flames with compositionally inhomogeneous mixtures is investigated experimentally. Hydrogen-enriched methane–air flames with a global fuel–air equivalence ratio of 0.8 and hydrogen-enrichment percentage of 60% are examined. Two nozzles, each containing 4 fuel/air injection lobes are used in the experiments. The lobes of the first nozzle are straight, while those of the second nozzle are not, generating a swirling motion. The fuel is injected through several small diameter holes into the lobes. The amount of injected fuel flow rate varies between the lobes, generating stratified conditions. For each nozzle, two mean bulk flow velocities of 5 and 25 m/s are tested. Simultaneous hydroxyl and formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence as well as separate stereoscopic particle image velocimetry are performed for the tested reacting conditions. For non-reacting flow tests, separate particle image velocimetry and acetone planar laser-induced fluorescence experiments are conducted to study the background turbulent flow characteristics and fuel/air mixing, respectively. The results show that stratification can lead to fragmentation of the flames and generation of islands with noticeable multiplication of hydroxyl and formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence signals. Due to their significantly large number of occurrences, such flame structure can generate relatively large integral of the PLIF signals multiplication.

     

A Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Fuel Composition on the Minimum Ignition Energy for Homogeneous Biogas-Air Mixtures

Flow, Turbulence and Combustion - The minimum ignition energy (MIE) requirements for ensuring successful thermal runaway and self-sustained flame propagation have been analysed for forced ignition...