Estimation of radiative properties and temperature distributions in coal-fired boiler furnaces by a portable image processing system

This paper presented an experimental investigation on the estimation of radiative properties and temperature distributions in a 670 t/h coal-fired boiler furnace by a portable imaging processing system. The portable system has been calibrated by a blackbody furnace. Flame temperatures and emissivities were measured by the portable system and equivalent blackbody temperatures were deduced. Comparing the equivalent blackbody temperatures measured by the portable system and the infrared pyrometer, the relative difference is less than 4%. The reconstructed pseudo-instantaneous 2-D temperature distributions in two cross-sections can disclose the combustion status inside the furnace. The measured radiative properties of particles in the furnace proved there is significant scattering in coal-fired boiler furnaces and it can provide useful information for the calculation of radiative heat transfer and numerical simulation of combustion in coal-fired boiler furnaces. The preliminary experimental results show this technology will be helpful for the combustion diagnosis in coal-fired boiler furnaces.     

Tubulent Methane/Air Premixed Flame Structure at High Karlovitz Numbers

2D Direct Numerical Simulations of methane/air turbulent premixed flames at initial Karlovitz numbers ranging from 600 to 9500 are performed. Instantaneous results are then extracted and analyzed with a focus on the inner flame structure. Snapshots reveal that the distributed reaction zone regime, theoretically reached around Ka?≈?100, is not attained before Ka?≈?2000. A correction of the definition of Ka is proposed in order to account for gas expansion across the flame, and is found to be consistent with the previous observations. The fuel-consumption zone is shown to be highly affected by turbulence and the characteristics of flames developing at lower Ka cannot be seen: the reaction zone is indeed strongly stretched and curved by intense turbulence leading to the formation of large protruding structures. In addition, the heat release rate layer is found to be broader and more distributed than at lower Ka as small turbulent eddies are able to survive inside it. No local flame quenching is however noticed. A statistical analysis of the distributed flame highlighted three major features characterizing this regime: significant broadening of the whole flame results from the presence of small eddies inside the reaction zone, temperature evolves linearly with respect to the progress variable and minor species peak mass fractions are lower than in a laminar flame. These results have important consequences for turbulent combustion modelling of flames in the distributed combustion regime.     

The Effect of Diluent on the Sustainability of MILD Combustion in a Cyclonic Burner

The present study investigates the characteristics of MILD/flameless combustion in a cyclonic lab-scale burner. Such a configuration is effective for achieving turbulent mixing in a very short time while allowing for a reasonably long residence time for the development of combustion reactions. These two constraints are mandatory in the case of MILD combustion processes (high inlet temperatures and diluted mixtures). Such operating conditions are achieved through massive heat/mass recirculation towards the fresh incoming mixtures by recycling the exhausted gases, featuring a process where chemical kinetics times are elongated because of the dilution levels. Thus, long residence times are needed to achieve a satisfying reaction progress, and the high inlet temperatures result in fast and efficient mixing between disproportionate flows to avoid the onset of oxidation reactions before achieving diluted conditions. Under these constraints, a lab-scale facility was designed and built. The oxidation processes of C₃H₈/O₂ mixtures highly diluted in N₂ or CO₂ were investigated by varying the external parameters of the system, namely, the inlet temperature (up to 1300 K) and the mixture composition (from lean to rich mixtures). Several combustion regimes were experimentally identified. When the MILD regime was established, the combustion process became homogeneous within the burner without luminous emissions. To investigate the distributed nature of the MILD combustion processes, chemical simulations were performed under the assumption of a well-stirred reactor. For both the diluents, good agreement between the experimental and numerical results was obtained for MILD combustion conditions.     

爆炸场瞬态高温测试的实验研究

针对爆炸场瞬态高温测量需求,从辐射测温原理出发,建立红外比色测温系统。通过黑体炉实验标定出Si/Ge双通道比色测温仪的波长、带宽、光电转换系数等工作参数和测温范围,并将比色测温仪高温测温量程扩展至3 500℃。利用大能量电火花放电产生的爆炸场标定了测温仪的响应时间,结果显示测温仪响应时间不超过10μs。确定了标准测温仪和超限测温仪的温度计算公式,并将比色测温仪应用于TNT柱状炸药和云爆剂（FAE）爆炸场温度测试,可以为爆炸反应过程诊断和爆炸温度毁伤效应评估提供依据。     

A Methodology for Temperature Correction When Using Two-Color Pyrometers - Compensation for Surface Topography and Material

In this investigation, the applicability of the two-color pyrometer technique for temperature measurements in dry hard turning of AISI 52100 steel was studied, where both machined surfaces as well as cutting tools were considered. The impacts of differing hard turned surface topography on the two-color pyrometer readings was studied by conducting temperature measurements on reference samples created using cutting tools with different degrees of tool flank wear. In order to conduct measurements in a controlled environment, a specially designed furnace was developed in which the samples were heated step-wise up to 1,000 °C in a protective atmosphere. At each testing temperature, the temperatures measured by the two-color pyrometer were compared with temperatures recorded by thermocouples. For all materials and surfaces as studied here, the two-color pyrometer generally recorded significantly lower temperatures than the thermocouples; for the hard turned surfaces, depending on the surface topography, the temperatures were as much as ~20 % lower and for the CBN cutting tools, ~13 % lower. To be able to use the two-color pyrometer technique for temperature measurements in hard turning of AISI 52100 steel, a linear approximation function was determined resulting in three unique equations, one for each of the studied materials and surfaces. By using the developed approximation function, the measured cutting temperatures can be adjusted to compensate for differing materials or surface topographies for comparable machining conditions. Even though the proposed equations are unique for the hard turning conditions as studied here, the proposed methodology can be applied to determine the temperature compensation required for other surface topographies, as well as other materials.     

Prediction of a Turbulent Non-Premixed Natural Gas Flame in a Semi-Industrial Scale Furnace using a Radiative Flamelet Combustion Model

A mixedness-reactedness flamelet combustion model coupled with a comprehensive radiation heat transfer model based on the discrete transfer method of solution of the radiative transport equation is applied for the simulation of a 3 MW non-swirling turbulent non-premixed natural gas flame in the experimental furnace at the International Flame Research Foundation. In the calculation, turbulence is represented by the standard k − ε and a differential Reynolds-stress model. Predictions are compared with measurements of mean gas velocity, temperature, major species concentrations and incident radiation wall flux. The radiative mixedness-reactedness flamelet combustion model, irrespective of the model for turbulence, is able to reproduce the basic structure of the experimental flame, which is stabilised downstream of the burner nozzle. In the near burner region, encompassing the non-reacting lift-off zone, good quality predictions are obtained using both the turbulence models, whereas further downstream, within the combusting zone of the jet, the Reynolds-stress turbulence model generates better predictions at and about the furnace axis. The nitric oxide (NO) formation via the thermal- and prompt-NO routes was also calculated and compared with in-flame and flue-gas NO data. The measured NO level at the furnace exit is well reproduced in the calculation, however discrepancies exist near the burner where NO concentrations around the furnace axis are overpredicted.     

Large Eddy Simulation of a Polydisperse Ethanol Spray Flame

Ethanol is identified as an interesting alternative fuel. In this regards, the predictive capability of combustion Large Eddy Simulation approach coupled to Lagrangian droplet dynamic model to retrieve the turbulent droplet dispersion, droplet size distribution, spray evolution and combustion properties is investigated in this paper for an ethanol spray flame. Following the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach with a fully two way coupling, the Favre-filtered low Mach number Navier-Stokes equations are solved on structured grids with dynamic sub-grid scale models to describe the turbulent carrier gas phase. Droplets are injected in polydisperse manner and generated in time dependent boundary conditions. They evaporate to form an air-fuel mixture that yields spray flame. Part of the ethanol droplets evaporates within the prevaporization area before reaching the combustion zone, making the flame to burn in a partially premixed regime. The chemistry is described by a tabulated detailed chemistry based on the flamelet generated manifold approach. The fuel, ethanol, is modeled by a detailed reaction mechanism consisting of 56 species and 351 reversible reactions. The simulation results including excess gas temperature, droplet velocities and corresponding fluctuations, droplet mean diameters and spray volume flux at different distances from the exit plane show good agreement with experimental data. Analysis of combustion spray features allows gaining a deep insight into the two-phase flow process ongoing.     

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

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

Investigation of mixing processes of effusion cooling air and main flow in a single sector model gas turbine combustor at elevated pressure

Mixing processes between main flow and effusion cooling air are investigated in an effusion cooled, swirl-stabilized pressurized single sector gas turbine combustor using advanced laser diagnostics. Quantitative planar laser-induced fluorescence of the hydroxyl radical (OH-PLIF) and planar laser-induced fluorescence of nitric oxide, seeded to the effusion cooling air, (NO-PLIF) are employed in the primary zone and close to the effusion cooled liner. This data is used to identify mixing events at three stages of premixed combustion, i.e. mixing before reaction, mixing during reaction and mixing after reaction. A parametric study of swirl and cooling air mass flow is conducted to investigate the mutual interaction between flame and cooling air. Within the primary zone, a significant radial asymmetry of OH concentration is observed. This asymmetry is partly explained by the presence of effusion cooling air within the unburned fresh gas, leading to lowered OH concentration within local reaction zones and their post-flame equilibrium concentration. Near the effusion cooled liner, adiabatic mixing after reaction is the dominant process across all investigated operating conditions. Notable mixing before reaction is only observed for the first effusion hole on the center line at low swirl conditions.     

Temperature and species measurement in a quenching boundary layer on a flat-flame burner

A detailed understanding of transport phenomena and reactions in near-wall boundary layers of combustion chambers is essential for further reducing pollutant emissions and improving thermal efficiencies of internal combustion engines. In a model experiment, the potential of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) was investigated for measurements inside the boundary layer connected to flame-wall interaction at atmospheric pressure. Temperature and species distributions were measured in the quenching boundary layer formed close to a cooled metal surface located parallel to the flow of a premixed methane/air flat flame. Multi-line NO-LIF thermometry provided gas-phase temperature distributions. In addition, flame species OH, CH₂O and CO were monitored by single-photon (OH, CH₂O) and two-photon (CO) excitation LIF, respectively. The temperature dependence of the OH-LIF signal intensities was corrected for using the measured gas-phase temperature distributions. The spatial line-pair resolution of the imaging system was 22 μm determined by imaging microscopic line pairs printed on a resolution target. The experimental results show the expected flame quenching behavior in the boundary layer and they reveal the potential and limitations of the applied diagnostics techniques. Limitations in spatial resolution are attributed to refraction of fluorescence radiation propagating through steep temperature gradients in the boundary layer. For the present experimental arrangements, the applied diagnostics techniques are applicable as close to the wall as 200 μm with measurement precision then exceeding the 15–25% limit for species detection, with estimates of double this value for the case of H₂CO due to the unknown effect of the Boltzmann fraction corrections not included in the data evaluation process. Temperature measurements are believed to be accurate within 50 K in the near-wall zone, which amounts to roughly 10% at the lower temperatures encountered in this region of the flames.     

甲烷/煤尘复合爆炸火焰的传播特性

为揭示甲烷/煤尘复合爆炸火焰的传播机理,利用气粉两相混合爆炸实验系统,在低于甲烷爆炸下限条件下,采用高速摄影机记录火焰传播图像,通过热电偶采集火焰温度,研究了煤尘种类以及甲烷体积分数对甲烷/煤尘复合火焰传播特性的影响。结果表明:挥发分是衡量煤尘燃烧特性的主导因素;随着煤尘挥发分的升高,燃烧反应增强,火焰传播速度升高,火焰温度升高;挥发分含量差异较小时,水分含量越低,燃烧反应越剧烈;在相同条件下,焦煤的燃烧反应强度最高,其次为长焰煤,最后为褐煤;随着甲烷体积分数的增加,煤尘颗粒的燃烧可由释放挥发分的扩散燃烧转变为气相预混燃烧,燃烧反应增强,火焰传播速度和火焰温度显著升高;热辐射和热对流作用促进煤尘颗粒热解,释放挥发分进行燃烧反应,维持复合火焰的持续传播;随着混合体系中甲烷体积分数的增加,混合爆炸机制由粉尘驱动型爆炸转为气体驱动型爆炸,燃烧反应增强;甲烷/煤尘复合爆炸火焰可由未燃区、预热区、气相燃烧区、多相燃烧区和焦炭燃烧区5部分组成,湍流扰动导致燃烧介质空间分布存在差异,使得燃烧区无规则交错分布。     

甲烷气体的冲击化学反应流研究

用二级轻气炮加载技术将W89Mo9Ni1Fe1飞片加速到约5.0km/s,撞击封装有接近常态的甲烷气体的LY12铝靶。利用六通道高温计和示波器记录到冲击压缩的甲烷气体的光辐射历史曲线,并获得甲烷气体的冲击波速度与温度。利用一维Euler方程与化学反应方程的全流场耦合,采用甲烷体系的13组元40反应步的化学反应模型,并用3阶WENO数值格式对空间进行离散。为避免刚性过强,化学反应源项用点隐方法处理。由此得到了甲烷的冲击反应流场和波后热力学参数。通过比较,数值结果与实验结果符合较好。最后,解释了甲烷用作电探针保护气体的物理机制。     

CPFD modeling of hydrodynamics,combustion and NOx emissions in an industrial CFB boiler

The ultra-low NOx emission requirement (50 mg/m³) brings great challenge to CFB boilers in China. To further tap the NOx abatement potential, full understanding the fundamentals behind CFB boilers is needed. To achieve this, a comprehensive CPFD model is established and verified; gas-solid flow, combustion, and NOx emission behavior in an industrial CFB boiler are elaborated; influences of primary air volume and coal particle size on furnace performance are evaluated. Simulation results indicate that there exists a typical core-annular flow structure in the boiler furnace. Furnace temperature is highest in the bottom dense-phase zone (about 950 °C) and decreases gradually along the furnace height. Oxygen-deficient combustion results in high CO concentration and strong reducing atmosphere in the lower furnace. NOx concentration gradually increases in the bottom furnace, reaches maximum at the elevation of secondary air inlet, and then decreases slightly in the upper furnace. Appropriate decreasing the primary air volume and coal particle size would increase the CO concentration and intensify the in-furnace reducing atmosphere, which favors for NOx reduction and low NOx emission from CFB boilers.     

Computational investigation of hydrodynamics,coal combustion and NOx emissions in a tangentially fired pulverized coal boiler at various loads

This work presents a computational investigation of hydrodynamics, coal combustion and NOx emissions in a tangentially fired pulverized coal boiler at different loads (630, 440 and 300 MW; relative loads of 100%, 70% and 48%) to clarify the effect of load change on the furnace processes. A computational fluids dynamics model was established; the flow field, temperature profile, species concentration and NOx emissions were predicted numerically; and the influence of burner tilt angles was evaluated. Simulation results indicate that a decrease in boiler load decreases the gas velocity, attenuates the airflow rotations, and increases the tangent circle size. The high-temperature zone and flame moved toward the side walls. Such behaviors impair air–fuel mixing, heat transfer and steady combustion in the furnace. In terms of species concentrations, a decrease in boiler load increased the O₂ content, decreased the CO content, and decreased the char burnout rates only slightly. A change in boiler load from 630 to 440 and 300 MW increased the NOx emissions from 202 to 234 and 247 mg/m³, respectively. Burner tilt angles are important in coal combustion and NOx emissions. A burner angle of –15° favors heat transfer and low NOx emissions (<185 mg/m³) for the current tangentially fired boiler.     

Supersonic flow of combustible gas mixture past sphere with account for ignition delay time

Assume an axisymmetric blunt body or a symmetric profile is located in a uniform supersonic combustible gas mixture stream with the parameters M₁, p₁, and T₁. A detached shock is formed ahead of the body and the mixture passing through the, shock is subjected to compression and heating. Various flow regimes behind the shock wave may be realized, depending on the freestream conditions. For low velocities, temperatures, or pressures in the free stream, the mixture heating may not be sufficient for its ignition, and the usual adiabatic flow about the body will take place. In the other limiting case the temperature behind the adiabatic shock and the degree of gas compression in the shock are so great that the mixture ignites instantaneously and burns directly behind the shock wave in an infinitesimally thin zone, i. e., a detonation wave is formed. The intermediate case corresponds to the regime in which the width of the reaction zone is comparable with the characteristic linear dimension of the problem, for example, the radius of curvature of the body at the stagnation point.The problem of supersonic flow of a combustible mixture past a body with the formation of a detonation front has been solved in [1, 2]. The initial mixture and the combustion products were considered perfect gases with various values of the adiabatic exponent .These studies investigated the effect of the magnitude of the reaction thermal effect and flow velocity on the flow pattern and the distribution of the gasdynamic functions behind the detonation wave.In particular, the calculations showed that the strong detonation wave which is formed ahead of the sphere gradually transforms into a Chapman-Jouguet wave at a finite distance from the axis of symmetry. For planar flow in the case of flow about a circular cylinder it is shown that the Chapman-Jouguet regime is established only asymptotically, i. e., at infinity.This result corresponds to the conclusions of [3, 4], in which a theoretical analysis is given of the asymptotic behavior of unsteady flows with planar, spherical, and cylindrical detonation waves.Available experimental data show that in many cases the detonation wave does not degenerate into a Chapman-Jouguet wave as it decays, bur rather at some distance from the body it splits into an adiabatic shock wave and a slow combustion front.The position of the bifurcation point cannot be determined within the framework of the zero thickness detonation front theory [1], and for the determination of the location of this point we must consider the structure of the combustion zone in the detonation wave. Such a study was made with very simple assumptions in [5].The present paper presents a numerical solution of the problem of combustible mixture flow about a sphere with a very simple model for the structure of the combustion zone, in which the entire flow behind the bow shock wave consists of two regions of adiabatic flow-an induction region and a region of equilibrium flow of products of combustion separated by the combustion front in which the mixture burns instantaneously. The solution is presented only for subsonic and transonic flow regions.     

Investigation of porous media combustion by coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy

High efficiency, marginal pollutant emissions and low fuel consumption are desirable standards for modern combustion devices. The porous burner technology is a modern type of energy conversion with a strong potential to achieve these standards. However, due to the solid ceramic framework investigation of the thermodynamic properties of combustion, for example temperature, is difficult. The combustion process inside the ceramic structure of a porous burner was experimentally investigated by coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS). In this work, we present measurements using dual-pump dual-broadband CARS (DP-DBB-CARS) of temperature and species concentrations inside the reaction and flue gas zone of a porous media burner. Improvements to the setup and data evaluation procedure in contrast to previous measurements are discussed in detail. The results at varied thermal power and stoichiometry are presented. In addition, measurements at a range of radial positions inside a pore are conducted and correlated with the solid structure of the porous foam, which was determined by X-ray computer tomography.     

Flow Structure of Swirling Turbulent Propane Flames

Flow structure of premixed propane–air swirling jet flames at various combustion regimes was studied experimentally by stereo PIV, CH* chemiluminescence imaging, and pressure probe. For the non-swirling conditions, a nonlinear feedback mechanism of the flame front interaction with ring-like vortices, developing in the jet shear layer, was found to play important role in the stabilisation of the premixed lifted flame. For the studied swirl rates (S = 0.41, 0.7, and 1.0) the determined domain of stable combustion can be divided into three main groups of flame types: attached flames, quasi-tubular flames, and lifted flames. These regimes were studied in details for the case of S = 1.0, and the difference in the flow structure of the vortex breakdown is described. For the quasi-tubular flames an increase of flow precessing above the recirculation zone was observed when increased the stoichiometric coefficient from 0.7 to 1.4. This precessing motion was supposed to be responsible for the observed increase of acoustic noise generation and could drive the transition from the quasi-tubular to the lifted flame regime.     

Heating zone dynamics in in situ combustion

The integrodifferential equation of the quasisteady regime of a moving in situ combustion front is obtained and its exact solution is constructed in a particular case; the possibility of the heat generated at the combustion front being projected into the region ahead of the front is analyzed and the heating zone dynamics in the reservoir and the surrounding rock are investigated. In a number of studies of in situ combustion it is assumed that an increase in the water-air factor or, what amounts to the same thing, an increase in convection velocity in the reservoir leads to the total transfer of the heat into the region ahead of the combustion front [1–3]. In [3] the area of the heating zone ahead of the combustion front was calculated in accordance with the Marx-Longenheim model [4]. Below, on the basis of exact solutions of model problems it is shown that in the case of quasisteady Newtonian heat transfer between the surrounding medium, when the latter is assumed to be a thermal reservoir, i.e., maintain a constant temperature, this projection of heat is possible if the convection velocity exceeds the velocity of the combustion front. In the case of unsteady heat transfer in accordance with the Leverrier model there is no total projection of heat into the region in question; in the steady-state regime a limited heating zone, proportional in depth to the square of the difference of the convection and combustion front velocities, is formed ahead of the front.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 166–172, July–August, 1987.The author wishes to thank V. M. Entov for his valuable advice and useful discussions.     

Direct Numerical Simulations of Premixed Turbulent Flames with Reduced Chemistry: Validation and Flamelet Analysis

Direct numerical simulation is a very powerful tool to evaluate the validity of new models and theories for turbulent combustion. In this paper, direct numerical simulations of spherically expanding premixed turbulent flames in the thin reaction zone regime and in the broken reaction zone regime are performed. The flamelet-generated manifold method is used in order to deal with detailed reaction kinetics. The computational results are analyzed by using an extended flame stretch theory. It is investigated whether this theory is able to describe the influence of flame stretch and curvature on the local burning velocity of the flame. It is found that if the full profiles of flame stretch and curvature through the flame front are included in the theory, the local mass burning rate is well predicted. The influence of several approximations, which are used in other existing theories, is studied. When flame stretch is assumed constant through the flame front or when curvature of the flame front is neglected, the theory fails to predict the local mass burning rate. The influence of using a reduced chemistry model is investigated by comparing flamelet simulations with reduced and detailed chemistry.