Statistical modeling of thermal radiation transfer in buoyant turbulent diffusion flames

A statistical (Monte Carlo) method for radiative heat transfer has been incorporated in CFD modeling of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames in stagnant air and in a cross-wind. The model and the computational tool have been developed and applied to simulate both burner flames with controlled fuel supply rate and in self-sustained pool fires with burning rates coupled with flame radiation. The gas–soot mixture was treated either as gray (using the effective absorption coefficient derived from total emissivity data or the Planck mean absorption coefficient) or as non-gray (using the weighed sum of gray gases model). The comparison of predicted radiative heat fluxes indicates applicability of the gray media assumption in modeling of thermal radiation in case of high soot content. The effect of turbulence-radiation interaction is approximately taken into account in calculation of radiation emission, which is corrected to allow for temperature self-correlation and absorption-temperature correlation. In modeling buoyant propane flames in still air above 0.3 m diameter burner, extensive comparison is presented of the predictions with the measurements of gas species concentrations, temperature, velocity and their turbulent fluctuations, and radiative heat fluxes obtained in flames with different heat release rates. Similar to previously published experimental data, the predicted burning rate of flames above the acetone pools exposed to flame radiation increases with the pool diameter and approaches a constant level for large pool sizes. The magnitude of predicted burning rates is shown to be in agreement with the reported measurements. Augmentation of burning rate of the pool fire in a cross-wind because of increased net radiative heat flux received by the fuel surface and non-monotonic dependence of burning rate on cross-wind velocity, subject to the pool diameter, is predicted. The statistical treatment of thermal radiation transfer has been found to be robust and computationally efficient.     

Investigations on the cellular instabilities of expanding hydrogen/methanol spherical flame

A comprehensive measurement and investigation of the cellularization of methanol/hydrogen flame is important for the thorough understanding of the transition of turbulent flame. In this work, a constant volume combustion bomb with schlieren photography technology is used to study the flame evolution of methanol/hydrogen fuel. By investigating the flames smooth laminar flame to a certain degree of cellular flame, the effect of hydrogen addition on the cellular instability of the hydrogen/methanol spherical flame is revealed. The experiments were conducted with different hydrogen mixing ratios (0%–80%) at different equivalence ratios (0.8–1.5) under a series of initial temperature (375 K–450 K) and pressure (1.0 bar–3.0 bar). The results showed that the process of flame cellular instability advanced in general as the hydrogen mixing ratio increased. The promoting effect of hydrogen addition was more significant in lean flames. The cellularization in lean flames was dominated by the instability of thermal diffusion, while that in the rich flames was dominated by the hydrodynamic instability. The initial pressure impacts the flame cellar instability mainly through the hydrodynamic instability.     

Experimental determination of emission and laminar burning speeds of α-pinene

Several researches have reported that under certain conditions forest fires with normal behavior suddenly start to propagate at unusual and very fast rate of spread. A thermochemical approach, based on the ignition of a Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) cloud, has been proposed previously to explain these accelerating forest fires. Indeed, some vegetal species when heated emit volatile substances. We have shown using a flash pyrolysis apparatus that a typical Mediterranean plant, Rosmarinus officinalis, emits eighteen components, mainly α-pinene. Laminar burning speeds and Markstein lengths as well as flame thicknesses of α-pinene/air premixed flames are determined using the spherical expanding flames method. Experiments are carried out in a spherical vessel at atmospheric pressure. The effects of equivalence ratio (0.7–1.4) and unburned gas temperature (353–453 K) are studied. Combustion characteristics are obtained using a nonlinear methodology. A correlation is developed to calculate the laminar burning speeds as a function of equivalence ratio and temperature. The experimental results are compared to the computed ones of JP-10 and n-decane as well as to those found in the literature for these compounds.     

Microwave attenuation in forest fuel flames

The flames of forest fuels form a weakly ionized gas. Assuming a Maxwellian velocity distribution of flame particle and collision frequencies much higher than plasma frequencies, the propagation of microwaves through forest fuel flames is predicted to have attenuation and phase shift. A controlled fire burner was constructed where various natural vegetation materials could be used as fuel. The burner was equipped with thermocouples and used as a cavity for microwaves with a laboratory quality network analyzer to measure phase and attenuation. The controlled fires had temperatures in the range of 500-1000 K and microwave attenuation of 1.0-4.5 dB m⁻¹ was observed across the 0.5 m diameter cavity. Attenuations of this magnitude could affect active remote sensing systems signals at microwave frequencies in forest fire environments where flame depths of up to 50 m are possible. In the experiment, temperature was not the only controlling parameter for the ionisation; type of fuel burnt also influenced it. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis of the composition of the fuel confirmed that a higher content of alkali (with low ionization potential) lead to higher electron densities. Electron densities in the range of 0.32-3.21×¹⁰¹⁶ m⁻³ and collision frequencies of 1.1-4.0×¹⁰¹⁰ s⁻¹ were observed for flames with temperature in the range of 730-1000 K.     

Effects of CO addition on the propagation characteristics of laminar CH4 triple flame

This study proposes a numerical and experimental investigation of the propagation characteristics of CO-added CH₄ flames in a confined quartz tube. The transient propagation of a CH₄/CO–air flames were modeled using GRI-Mech 3.0, and the propagation characteristics are discussed based on the calculated results. This study characterizes the formation of the reaction zone, the transformation of the flame base structure, the ignition of fuel, and the propagation phenomena of the leading point of the flame base. The leading point of methane flame with a large amount of added CO is found to be difficult to define unambiguously. During flame propagation, a complex combination of chemical reactions coupled with the fluid dynamics between the stoichiometric line and the preferred equivalence ratio line occurs. The results suggest that the leading point of the propagating flame is still dominated by the redirection effect, while the effect of the intrinsic chemical properties of the fuel mixture on a propagating flame has finite thickness cannot be neglected.     

Turbulent burning velocity of stoichiometric syngas flames with different hydrogen volumetric fractions upon constant-volume method with multi-zone model

Syngas has been widely concerned and tested in various thermo-power devices as one promising alternative fuel. However, little is known about the turbulent combustion characteristics, especially on outwardly propagating turbulent syngas/air premixed flames. In this paper, the outwardly propagating turbulent syngas/air premixed flames were experimentally investigated in a constant-volume fan-stirred vessel. Tests were conducted on stoichiometric syngas with different hydrogen volumetric fractions (X_H2, 10%–90%) in the ambience with different initial turbulence intensity (u'_rms, 0.100 m/s~1.309 m/s). Turbulent burning velocity was taken as the major topic to be studied upon the multi-zone model in constant-volume propagating flame method. The influences of initial turbulent intensity and hydrogen volumetric fraction on the turbulent flame speed were analysed and discussed. An explicit correlation of turbulent flame speed was obtained from the experimental results.     

Evaluation of flame emission models combined with the discrete transfer method for combustion system simulation

This article considers the application of flame emission models used for predicting the thermal radiation fluxes from flames and fires within a computational fluid dynamic framework, used in conjunction with the discrete transfer method. The flame emission models differ in their generality, sophistication, accuracy and computational cost, and are assessed in terms of their ability to predict radiation transfer in idealised situations, as well as flames in tubes representative of burner systems, laboratory-scale jet flames and wind-blown jet fires. It is concluded that the implementation of simple flame emission models, based on the grey gas assumption, must be treated with caution due to convergence problems. The key problem occurs when the grey absorption coefficient is based on a length scale linked to the size of the control volume. This issue is well known in the radiation modelling community, but not so in the combustion modelling community. Use of models based on the banded mixed grey gas, TTNH, wide and narrow band approaches yield satisfactory results for all the simulated flames and fires considered, typically being within 20% of the measured radiation heat flux.     

A method of determining flame radiation fraction induced by interaction burning of tri-symmetric propane fires in open space based on weighted multi-point source model

The interaction of multiple fires may lead to a higher flame height and more intense radiation flux than a single fire, which increases the possibility of flame spread and risks to the surroundings. Experiments were conducted using three burners with identical heat release rates (HRRs) and propane as the fuel at various spacings. The results show that flames change from non-merging to merging as the spacing decreases, which result in a complex evolution of flame height and merging point height. To facilitate the analysis, a novel merging criterion based on the dimensionless spacing S/z_c was proposed. For non-merging flames (S/z_c >0.368), the flame height is almost identical to a single fire; for merging flames (S/z_c ≤0.368), based on the relationship between thermal buoyancy B and thrust P (the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the flame), a quantitative analysis of the flame height, merging point height, and air entrainment was formed, and the calculated merging flame heights show a good agreement with the measured experimental values. Moreover, the multi-point source model was further improved, and radiation fraction of propane was calculated. The data obtained in this study would play an important role in calculating the external radiation of propane fire.     

Pool fire dynamics: Principles,models and recent advances

Pool fire is generally described as a diffusion combustion process that occurs above a horizontal fuel surface (composed of gaseous or volatile condensed fuel) with low (∼zero) initial momentum. Fundamentally, this type of diffusion combustion can be represented by basic forms ranging from a small laminar candle flame, to a turbulent medium-scale sofa fire, and up a storage tank fire, or even a massive forest fire. Pool fire research thus not only has fundamental scientific significance for the study of classical diffusion combustion, but also plays an important role in practical fire safety engineering. Therefore, pool fire is recognized as one of the canonical configurations in both the combustion and fire science communities. Pool fire research involves a rich, multilateral, and bidirectional coupling of fluid mechanics with scalar transport, combustion, and heat transfer. Because of the unabated large-scale disasters that can occur and the numerous and complex 'unknowns' involved in pool fires, several new questions have been raised with accompanying solutions and old questions have been revisited, particularly in recent decades. Significant developments have occurred from a variety of different perspectives in terms of pool fire dynamics, and thus the scientific progress made must be summarized in a systematic manner. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the basic fundamentals of pool fires, including the scale effect, the wind effect, pressure and gravity effects, and multi-pool fire dynamics, with particular focus on recent advances in this century. As the fundamentals of pool fires, the theoretical progress made with regard to burning rates, air entrainment, flame pulsation, the morphological characteristics of flames, radiation, and the dimensional modelling are reviewed first, followed by new insights into the fluid mechanics involved, radiative heat transfer and combustion modeling. With regard to the scale effect, recent experimental and theoretical advances in internal thermal transport and fluid motions within the liquid-phase fuel, lip height effects, and heat transfer blockage are summarized systematically. Furthermore, new understandings of aspects including heat feedback and the burning rate, flame tilt, flame length and instability, flame sag and base drag, and soot and radiation behavior under wind, pressure and gravity effects are reviewed. The growing research into the onset and the merging dynamics of multiple pool fires in the last decade is described in the last section, this research will be helpful in the mitigation of threatening outdoor massive (group) fires. This review provides a state-of-the-art survey of the knowledge gained through decades of research into this topic, and concludes by discussing the challenges and prospects with regard to the complex coupling effects of heat transfer, with the fluid and combustion mechanics of pool fires in future work.     

Laminar burning velocities,Markstein lengths,and flame thickness of liquefied petroleum gas with hydrogen enrichment

In this paper, experimental data of laminar burning velocity, Markstein length, and flame thickness of LPG flames with various percentages of hydrogen (H₂) enrichments have been presented. The experiments were conducted under the conditions of 0.1 MPa, 300 K in a constant volume chamber. The tested equivalence ratios of air/fuel mixture range from 0.6 to 1.5, and the examined LPG contains 10%–90% of hydrogen in volume. Experimental results show that hydrogen addition significantly increase the laminar burning velocity of LPG, and the accelerating effectiveness is substantial when the percentage of hydrogen is larger than 60%. Effect of hydrogen addition on diffusion thermal instability, as indicated by Markstein length, was analyzed at various equivalence ratios. Hydrogen addition decreases the flame thickness. Equivalence ratio has more dominating effect on flame thickness than hydrogen does. For the fuel with 10% LPG and 90% hydrogen, the flame thickness values are close for all equivalence ratios.     

Experimental study of explosion dynamics of syngas flames in the narrow channel

This article introduced the experimental study of the propagation of a syngas premixed flame in a narrow channel. The structural evolution, flame front position and velocity characteristics of lean and rich premixed flames were investigated at different hydrogen volume fractions as the flame was ignited at the open end of the pipe and propagated to the closed end. The comparative study of the syngas fuel characteristics, flame oscillation frequency and overpressure oscillation frequency prove that the syngas explosion flame oscillation in the narrow passage has a strong coupling relationship with overpressure and fuel heat release rate. The results was shown that the flame structure was strongly influenced by the hydrogen volume fraction of the syngas and the fuel concentration. The distorted tulip flame only appears in lean mixture. At 30% of hydrogen volume fraction, the flame exhibits intense and unstable propagation, manifested as the reciprocating and alternating movement of the flame front. As the volume fraction of hydrogen increased, the velocity of flame propagation and the frequency of oscillation increased. When the hydrogen volume fraction γ ≥ 0.4 at the equivalence ratio of Φ = 0.8, the pressure oscillation amplitude gradually increases and reaching the peak after 200–320 ms. Significantly, when γ = 0.3, the pressure peak increases abnormally. This work can provide support for the safe use of syngas in industry by experimental study of various explosion parameters in the narrow channel.     

Flame stabilization in a lifted non-premixed turbulent hydrogen jet with coaxial air

To understand hydrogen jet liftoff height, the stabilization mechanism of turbulent lifted jet flames under non-premixed conditions was studied. The objectives were to determine flame stability mechanisms, to analyze flame structure, and to characterize the lifted jet at the flame stabilization point. Hydrogen flow velocity varied from 100 to 300 m/s. Coaxial air velocity was regulated from 12 to 20 m/s. Simultaneous velocity field and reaction zone measurements used, PIV/OH PLIF techniques with Nd:YAG lasers and CCD/ICCD cameras. Liftoff height decreased with increased fuel velocity. The flame stabilized in a lower velocity region next to the faster fuel jet due to the mixing effects of the coaxial air flow. The non-premixed turbulent lifted hydrogen jet flames had two types of flame structure for both thin and thick flame base. Lifted flame stabilization was related to local principal strain rate and turbulent intensity, assuming that combustion occurs where local flow velocity and turbulent flame propagation velocity are balanced.     

喷管内传递特性对微尺度扩散火焰的影响

对均匀空气流中微尺度甲烷扩散燃烧进行了数值模拟,重点考察微喷管内的流动和传热传质对微尺度燃烧特性的影响.结果表明,在低流速下,内径为0.3 mm的微喷管内进气速度为1.0 m/s时燃料与空气的混合已经发生,混合气被管外的热量预热,同时火焰的热损失增加.在喷管直径一定时,减小燃料喷出速度,传热传质现象对微尺度甲烷扩散火焰特性的影响增强;当进气速度为0.5 m/s时,甲烷在微喷管内开始燃烧,放出热量.在进行微尺度解析计算时,必须包含一定的喷管区域.     

Experimental investigation of premixed combustion limits of hydrogen and methane additives in ammonia

In this study, a specially designed premixed combustion chamber system for ammonia-hydrogen and methane-air laminar premixed flames is introduced and the combustion limits of ammonia-hydrogen and methane-air flames are explored. The measurements obtained the blow-out limits (mixed methane: 400–700 mL/min, mixed hydrogen: 200–700 mL/min), mixing gas lean limit characteristics (mixed methane: 0–82%, mixed hydrogen: 0–37%) and lean/rich combustion characteristics (mixed methane: ? = 0.6–1.9, mixed hydrogen: ? = 0.9–3.2) of the flames. The results show that the ammonia-hydrogen-air flame has a smaller lower blow-out limit, mixing gas ratio, lean combustion limit and higher rich combustion limit, thereby proving the advantages of hydrogen as an effective additive in the combustion performance of ammonia fuel. In addition, the experiments show that increasing the initial temperature of the premixed gas can expand the lean/rich combustion limits of both the ammonia-hydrogen and ammonia-methane flames.     

Understanding the influence of burner structure on the stability and chemiluminescence of inverse diffusion flame

Inverse diffusion lift-off flame was widely used in industrial fields such as non-catalytic partial oxidation of methane. In order to investigate the stability and chemiluminescence characteristics of the inverse diffusion lift-off flame, the OH1 and CH1 radiation characteristics, lift-off height, and transition (attachment, lift-off and blow-out) of flames under different burner structure were discussed. The results showed that burner rim thickness and incidence angles would affect the stability of the inverse diffusion flame. When the thickness of the burner rim exceeded 0.5 mm, the flame would directly change from the attachment state to blow-out state as oxygen velocity increased. Additionally, the values of the blowout limit of the nozzle were inversely proportional to the rim thickness of the burner. Different incident angles would result in various shear angles, which would affect the flame structure. As the incidence angle decreased, the tangential velocity of flame increased and the flame tended to be more stable. When the lift-off flame generated, OH1 intensity and distribution showed a sudden change, and the OH1/CH1 peak intensity ratio of the flame appeared abrupt changes.     

The effect of stretch on cellular formation in non-premixed opposed-flow tubular flames

Cellular formation in non-premixed flames is experimentally studied in an opposed-flow tubular burner. This burner allows independent variation of the global stretch rate and overall flame curvature. In opposed-flow flames formed by 21.7% hydrogen diluted in carbon dioxide versus air, cells are formed near extinction with a low fuel Lewis number and a low initial mixture strength. Using an intensified CCD camera, the flame chemiluminescence is imaged to study cellular formation from the onset of cells to near extinction conditions. The experimental onset of cellular instability is found to be at or at a slightly lower Damköhler number than the numerically determined extinction limit based on a two-point boundary value solution of the tubular flame. For fuel Lewis numbers less than unity, concave curvature towards the fuel retards combustion and weakens the flame and convex curvature towards the fuel promotes combustion and strengthens the flame. In the cell formation process, the locally concave flame cell midsection is weakened and the locally convex flame cell ends are strengthened. With increasing stretch rate, the flame breaks into cells and the cell formation process continues until near-circular cells are formed with no concave midsection. Further increase in the stretch rate leads to cell extinction. With increasing stretch rate, the flame thickness at the cell midsection decreases similar to a planar opposed-flow flame while the flame thickness at the cell edges is unchanged and can even increase due to the strengthening effect of convex curvature at the flame edges toward the low Lewis number fuel. The results show the existence of cellular flames well beyond the two-point boundary value extinction limit and the importance of local flame curvature in the formation of flame cells.     

Stability characteristics of non-premixed turbulent jet flames of hydrogen and syngas blends with coaxial air

The stability characteristics of attached hydrogen (H₂) and syngas (H₂/CO) turbulent jet flames with coaxial air were studied experimentally. The flame stability was investigated by varying the fuel and air stream velocities. Effects of the coaxial nozzle diameter, fuel nozzle lip thickness and syngas fuel composition are addressed in detail. The detachment stability limit of the syngas single jet flame was found to decrease with increasing amount of carbon monoxide in the fuel. For jet flames with coaxial air, the critical coaxial air velocity leading to flame detachment first increases with increasing fuel jet velocity and subsequently decreases. This non-monotonic trend appears for all syngas composition herein investigated (50/50 → 100/0% H₂/CO). OH^∗ chemiluminescence imaging was performed to qualitatively identify the mechanisms responsible for the flame detachment. For all fuel compositions, local extinction close to the burner rim is observed at lower fuel velocities (ascending stability limit), while local flame extinction downstream of the burner rim is observed at higher fuel velocities (descending stability limit). Extrema of the non-monotonic trends appear to be identical when the nozzle fuel velocity is normalized by the critical fuel velocity obtained for the single jet cases.     

Prediction of the failure probability of the overhead power line exposed to large-scale jet fires induced by high-pressure gas leakage

A thermal failure model (TFM) is proposed to predict the failure probability of Aluminum Conductor Steel-Reinforced (ACSR) typed power line close to a large-scale jet fire of leaked high-pressure gases. It introduces a newly developed method for heat transfer from jet fires and a distribution model for conductor failure probability via IEEE Standard 738–2012. Comparisons covering van der Waals equation, jet flame length correlations (Chamberlain, Schefer, Molkov and Bradley) and thermal radiation models (point source, multi-point source and line source) were made to illustrate priority with respect to experimental measurement of large hydrogen and natural gas jet fires. Results show that a theoretical framework incorporating van der Waals equation, Molkov's correlation for jet flame length, radiative fraction model and point source model is adequately precise to predict high-pressure leakage process, total flame length and received radiant heat flux (far-field). Predicted total flame lengths of a large jet fire for nearby power lines within 50–200 m to the accident site correspond well to reported results and the conservative hazard ranges are predicted based on harm criteria of wood and Probit equations. In simulations, an acceptable safety distance for power line carrying 907 A and below is determined to be 150 m.     

甲醇燃料火焰可见度的研究

甲醇火焰可见度低,因此就带来了使用中的安全性问题.作者采用一种实验室方法,对火焰的照度进行测量,从而提供了甲醇燃料火焰可见度的评估基础.对甲醇、柴油、汽油、正庚烷、异辛烷、甲苯及甲醇混合燃料共十二种燃料进行了研究,提供了不同燃料的火焰高度、燃烧速度及火焰照度的定量结果.纯甲醇火焰的照度约为汽油的千分之一,用汽油作添加剂可以提高甲醇火焰的照度,但在燃烧过程中随汽油的蒸发而照度下降.作者建议用着火一分钟后,测量期2秒内照度的平均值L与标准偏差σ的和L+σ作为评价可见度的参数.     

A comparison of the emission and impingement heat transfer of LPG–H2 and CH4–H2 premixed flames

Experiments were performed to add hydrogen to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and methane (CH₄) to compare the emission and impingement heat transfer behaviors of the resultant LPG–H₂–air and CH₄–H₂–air flames. Results show that as the mole fraction of hydrogen in the fuel mixture was increased from 0% to 50% at equivalence ratio of 1 and Reynolds number of 1500 for both flames, there is an increase in the laminar burning speed, flame temperature and NO_x emission as well as a decrease in the CO emission. Also, as a result of the hydrogen addition and increased flame temperature, impingement heat transfer is enhanced. Comparison shows a more significant change in the laminar burning speed, temperature and CO/NO_x emissions in the CH₄ flames, indicating a stronger effect of hydrogen addition on a lighter hydrocarbon fuel. Comparison also shows that the CH₄ flame at α = 0% has even better heat transfer than the LPG flame at α = 50%, because the longer CH₄ flame configures a wider wall jet layer, which significantly increases the integrated heat transfer rate.