Laminar flame propagation on a horizontal fuel surface: Verification of classical Emmons solution

This work analyses the classical Emmons (1956) solution of flat plate laminar flame combustion on a film of liquid fuel. A two-dimensional (2D) numerical model developed for this purpose has been benchmarked with experimental results available in the literature for methanol. In the parametric study, numerical predictions have been compared with Emmons classical solution. The study shows that the Emmons solution is valid in a range of Reynolds numbers where flame anchors near the leading edge of the methanol pool and the combustion zone is confined around the hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers. However, in cases of low free stream velocities the combustion zone is beyond the boundary layer zone and the Emmons solution deviates. In cases of very high free stream velocities, the flame moves away from the leading edge and anchors at a location downstream. The Emmons solution is not applicable in this case as well. For the fuel considered in this study (methanol), accounting for thermal radiation, employing an optically thin radiation model, allows better agreement between experimental and numerical temperature profiles but does not affect the mass burning rates.     

Combustion of partially premixed spray jets

Gas turbines, liquid rocket motors, and oil-fired furnaces utilize the spray combustion of continuously injected liquid fuels. In most cases, the liquid spray is mixed with an oxidizer prior to combustion, and further oxidizer is supplied from the outside of the spray to complete diffusion combustion. This rich premixed spray is called “partially premixed spray.” Partially premixed sprays have not been studied systematically although they are of practical importance. In the present study, the burning behavior of partially premixed sprays was experimentally studied with a newly developed spray burner. A fuel spray and an oxidizer, diluted with nitrogen, was injected into the air. The overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet was set larger than unity to establish partially premixed spray combustion. In the present burner, the mean droplet diameter of the atomized liquid fuel could be varied without varying the overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet. Two combustion modes with and without an internal flame were observed. As the mean droplet diameter was increased or the overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet was decreased, the transition from spray combustion only with an external group flame to that with the internal premixed flame occurred. The results suggest that the internal flame was supported by flammable mixture through the vaporization of fine droplets, and the passage of droplet clusters deformed the internal flame and caused internal flame oscillation. The existence of the internal premixed flame enhanced the vaporization of droplets in the post-premixed-flame zone within the external diffusion flame.     

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.     

A spray flamelet/progress variable approach combined with a transported joint PDF model for turbulent spray flames

A spray flamelet/progress variable approach is developed for use in spray combustion with partly pre-vaporised liquid fuel, where a laminar spray flamelet library accounts for evaporation within the laminar flame structures. For this purpose, the standard spray flamelet formulation for pure evaporating liquid fuel and oxidiser is extended by a chemical reaction progress variable in both the turbulent spray flame model and the laminar spray flame structures, in order to account for the effect of pre-vaporised liquid fuel for instance through use of a pilot flame. This new approach is combined with a transported joint probability density function (PDF) method for the simulation of a turbulent piloted ethanol/air spray flame, and the extension requires the formulation of a joint three-variate PDF depending on the gas phase mixture fraction, the chemical reaction progress variable, and gas enthalpy. The molecular mixing is modelled with the extended interaction-by-exchange-with-the-mean (IEM) model, where source terms account for spray evaporation and heat exchange due to evaporation as well as the chemical reaction rate for the chemical reaction progress variable. This is the first formulation using a spray flamelet model considering both evaporation and partly pre-vaporised liquid fuel within the laminar spray flamelets. Results with this new formulation show good agreement with the experimental data provided by A.R. Masri, Sydney, Australia. The analysis of the Lagrangian statistics of the gas temperature and the OH mass fraction indicates that partially premixed combustion prevails near the nozzle exit of the spray, whereas further downstream, the non-premixed flame is promoted towards the inner rich-side of the spray jet since the pilot flame heats up the premixed inner spray zone. In summary, the simulation with the new formulation considering the reaction progress variable shows good performance, greatly improving the standard formulation, and it provides new insight into the local structure of this complex spray flame.     

Liquid flame: combustion of metal suspensions in liquid sulfur

Thermodynamic calculations show that some metals can react with sulfur without the formation of gaseous products at normal pressure and yet demonstrate sufficiently high flame temperatures to support the propagation of stable flames. For example, a stoichiometric ternary mixture of iron, manganese, and sulfur demonstrates gasless combustion at an equimolar concentration of iron and of manganese with an adiabatic flame temperature of about 2000 °C. Differential thermal analysis of the mixture shows no exothermic reactions below 280 °C. Therefore, sulfur in the mixture can be safely melted (m.p. 119 °C), converting a powder blend into a liquid suspension that is free from gas bubbles. Symmetrical cylindrical flames in shallow pools of suspensions of Fe and Mn powders in liquid sulfur and combustion of the same liquid mixtures in preheated narrow steel tubes have been studied to determine flame propagation speeds as a function of mixture composition. It was found that, contrary to the behavior of the calculated flame temperature, flame speed decreases with the increase of the manganese content in the mixture and is not affected by mixture dilution with the combustion product. Direct measurements of the flame temperatures by thermocouples indicated a weak dependence of the peak flame temperature on mixture composition and revealed a two-stage flame structure. The existence of the two distinct reaction zones in the mixture of two reactive metals with sulfur is in accordance with qualitative theoretical predictions by the theory of flame with parallel reactions existing in the literature. According to theory, the reaction with the higher flame speed in a corresponding binary single-metal–sulfur mixture will form the leading stage of the complex flame front and will govern the flame propagation speed in the ternary composition. The speed of flame propagation in pure Fe–S mixture is almost three times higher than the flame speed in Mn–S mixture. As a result, the iron–sulfur reaction dominates the flame propagation mechanism in Fe–Mn–S suspension.     

A novel combustion system for liquid fuel evaporating and burning

To utilize sustainable biofuel, the current study proposes a novel combustion technique that directly burns liquid ethanol without a spray system. Two swirling air flows are induced by tangentially injected the gas from two concentric tubes at different stages. The liquid ethanol is fed by a liquid tank at the center. At the beginning methane flame assists in preheating the system to vaporize liquid ethanol and ignite the vapor. Thereafter methane is switched off, and liquid ethanol can be continuously vaporized through self-burning released heat. The heat and mass transfer processes are examined to illustrate such self-sustained burning–heating–evaporating system. The ethanol flow rate is gradually increased to provide different heat output. The flame structures, temperature distributions and pollutant emissions are carefully examined. The results show that the ethanol can be steadily burned to provide heat output between 0.7 and 2.5?kW. Generally a blue flame is obtained, and the NO_x and CO concentrations are ultralow. By increasing ethanol flow rate to exceed 8?mL/min, an unsteady, sooting flame is observed owing to incomplete evaporation and poor mixing. A parametric study is conducted to evaluate the influences of liquid tank position, flow rate and tip structure on the combustion characteristics. Additionally, an optimal operation condition is proposed. The current study provides a promising method to burn low-boiling liquid fuel in a clean, efficient and compact way.     

Effects of flash boiling injection on in-cylinder spray,mixing and combustion of a spark-ignition direct-injection engine

Higher engine efficiency and ever stringent pollutant emission regulations are considered as the most important challenges for today's automotive industry. Fast evaporation and combustion technique has caused unprecedented attention due to its potential to solve both of the above challenges. Flash boiling, which features a two-phase flow that constantly generates vapor bubbles inside the liquid spray is ideal to achieve fast evaporation and combustion inside direct-injection (DI) gasoline engines. In this study, three spray conditions, including liquid, transitional flash boiling and flare flash boiling spray were studied for comparison under cold start condition in a spark-ignition direct-injection (SIDI) optical gasoline engine. Optical access into the combustion chamber includes a quartz linear and a quartz insert on the piston. In separate experiments, we recorded the crank angle resolved spray morphology using laser scattering technique, and distribution of fuel before ignition employing laser induced fluorescence technology, as well as time-resolved color images of flame with high-speed camera. The spray morphology during the intake stroke shows stronger plume-plume and plume-air interaction under flash boiling condition, as well as smaller penetration. Then around the end of compression (before ignition), the fuel distribution is also shown to be more homogeneous with less cyclic variation under flash boiling. Finally, from the color images of the flame, it was found that with the increase of superheat degree, the diffusion rate of blue flame (generated by excited molecules) is higher, which is considered to be related with the larger fractal dimension of the flame front. Also, the combustion is more complete with less yellow flame under flash boiling.     

H2/air旋流预混燃烧的流场特性和火焰结构分析

本文采用完全可压缩的N-S方程,对当量比为1.0的H₂/air旋流预混火焰进行了直接数值模拟研究。氢气和空气的化学反应采用9种组分19步的详细机理。模拟结果表明,强旋流流场中存在回流区,碗形旋流火焰稳定在回流区的外围。在火焰面上沿火焰法向提取了局部火焰结构,将局部湍流火焰结构与层流预混火焰的火焰结构进行了比较,发现局部湍流火焰比层流预混火焰更薄,燃烧强度更高。     

Flame propagation monitoring in an engine by an optical technique

A Schlieren laser technique has been used to investigate the transit time of the flame front at selected locations inside a running automotive engine. Thus we get information on the flame speed and the delay between ignition and formation of the front in a very simple fashion without disturbing the combustion itself. The only obvious requirement is that the engine has optical access, and the proposed technique can thus be used whenever other optical diagnostic techniques are used. We also present some examples of the results we obtained.     

基于光谱分析的油料池火内部传热特性研究

油料池火焰内部分为不同燃烧区域,目前对油池火内部传热特性研究较少。针对油池火内部传热特性研究不足的现状,构建了红外火焰光谱测试系统,研究分析了92#汽油、95#汽油及润滑油池火焰红外光谱特性,对油池火焰不同燃烧区域的光谱信息进行了提取分析,结果表明：三种油料池火焰光谱特征相似,存在多个CO₂,H₂O及炭黑颗粒等燃烧产物的特征发射波段,3.4 μm处C—H伸缩振动峰明显;火焰烟气区主要光谱特征为4～4.5 μm波段范围内高温CO₂发射峰,该区域火焰与空气换热剧烈,温度变化不稳定,火焰脉动频率较高;火焰间歇区的光谱特征是4～4.5 μm波段范围内高温CO₂发射峰,与烟气区相比,火焰间歇区脉动频率相对较低;与烟气区及间歇区相比,火焰连续区燃烧较为稳定,该区域的光谱特征明显,在2.5～3 μm波段范围内炭黑粒子发射光谱强度较高,且在3.4 μm处存在C—H伸缩振动峰,表明油料池火焰光谱3.4 μm处的特征峰由高温油蒸汽产生。油池火焰不同燃烧区域光谱特征分析表明,油池火焰液态油表面的“富燃料层”吸收火焰传热,引起3.4 μm附近油蒸汽分子能级的改变。油池火焰不同燃烧区域发射光谱强度计算表明,火焰连续区的强度最大,其次为间歇区,火焰烟气区与空气对流强烈,测得的发射光谱强度最低。研究结果为火焰—油料传热模型的修正提供了参考。     

Imaging and diagnostics of turbulent methane-air premixed flames by acetone-OH simultaneous PLIF

A strategy of diagnostics of ultra-lean combustion based on acetone-OH simultaneous PLIF is presented. Acetone seeded in the fuel flow and combustion-generated OH work for a marker of \ldunburned\rd and \ldburnt\rd zones, respectively. Since acetone and OH does not coexist when the proper combustion takes place, the signal \ldvalley\rd (dark zone) between acetone and OH fluorescence can be detected, which corresponds to flame zone; representative of the combustion status. System required for current imaging technique is one-laser and one-detector combination with \ldturned\rd band-pass filter. Transmittance characteristics of the filter and acetone-seeding rate are key issues to attain clear imaging, and we found that there is proper combination of them for that purpose. Imaging demonstration for the turbulent premixed flames shows the usefulness and applicability of this scheme on complex flame diagnostics: unique flame broken flame structure (\ldunburned\rd or \ldburnt\rd islands exist separately) are clearly obtained by this approach.     

Behaviour of a confined fire located in an unventilated zone

The behaviour of a fire in an enclosure is studied for a configuration where the fuel source is located in the upper hot unventilated zone trapped by a soffit. The experimental study, undertaken in a laboratory-scale compartment with a fuel source above the level of a soffit, included the determination of the parameters (ventilation factor, rate of fuel supply) controlling the combustion or leading to extinction. Measurements (PIV, thermocouples, gas sampling and analysis) were performed to propose a hypothesis on the structure of the flame (flame stabilisation mechanisms, premixed or diffusion types). Video photography is used to determine the area covered by the flames. This information is used as a criterion to identify the combustion regimes. The results show that the gaseous fuel is diluted in the combustion products (CP) in the upper layer and that a recirculatory motion is formed, driven by buoyancy forces, which enhances the mixing of fuel and CP. These then travel horizontally towards the vent along the interface between the lower fresh air and upper zones, and are premixed with the convected air in the enclosure, before entering the reaction zone and being burnt. The flame stabilises at the interface between the upper hot and lower ventilated layers in the compartment. The observed “ghosting flame” is stabilised by a triple flame if the flame speed of the premixed flame is higher than the natural convection velocity induced in the compartment. The flame stability is quantified by a criterion based on the area of the horizontal flame. It has been observed that the combustion is controlled by the available mass fuel flux at the reaction zone if the ventilation is sufficient. This information is essential for the modelling of the phenomena involved in fires with such an underventilated fuel source.     

基于高光谱技术的甲烷层流预混火焰自由基特性研究

高光谱技术提供了空间和光谱维度的信息,同时基于传统黑体模型的实验技术和计算方法不适用于甲烷火焰的辐射特性,而火焰中自由基的高光谱信息反映了火焰结构、组分浓度分布等燃烧的多方面特征,能够为燃烧模型的完善提供依据。利用高光谱技术在不同当量比和不同流量下研究了甲烷预混火焰中自由基的空间和光谱特性。对不同当量比的研究表明,随着当量比的增加,火焰中心处的CH^*和C^*₂自由基的辐射强度先增加后降低,而燃烧区域内二者的平均辐射强度一直增加,火焰中心处的点可以表征局部的燃烧状态,而燃烧区域内辐射均值表征热释率等整体燃烧状态,定量给出了两种方法的不同趋势。火焰中心处的CH^*自由基辐射强度在当量比为1.01时达到峰值,而C^*₂自由基辐射强度在当量比为1.12时达到峰值,两种自由基的辐射峰值可以分别作为燃烧中反应强度和稳定性的判据。当量比可以由C^*₂和CH^*辐射强度之比来表征,修正了C^*     

Leading point behavior during the ignition of an annular combustor with liquid n-heptane injectors

Experimental and numerical investigations of ignition in combustors with multiple burners have recently emerged and have provided new insights on the last phase of ignition in gas turbine-like annular geometries where the flame propagates from burner to burner. Previous comparisons between calculations and experiments of light-round in a laboratory scale annular combustion chamber have demonstrated the ability of large-eddy simulation to predict such processes for perfectly premixed conditions and, more recently, for n-heptane spray injection. The present analysis focuses on two additional operating points with liquid n-heptane sprays and the turbulent flame propagation in the two-phase mixture is examined through the behavior of its leading points. The validation of the light-round process is characterized in terms of ignition delays. The detailed analysis of the propagation through the definition of a leading point enables to highlight some key phenomena responsible for the flame behavior, such as the influence of the liquid droplet spray and its vaporization in the chamber. Calculations indicate that the volumetric expansion due to the chemical reaction at the flame induces a strong azimuthal flow in the fresh stream at a distance of several sectors ahead of the flame, which modifies conditions in this region. This creates heterogeneities in the gas composition and wakes on the downstream side of the swirling jets formed by the injectors, with notable effects on the motion of the leading point and on the absolute flame velocity.     

Characteristic analysis of low-velocity gas filtration combustion in an inert packed bed

This paper investigates the low-velocity filtration combustion of lean methane–air mixtures occurring in inert packed beds by using a modified one-temperature model, considering the axial thermal diffusion owing to the convective gas–solid heat transfer. Based on the scaling analysis of various transport terms in different conservation equations, a high-activation energy asymptotic method is applied in the flame zone and results in a set of powerful analytical solutions for combustion macrocharacteristics under the fully developed conditions. These are then combined with the eigenvalue method of the modified one-temperature model in the whole flow region to study the flame behaviour analytically and numerically. Our results have shown that the combustion wave velocity is a key characteristic parameter in the filtration combustion process. Compared with other existing theoretical results, the present analytical solutions demonstrate the intricate relationships among the combustion wave velocity, the flame speed, the peak flame temperature and the effects of the variable thermo-physical properties, and show better prediction performance for the combustion wave velocity, the flame speed and the peak flame temperature. Excellent agreements with experimental results have been observed, especially for very lean filtration combustion with stream-wise propagating combustion fronts.     

Effect of heat release distribution on combustion oscillation

This paper describes the effect of flame position and its spatial variation on prediction accuracy of combustion oscillation in a dry low emission (DLE) combustor. A one-dimensional linear model has been developed. The flame is usually treated as fixed and located at a single axial plane in conventional analysis. However, in practice, the flame position varies during operation. A new flame model considering this variation by a spatial distribution function has been developed. Variation of flame position is empirically measured by using UV images of OH radicals in the oscillating flame. A triangular distribution function is introduced into the flame model because it is similar to the experimentally obtained distribution function. A ‘top-hat’ distribution is also considered to test the influence of distribution shape on the result. Numerical results are compared with experimental data. The triangular flame model shows better prediction of the stability boundaries of combustion oscillation compared with the simple flame sheet model. The results of the top-hat flame model differ from those of the experiment. It is found that consideration of the spatial distribution yields good results for the DLE combustor.     

Evaluation of the flame propagation within an SI engine using flame imaging and LES

This work shows experiments and simulations of the fired operation of a spark ignition engine with port-fuelled injection. The test rig considered is an optically accessible single cylinder engine specifically designed at TU Darmstadt for the detailed investigation of in-cylinder processes and model validation. The engine was operated under lean conditions using iso-octane as a substitute for gasoline. Experiments have been conducted to provide a sound database of the combustion process. A planar flame imaging technique has been applied within the swirl- and tumble-planes to provide statistical information on the combustion process to complement a pressure-based comparison between simulation and experiments. This data is then analysed and used to assess the large eddy simulation performed within this work. For the simulation, the engine code KIVA has been extended by the dynamically thickened flame model combined with chemistry reduction by means of pressure dependent tabulation. Sixty cycles have been simulated to perform a statistical evaluation. Based on a detailed comparison with the experimental data, a systematic study has been conducted to obtain insight into the most crucial modelling uncertainties.     

Laser Spectrometric Measurement System for Local Express Diagnostics of Flame at Combustion of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels

A laboratory laser spectrometric measurement system for investigation of spatial distributions of local temperatures in a flame at combustion of vapors of various liquid hydrocarbon fuels in oxygen or air at atmospheric pressure is presented. The system incorporates a coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectrometer with high spatial resolution for local thermometry of nitrogen-containing gas mixtures in a single laser shot and a continuous operation burner with a laminar diffusion flame. The system test results are presented for measurements of spatial distributions of local temperatures in various flame zones at combustion of vapor—gas n-decane/nitrogen mixtures in air. Its applicability for accomplishing practical tasks in comparative laboratory investigation of characteristics of various fuels and for research on combustion in turbulent flames is discussed.     

Paramètres de similitude pour la combustion diphasique

Scaling is an important issue in many practical applications. While some scaling laws are already applied in combustion, none of them addresses the phenomena involving the liquid phase (e.g. in a liquid-fueled burner). The goal of this paper is to study systematically those phenomena and to establish scaling laws that take the liquid phase into account. A dimensional analysis is performed, leading to the expression of four dimensionless groups. The first one describes the combustion mode and the global aspect of the flame. The next two address the stabilisation of the flame and the last one is related to the atomiser efficiency. In the second part of the paper, those dimensionless groups are applied to practical devices. The flexibility of this analysis is demonstrated using different kinds of injectors and fuels. In each case, the four dimensionless groups correctly predict some physical characteristics of the flame such as its mode of stabilisation, lift-off etc. Finally another practical application is studied: the design of a small scale burner using the proposed scaling laws.     

燃料敏感性对内燃机部分预混燃烧(PPC)光谱特性的影响研究

在一台光学发动机上,利用火焰高速成像技术和自发光光谱分析法,研究了燃料敏感性(S)为0和6时对发动机缸内火焰发展和燃烧发光光谱的影响。试验过程中,通过改变喷油时刻(SOI=-25,-15和-5°CA ATDC)使燃烧模式从部分预混燃烧过渡到传统柴油燃烧模式。通过使用正庚烷、异辛烷、乙醇混合燃料来改变燃料敏感性。结果表明,在PPC模式下(-25°CA ATDC),火焰发展过程是从近壁面区域开始着火,而后向燃烧室中心发展,即存在类似火焰传播过程,同时在燃烧室下部未燃区域也形成新的着火自燃点。敏感性对燃烧相位影响较大,对缸内燃烧火焰发展历程影响较小;高敏感性燃料OH和CH带状光谱出现的时刻推迟,表明高敏感性燃料高温反应过程推迟,且光谱强度更低,表明碳烟辐射强度减弱。在PPC到CDC之间的过渡区域(-15°CA ATDC),燃烧火焰发光更亮,燃烧反应速率比-25°CA ATDC时刻的反应速率更快。高、低敏感性燃料对缸压放热率的影响规律与-25°CA ATDC相近,此时的燃烧反应更剧烈,放热率更高,碳烟出现时刻更早。该喷油时刻下的光谱强度高于PPC模式下的光谱强度,说明此时的CO氧化反应与碳烟辐...