辐射传热对微重力环境下预混火焰传播特性的影响

1引言在火焰中，辐射过程是一种重要的传热方式。对该过程尽可能精确的计算，对于改进燃烧设备的设计、改善设备的运行性能十分有益。在正常重力环境下，与其它的释热现象相比，预混火焰中的辐射热损失十分微弱，因而，过去对预混火焰的分析中，往往忽略了辐射热损失的影响。近年来，对微重力（ug）环境下的预混火焰的研究结果表明，可燃极限与＃s最小点火能无关，自媳灭火焰（SEFs）发生时；其释放的能量比通常观察到的点火极限时的能量大几个数量级山，因此火焰伸张并不能解释“g环境下观察到的实验结果，辐射热损失可能是影响＃g火焰可…     

Laser-induced fluorescence detection of acetylene in low-pressure propane and methane flames

Laser-induced fluorescence is used to detect and record profiles of acetylene formed as an intermediate species in 10-Torr premixed propane and methane flames. In low-temperature regions of the flames, excitation spectra confirm acetylene as the spectral carrier. The spectra of acetylene overlap those of O₂ and NO in terms of both excitation and detection wavelengths, however, acetylene can be detected with relatively little interference in the vicinity of 228 nm, using a detection wavelength of 260 nm. The fluorescence lifetime of acetylene in the flame conditions studied is approximately 20 ns, much shorter than the radiative lifetime, due to a high quenching rate for all the colliders investigated. This can be exploited in low-pressure flames to avoid interference from acetylene in monitoring nitric oxide. The acetylene mole fraction in propane flames reaches its peak value at nearly the same location as that of HCO, slightly closer to the burner than the peak CH mole fraction. The acetylene fluorescence signal is easily detected in propane flames over equivalence ratios from 0.6 to 1.2, although it increases under fuel-rich conditions. In methane flames, the acetylene signal is much weaker and is undetectable for fuel-lean conditions. Received: 5 August 2002 / Revised version: 30 September 2002 / Published online: 20 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-202/767-1716, E-mail: brad@code6185.nrl.navy.mil     

Spherical gas-fueled cool diffusion flames

An improved understanding of cool diffusion flames could lead to improved engines. These flames are investigated here using a spherical porous burner with gaseous fuels in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Normal and inverse flames burning ethane, propane, and n-butane were explored with various fuel and oxygen concentrations, pressures, and flow rates. The diagnostics included an intensified video camera, radiometers, and thermocouples. Spherical cool diffusion flames burning gases were observed for the first time. However, these cool flames were not readily produced and were only obtained for normal n-butane flames at 2 bar with an ambient oxygen mole fraction of 0.39. The hot flames that spawned the cool flames were 2.6 times as large. An analytical model is presented that combines previous models for steady droplet burning and the partial-burning regime for cool diffusion flames. The results identify the importance of burner temperature on the behavior of these cool flames. They also indicate that the observed cool flames reside in rich regions near a mixture fraction of 0.53.     

A thermal characterization of the flame quenching behavior of different fuels

The study of flame quenching for different fuels is of great scientific importance to estimate the efficiency of a combustion process inside an enclosed environment. Therefore, laminar head-on flame quenching was studied in a closed vessel for several fuels via heat flux measurements. The investigated fuels were methane, propane, propene, ethanol, ethene, n-butane, and 2-butanone at different pressures (0.94–3.59 bar). First, a literature formulation for the derivation of the quenching distance by the maximum heat flux was reviewed for its applicability to methane and propane. It was found that the formulation showed an incorrect trend between methane and propane compared to previous optical investigations. Subsequently, an alternative method was developed that could correctly reflect the quenching trends of methane and propane. This method is based on characteristic points of the flame temperature profile of a freely propagating flame and the measured wall heat flux. The theoretical considerations of this method were based on a transient 1-D CFD simulation with the KICK solver. Afterward, the method was applied to the measured heat flux data. The results indicated that most of the investigated fuels have a fairly similar quenching behavior, whereas methane has exceptionally large and ethene particularly small quenching distances. In addition, it was shown that lean combustion has the most drastic impact on the quenching distance, e.g. an increase of 79% at 3.1 bar for propane at an equivalence ratio of 0.7 compared to the stoichiometric case. Finally, a linear correlation between the reciprocal flame power and the quenching distance was found, which can be used to estimate the quenching behavior of fuels.     

Measurement and modeling of the sooting propensity of binary fuel mixtures

The sooting behaviour of binary fuel mixtures was evaluated both experimentally and through computer simulations. The soot volume fraction in laminar diffusion flames of mixtures of ethylene/propane, methane/ethylene, methane/propane, methane/ethane, methane/butane, ethane/propane and ethane/ethylene fuels was measured using 2-dimensional line of sight attenuation. A synergistic effect was observed for the ethylene/propane, methane/ethylene, methane/ethane and ethane/ethylene mixtures. The synergistic effect translated into a higher soot concentration for a mixture fraction than could be yielded by the added contribution of both pure fuels. Such an effect was not observed for the methane/propane, methane/butane and ethane/propane mixtures. Through experiments in which the flame temperature was kept constant, it was determined that the synergistic effect in the methane/ethylene mixture is very temperature dependent whereas, that in the ethylene/propane mixture is not. This phenomenon was further studied through the modeling of the ethylene/propane mixture. Numerical simulations were carried out using two different soot models. The simulations confirmed the presence of a synergistic effect. It was found that the effect could be directly correlated to a synergistic effect in the concentration of n-C₄H₅ and n-C₄H₃, which could be traced back to an interaction between ethylene and methyl radical species. These results yield further insight into the pathways to soot formation and highlight the importance of further analyzing binary fuel mixtures as a means of understanding soot formation in practical devices using industrial fuels.     

Experimental low-stretch gaseous diffusion flames in buoyancy-induced flowfields

The present study experimentally investigates the structure and instabilities associated with extremely low-stretch (1 s⁻¹) gaseous diffusion flames. Ultra-low-stretch flames are established in normal gravity by bottom burning of a methane/nitrogen mixture discharged from a porous spherically symmetric burner of large radius of curvature. OH-PLIF and IR imaging techniques are used to characterize the reaction zone and the burner surface temperature, respectively. A flame stability diagram mapping the response of the ultra-low-stretch diffusion flame to varying fuel injection rate and nitrogen dilution is explored. In this diagram, two main boundaries are identified. These boundaries separate the stability diagram into three regions: sooting flame, non-sooting flame, and extinction. Two distinct extinction mechanisms are noted. For low fuel injection rates, flame extinction is caused by heat loss to the burner surface. For relatively high injection rates, at which the heat loss to burner surface is negligible, flame radiative heat loss is the dominant extinction mechanism. There also exists a critical inert dilution level beyond which the flame cannot be sustained. The existence of multi-dimensional flame phenomena near the extinction limits is also identified. Various multi-dimensional flame patterns are observed, and their evolutions are studied using direct chemiluminescence and OH-PLIF imaging. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the present burner configuration for the study of low-stretch gaseous diffusion flames.     

Premixed turbulent flame front structure investigation by Rayleigh scattering in the thin reaction zone regime

Premixed turbulent flames of methane–air and propane–air stabilized on a bunsen type burner were studied using planar Rayleigh scattering and particle image velocimetry. The fuel–air equivalence ratio range was from lean 0.6 to stoichiometric for methane flames, and from 0.7 to stoichiometric for propane flames. The non-dimensional turbulence rms velocity, u′/S_L, covered a range from 3 to 24, corresponding to conditions of corrugated flamelets and thin reaction zones regimes. Flame front thickness increased slightly with increasing non-dimensional turbulence rms velocity in both methane and propane flames, although the flame thickening was more prominent in propane flames. The probability density function of curvature showed a Gaussian-like distribution at all turbulence intensities in both methane and propane flames, at all sections of the flame.The value of the term Dκ, the product of molecular diffusivity evaluated at reaction zone conditions and the flame front curvature, has been shown to be smaller than the magnitude of the laminar burning velocity. This finding questions the validity of extending the level set formulation, developed for corrugated flames region, into the thin reaction zone regime by increasing the local flame propagation by adding the term Dκ to laminar burning velocity.     

Dilution effects on laminar jet diffusion flame lengths

Many studies have examined the stoichiometric lengths of laminar gas jet diffusion flames. However, these have emphasized normal flames of undiluted fuel burning in air. Many questions remain about the effects of fuel dilution, oxygen-enhanced combustion, and inverse flames. Thus, the stoichiometric lengths of 287 normal and inverse gas jet flames are measured for a broad range of nitrogen dilution. The fuels are methane and propane and the ambient pressure is atmospheric. Nitrogen addition to the fuel and/or oxidizer is found to increase the stoichiometric lengths of both normal and inverse diffusion flames, but this effect is small at high reactant mole fraction. This counters previous assertions that inert addition to the fuel stream has a negligible effect on the lengths of normal diffusion flames. The analytical model of Roper is extended to these conditions by specifying the characteristic diffusivity to be the mean diffusivity of the fuel and oxidizer into stoichiometric products and a characteristic temperature that scales with the adiabatic flame temperature and the ambient temperature. The extended model correlates the measured lengths of normal and inverse flames with coefficients of determination of 0.87 for methane and 0.97 for propane.     

Further studies of the reaction kernel structure and stabilization of jet diffusion flames

The structure of axisymmetric laminar jet diffusion flames of ethane, ethylene, acetylene, and propane in quasi-quiescent air has been studied numerically in normal earth gravity (1g) and zero gravity (0g). The time-dependent full Navier–Stokes equations with buoyancy were solved using an implicit, third-order accurate numerical scheme, including a C₃-chemistry model and an optically thin-media radiation model for heat losses. Observations of the flames were also made at the NASA Glenn 2.2-Second Drop Tower. For all cases of the fuels and gravity levels investigated, a peak reactivity spot, i.e., reaction kernel, was formed in the flame base, thereby holding a trailing diffusion flame. The location of the reaction kernel with respect to the burner rim depended inversely on the reaction-kernel reactivity or velocity. In the C₂ and C₃ hydrocarbon flames, the H₂–O₂ chain reactions were important at the reaction kernel, yet the CH₃ + O → CH₂O + H reaction, a dominant contributor to the heat-release rate in methane flames studied previously, did not outweigh other exothermic reactions. Instead of the C₁-route oxidation pathway in methane flames, the C₂ and C₃ hydrocarbon fuels dehydrogenated on the fuel side and acetylene was a major hydrocarbon fragment burning at the reaction kernel. The reaction-kernel correlations between the reactivity (the heat-release or oxygen-consumption rate) and the velocity, obtained previously for methane, were developed further for various fuels in more universal forms using variables related to local Damköhler numbers and Peclet numbers.     

Concept and combustion characteristics of ultra-micro combustors with premixed flame

Under micro-scale combustion influenced by quenching distance, high heat loss, shortened diffusion characteristic time, and flow laminarization, we clarified the most important issues for the combustor of ultra-micro gas turbines (UMGT), such as high space heating rate, low pressure loss, and premixed combustion. The stability behavior of single flames stabilized on top of micro tubes was examined using premixtures of air with hydrogen, methane, and propane to understand the basic combustion behavior of micro premixed flames. When micro tube inner diameters were smaller than 0.4 mm, all of the fuels exhibited critical equivalence ratios in fuel-rich regions, below which no flame formed, and above which the two stability limits of blow-off and extinction appeared at a certain equivalence ratio. The extinction limit for very fuel-rich premixtures was due to heat loss to the surrounding air and the tube. The extinction limit for more diluted fuel-rich premixtures was due to leakage of unburned fuel under the flame base. This clarification and the results of micro flame analysis led to a flat-flame burning method. For hydrogen, a prototype of a flat-flame ultra-micro combustor with a volume of 0.067 cm³ was made and tested. The flame stability region satisfied the optimum operation region of the UMGT with a 16 W output. The temperatures in the combustion chamber were sufficiently high, and the combustion efficiency achieved was more than 99.2%. For methane, the effects on flame stability of an upper wall in the combustion chamber were examined. The results can be explained by the heat loss and flame stretch.     

A numerical study on extinction behaviour of laminar micro-diffusion flames

We conducted a numerical study on the fluid dynamic, thermal and chemical structures of laminar methane–air micro flames established under quiescent atmospheric conditions. The micro flame is defined as a flame on the order of one millimetre or less established at the exit of a vertically-aligned straight tube. The numerical model consists of convective–diffusive heat and mass transport with a one-step, irreversible, exothermic reaction with selected kinetics constants validated for near-extinction analyses. Calculations conducted under the burner rim temperature 300 K and the adiabatic burner wall showed that there is the minimum burner diameter for the micro flame to exist. The Damköhler number (the ratio of the diffusive transport time to the chemical time) was used to explain why a flame with a height of less than a few hundred microns is not able to exist under the adiabatic burner wall condition. We also conducted scaling analysis to explain the difference in extinction characteristics caused by different burner wall conditions. This study also discussed the difference in governing mechanisms between micro flames and microgravity flames, both of which exhibit similar spherical flame shape.     

Lift-off characteristics of triple flame with concentration gradient

The concentration gradient and uniform mean velocity of a triple flame in a mixing layer were studied using a multi-slot burner, which can stabilize the lift-off flame especially at a very small concentration gradient. Flame stabilization conditions were examined, and the lift-off heights of the triple flame were measured for methane and propane flames. A hot-wire anemometer was used to measure the velocity distributions. Mass spectroscopy (for methane) and Rayleigh scattering (for propane) were used to measure the concentration gradients. OH radical distribution was measured by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), and in-stream velocity variation was measured with particle-image velocimetry (PIV). Maximum in-stream temperatures were measured using the coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) technique. Lift-off heights of triple flames have minimum values during the increase of concentration gradient, and the propagation velocity of triple flames reaches its maximum at a critical concentration gradient. This is caused by three factors: velocity distribution upstream, flammable limit of premixed gas, and reaction of diffusion flame. The critical concentration gradient, which maximizes the propagation velocity is suggested as a new criterion of transition from a premixed flame to a triple flame.     

Modelling thermal radiation in buoyant turbulent diffusion flames

This work focuses on the numerical modelling of radiative heat transfer in laboratory-scale buoyant turbulent diffusion flames. Spectral gas and soot radiation is modelled by using the Full-Spectrum Correlated-k (FSCK) method. Turbulence-Radiation Interactions (TRI) are taken into account by considering the Optically-Thin Fluctuation Approximation (OTFA), the resulting time-averaged Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) being solved by the Finite Volume Method (FVM). Emission TRIs and the mean absorption coefficient are then closed by using a presumed probability density function (pdf) of the mixture fraction. The mean gas flow field is modelled by the Favre-averaged Navier–Stokes (FANS) equation set closed by a buoyancy-modified k-? model with algebraic stress/flux models (ASM/AFM), the Steady Laminar Flamelet (SLF) model coupled with a presumed pdf approach to account for Turbulence-Chemistry Interactions, and an acetylene-based semi-empirical two-equation soot model. Two sets of experimental pool fire data are used for validation: propane pool fires 0.3 m in diameter with Heat Release Rates (HRR) of 15, 22 and 37 kW and methane pool fires 0.38 m in diameter with HRRs of 34 and 176 kW. Predicted flame structures, radiant fractions, and radiative heat fluxes on surrounding surfaces are found in satisfactory agreement with available experimental data across all the flames. In addition further computations indicate that, for the present flames, the gray approximation can be applied for soot with a minor influence on the results, resulting in a substantial gain in Computer Processing Unit (CPU) time when the FSCK is used to treat gas radiation.     

Critical temperature and reactant mass flux for radiative extinction of ethylene microgravity spherical diffusion flames at 1 bar

In microgravity combustion, where buoyancy is not present to accelerate the flow field and strain the flame, radiative extinction is of fundamental importance, and has implications for spacecraft fire safety. In this work, the critical point for radiative extinction is identified for normal and inverse ethylene spherical diffusion flames via atmospheric pressure experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station, as well as with a transient numerical model. The fuel is ethylene with nitrogen diluent, and the oxidizer is an oxygen/nitrogen mixture. The burner is a porous stainless-steel sphere. All experiments are conducted at constant reactant flow rate. For normal flames, the ambient oxygen mole fraction was varied from 0.2 to 0.38, burner supply fuel mole fraction from 0.13 to 1, total mass flow rate, ṁ_total, from 0.6 to 12.2 mg/s, and adiabatic flame temperature, T_ad, from 2000 to 2800 K. For inverse flames, the ambient fuel mole fraction was varied from 0.08 to 0.12, burner supply oxygen mole fraction from 0.4 to 0.85, ṁ_total from 2.3 to 11.3 mg/s, and T_ad from 2080 to 2590 K. Despite this broad range of conditions, all flames extinguish at a critical extinction temperature of 1130 K, and a fuel-based mass flux of 0.2 g/m²-s for normal flames, and an oxygen-based mass flux of 0.68 g/m²-s for inverse flames. With this information, a simple equation is developed to estimate the flame size (i.e., location of peak temperature) at extinction for any atmospheric-pressure ethylene spherical diffusion flame given only the reactant mass flow rate. Flame growth, which ultimately leads to radiative extinction if the critical extinction point is reached, is attributed to the natural development of the diffusion-limited system as it approaches steady state and the reduction in the transport properties as the flame temperature drops due to increasing flame radiation with time (radiation-induced growth.)     

Influence of Burner Geometry on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Methane/Air Flame Impinging on Flat Surface

An experimental study has been conducted to find the heat transfer characteristics of methane/air flames impinging normally to a flat surface using different burner geometries. The burners used were of nozzle, tube, and orifice type each with a diameter of 10 mm. Due to different exit velocity profiles, the flame structures were different in each case. Because of nearly flat velocity profile, the flame spread was more in case of orifice and nozzle burners as compared to tube burner. Effects of varying the value of Reynolds number (600–2500), equivalence ratio (0.8–1.5) and dimensionless separation distance (0.7–8) on heat transfer characteristics on the flat plate have been investigated for the tube burner. Different flame shapes were observed for different impingement conditions. It has been observed that the heat transfer characteristics were intimately related to flame shapes. Heat transfer characteristics were discussed for the cases when the flame inner reaction cone was far away, just touched, and was intercepted by the plate. Negative heat fluxes at the stagnation point were observed when the inner reaction cone was intercepted by the plate due to impingement of cool un-burnt mixture directly on the surface. Different heat transfer characteristics were observed for different burner geometries with similar operating conditions. In case of tube burner, the maximum heat flux is around the stagnation point and decay is faster in the radial direction. In case of nozzle and orifice burner, the heat transfer distribution is more uniform over the surface.     

Heat Transfer and Emission Characteristics of Impinging Rich Methane and Ethylene Jet Flames

Flame impingement heat transfer has widespread industrial and domestic applications and attaining high heat flux as well as low emission of pollutants is the important prerequisite for all such applications. In this article, the heat transfer and emission characteristics of a laminar flame jet impinging on a flat target plate have been investigated experimentally. The effect of reactant jet Reynolds number, equivalence ratio and burner to plate separation distance on the average heat flux, and emissions of CO and NO_x are studied using methane and ethylene fuels. Results indicate that the heat flux is maximized under certain operating conditions of jet Re, equivalence ratio, and separation distance between the burner and the target. Fuel type is found to have an effect on the heat transfer rate because of the varying luminosity of the flame with different fuels. Operating regimes that produce lower emission of pollutants are also identified. Findings of this article have direct industrial relevance to flame impingement heat transfer applications that have small target plate-to-burner port diameter ratios.     

Monte Carlo simulation of radiative heat transfer and turbulence interactions in methane/air jet flames

A Photon Monte Carlo method combined with a composition PDF method is employed to model radiative heat transfer in combustion applications. Turbulence-radiation interactions (TRIs) can be fully taken into account using the proposed method. Sandia's Flame D and artificial flames derived from it are simulated and good agreement with experimental data is found. The effects of different TRI components are investigated. It is shown that, to predict the radiation field accurately, emission TRI must be taken into account, while, as expected, absorption TRI is negligible in the considered nonsooting methane/air jet flames if the total radiation quantities are concerned, but non-negligible for evaluation of local quantities. The influence of radiation on the turbulent flow field is also discussed.     

Heat fluxes and flame heights in façades from fires in enclosures of varying geometry

Fire spread in high rise buildings from floor to floor occurs if flames emerge and extend on the façade of the building to cause ignition in floors above the floor of fire origin. Even though considerable effort has been exerted to address this issue, proposed relations for flame heights and heat fluxes are incomplete and contradictory because the relevant physics have been poorly clarified. By performing numerous experiments in small scale enclosures having various door-like openings and fire locations, the physics and new relations are underpinned for flames on façade emerging from (under-ventilated) ventilation controlled fires at the floor of fire origin. To limit the variables and uncertainties, propane and methane gas burners created controlled (theoretical) heat release rates at the source. Gas temperatures inside the enclosure and at the opening, heat fluxes on the façade wall, flame contours (by a CCD camera) and heat release rates (by oxygen calorimetry) inside and outside the enclosure have been measured. The gas temperatures inside the enclosure were uniform for aspect ratio (length to width) of the enclosure varying from one to three to one. Previous relations for the air inflow and heat release rate inside the enclosure were verified. These flames are highly radiative because soot can be formed at high temperatures inside the enclosure before the combustion gases and the unburned fuel exit the enclosure. Remarkably the efficiency of combustion is one for well over-ventilated and very under-ventilated fires by it dropped to 80% for burning conditions around stoichiometric. The flame height and heat fluxes have been well correlated by identifying new length scales related to the effective area of the outflow and the length after which the flow turns from horizontal to vertical due to buoyancy. The results can be used for engineering calculations for real fires and for validation of new large eddy scale simulation models.     

On the existence of steady-state gaseous microgravity spherical diffusion flames in the presence of radiation heat loss

Whether steady-state gaseous microgravity spherical diffusion exist in the presence of radiation heat loss is an important fundamental question and has important implications for spacecraft fire safety. In this work, experiments aboard the International Space Station and a transient numerical model are used to investigate the existence of steady-state microgravity spherical diffusion flames. Gaseous spherical diffusion flames stabilized on a porous spherical burner are employed in normal (i.e., fuel flowing into an ambient oxidizer) and inverse (i.e., oxidizer flowing into an ambient fuel) flame configurations. The fuel is ethylene and the oxidizer oxygen, both diluted with nitrogen. The flow rate of the reactant gas from the burner is held constant. It is found that steady-state gaseous microgravity spherical diffusion flames can exist in the presence of radiation heat loss, provided that the steady-state flame size is less than the flame size for radiative extinction, and the flame develops fast enough that radiation heat loss does not drop the flame temperature below the critical temperature for radiative extinction (1130 K). A simple model is provided that allows for the identification of initial conditions that can lead to steady-state spherical diffusion flames. In the spherical, infinite domain configuration, the characteristic time for the diffusion-controlled system to effectively reach steady-state is found to be on the order of 100,000 s. Despite a narrow range of attainable conditions, flames that exhibit steady-state behavior are observed aboard the ISS for up to 870 s, even with the constraint of a finite boundary. Steady-state flames are simulated using the numerical model for over 100,000 s.     

Direct prediction of laminar burning velocity using an adapted annular stepwise diverging tube

In a combustion study, laminar burning velocities of premixed flames are essential data. A number of experimental results for various fuels have been reported. Although there are many reliable experimental methods that provide precise burning velocities, these methods are not suitable for in situ monitoring in the field. In response to this limitation, a method using an annular diverging tube (ADT) was introduced in the previous study, and its feasibility was verified. In this study, an advanced technique using an annular stepwise diverging tube (ASDT) was introduced to enhance flow uniformity and to formulate flatter flames in the majority of experimental conditions. The configuration of the burner was gradually improved based on their flame propagation characteristics. An adapted burner configuration was developed and used to predict the laminar burning velocities of methane, propane, and DME. Two types of measuring methods were compared: a transient method, which was similar to the previous study, and a static method, which was used for a direct prediction of burning velocity. The static method predicts similar burning velocities when compared to the transient method. The results of both methods were sufficiently similar to the other’s previous results. Quenching distances could also be directly predicted using this adapted ASDT system. Therefore, the static method may be the easiest and fastest method to predict burning velocity, and quenching distance at the instant. This method can be applied to the energy field and aid in the understanding of flame characteristics in narrow combustion spaces.