Flame sheet dynamics of bluff-body stabilized flames during longitudinal acoustic forcing

Bluff-body stabilized flames are susceptible to combustion instabilities due to interactions between acoustics, vortical disturbances, and the flame. In order to elucidate these flow-flame interactions during an instability, an experimental and computational investigation of the flame-sheet dynamics of a harmonically excited flame was performed. It is shown that the flame dynamics are controlled by three key processes: excitation of shear layer instabilities by the axially oscillating flow, anchoring of the flame at the bluff body, and the kinematic response of the flame to this forcing. The near-field flame features are controlled by flame anchoring and the far-field by kinematic restoration. In the near-field, the flame response grows with downstream distance due to flame anchoring, which prevents significant flame movement near the attachment point. Theory predicts that this results in linear flame response characteristics as a function of perturbation amplitude, and a monotonic growth in magnitude of the flame-sheet fluctuations near the stabilization point, consistent with the experimental data. Farther downstream, the flame response reaches a maximum and then decays due to the dissipation of the vortical disturbances and action of flame propagation normal to itself, which acts to smooth out the wrinkles generated by the harmonic flow forcing. This behavior is strongly non-linear, resulting in significant variation in far-field flame-sheet response with perturbation amplitude.     

Influence of asymmetric flame transfer functions on can-to-can acoustic interactions between two lean-premixed combustors

In can-annular gas turbines, low-frequency thermoacoustic instabilities can arise from cross-talk interactions between neighboring combustors upstream of the first-stage turbine nozzles. In this experimental study, we investigate the influence of non-identical flame transfer functions (FTFs) between adjacent combustors on the development of self-excited thermoacoustic oscillations. To create different FTFs, we use five different swirl nozzles, one with high swirl (HS) and four with low swirl (LS), all with different porosities. We find that, compared with the LS FTFs, the HS FTF exhibits a smaller and flatter gain as well as a smaller phase difference. We attribute this behavior to differences in the flame structure and the stabilization mechanisms, namely an inner shear layer-stabilized diverging front in the HS case versus a detached reaction zone in the presence of a central jet with an outer swirl flow in the LS cases. Using two tunable lean-premixed combustors connected via a cross-talk section, we show that (i) symmetric FTF combinations (HS + HS or LS + LS) produce in-phase interactions, leading to push-push modes, but that (ii) asymmetric FTF combinations (HS + LS) produce out-of-phase interactions, leading to push-pull modes. Phase-resolved visualization of the asymmetric cases reveals that the inner shear layer-stabilized HS flame exhibits large angle fluctuations, whereas the aerodynamically stabilized LS flame is characterized by the periodic emergence of a bow-shaped front and an oval structure. For all the conditions tested, we find that asymmetry in the FTFs leads to either (i) a completely stable state with negligible amplitude or (ii) a mildly unstable state with an amplitude lower than that of the equivalent symmetric cases. These findings highlight the potential of using asymmetric FTFs for passive control of cross-talk-driven thermoacoustic instabilities in can-annular combustors.     

Scaling relations for the length of coaxial oxy-flames with and without swirl

An extensive experimental study is carried out to analyze scaling laws for the length of methane oxy-flames stabilized on a coaxial injector. The central methane fuel stream is diluted with N₂, CO₂ or He. The annular air stream is enriched with oxygen and can be impregnated with swirl. Former studies have shown that the stoichiometric mixing length of relatively short flames is controlled by the mixing process taking place in the vicinity of the injector outlet. This property has been used to derive scaling laws at large values of the stoichiometric mixture fraction. It is shown here that the same relation can be extended to methane oxy-flames characterized by small values of the stoichiometric mixture fraction. Flame lengths are determined with OH* chemiluminescence measurements over more than 1000 combinations of momentum ratio, annular swirl level and composition of the inner and outer streams of the coaxial injector. It is found that the lengths of all the flames investigated without swirl collapse on a single line, whose coefficients correspond to within 15% of flame lengths obtained for fuel and oxidizer streams at much larger stoichiometric mixture fractions. This relation is then extended to the case of swirling flames by including the contribution of the tangential velocity in the flow entrainment rate and is found to well reproduce the mixing degree of the two co-axial streams as long as the flow does not exhibit a vortex breakdown bubble. At higher swirl levels, when the flow features a central recirculation region, the flame length is found to also directly depend on the oxygen enrichment in the oxidizer stream.     

Impact of co- and counter-swirl on flow recirculation and liftoff of non-premixed oxy-flames above coaxial injectors

Controlling the flame shape and its liftoff height is one of the main issues for oxy-flames to limit heat transfer to the solid components of the injector. An extensive experimental study is carried out to analyze the effects of co- and counter-swirl on the flow and flame patterns of non-premixed oxy-flames stabilized above a coaxial injector when both the inner fuel and the annular oxidizer streams are swirled. A swirl level greater than 0.6 in the annular oxidizer stream is shown to yield compact oxy-flames with a strong central recirculation zone that are attached to the rim of central fuel tube in absence of inner swirl. It is shown that counter-swirl in the fuel tube weakens this recirculation zone leading to more elongated flames, while co-swirl enhances it with more compact flames. These results obtained for high annular swirl levels contrast with previous observations made on gas turbine injectors operated at lower annular swirl levels in which central recirculation of the flow is mainly achieved with counter-rotating swirlers. Imparting a high inner swirl to the central fuel stream leads to lifted flames due to the partial blockage of the flow at the injector outlet by the central recirculation zone that causes high strain rates in the wake of the injector rim. This partial flow blockage is more influenced by the level of the inner swirl than its rotation direction. A global swirl number is then introduced to analyze the structure of the flow far from the burner outlet where swirl dissipation takes place when the jets mix. A model is derived for the global swirl number which well reproduces the evolution of the mass flow rate of recirculating gases measured in non-reacting conditions and the flame liftoff height when the inner and outer swirl levels and the momentum flux ratio between the two streams are varied.     

Application of the Lagrangian CMC method in elliptic bluff body and swirl flames

The Lagrangian CMC method was implemented in the open source programme OpenFOAM and applied to turbulent nonpremixed bluff body and swirl flames. Lagrangian CMC is more efficient than Eulerian CMC with the number of Lagrangian flame groups much less than the number of computational cells for Eulerian CMC equations in general. It is based on the conditional flame structure depending on the residence time of the fuel of fixed Lagrangian identity from the nozzle. According to sensitivity study the injected fuel was divided into ten flame groups according to the injection sequence with the resulting conditional profiles between those by ISR and Eulerian CMC. Minor deviation from Eulerian CMC was attributed to the flame structure that is difficult to be characterised by the residence time only in elliptic recirculating flows of the bluff body and swirl flames. The Eulerian and Lagrangian CMC showed the same trend of deviation from measurements for conditional temperature, H₂O, OH, CO and H₂ mass fractions. The significant deviation of H₂ was due to uncertainty in the reaction chemistry, as observed in the previous works based on other reaction mechanisms for methane and methanol.     

Control of oscillating combustion and noise based on local flame structure

To control combustion oscillations, the characteristics of an oscillating swirl injection premixed flame have been investigated, and control of oscillating combustion and noise based on local flame structure has been conducted. The r.m.s. value of pressure fluctuations and noise level show significantly large values between = 0.8 and 1.1. The beating of pressure fluctuations is observed for the large oscillating flame conditions in this combustor. Relationship between beating of pressure fluctuations and local flame structure was observed by the simultaneous measurement of CH/OH planar laser induced fluorescence and pressure fluctuations. The local flame structure and beating of pressure fluctuations are related and the most complicated flame is formed in the middle pressure fluctuating region of beating. The beating of pressure fluctuations, which plays important roles in noise generation and nitric oxide emission in this combustor, could be controlled by injecting secondary fuel into the recirculating region of oscillating flames. Injecting secondary fuel prevented lean blowout, and low NO_x combustion was also achieved even for the case of pure methane injection as a secondary fuel. By injecting secondary fuel into the recirculating region near the swirl injector, the flame lifted from the swirl injector and its reaction region became uniform and widespread, hence resulting in low nitric oxide emission. Secondary mixture injection, fuel diluted with air, is not effective for control of combustion oscillations suppression and lean blowout prevention.     

Ultra-lean hydrogen-enriched oscillating flames behind a heat conducting bluff-body: Anomalous and normal blow–off

This paper presents a numerical study of ultra-lean hydrogen-methane flames stabilized behind a rectangular, highly conducting metallic bluff body acting as a flame holder. Using high fidelity numerical simulations, we show that lean inverted steady flames exist below normal flammability limits. They have distinct stabilization mechanism from pure methane flames. These flames are blown-off for sufficiently small velocities, a phenomenon called anomalous blow-off. At even leaner conditions oscillating ultra–lean hydrogen-methane flames can be established. These oscillating flames exist within a rather small range of equivalence ratios and inflow velocities, and move to mean locations closer to the flame holder as the reactant flow is increased. We show that the oscillations are associated with the shedding of flame balls from the downstream end of a “residual flame” that remains attached. Unlike their steady counterparts, the oscillating flames exhibit blow-off at both low velocities (anomalous blow-off) and at sufficiently high inflow velocities (normal blow-off). We show that normal blow-off is linked to heat losses to the flame holder.     

Effects of CO2 dilution on partially premixed CH4-air flames in swirl and bluff body stabilized combustor

The effect of CO₂ dilution on the flame characteristics and pollutant emission of a partially premixed CH₄-air flame in a confined bluff body and swirl influenced flowfield is investigated using optical and laser diagnostic methods. The non-premixed burner produced a converging-diverging flowfield at the burner exit and a lifted flame is produced at all test cases, with an upstream movement of the flame with decreasing global equivalence ratios (?_g). Based on variations in ?_g, two flame stabilization modes – bluff body influenced and swirl stabilized – with a transition mode in-between is observed for the cases with (flame FB) and without dilution (flame FM). The characteristics of the heat release zone are influenced by dilution, with the FB flames being longer and also less intense when compared to FM flames. Pollutant measurement at 30 mm downstream from the combustor exit highlighted the ultra-low NO_x capability of the IIST-GS2 burner. CO₂ dilution leads to a reduction in NO_x emission due to both thermal and chemical effects. For ?_g ≥ 0.7 extreme low levels of CO and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) are observed for both cases. For ?_g ≤ 0.6 the dramatic increase of both CO and UHC maybe due to the lower flame temperatures and shorter flame zone residence times, respectively.     

Direct comparison of self-excited instabilities in mesoscale multinozzle flames and conventional large-scale swirl-stabilized flames

The present experimental investigation demonstrates important trends and offers physical insights into self-excited combustion instabilities in mesoscale multinozzle flames composed of sixty small injectors. Here we focus on the response of a prototypical micromixer-type injector assembly, fabricated using an additive manufacturing technique, in comparison with the behavior of conventional large-scale swirl-stabilized flames. Our results highlight that the development of self-excited instabilities in unconventional mesoscale flames is fundamentally different from that in large-scale swirl flames, in terms of the onset of instabilities, nonlinear modal dynamics, and amplitude/frequency of limit cycle oscillations under the same operating conditions. These differences are attributable to the alteration in local flow/flame structures and the resulting flame-to-flame/flame-wall interaction mechanisms. An integrated analysis of large datasets reveals that the two interacting swirl-stabilized flames tend to couple strongly with a low-frequency L1 mode at about 220 Hz, whereas the sixty-injector small-scale flames are capable of triggering multiple higher-frequency instabilities at ～ 310, ～ 470, and ～ 600 Hz. That is, the use of the micromixer-type injector assembly in a lean-premixed system causes the occurrence of combustion instabilities to shift toward a higher equivalence ratio. However, due to the absence of a large recirculation zone near the primary reaction region, the combustion system equipped with the small-scale multinozzle injectors was found to suffer from lean blowoff phenomena at low equivalence ratio.     

Effect of fuel mixture fraction and velocity perturbations on the flame transfer function of swirl stabilized flames

A novel methodology is developed to decompose the classic Flame Transfer Function (FTF) used in the thermo-acoustic stability analysis of lean premix combustors into contributions of different types. The approach is applied, in the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES), to partially-premixed and fully-premixed flames, which are stabilized via a central recirculation zone as a result of the vortex breakdown phenomenon. The first type of decomposition is into contributions driven by fuel mixture fraction and dynamic velocity fluctuations. Each of these two contributions is further split into the components of turbulent flame speed and flame surface area. The flame surface area component, driven by the pure dynamic velocity fluctuation, which is shown to be a dominant contribution to the overall FTF, is also additionally decomposed over the coherent flow structures using proper orthogonal decomposition. Using a simplified model for the dynamic response of premixed flames, it is shown that the distribution of the FTF, as obtained from LES, is closely related to the characteristics of the velocity field frequency response to the inlet perturbation. Initially, the proposed method is tested and validated with a well characterized laboratory burner geometry. Subsequently, the method is applied to an industrial gas turbine burner.     

Effect of Lewis number on premixed laminar lean-limit flames stabilized on a bluff body

In this paper, we present a study on the effect of Lewis number, Le, on the stabilization and blow-off of laminar lean limit premixed flames stabilized on a cylindrical bluff body. Numerical simulations and experiments are conducted for propane, methane and two blends of hydrogen with methane as fuel gases, containing 20% and 40% of hydrogen by volume, respectively. It is found that the Le?>?1 flame blows-off via convection from the base of the flame (without formation of a neck) when the conditions for flame anchoring are not fulfilled. Le?≤?1 flames exhibit a necking phenomenon just before lean blow-off. This necking of the flame front is a result of the local reduction in mass burning rates causing flame merging and quenching of the thin flame tube formed. The structure of these flames at the necking location is found to be similar to tubular flames. It is found that extinction stretch rates for tubular flames closely match values at the neck location of bluff-body flames of corresponding mixtures, suggesting that excessive flame stretch is directly responsible for blow-off of the studied Le?≤?1 flames. After quenching of the neck, the upstream part forms a steady and stable residual flame in the wake of the bluff body while the downstream part is convected away.     

Experimental investigation of combustion instabilities of a mesoscale multinozzle array in a lean-premixed combustor

Self-excited combustion instabilities in a mesoscale multinozzle array, also referred to as a micromixer-type injector, have been experimentally investigated in a lean-premixed tunable combustor operating with preheated methane and air. The injector assembly consists of sixty identical swirl injectors of 6.5 mm inner diameter, which are evenly distributed across the combustor dump plane. Their flow paths are divided into two groups – inner and outer stages – to form radially stratified reactant stoichiometry for the control of self-excited instabilities. OH PLIF measurements of stable flames reveal that the presence of radial staging has a remarkable influence on stabilization mechanisms, reactant jet penetration/merging, and interactions between adjacent flame fronts. In an inner enrichment case, two outer (leaner) streams merge into a single jet structure, whereas the inner (richer) reactant jets penetrate far downstream without noticeable interactions between neighboring flames. The constructed stability map in the 〈?_i, ?_o〉 domain indicates that strong self-excited instabilities occur under even split and outer enrichment conditions at relatively high global equivalence ratios. This is attributed to large-scale flame surface deformation in the streamwise direction, as manifested by vigorous detachment/attachment movements. The use of the inner fuel staging method was found, however, to limit the growth of large-amplitude heat release rate fluctuations, because the center flames are securely anchored during the whole period of oscillation, giving rise to a moderate lateral motion. We demonstrate that the collective motion of sixty flames – rather than the individual local flame dynamics – play a central role in the development of limit cycle oscillations. This suggests that the distribution pattern of the injector array, in combination with the radial fuel staging scheme, is the key to the control of the instabilities.     

Dynamic behavior of a freely-propagating turbulent premixed flame under global stretch-rate oscillations

Dynamic features of a freely propagating turbulent premixed flame under global stretch rate oscillations were investigated by utilizing a jet-type low-swirl burner equipped with a high-speed valve on the swirl jet line. The bulk flow velocity, equivalence ratio and the nominal mean swirl number were 5 m/s, 0.80 and 1.23, respectively. Seven velocity forcing amplitudes, from 0.09 to 0.55, were examined with a single forcing frequency of 50 Hz. Three kinds of optical measurements, OH-PLIF, OH^* chemiluminescence and PIV, were conducted. All the data were measured or post-processed in a phase-locked manner to obtain phase-resolved information. The global transverse stretch rate showed in-phase oscillations centering around 60 (1/s). The oscillation amplitude of the stretch rate grew with the increment of the forcing amplitude. The turbulent flame structure in the core flow region varied largely in axial direction in response to the flowfield oscillations. The flame brush thickness and the flame surface area oscillated with a phase shift to the stretch rate oscillations. These two properties showed a maximum and minimum values in the increasing and decreasing stretch periods, respectively, for all the forcing amplitudes. Despite large variations in flame brush thickness at different phase angles, the normalized profiles collapse onto a consistent curve. This suggests that the self-similarity sustains in this dynamic flame. The global OH^* fluctuation response (i.e. response of global heat-release rate fluctuation) showed a linear dependency to the forcing velocity oscillation amplitudes. The flame surface area fluctuation response showed a linear tendency as well with a slope similar to that of the global OH^* fluctuation. This indicated that the flame surface area variations play a critical role in the global flame response.     

Impact of turbulence on flame brush development of acoustically excited rod-stabilized flames

Coherent structures, such as those arising from hydrodynamic instabilities or excited by thermoacoustic oscillations, can significantly impact flame structure and, consequently, the nature of heat release. The focus of this work is to study how coherent oscillations of varying amplitudes can impact the growth of the flame brush in a bluff-body stabilized flame and how this impact is influenced by the free stream turbulence intensity of the flow approaching the bluff body. We do this by providing external acoustic excitation at the natural frequency of vortex shedding to simulate a highly-coupled thermoacoustic instability, and we vary the in-flow turbulence intensity using perforated plates upstream of the flame. We use high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry to obtain the three-component velocity field and we use the Mie-scattering images to quantify the behavior of the flame edge. Our results show that in the low-turbulence conditions, presence of high-amplitude acoustic excitation can cause the flame brush to exhibit a step-function growth, indicating that the presence of strong vortical structures close to the flame can suppress flame brush growth. This impact is strongly dependent on the in-flow turbulence intensity and the flame brush development in conditions with higher levels of in-flow turbulence are minimally impacted by increasing amplitudes of acoustic excitation. These findings suggest that the sensitivity of the flow and flame to high-amplitude coherent oscillations is a strong function of the in-flow turbulence intensity.     

Aspects of oscillating flames

Photography and chemieluminescence from CH radicals have been used to identify the reaction zones and quantify the areas and shapes of kerosene-fuelled flames with swirl numbers of 0.7 and 0.8 and an overall equivalence ratio of 0.25. The air flow was oscillated at a frequency of 350 Hz and the results suggest that the oscillations caused a sequence of vortex rings at the burner exit and that these distorted the reaction zone and increased its area in the near burner region leading to an overall shorter flame. For the swirl number of 0.7, the flame was lifted and the oscillations led to an increase in the average lift off length whereas the higher swirl number caused an attached flame with and without oscillations. The stretch rate, evaluated from the variation of the flame area in time, was higher for the lifted flame suggesting that lift off was caused by local extinction.     

Experimental analysis and theoretical lift-off criterion for H2/air flames stabilized on a dual swirl injector

Stabilization mechanisms of partially premixed H₂/air flames on a coaxial dual swirl injector are investigated at atmospheric conditions. Hydrogen is injected through a central duct, and the air by the outer annular channel. Both channels are swirled and two stabilization modes are observed depending on the geometrical configuration of the injector and on the operating conditions. In certain regimes, the H₂/air flame stabilizes on the injector lips as a diffusion flame. For other operating conditions, the flame is lifted from the injector and burns mainly in partially premixed regime leading to limited NOx emissions. PIV measurements in cold flow conditions and direct observations of the flame indicate that the flame stabilization mode is mainly controlled by the inner hydrogen swirl level, the injector recess and the hydrogen velocity. For a given air flowrate, a minimum hydrogen velocity to lift the flame is determined for each combination of inner swirl level and injector recess. Assuming the flame close to the injector lips behaves like an edge flame, a model for flame stabilization based on the triple flame speed and the location of the stoichiometric mixture fraction line is built. According to this model, the flame is anchored to the injector if the triple flame can propagate to the inner injector lips, i.e., if the velocity along the stoichiometric line is lower than the triple flame speed. The model is tested using hydrogen diluted with argon and air diluted with nitrogen. Two cases producing predicted opposite trends are verified. First, the stoichiometric line is moved in the direction of lower velocity zone keeping the triple flame speed constant in order to anchor a lifted flame. Next, the stoichiometric line is kept constant and the triple flame speed is reduced in order to lift an anchored flame. The mechanisms driving flame stabilization are discussed.     

Large eddy simulation of bluff-body stabilized swirling non-premixed flames

Large eddy simulations (LES) using a subgrid mixing and combustion model are carried out to study two bluff-body stabilized swirling non-premixed flames (SM1 and SMA2). The similarities and differences between the two flames are highlighted and discussed. Flow features, such as, the recirculation zone (RZ) size and the flame structure are captured accurately in both cases. The SM1 flame shows a toroidal RZ just behind the bluff body and a vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) downstream. In addition, a highly rotational non-recirculating region in-between the RZ and VBB is observed as well. On the other hand, the SMA2 shows a single elongated recirculation zone downstream the bluff body. Flame necking is observed downstream the bluff body for the SM1 flame but not for the SMA2 flame. The time-averaged velocity and temperature comparison also shows reasonable agreement. The study shows that the sensitivity of the flame structure to inflow conditions can be captured in the present LES without requiring any model changes.     

Weakly stretched premixed flames in oscillating flows

The response of a premixed flame in stagnation-point flow with an imposed oscillating strain rate has been examined. This configuration is of fundamental interest and has potential application to turbulent combustion modelling. Of interest are flames which stand well clear of the front stagnation point of a bluff body. Under these conditions the flame can be treated as a surface of density discontinuity. A detailed solution is constructed in the burned and unburned gas regions and includes the flame response to the imposed fluctuations as well as the resulting displacement of the incident flow. Our analysis accounts for the full coupling between the flame and the underlying flow field and, unlike most previous studies, is not restricted to small-amplitude oscillations.     

Lock-in and quasiperiodicity in hydrodynamically self-excited flames: Experiments and modelling

Hydrodynamically self-excited flames are often assumed to be insensitive to low-amplitude external forcing. To test this assumption, we apply acoustic forcing to a range of jet diffusion flames. These flames have regions of absolute instability at their base and this causes them to oscillate at discrete natural frequencies. We apply the forcing around these frequencies, at varying amplitudes, and measure the response leading up to lock-in. We then model the system as a forced van der Pol oscillator.Our results show that, contrary to some expectations, a hydrodynamically self-excited flame oscillating at one frequency is sensitive to forcing at other frequencies. When forced at low amplitudes, it responds at both frequencies as well as at several nearby frequencies, indicating quasiperiodicity. When forced at high amplitudes, it locks into the forcing. The critical forcing amplitude for lock-in increases both with the strength of the self-excited instability and with the deviation of the forcing frequency from the natural frequency. Qualitatively, these features are accurately predicted by the forced van der Pol oscillator. There are, nevertheless, two features that are not predicted, both concerning the asymmetries of lock-in. When forced below its natural frequency, the flame is more resistant to lock-in, and its oscillations at lock-in are stronger than those of the unforced flame. When forced above its natural frequency, the flame is less resistant to lock-in, and its oscillations at lock-in are weaker than those of the unforced flame. This last finding suggests that, for thermoacoustic systems, lock-in may not be as detrimental as it is thought to be.