Flame acceleration in long narrow open channels

We study the propagation of premixed flames in long but finite channels, when the mixture is ignited at one end and both ends remain open and exposed to atmospheric pressure. Thermal expansion produces a continuous flow of burned gas directed away from the flame and towards the end of the channel where ignition took place. Owing to viscous drag, the flow is retarded at the walls and accelerated in the center, producing a pressure gradient that pushes the unburned gas ahead of the flame towards the other end of the channel. As a result the flame accelerates when it travels from end to end of the channel. The total travel time depends on the length of the channel and is proportional to γ^?1ln(1 + γ), where γ is the heat release parameter.     

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.     

In-cylinder temperature field measurement with laser shearing interferometry for spark ignition engines

The temperature field in combustion chamber of spark ignition engine is measured using laser shearing interferometry and high-speed photography in this paper. A set of experimental facility is set up. The relationship equation between the interference fringe image and temperature distribution is deduced. Changing the shearing interferometry quantity, the two-dimensional temperature field of engine combustion chamber and flame propagation can be measured quantitatively by image processing. The test results indicate that the shearing interferometric method has a strong vibration resistance, and a simple and reliable optical path. The temperature distribution and the temperature gradient are different in different zones. The temperature is highest in the burning zone and the temperature gradient is large. The temperature is lower in the burned zone and the temperature gradient is smaller. The temperature is lowest in the unburned zone but the temperature gradient is large. At the initial period of combustion, the flame propagation velocity is low. In the combustion process, the flame front in the approximate spherical shape pushes toward the unburned zone, and the flame propagation velocity starts to decrease. It rapidly increases until it reaches the maximum value as the combustion process going on, and then it gradually decreases until it has burned in the entire combustion chamber.     

A second order virtual node method for elliptic problems with interfaces and irregular domains

We present a second order accurate, geometrically flexible and easy to implement method for solving the variable coefficient Poisson equation with interfacial discontinuities or on irregular domains, handling both cases with the same approach. We discretize the equations using an embedded approach on a uniform Cartesian grid employing virtual nodes at interfaces and boundaries. A variational method is used to define numerical stencils near these special virtual nodes and a Lagrange multiplier approach is used to enforce jump conditions and Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our combination of these two aspects yields a symmetric positive definite discretization. In the general case, we obtain the standard 5-point stencil away from the interface. For the specific case of interface problems with continuous coefficients, we present a discontinuity removal technique that admits use of the standard 5-point finite difference stencil everywhere in the domain. Numerical experiments indicate second order accuracy in L^∞.     

LES/FGM investigation of ignition and flame structure in a gasoline partially premixed combustion engine

This paper presents a joint numerical and experimental study of the ignition process and flame structures in a gasoline partially premixed combustion (PPC) engine. The numerical simulation is based on a five-dimension Flamelet-Generated Manifold (5D-FGM) tabulation approach and large eddy simulation (LES). The spray and combustion process in an optical PPC engine fueled with a primary reference fuel (70% iso-octane, 30% n-heptane by volume) are investigated using the combustion model along with laser diagnostic experiments. Different combustion modes, as well as the dominant chemical species and elementary reactions involved in the PPC engines, are identified and visualized using Chemical Explosive Mode Analysis (CEMA). The results from the LES-FGM model agree well with the experiments regarding the onset of ignition, peak heat release rate and in-cylinder pressure. The LES-FGM model performs even better than a finite-rate chemistry model that integrates the full-set of chemical kinetic mechanism in the simulation, given that the FGM model is computationally more efficient. The results show that the ignition mode plays a dominant role in the entire combustion process. The diffusion flame mode is identified in a thin layer between the ultra fuel-lean unburned mixture and the hot burned gas region that contains combustion intermediates such as CO. The diffusion flame mode contributes to a maximum of 27% of the total heat release in the later stage of combustion, and it becomes vital for the oxidation of relatively fuel-lean mixtures.     

Combustion mechanism of ultralean rotating counterflow twin premixed flame

In our previous numerical studies [Nishioka Makihito, Zhenyu Shen, and Akane Uemichi. “Ultra-lean combustion through the backflow of burned gas in rotating counterflow twin premixed flames.” Combustion and Flame 158.11 (2011): 2188–2198. Uemichi Akane, and Makihito Nishioka. “Numerical study on ultra-lean rotating counterflow twin premixed flame of hydrogen–air.” Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 34.1 (2013): 1135–1142]. we found that methane– and hydrogen–air rotating counterflow twin flames (RCTF) can achieve ultralean combustion when backward flow of burned gas occurs due to the centrifugal force created by rotation. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of ultralean combustion in these flames by the detailed numerical analyses of the convective and diffusive transport of the main species. We found that, under ultralean conditions, the diffusive transport of fuel exceeds its backward convective transport in the flame zone, which is located on the burned-gas side of the stagnation point. In contrast, the relative magnitudes of diffusive and convective transport for oxygen are reversed compared to those for the fuel. The resulting flows for fuel and oxygen lead to what we call a ‘net flux imbalance’. This net flux imbalance increases the flame temperature and concentrations of active radicals. For hydrogen–air RCTF, a very large diffusivity of hydrogen enhances the net flux imbalance, significantly increasing the flame temperature. This behaviour is intrinsic to a very lean premixed flame in which the reaction zone is located in the backflow of its own burned gas.     

Effects of Lewis number,density ratio and gravity on burning velocity and conditional statistics in stagnating turbulent premixed flames

DNS is performed to analyse the effects of Lewis number (Le), density ratio and gravity in stagnating turbulent premixed flames. The results show good agreement with those of Lee and Huh (Combustion and Flame, Vol. 159, 2012, pp. 1576–1591) with respect to the turbulent burning velocity, S_T, in terms of turbulent diffusivity, flamelet thickness, mean curvature and displacement speed at the leading edge. In all four stagnating flames studied, a mean tangential strain rate resulting in a mean flamelet thickness smaller than the unstretched laminar flame thickness leads to an increase in S_T. A flame cusp of positive curvature involves a superadiabatic burned gas temperature due to diffusive–thermal instability for an Le less than unity. Wrinkling tends to be suppressed at a larger density ratio, not enhanced by hydrodynamic instability, in the stagnating flow configuration. Turbulence is produced, resulting in highly anisotropic turbulence with heavier unburned gas accelerating through a flame brush by Rayleigh–Taylor instability. Results are also provided on brush thickness, flame surface density and conditional velocities in burned and unburned gas and on flame surfaces to represent the internal brush structures for all four test flames.     

A study of ignition and combustion of liquid hydrocarbon droplets in premixed fuel/air mixtures in a rapid compression machine

The combustion of two fuels with disparate reactivity such as natural gas and diesel in internal combustion engines has been demonstrated as a means to increase efficiency, reduce fuel costs and reduce pollutant formation in comparison to traditional diesel or spark-ignited engines. However, dual fuel engines are constrained by the onset of uncontrolled fast combustion (i.e., engine knock) as well as incomplete combustion, which can result in high unburned hydrocarbon emissions. To study the fundamental combustion processes of ignition and flame propagation in dual fuel engines, a new method has been developed to inject single isolated liquid hydrocarbon droplets into premixed methane/air mixtures at elevated temperatures and pressures. An opposed-piston rapid compression machine was used in combination with a newly developed piezoelectric droplet injection system that is capable of injecting single liquid hydrocarbon droplets along the stagnation plane of the combustion chamber. A high-speed Schlieren optical system was used for imaging the combustion process in the chamber. Experiments were conducted by injecting diesel droplet of various diameters (50 µm < d_o < 400 µm), into methane/air mixtures with varying equivalence ratios (0 < ϕ < 1.2) over a range of compressed temperatures (700 K < T_c < 940 K). Multiple autoignition modes was observed in the vicinity of the liquid droplets, which were followed by transition to propagating premixed flames. A computational model was developed with CONVERGE™, which uses a 141 species dual-fuel chemical kinetic mechanism for the gas phase along with a transient, analytical droplet evaporation model to define the boundary conditions at the droplet surface. The simulations capture each of the different ignition modes in the vicinity of the injected spherical diesel droplet, along with bifurcation of the ignition event into a propagating, premixed methane/air flame and a stationary diesel/air diffusion flame.     

Parallel finite element simulations of incompressible viscous fluid flow by domain decomposition with Lagrange multipliers

A parallel approach to solve three-dimensional viscous incompressible fluid flow problems using discontinuous pressure finite elements and a Lagrange multiplier technique is presented. The strategy is based on non-overlapping domain decomposition methods, and Lagrange multipliers are used to enforce continuity at the boundaries between subdomains. The novelty of the work is the coupled approach for solving the velocity–pressure-Lagrange multiplier algebraic system of the discrete Navier–Stokes equations by a distributed memory parallel ILU (0) preconditioned Krylov method. A penalty function on the interface constraints equations is introduced to avoid the failure of the ILU factorization algorithm. To ensure portability of the code, a message based memory distributed model with MPI is employed. The method has been tested over different benchmark cases such as the lid-driven cavity and pipe flow with unstructured tetrahedral grids. It is found that the partition algorithm and the order of the physical variables are central to parallelization performance. A speed-up in the range of 5–13 is obtained with 16 processors. Finally, the algorithm is tested over an industrial case using up to 128 processors. In considering the literature, the obtained speed-ups on distributed and shared memory computers are found very competitive.     

Optical diagnostics on the reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) with micro direct-injection strategy

Micro direct-injection (DI) strategy is often used to extend the operation range of the reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) to high engine load, but its combustion process has not been well understood. In this study, the ignition and flame development of the micro-DI RCCI strategy were investigated on a light-duty optical engine using formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and high-speed natural flame luminosity imaging techniques. The premixed fuel was iso-octane and an oxygenated fuel of polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODE) was employed for DI. The fuel-air equivalence ratio of DI was kept at 0.09 and the premixed equivalence ratio was varied from 0 to 1. RCCI strategies with early and late DI timing at –25° and –5° crank angle after top dead center were studied, respectively. Results indicate that the early micro-DI RCCI features a single-stage high-temperature heat release (HTHR). The combustion in the low-reactivity region shows a combination of flame front propagation and auto-ignition. The late micro-DI RCCI presents a two-stage HTHR. The second-stage HTHR is owing to the combustion in the low-reactivity region that is dominated by flame front propagation when the premixed equivalence ratio approaches 1. For both early and late micro-DI RCCI, the intermediate-temperature heat release (ITHR) of iso-octane, indicated by formaldehyde, takes place in the low-reactivity region before the arrival of the flame front. This is quite different from the flame front propagation in spark-ignition (SI) engine that shows no ITHR in the unburned region. The DI fuel mass is a key factor that affects the combustion in the low-reactivity region. If the DI fuel mass is quite low, there is more possibility of flame front propagation; otherwise, sequential auto-ignition dominates. The emergence of the flame front propagation in micro-DI RCCI strategy reduces its combustion rate and peak pressure rise rate.     

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

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

Effects of cryogenic temperature on premixed hydrogen/air flame propagation in a closed channel

As a carbon-free fuel, hydrogen has received significant attention recently since it can help enable low-carbon-economy. Hydrogen has very broad flammability range and very low minimum ignition energy, and thereby there are severe safety concerns for hydrogen transportation and utilization. Cryo-compressed hydrogen is popularly used in practice. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the combustion properties of hydrogen at extremely low or cryogenic temperatures. This study aims to assess and interpret the effects of cryogenic temperature on premixed hydrogen/air flame propagation and acceleration in a thin closed channel. Different initial temperatures ranging from normal temperature (T₀ = 300 K) to cryogenic temperature (T₀ = 100 K) are considered. Both one- and two-dimensional hydrogen/air flames are investigated through transient simulations considering detailed chemistry and transport. It is found that when the initial temperature decreases from T₀ = 300 K to T₀ = 100 K, the expansion ratio and equilibrium pressure both increase substantially while the laminar flame speeds relative to unburned and burned gasses decrease moderately. The one-dimensional flame propagation is determined by laminar flame speed and thereby the combustion duration increases as the initial temperature decreases. However, the opposite trend is found to happen to two-dimensional flame propagation, which is mainly controlled by the flame surface area increase due to the no-slip side wall constraint and flame instability. Based on the change in flame surface area, three stages including the initial acceleration, steady burning and rapid acceleration are identified and investigated. It is demonstrated that the large expansion ratio and high pressure rise at cryogenic temperatures can significantly increase the flame surface area in early stage and promote both Darrieus-Landau instability (hydrodynamic instability) and Rayleigh-Taylor instability in later stage. These two instabilities can substantially increase the flame surface area and thereby accelerate flame propagation in hydrogen/air mixtures at cryogenic temperatures. The present study provides useful insights into the fundamental physics of hydrogen flames at extremely low temperatures, and is closely related to hydrogen safety.     

On laminar premixed flame propagating into autoigniting mixtures under engine-relevant conditions

Usually premixed flame propagation and laminar burning velocity are studied for mixtures at normal or elevated temperatures and pressures, under which the ignition delay time of the premixture is much larger than the flame resistance time. However, in spark-ignition engines and spark-assisted compression ignition engines, the end-gas in the front of premixed flame is at the state that autoignition might happen before the mixture is consumed by the premixed flame. In this study, laminar premixed flames propagating into an autoigniting dimethyl ether/air mixture are simulated considering detailed chemistry and transport. The emphasis is on the laminar burning velocity of autoigniting mixtures under engine-relevant conditions. Two types of premixed flames are considered: one is the premixed planar flame propagating into an autoigniting DME/air without confinement; and the other is premixed spherical flame propagating inside a closed chamber, for which four stages are identified. Due to the confinement, the unburned mixture is compressed to high temperature and pressure close to or under engine-relevant conditions. The laminar burning velocity is determined from the constant-volume propagating spherical flame method as well as PREMIX. The laminar burning velocities of autoigniting DME/air mixture at different temperatures, pressures, and autoignition progresses are obtained. It is shown that the first-stage and second-stage autoignition can significantly accelerate the flame propagation and thereby greatly increase the laminar burning velocity. When the first-stage autoignition occurs in the unburned mixture, the isentropic compression assumption does not hold and thereby the traditional method cannot be used to calculate the laminar burning velocity. A modified method without using the isentropic compression assumption is proposed. It is shown to work well for autoigniting mixtures. Besides, a power law correlation is obtained based on all the laminar burning velocity data. It works well for mixtures before autoignition while improvement is still needed for mixtures after autoignition.     

Experimental and numerical study of a conical turbulent partially premixed flame

The structure and dynamics of a turbulent partially premixed methane/air flame in a conical burner were investigated using laser diagnostics and large-eddy simulations (LES). The flame structure inside the cone was characterized in detail using LES based on a two-scalar flamelet model, with the mixture fraction for the mixing field and level-set G-function for the partially premixed flame front propagation. In addition, planar laser induced florescence (PLIF) of CH and chemiluminescence imaging with high speed video were performed through a glass cone. CH and CH₂O PLIF were also used to examine the flame structures above the cone. It is shown that in the entire flame the CH layer remains very thin, whereas the CH₂O layer is rather thick. The flame is stabilized inside the cone a short distance above the nozzle. The stabilization of the flame can be simulated by the triple-flame model but not the flamelet-quenching model. The results show that flame stabilization in the cone is a result of premixed flame front propagation and flow reversal near the wall of the cone which is deemed to be dependent on the cone angle. Flamelet based LES is shown to capture the measured CH structures whereas the predicted CH₂O structure is somewhat thinner than the experiments.     

Calibration Invariance of the MaxEnt Distribution in the Maximum Entropy Principle

The maximum entropy principle consists of two steps: The first step is to find the distribution which maximizes entropy under given constraints. The second step is to calculate the corresponding thermodynamic quantities. The second part is determined by Lagrange multipliers’ relation to the measurable physical quantities as temperature or Helmholtz free energy/free entropy. We show that for a given MaxEnt distribution, the whole class of entropies and constraints leads to the same distribution but generally different thermodynamics. Two simple classes of transformations that preserve the MaxEnt distributions are studied: The first case is a transform of the entropy to an arbitrary increasing function of that entropy. The second case is the transform of the energetic constraint to a combination of the normalization and energetic constraints. We derive group transformations of the Lagrange multipliers corresponding to these transformations and determine their connections to thermodynamic quantities. For each case, we provide a simple example of this transformation.     

A numerical comparison between two unconstrained variational formulations

In an effort to relieve the often cumbersome burden of meeting the requirements of the end conditions and to unify the solution formulation for boundary- and initial-value problems, unconstrained variational statements have been introduced in conjunction with some approximate methods. In the case of a boundary value problem, it is shown in this paper that two different variational statements can be established: one is arrived at by the use of the Lagrange multipliers, the other by energy considerations. The numerical convergence of the solutions associated with finite element schemes involving use of one of these two different variational statements is compared with that of the other. In the case of an initial value problem, both formulations can again be established when the adjoint field variable and the adjoint variational statement are introduced. The numerical data presented here indicate that while both methods generate excellent convergent results for the boundary problem, the method of stiff springs yields results which show much better convergence for the initial value problem than those achieved by Lagrange multipliers.     

Multiscale combustion and turbulence

Multiscale physics is the interaction of different physical processes occurring at largely separated scales. In combustion, many elementary reactions combine to only a few, but still have separated time scales. In flames, owing to the presence of diffusion, time scales manifest themselves as length scales, i.e. thicknesses of reaction layers embedded within each other. For premixed flames there results a single velocity scale, the laminar burning velocity, which in turn defines a flame thickness and a flame time as global length and time scales, respectively. The laminar burning velocity represents the simplest microscale model to be used at a premixed combustion interface.While combustion is a multiscale process, this is not so evident for turbulence. Based on the picture of a cascade process traditional turbulent closure approximations treat turbulence as a single-scale problem. Attempts to model turbulent combustion in the same way by using methods developed for non-reacting turbulent flows therefore must fail, because they ignore the multiscale nature of combustion.There is, however, a long tradition and much progress in multiscale modeling of combustion, both on the macroscale as well as on the microscale level. Unfortunately much of that work is conceived only in its particular context, not as part of a multiscale approach. For instance, papers in the TURBULENT FLAMES Colloquium and the FIRE RESEARCH Colloquium at this and at previous Combustion Symposia often take the viewpoint of macroscale modeling only, while REACTION KINETICS and LAMINAR FLAMES concentrate on microscale aspects. What seems to be needed is a more explicit reference to the needs of models developed in the other parts of the community. Furthermore, research is needed to develop suitable definitions of the interface between macroscale and microscale models.     

Flame stabilization with a tubular flame

A new technique to stabilize a flame in a high-velocity stream with use of a tubular flame has been proposed. To elucidate the validity of this technique, an experiment has been conducted by mounting a tubular flame burner on the nozzle. Flame stability limits and temperature distributions around the burner port have been determined, and experiments have been extended to the ducted combustion to measure pressure fluctuations and to analyze the burned gases. Results show that the tubular flame can successfully stabilize the main flame up to 130 m/s, which is the upper limit of the present supply facility. The main flame is well anchored at the exit of the nozzle, and the tubular flame efficiently supplies heat and radicals to the main flame. In the ducted combustion, the pressure fluctuations are reduced significantly. The exhaust gas analyses, however, indicate that an almost chemical equilibrium condition can be achieved at 50 m/s, but not at 90 and 130 m/s. Since the energy input relative to the main flame is just 6.1% at 130 m/s, the present tubular burner is not enough to burn all the unburned gas completely at high velocities, although the main flame can be anchored. The slit length and/or the slit width of the tubular flame burner should be larger to overcome this shortage. From the above results, it is concluded that the tubular flame has a potential for stabilizing a flame in a high-speed stream.     

反应性RM不稳定混合特性研究: 反应活性与介质不均匀性的影响

预混火焰界面的RM（Richtmyer-Meshkov）不稳定现象在自然界和工程实践中十分常见,但目前关于反应性RM不稳定的研究主要集中于均匀介质的情况,而实际中的预混气体往往是非均匀的,因此开展非均匀介质中火焰界面演化和混合特性的研究十分必要。采用带单步化学反应的Navier-Stokes方程和高精度数值格式,研究了预混火焰界面在入射激波及反射激波作用下的RM不稳定过程,考察了化学反应活性以及介质非均匀性对RM不稳定过程中火焰界面混合特性的变化规律的影响。结果表明,在入射激波作用后的阶段,在均匀介质中的火焰界面形态呈现典型的"钉-帽-泡"结构,化学反应活性越强,界面的"泡"结构和"钉-帽"结构增长越快;而在非均匀介质中,火焰界面形态则呈现"钉-钉"结构,界面在流向速度差的诱导下被更大程度地拉伸。在第一次反射激波作用后的阶段,混合区的增长速率不依赖于反应活性和均匀性,仅与流动特性有关。时间尺度的研究表明,大尺度流动是反应性RM不稳定的主导因素,其次是化学反应,最后是小尺度混合,化学反应的强化会抑制大尺度流动,非均匀性会强化大尺度流动。