Effects of preferential and differential diffusion on the mutual annihilation of two premixed hydrogen–air flames

The unsteady process of upstream head-on quenching of two laminar premixed hydrogen–air flames at different equivalence ratios in one dimension is investigated numerically in the presence of preferential and differential diffusion effects. Important chemical and transport characteristics of the mutual annihilation process are studied during the two primary stages of upstream mutual annihilation, preheat layers' and reaction layers' interactions. Because of the diffusive mobility of the fuel, hydrogen, relative to heat and the oxidizer, preferential and differential diffusion effects result in a shift in the equivalence ratio in the reaction zone to leaner conditions. This shift, in turn, affects the subsequent reaction layers' interactions through qualitative and quantitative changes in the rates of reactants' consumption and radicals' production. Another consequence of this shift is the presence of excess and ‘unburnt’ fuel or oxidizer at the end of the mutual annihilation process. The process of mutual annihilation occurs over time scales that are significantly shorter than characteristic residence times associated with flames.     

Effects of fuel cetane number on the structure of diesel spray combustion: An accelerated Eulerian stochastic fields method

An Eulerian stochastic fields (ESF) method accelerated with the chemistry coordinate mapping (CCM) approach for modelling spray combustion is formulated, and applied to model diesel combustion in a constant volume vessel. In ESF-CCM, the thermodynamic states of the discretised stochastic fields are mapped into a low-dimensional phase space. Integration of the chemical stiff ODEs is performed in the phase space and the results are mapped back to the physical domain. After validating the ESF-CCM, the method is used to investigate the effects of fuel cetane number on the structure of diesel spray combustion. It is shown that, depending of the fuel cetane number, liftoff length is varied, which can lead to a change in combustion mode from classical diesel spray combustion to fuel-lean premixed burned combustion. Spray combustion with a shorter liftoff length exhibits the characteristics of the classical conceptual diesel combustion model proposed by Dec in 1997 (http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/970873), whereas in a case with a lower cetane number the liftoff length is much larger and the spray combustion probably occurs in a fuel-lean-premixed mode of combustion. Nevertheless, the transport budget at the liftoff location shows that stabilisation at all cetane numbers is governed primarily by the auto-ignition process.     

The differential diffusion effect of the intermediate species on the stability of premixed flames propagating in microchannels

The propagation of premixed flames in adiabatic and non-catalytic planar microchannels subject to an assisted or opposed Poiseuille flow is considered. The diffusive–thermal model and the well-known two-step chain-branching kinetics are used in order to investigate the role of the differential diffusion of the intermediate species on the spatial and temporal flame stability. This numerical study successfully compares steady-state and time-dependent computations to the linear stability analysis of the problem. Results show that for fuel Lewis numbers less than unity, Le_F < 1, and at sufficiently large values of the opposed Poiseuille flow rate, symmetry-breaking bifurcation arises. It is seen that small values of the radical Lewis number, Le_Z, stabilise the flame to symmetric shape solutions, but result in earlier flashback. For very lean flames, the effect of the radical on the flame stabilisation becomes less important due to the small radical concentration typically found in the reaction zone. Cellular flame structures were also identified in this regime. For Le_F > 1, flames propagating in adiabatic channels suffer from oscillatory instabilities. The Poiseuille flow stabilises the flame and the effect of Le_Z is opposite to that found for Le_F < 1. Small values of Le_Z further destabilise the flame to oscillating or pulsating instabilities.     

Premixed flames modelled with thermally sensitive intermediate branching kinetics

The foundations of a relatively simple two-step kinetic scheme for flame chemistry are outlined, involving a model chain branching process that should adopt the activation temperature of a rate-limiting branching reaction in order to offer a broad approximation for hydrocarbon flames. A model energetic intermediate reactant then acts as a buffer between fuel consumption and the release of heat, as the intermediate is converted into products through a completion reaction step. By taking the rate of the latter reaction to be linear in the concentration of the intermediate, which is consistent with the final state being an equilibrium in a broader chemical system, a form of the model is arrived at which admits asymptotic solutions in a thermodiffusive context with constant coefficients. These are developed to second order for large values of the activation energy of the branching reaction and are found to involve the same trends that are seen for lean methane and hydrogen flames calculated using detailed chemical and transport models. Linear stability analysis identifies the ranges of Lewis numbers in which cellular or oscillatory instability can arise, with the latter form of instability disappearing above a threshold heat of reaction. These and the underlying flame solutions themselves depend on the heat of reaction and the degree of heat loss but not on the activation temperature of the branching reaction, to leading order. Near the limit of flammability a direct parallel arises with one-step kinetic models for premixed flames.     

Effect of swirl on combustion dynamics in a lean-premixed swirl-stabilized combustor

The effect of inlet swirl on the flow development and combustion dynamics in a lean-premixed swirl-stabilized combustor has been numerically investigated using a large-eddy-simulation (LES) technique along with a level-set flamelet library approach. Results indicate that when the inlet swirl number exceeds a critical value, a vortex-breakdown-induced central toroidal recirculation zone is established in the downstream region. As the swirl number increases further, the recirculation zone moves upstream and merges with the wake recirculation zone behind the centerbody. Excessive swirl may cause the central recirculating flow to penetrate into the inlet annulus and lead to the occurrence of flame flashback. A higher swirl number tends to increase the turbulence intensity, and consequently the flame speed. As a result, the flame surface area is reduced. The net heat release, however, remains almost unchanged because of the enhanced flame speed. Transverse acoustic oscillations often prevail under the effects of strong swirling flows, whereas longitudinal modes dominate the wave motions in cases with weak swirl. The ensuing effect on the flow/flame interactions in the chamber is substantial.     

圆柱火焰的可燃极限及稳定性分析

本文从理论上分析了有辐射热损失和曲率的圆柱火焰,推导出了关于火焰位置、火焰温度同热损失和来流速度之间的关系式。并在此基础上对圆柱火焰的可燃极限进行了研究,结果表明热损失对可燃极限产生很大的影响。另外,作者运用线性稳定分析法对有辐射热损失的圆柱火焰作了稳定性分析,得出了判断圆柱火焰稳定与否的通用表达式。     

AP/(N2 + C2H2 + C2H4) gaseous fuel diffusion flame studies

Counterflow diffusion flame experiments and modeling results are presented for a fuel mixture consisting of N₂, C₂H₂, and C₂H₄ flowing against decomposition products from a solid AP pellet. The flame zone simulates the diffusion flame structure that is expected to exist between reaction products from AP crystals and a hydrocarbon binder. Quantitative species and temperature profiles have been measured for one strain rate, given by a separation of 5 mm, between the fuel exit and the AP surface. Species measured include C₂H₂, C₂H₄, N₂, CN, NH, OH, CH, C₂, NO, NO₂, O₂, CO₂, H₂, CO, HCl, H₂O, and soot volume fraction. Temperature was measured using a combination of a thermocouple at the fuel exit and other selected locations, spontaneous Raman scattering measurements throughout the flame, NO vibrational populations, and OH rotational population distributions. The burning rate of the AP was also measured for this flame’s strain rate. The measured eighteen scalars are compared with predictions from a detailed gas-phase kinetics model consisting of 105 species and 660 reactions. Model predictions are found to be in good agreement with experiment and illustrate the type of kinetic features that may be expected to occur in propellants when AP particles burn with the decomposition products of a polymeric binder.     

Measurements of flame orientation and scalar dissipation in turbulent partially premixed methane flames

Three turbulent flames were studied using a new experimental facility developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Line imaging of Raman and Rayleigh scattering and CO laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) yielded information on all major species, temperature, mixture fraction, and a 1D surrogate measure of scalar dissipation. Simultaneously, crossed planar OH LIF imaging provided information on the instantaneous flame orientation, allowing estimation of the full 3D (flame-normal) scalar dissipation rate. The three flames studied were methane–air piloted jet flames (Sandia flames C, D, and E), which cover a range in Reynolds number from 13,400 to 33,600. The statistics of the instantaneous flame orientation are examined in the different flames, with the purpose of studying the prevailing kinematics of isoscalar contours. The 1D and 3D results for scalar dissipation rate are examined in detail, both in the form of conditional averages and in the form of probability density functions. The effect of overall strain and Reynolds number on flame suppression and eventual extinction is also investigated, by examining the doubly conditional statistics of temperature in the form of S-shaped curves. This latter analysis reveals that double conditioning of temperature on both mixture fraction and scalar dissipation does not collapse the data from these flames onto the same curve at low scalar dissipation rates, as might be expected from simple flamelet concepts.