Further studies of the reaction kernel structure and stabilization of jet diffusion flames

The structure of axisymmetric laminar jet diffusion flames of ethane, ethylene, acetylene, and propane in quasi-quiescent air has been studied numerically in normal earth gravity (1g) and zero gravity (0g). The time-dependent full Navier–Stokes equations with buoyancy were solved using an implicit, third-order accurate numerical scheme, including a C₃-chemistry model and an optically thin-media radiation model for heat losses. Observations of the flames were also made at the NASA Glenn 2.2-Second Drop Tower. For all cases of the fuels and gravity levels investigated, a peak reactivity spot, i.e., reaction kernel, was formed in the flame base, thereby holding a trailing diffusion flame. The location of the reaction kernel with respect to the burner rim depended inversely on the reaction-kernel reactivity or velocity. In the C₂ and C₃ hydrocarbon flames, the H₂–O₂ chain reactions were important at the reaction kernel, yet the CH₃ + O → CH₂O + H reaction, a dominant contributor to the heat-release rate in methane flames studied previously, did not outweigh other exothermic reactions. Instead of the C₁-route oxidation pathway in methane flames, the C₂ and C₃ hydrocarbon fuels dehydrogenated on the fuel side and acetylene was a major hydrocarbon fragment burning at the reaction kernel. The reaction-kernel correlations between the reactivity (the heat-release or oxygen-consumption rate) and the velocity, obtained previously for methane, were developed further for various fuels in more universal forms using variables related to local Damköhler numbers and Peclet numbers.