Ignition and combustion of a dense powder jet of micron-sized aluminum particles in hot gas

Aiming at the potential implementation of aluminum as a primary fuel in powder-fueled ramjets or engines, this work seeks to investigate the ignition and combustion characteristics of a dense gas-suspended jet of micron-sized aluminum particles in a hot flow with controlled temperature and compositions. Aluminum particles with a mean diameter of 40 µm are aerosolized using a custom-made feeder and carried into the burner by a nitrogen stream. The powder jet with a particle density of up to 1–3 kg/m³ can be ignited and burned violently at a surrounding gas temperature as low as 1500 K. The lowered ignition temperature of the powder jet can be attributed to a cooperative mechanism resulting in fast reactions. Meanwhile, the ignition delay time decreases from ∼25 to ∼5 ms when the surrounding temperature increases from 1500 to 2200 K. The burning powder jet generates strong luminance and AlO emission signals detected by a spectrometer. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) and camera pyrometry are used to derive the two-dimensional velocity and average projected temperature distribution, respectively. Furthermore, a high-speed camera with a microscopic lens captures the transition from dispersed combustion to group combustion that forms a large-scale flame column wrapping the entire powder jet. The aluminum oxide produced in the columnar flame forms a large number of nanosized smoke particles in the condensation region. Finally, a numerical model considering the collective effect of the powder jet is developed to predict the particle temperature history during the ignition stage, which shows good agreement with the temperature profiles derived from camera pyrometry and PIV techniques.     

Detection of atomic oxygen in flames by absorption spectroscopy

The absolute concentration of atomic oxygen in an atmospheric pressure hydrogen/air flame has been measured using Intracavity Laser Spectroscopy (ICLS) based on a dye laser pumped by an argon-ion laser. Absorptions at the highly forbidden transitions at 630.030 nm and 636.380 nm were observed at an equivalent optical length of up to 10 km. The relatively low intensity of the dye laser avoids photochemical interferences that are inherent to some other methods for detecting atomic oxygen. The detection sensitivity is about 6 × 10¹⁴ atom/cm³ and can be improved with better flame and laser stabilization.     

A multi-step reaction model for ignition of fully-dense Al-CuO nanocomposite powders

A multi-step reaction model is developed to describe heterogeneous processes occurring upon heating of an Al-CuO nanocomposite material prepared by arrested reactive milling. The reaction model couples a previously derived Cabrera-Mott oxidation mechanism describing initial, low temperature processes and an aluminium oxidation model including formation of different alumina polymorphs at increased film thicknesses and higher temperatures. The reaction model is tuned using traces measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Ignition is studied for thin powder layers and individual particles using respectively the heated filament (heating rates of 10³–10⁴ K s^?1) and laser ignition (heating rate ～10⁶ K s^?1) experiments. The developed heterogeneous reaction model predicts a sharp temperature increase, which can be associated with ignition when the laser power approaches the experimental ignition threshold. In experiments, particles ignited by the laser beam are observed to explode, indicating a substantial gas release accompanying ignition. For the heated filament experiments, the model predicts exothermic reactions at the temperatures, at which ignition is observed experimentally; however, strong thermal contact between the metal filament and powder prevents the model from predicting the thermal runaway. It is suggested that oxygen gas release from decomposing CuO, as observed from particles exploding upon ignition in the laser beam, disrupts the thermal contact of the powder and filament; this phenomenon must be included in the filament ignition model to enable prediction of the temperature runaway.     

Diesel flame lift-off stabilization in the presence of laser-ignition: a numerical study

Diesel flame lift-off and stabilization in the presence of laser-ignition were numerically investigated with the method of Eulerian stochastic fields. The aim was to scrutinise the interaction between the lifted diesel flame and an ignition kernel upstream of the lifted flame. The numerical simulation was carried out in a constant-volume combustion vessel with n-heptane as fuel. The process was studied previously in an experiment employing Diesel #2 as the fuel in the same combustion vessel. In the experiment a lifted flame was first established at a position downstream of the nozzle. An ignition kernel was then initiated using a high-energy pulse laser at a position upstream of the natural lift-off position of the diesel flame. The laser-ignition kernel was modelled using a high-temperature (～2000 K) hot spot. In both experiment and simulations the upstream front of the ignition kernel was shown to remain around the initial laser ignition site for a substantially long period of time, while the downstream front of the ignition kernel propagates rapidly towards the natural lift-off position downstream of the laser ignition site. The lift-off position oscillated before the final stabilization at the natural lift-off position. The structures and the propagation speed of the reaction fronts in the laser-ignition kernel and the main flame were analysed. Two different stabilization mechanisms, the auto-ignition mechanism and the flame propagation mechanism, were identified for the naturally lifted flame and the laser-induced reaction front, respectively. A mechanism was proposed to explain the oscillation of the lift-off position.     

High-repetition rate measurements of temperature and thermal dissipation in a non-premixed turbulent jet flame

High-repetition rate laser Rayleigh scattering is used to study the temperature fluctuations, power spectra, gradients, and thermal dissipation rate characteristics of a non-premixed turbulent jet flame at a Reynolds number of 15,200. The radial temperature gradient is measured by a two-point technique, whereas the axial gradient is measured from the temperature time-series combined with Taylor’s hypothesis. The temperature power spectra along the jet centerline exhibit only a small inertial subrange, probably because of the low local Reynolds number (Re_δ ≈ 2000), although a larger inertial subrange is present in the spectra at off-centerline locations. Scaling the frequency by the estimated Batchelor frequency improves the collapse of the dissipation region of the spectra, but this collapse is not as good as is obtained in non-reacting jets. Probability density functions of the thermal dissipation are shown to deviate from lognormal in the low-dissipation portion of the distribution when only one component of the gradient is used. In contrast, nearly log-normal distributions are obtained along the centerline when both axial and radial components are included, even for locations where the axial gradient is not resolved. The thermal dissipation PDFs measured off the centerline deviate from log-normal owing to large-scale intermittency. At one-half the visible flame length, the radial profile of the mean thermal dissipation exhibits a peak off the centerline, whereas farther downstream the peak dissipation occurs on the centerline. The mean thermal dissipation on centerline is observed to increase linearly with downstream distance, reach a peak at the location of maximum mean centerline temperature, and then decrease for farther downstream locations. Many of these observed trends are not consistent with equivalent non-reacting turbulent jet measurements, and thus indicate the importance of understanding how heat release modifies the turbulence structure of jet flames.     

Simultaneous observation of liquid phase distribution and flame front evolution during the ignition transient of a LOX/GH2-combustor

Phenomena such as flame propagation, flame/spray interaction and flame stabilization during the transient ignition process in a cryogenic model rocket combustor are investigated on sub-millisecond time scale. Diagnostic techniques developed to characterize the stationary spray flame are applied to investigate the transient evolution of the LOX-spray and the flame front during the ignition process. Ignition is initiated by focusing a pulsed laser into the combustion chamber. Thus, ignition time as well as the position of ignition is well defined. This and the exact control of the delay between ignition and detection time allowed the observation of the evolution of the flame front. The distribution of the liquid oxygen phase and the velocity of LOX droplets and ligaments are determined by light sheet techniques using a double-pulsed laser system. Simultaneously the position of the flame front is measured by recording the spontaneous emission of the OH-radical. By varying the delay timet between ignition and detection in a series of test runs, the transient ignition phenomena has been investigated in the interval from 0 to 5 ms after ignition.     

Auto-ignition and flame stabilization of pulsed methane jets in a hot vitiated coflow studied with high-speed laser and imaging techniques

The auto-ignition of a pulsed methane jet issuing into a laminar coflow of hot exhaust products of a lean premixed hydrogen/air flat flame was examined using high-speed laser and optical measurement techniques with frame rates of 5 kHz or more. OH* chemiluminescence was used to determine the downstream location of the first auto-ignition kernel as well as the stabilization height of the steady-state lifted jet flame. OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) was used to determine further details of the auto-ignition with a higher spatial resolution. Simultaneous imaging of broadband luminosity from a viewing angle perpendicular to the OH* chemiluminescence was applied, to three-dimensionally reconstruct the ignition kernel location in space and to determine whether the first occurrence of the kernel was within or beyond the PLIF laser sheet. The development and expansion of the jet was characterized by high-speed Schlieren imaging. Statistics have been compiled for both the ignition time as well as the downstream location of the first auto-ignition kernel and the stabilization height of the steady-state lifted jet flame. From the PLIF images it was found that auto-ignition tended to occur at the interface between bulges of the inflowing jet and the coflow. For steady-state conditions, auto-ignition kernels were observed frequently below the flame base, emphasizing that the lifted jet flame is stabilized by auto-ignition.     

Hydrodynamics of pulsed supersonic underexpanded jets: Spatiotemporal characteristics

The gasdynamic parameters of nonsteady expansion of He, Ar, N₂, and SiH₄ from a sonic nozzle into a space with reduced background gas pressure were experimentally studied for moderate values of n (10³–10⁶) and the Reynolds number (Re_L∼10⁰–10²). The jet set times necessary for the formation of pulsed jets of a given finite duration are determined. The results are generalized in terms of dimensionless similarity parameters. The laws of motion of the leading and trailing fronts in pulsed jets of various gases are established. The leading front of a pulsed jet propagates at a velocity significantly smaller than the limiting steady value. The jet expansion dynamics is determined by the ratio of the momentum of the expanding gas to that of the background gas displaced from the flow region. The length of the steady flow region in a pulsed jet monotonically decreases downstream from the source and drops with increasing background gas pressure because of the loss of jet particles in the trailing rarefaction wave; this length increases with the initial momentum because the background gas is more intensively displaced from the flow region.     

Detailed measurements of transient two-stage ignition and combustion processes in high-pressure spray flames using simultaneous high-speed formaldehyde PLIF and schlieren imaging

This study investigates the low- and high-temperature ignition and combustion processes in a high-pressure spray flame of n-dodecane using simultaneous 50-kHz formaldehyde (HCHO) planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and 100-kHz schlieren imaging. The PLIF measurements were facilitated through the use of a pulse-burst-mode Nd:YAG laser, producing a 355-nm pulse-train with 300 pulses at 70 mJ/pulse, separated by 20-µs, in a 6-ms burst. The high-speed HCHO PLIF signal was imaged using a non-intensified CMOS camera with dynamic background emission correction. The acquisition rate of this HCHO PLIF diagnostic is unique to the research community, and when combined with high-speed schlieren imaging, provides unprecedented opportunity for analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution of fuel jet penetration and low- and high-temperature ignition processes relevant to internal combustion engine conditions. The present experiments are conducted in the Sandia constant-volume preburn vessel equipped with a new Spray A injector. The influences of ambient conditions are examined on the ignition delay times of the two-stage ignition events, HCHO structures, and lift-off length values. Consistent with past studies of traditional Spray A flames, the formation of HCHO is first observed in the jet peripheries where the equivalence ratio (Φ) is expected to be leaner and hotter and then grows in size and in intensity downstream into the jet core where Φ is expected to be richer and colder. The measurements demonstrate that the formation and propagation of HCHO from the leaner to richer region leads to high-temperature ignition events, supporting the identification of a phenomenon coined “cool-flame wave propagation” during the transient ignition process. Subsequent high-temperature ignition is found to consume the previously formed HCHO in the jet head, while the formation of HCHO persists in the fuel-rich zone near the flame base over the entire combustion period.     

雷诺数对圆形渐缩喷嘴湍流射流的影响

本文研究雷诺数(Re)对圆形渐缩喷嘴湍流射流的影响.实验在射流出口雷诺数为 Re = 4050—20100 的范围内进行,分别测量了射流出口、中心线的平均及湍流流场以及部分径向剖面速度分布.所有测量均采用单热线恒温热线风速仪进行高频采样,所测流场范围在轴向上为 0—30d(这里d为射流出口直径).虽然出口速度分布均为"平顶帽"形,但测量结果依然反映出Re对射流出口以及下游流场有强烈的影响.当Re小于临界值(～10000)时 关键词： 雷诺数 圆形射流 热线风速仪     

Numerical simulations of the ignition of n-heptane droplets in the transition diameter range from heterogeneous to homogeneous ignition

Spontaneous ignition of single n-heptane droplets in a constant volume filled with air is numerically simulated with the spherical symmetry. The volume is closed against mass, species, and energy transfer. The numerical model is fully transient. It continues calculation even after the droplet has completely vaporized, and therefore can predict pre-vaporized ignition. Initial pressure and initial air temperature are fixed at 3 MPa and 773 K, respectively. The droplet is initially at room temperature, and its diameter is between 1 and 100 μm. When the overall equivalence ratio is fixed to be sufficiently large, there exists no ignition limit in terms of initial droplet diameter d₀, and the ignition delay takes a minimum value at certain d₀. In such a case, transition from the heterogeneous ignition to the homogeneous ignition with decreasing d₀ is observed. When d₀ is fixed to be so small that the ignition would not occur in an infinite volume of air, the ignition delay takes a minimum value at certain , which is less than unity. Two-stage ignition behavior is investigated with this model. Ignition delay of a cool flame has the dependence on d₀ that is similar to that of ignition delay of a hot flame when is unity. When is almost zero, the ignition limit for cool flame in terms of d₀ is not identified unlike that for hot flame.     

Numerical analyses of deflagration initiation by a hot jet

Numerical simulations of axisymmetric reactive jets with one-step Arrhenius kinetics are used to investigate the problem of deflagration initiation in a premixed fuel–air mixture by the sudden discharge of a hot jet of its adiabatic reaction products. For the moderately large values of the jet Reynolds number considered in the computations, chemical reaction is seen to occur initially in the thin mixing layer that separates the hot products from the cold reactants. This mixing layer is wrapped around by the starting vortex, thereby enhancing mixing at the jet head, which is followed by an annular mixing layer that trails behind, connecting the leading vortex with the orifice rim. A successful deflagration is seen to develop for values of the orifice radius larger than a critical value a _c in the order of the flame thickness of the planar deflagration δ_L. Introduction of appropriate scales provides the dimensionless formulation of the problem, with flame initiation characterised in terms of a critical Damköhler number Δ_c=(a _c/δ_L)², whose parametric dependence is investigated. The numerical computations reveal that, while the jet Reynolds number exerts a limited influence on the criticality conditions, the effect of the reactant diffusivity on ignition is much more pronounced, with the value of Δ_c increasing significantly with increasing Lewis numbers . The reactant diffusivity affects also the way ignition takes place, so that for reactants with the flame develops as a result of ignition in the annular mixing layer surrounding the developing jet stem, whereas for highly diffusive reactants with Lewis numbers sufficiently smaller than unity combustion is initiated in the mixed core formed around the starting vortex. The analysis provides increased understanding of deflagration initiation processes, including the effects of differential diffusion, and points to the need for further investigations incorporating detailed chemistry models for specific fuel–air mixtures.     

Two-sided ignition of a thin PMMA sheet in microgravity

Numerical computations and a series of experiments were conducted in microgravity to study the ignition characteristics of a thin polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sheet (thicknesses of 0.2 and 0.4 mm) using a CO₂ laser as an external radiant source. Two separate ignition events were observed, including ignition over the irradiated surface (frontside ignition), and ignition, after some delay, over the backside surface (backside ignition). The backside ignition was achieved in two different modes. In the first mode, after the laser was turned off, the flame shrank and stabilized closer to the fuel surface. This allowed the flame to travel from the frontside to the backside through the small, open hole generated by the laser’s vaporization of PMMA. In the second mode, backside ignition was achieved during the laser irradiation. The numerical calculation simulating this second process predicts fresh oxygen supply flows from the backside gas phase to the frontside gas phase through the open hole, which mixes with accumulated hot MMA fuel vapor which is ignited as a second flame in the frontside gas phase above the hole. Then, the flame initiated from the second ignition travels through the hole to ignite the accumulated flammable mixture in the backside gas phase near the hole, attaining backside ignition. The first backside ignition mode was observed in 21% oxygen and the second backside ignition mode in 35%. The duration of the laser irradiation appears to have important effects on the onset of backside ignition. For example, in 21% oxygen, the backside ignition was attained after a 3 s laser duration but was not observed after a 6 s laser duration (within the available test time of 10 s). Longer laser duration might prevent two-sided ignition in low oxygen concentrations.     

Detailed investigation of ignition by hot gas jets

Experimental and numerical investigations of the ignition of hydrogen/air mixtures by jets of hot exhaust gases are reported. An experimental realisation of such an ignition process, where a jet of hot exhaust gas impinges through a narrow nozzle into a quiescent hydrogen/air mixture, possibly initiating ignition and combustion, is studied. High-speed laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) image sequences of the hydroxyl radical (OH) and laser Schlieren methods are used to gain information about the spatial and temporal evolution of the ignition process. Recording temporally resolved pressure traces yields information about ambient conditions for the process. Numerical experiments are performed that allow linking these observables to certain characteristic states of the gas mixture. The outcome of numerical modelling and experiments indicates the important influence of the hot jet temperature and speed of mixing between the hot and cold gases on the ignition process. The results show the quenching of the flame inside the nozzle and the subsequent ignition of the mixture by the hot exhaust jet. These detailed examinations of the ignition process improve the knowledge concerning flame transmission out of electrical equipment of the type of protection flameproof enclosure.     

Darrieus - Landau instability,growing cycloids and expanding flame acceleration

A premixed flame, propagating away from a point ignition source into an unlimited domain displays an increasing flame speed after the flame size has grown beyond a transition radius. Experiments by Gostintsev et al are described by the relation R = R₁ + At^3/2, where t is the time from ignition and, where S_L is the flame burning velocity and is the thermal diffusivity. The non-dimensional function a() is determined from the experimental results to be equal to 0.002², where is the density ratio across the flame.

In the present work, two-dimensional Lagrangian simulations of flame propagation also display a radial growth with a 3/2 power-law behaviour. This is a potential flow model - no vorticity is included. Hence, the Darrieus - Landau hydrodynamic instability by itself can generate flame acceleration. The numerical results are summarized by the relation R = R1+(2/40)L(SLt/L)3/2, where L is a reference length and is the volume production ratio, = - 1. Equating the zone of velocity jump in the numerical scheme with the temperature jump in hydrocarbon flames allows a definition of an effective thermal diffusivity in the numerical work as n = 0.0081SLL. With this relation, the radial growth is given as, in good agreement with the experimental result and the numerical results of Filyand et al.     

Reaction zone structures and mixing characteristics of partially premixed swirling CH4/air flames in a gas turbine model combustor

The mixing, reaction progress, and flame front structures of partially premixed flames have been investigated in a gas turbine model combustor using different laser techniques comprising laser Doppler velocimetry for the characterization of the flow field, Raman scattering for simultaneous multi-species and temperature measurements, and planar laser-induced fluorescence of CH for the visualization of the reaction zones. Swirling CH₄/air flames with Re numbers between 7500 and 60,000 have been studied to identify the influence of the turbulent flow field on the thermochemical state of the flames and the structures of the CH layers. Turbulence intensities and length scales, as well as the classification of these flames in regime diagrams of turbulent combustion, are addressed. The results indicate that the flames exhibit more characteristics of a diffusion flame (with connected flame zones) than of a uniformly premixed flame.     

Ignition of non-premixed counterflow flames of octane and decane isomers

Ignition temperatures of non-premixed flames of octane and decane isomers were determined in the counterflow configuration at atmospheric pressure, a free-stream fuel/N₂ mixture temperature of 401 K, a local strain rate of 130 s^?1, and fuel mole fractions ranging from 1% to 6%. The experiments were modeled using detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms for all isomers that were combined with established H₂, CO, and n-alkane models, and close agreements were found for all flames considered. The results confirmed that increasing the degree of branching lowers the ignition propensity. On the other hand, increasing the straight chain length by two carbons was found to have no measurable effect on flame ignition for symmetric branched fuel structures. Detailed sensitivity analyses showed that flame ignition is sensitive primarily to the H₂/CO and C₁–C₃ hydrocarbon kinetics for low degrees of branching, and to fuel-related reactions for the more branched molecules.     

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

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