Experimental investigation on the self-acceleration of 10%H2/90%CO/air turbulent expanding premixed flame

The self-acceleration characteristics of a syngas/air mixture turbulent premixed flame were experimentally evaluated using a 10% H₂/90% CO/air mixture turbulent premixed flame by varying the turbulence intensity and equivalence ratio at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The propagation characteristics of the turbulent premixed flame including the variation in the flame propagation speed and turbulent burning velocity of the syngas/air mixture turbulent premixed flame were evaluated. In addition, the effect of the self-acceleration characteristics of the turbulent premixed flame was also evaluated. The results show that turbulence gradually changes the radius of the premixed flame from linear growth to nonlinear growth. With the increase of turbulence intensity, the formation of a cellular structure of the flame front accelerated, increasing the flame propagation speed and burning speed. In the transition stage, the acceleration exponent and fractal excess of the turbulent premixed flame decreased with increasing equivalence ratio and increased with increasing turbulence intensity at an equivalence ratio of 0.6. The acceleration exponent was always greater than 1.5.     

Experimental study on the effect of diluent gas on H2/CO/air mixture turbulent premixed flame

To study the effects of different diluents on the propagation characteristics of H₂/CO/air mixture turbulent premixed flames, a series of experiments were carried out in a turbulent premixed flame experimental system. The effects of turbulence intensity (0.49–1.31 m/s), dilution gas content (10%, 20%, and 30%), hydrogen fraction (50%, 70%, and 90%), and equivalence ratio (0.6, 0.8, and 1.0) on the turbulent premixed flame were studied. The results show that with the increase in hydrogen fraction or turbulence intensity or equivalence ratio, the S_T and u_t increase at the same radius. Compared with N₂ dilution, CO₂ dilution showed a more obvious inhibition effect on S_T. With the increase of Ka, S_T;35mm/u’ gradually decreased, and the extent of S_T;35mm/u’ decrease gradually became smaller. As the intensity of turbulence increases or the hydrogen fraction increases, the slope of S_T,35mm/u’ with Da/Le gradually decreases. In the turbulence intensity range of this experiment, the u_t,35mm/μ_l under nitrogen dilution condition has a larger floating range. The growth rate of u_t,35mm/μ_l at a low equivalence ratio is significantly higher than that at a high equivalence ratio.     

Flame front structure of turbulent premixed flames of syngas oxyfuel mixtures

In order to investigate oxyfuel combustion characteristics of typical composition of coal gasification syngas connected to CCS systems. Instantaneous flame front structure of turbulent premixed flames of CO/H₂/O₂/CO₂ mixtures which represent syngas oxyfuel combustion was quantitatively studied comparing with CH₄/air and syngas/air flames by using a nozzle-type Bunsen burner. Hot-wire anemometer and OH-PLIF were used to measure the turbulent flow and detect the instantaneous flame front structure, respectively. Image processing and statistical analyzing were performed using the Matlab Software. Flame surface density, mean progress variable, local curvature radius, mean flame volume, and flame thickness, were obtained. Results show that turbulent premixed flames of syngas possess wrinkled flame front structure which is a general feature of turbulent premixed flames. Flame surface density for the CO/H₂/O₂/CO₂ flame is much larger than that of CO/H₂/O₂/air and CH₄/air flames. This is mainly caused by the smaller flame intrinsic instability scale, which would lead to smaller scales and less flame passivity response to turbulence presented by Markstain length, which reduce the local flame stretch against turbulence vortex. Peak value of Possibility Density Function (PDF) distribution of local curvature radius, R, for CO/H₂/O₂/CO₂ flames is larger than those of CO/H₂/O₂/air and CH₄/air flames at both positive and negative side and the corresponding R of absolute peak PDF is the smallest. This demonstrates that the most frequent scale is the smallest for CO/H₂/O₂/CO₂ flames. Mean flame volume of CO/H₂/O₂/CO₂ flame is smaller than that of CH₄/air flame even smaller than that of CO/H₂/O₂/air flame. This would be due to the lower flame height and smaller flame wrinkles.     

Flame brush characteristics and burning velocities of premixed turbulent methane/air Bunsen flames

The flame brush characteristics and turbulent burning velocities of premixed turbulent methane/air flames stabilized on a Bunsen-type burner were studied. Particle image velocimetry and Rayleigh scattering techniques were used to measure the instantaneous velocity and temperature fields, respectively. Experiments were performed at various equivalence ratios and bulk flow velocities from 0.7 to 1.0, and 7.7 to 17.0 m/s, respectively. The total turbulence intensity and turbulent integral length scale were controlled by the perforated plate mounted at different positions upstream of the burner exit. The normalized characteristic flame height and centerline flame brush thickness decreased with increasing equivalence ratio, total turbulence intensity, and longitudinal integral length scale, whereas they increased with increasing bulk flow velocity. The normalized horizontal flame brush thickness increased with increasing axial distance from the burner exit and increasing equivalence ratio. The non-dimensional leading edge and half-burning surface turbulent burning velocities increased with increasing non-dimensional turbulence intensity, and they decreased with increasing non-dimensional bulk flow velocity when other turbulence statistics were kept constant. Results show that the non-dimensional leading edge and half-burning surface turbulent burning velocities increased with increasing non-dimensional longitudinal integral length scale. Two correlations to represent the leading edge and half-burning surface turbulent burning velocities were presented as a function of the equivalence ratio, non-dimensional turbulence intensity, non-dimensional bulk flow velocity, and non-dimensional longitudinal integral length scale. Results show that the half-burning surface turbulent burning velocity normalized by the bulk flow velocity decreased as the normalized characteristic flame height increased.     

Burning velocity and flame structure of CH4/NH3/air turbulent premixed flames at high pressure

Ammonia is one of the most promising alternative fuels. In particular, ammonia combustion for gas turbine combustors for power generation is expected. To shift the fuel for a gas turbine combustor to ammonia step-by-step, the partial replacement of natural gas by ammonia is considered. To reveal the turbulent combustion characteristics, CH₄/NH₃/air turbulent premixed flame at 0.5 MPa was experimentally investigated. The ammonia ratio based on the mole fraction and lower heating value was varied from 0 to 0.2. The results showed that the ratio of the turbulent burning velocity and unstretched laminar burning velocity decreased with an increase in the ammonia ratio. The reason for this variation is that the flame area decreased with an increase in the ammonia ratio as the flame surface density decreased and the fractal inner cutoff increased. The volume fractions in the turbulent flame region were almost the same with ammonia addition, indicating that combustion oscillation can be handled in a manner similar to that for the case of natural gas for CH₄/NH₃/air flames.     

Flame front structure and burning velocity of turbulent premixed CH4/H2/air flames

Flame front structure of turbulent premixed CH₄/H₂/air flames at various hydrogen fractions was investigated with OH-PLIF technique. A nozzle-type burner was used to achieve the stabilized turbulent premixed flames. Hot-wire anemometer measurement and OH-PLIF observation were performed to measure the turbulent flow and detect the instantaneous flame front structure, respectively. The hydrogen fractions of 0%, 5%, 10% and 20% were studied. Results show that the flame front structures of the turbulent premixed flames are wrinkled flame front with small scale convex and concave structures compared to that of the laminar-flame front. The wrinkle intensity of flame front is promoted with the increase of turbulence intensity as well as hydrogen fraction. Hydrogen addition promotes the flame intrinsic instability which leads to the active response of laminar flame to turbulence and results in the much more wrinkled flame front structure. The value of S_T/S_L increases monotonically with the increase of u′/S_L and hydrogen fraction. The increase of S_T/S_L with the increase of hydrogen fraction is mainly attributed to the diffusive-thermal instability effects represented by the effective Lewis number, Le_eff. A general correlation between S_T/S_L and u′/S_L is provided from the experimental data fitting in the form of S_T/S_L ∝ a(u′/S_L)ⁿ, and the exponent, n, gives the constant value of 0.35 for all conditions and at various hydrogen fractions.     

Study of ozone-enhanced combustion in H2/CO/N2/air premixed flames by laminar burning velocity measurements and kinetic modeling

The enhancement effect of ozone addition for H₂/CO/N₂/Air premixed flames at ambient condition is investigated both experimentally and computationally. Adiabatic laminar velocities under different amount of O₃ addition were directly measured using the Heat Flux Method. The ozone concentration in the oxidizer is monitored online to ensure the precise control and stability of ozone injection. Experimental data shows significant enhancement of the burning velocities due to O₃ addition. With 8500 ppm ozone seeded, maximum 18.74% of burning velocity enhancement is observed at equivalence ratio Φ = 0.7. Kinetic modeling works were conducted by integrating ozone sub-mechanism with three kinetic mechanisms: GRI-Mech 3.0, Davis mechanism and USC Mech II. The modeling results were compared with experimental data. GRI-Mech 3.0 + Ozone mechanism demonstrated the ability to reproduce the experimental data. Extra OH radicals promoted by ozone was found in the pre-heat regime which initiates the chain-branching reaction and results in the combustion enhancement.     

Experimental and numerical study on premixed partially dissociated ammonia mixtures. Part I: Laminar burning velocity of NH3/H2/N2/air mixtures

Ammonia is considered as a promising hydrogen carrier, which is seen as a reliable carbon-free fuel. Improving the combustion properties of ammonia is the focus of current research. The hydrogen could be dissociated from the ammonia in real applications. For purpose of combustion, partially dissociated ammonia could be combusted directly without using extra hydrogen. Laminar burning velocity is an important combustion parameter, but there are only a few data of partially dissociated ammonia are reported. To fill the data gap, the laminar burning velocity was measured at various equivalence ratios and dissociation degrees of ammonia by the constant pressure spherical flame method in this study. Besides, fifteen kinetic models were compared with experimental data, and the model with the best consistency was obtained. The experimental results show that the laminar burning velocity increases monotonically with the increase of the dissociating degree. When ammonia is completely dissociated, the maximum laminar burning velocity increases from 7.9 cm/s to 228 cm/s, and the equivalence ratio corresponding to the peak value also shifts from 1.1 to 1.6. The laminar burning velocity predicted by the model constructed by Stagni is in best agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, data calculated by the five correlations for predicting laminar burning velocity were compared with the numerical data to verify that whether they are suitable for the mixtures with additional nitrogen. The results show that the correlation based on the activation temperature is the most accurate. However, it still has a maximum relative error of ±20% within the calculated range.     

Experimental and numerical study of the effect of initial temperature on the combustion characteristics of premixed syngas/air flame

The effects of different initial temperatures (T = 300–500 K) and different hydrogen volume fractions (5%–20%) on the combustion characteristics of premixed syngas/air flames in rectangular tubes were investigated experimentally. A high-speed camera and pressure sensor were used to obtain flame propagation images and overpressure dynamics. The CHEMKIN-PRO model and GRI Mech 3.0 mechanism were used for simulation. The results show that the flame propagation speed increases with the initial temperature before the flame touches the wall, while the opposite is true after the flame touches the wall. The increase in initial temperature leads to the increase in overpressure rise rate in the early flame propagation process, but the peak overpressure is reduced. The laminar burning velocity (LBV) and adiabatic flame temperature (AFT) increase with increasing initial temperature. The increase in initial temperature makes the peaks of H, O, and OH radicals increase.     

Experimental and numerical study on laminar premixed NH3/H2/O2/air flames

Adding the product of water electrolysis (i.e. 2:1 volume of H₂ and O₂) is an effective strategy to enhance the combustion intensity of NH₃/air mixtures. In this work, the laminar burning velocity (LBV) of the obtained NH₃/H₂/O₂/air mixtures was measured at 303 K, 0.1 MPa and compared with the values predicted by seven mechanisms. To improve the prediction performance, a new mechanism is developed based on the existing mechanism and adopted for numerical simulation. The results of this study show that the LBV of NH₃ is significantly increased by additional H₂ and O₂. By comparison, it is found that H₂ shows a more significant promoting effect on LBV when the volume ratio of additional H₂ and O₂ is 2. The concentration of key radicals and the flame temperature increase remarkably due to the addition of H₂ and O₂, which promote the flame propagation. Furthermore, the experimental results also indicated that the additional H₂ and O₂ make the burned gas Markstein length decrease on the lean side and increase on the rich side.     

Adiabatic burning velocity and cellular flame characteristics of H2–CO–CO2–air mixtures

The objective of this work was to study the effect of dilution with carbon dioxide on the adiabatic burning velocity of syngas fuel (with various H₂/CO ratios)-air(21% O₂–79% N₂ by volume) mixtures along with detailed understanding of cellular flame structures. Heat flux method with a setup similar to that of de Goey and co-workers [1] was used for measurement of burning velocities. Validation experiments were done for H₂ (5%)–CO (95%)–air and H₂ (5%)–CO (45%)–CO₂ (50%)–air mixtures at various equivalence ratios and the results were in good agreement with published data in the literature. The mixtures considered in this work had 1:4, 1:1 and 4:1 H₂/CO ratio in the fuel and 40%, 50% and 60% CO₂ dilution. The burning velocity increased significantly with the increase in H₂ content in mixture of H₂–CO with fixed CO₂ dilution. The burning velocity reduced remarkably with carbon dioxide dilution in H₂–CO mixture due to reduction in heat release, flame temperature and thermal diffusivity of the mixture. The location of peak adiabatic burning velocity shifted from ? = 1.6 for 40% CO₂ to ? = 1.2 for 60% CO₂, whereas it remained unchanged with variation of H₂:CO ratio (4:1, 1:1 and 1:4) at a given CO₂ dilution. A comparison of experiments and simulations indicated that the Davis et al. [2] mechanism predicted burning velocities well for the most of experimental operating conditions except for rich conditions. For some lean mixtures, flames exhibited cellular structures. In order to explain the structures and generate profiles of various field variables of interest, computations of three dimensional porous burner stabilized cellular flames were performed using commercial CFD software FLUENT. Simulations for lean H₂ (25%)–CO (25%)–CO₂ (50%)–air mixtures (? = 0.6 and 0.8) produced cellular flame structures very similar to those observed in the experiments. It was found that the in the core region of a typical cell, stretch rate was positive, the volumetric heat release rate was high and the net reaction rate for the reaction O + H₂ ? H + OH and the net consumption rate of H₂ were both high.     

Effects of hydrogen peroxide on combustion enhancement of premixed methane/air flames

Hydrogen peroxide is generally considered to be an effective combustion promoter for different fuels. The effects of hydrogen peroxide on the combustion enhancement of premixed methane/air flames are investigated numerically using the PREMIX code of Chemkin collection 3.5 with the GRI-Mech 3.0 chemical kinetic mechanisms and detailed transport properties. To study into the enhancement behavior, hydrogen peroxide is used for two different conditions: (1) as the oxidizer substituent by partial replacement of air and (2) as the oxidizer supplier by using different concentrations of H₂O₂. Results show that the laminar burning velocity and adiabatic flame temperature of methane flame are significantly enhanced with H₂O₂ addition. Besides, the addition of H₂O₂ increases the CH₄ consumption rate and CO production rate, but reduces CO₂ productions. Nevertheless, using a lower volumetric concentration of H₂O₂ as an oxidizer is prone to reduce CO formation. The OH concentration is increased with increasing H₂O₂ addition due to apparent shifting of major reaction pathways. The increase of OH concentration significantly enhances the reaction rate leading to enhanced laminar burning velocity and combustion. As to NO emission, using H₂O₂ as an oxidizer will never produce NO, but NO emission will increase due to enhanced flame temperature when air is partially replaced by H₂O_2.     

Numerical study on CH4 laminar premixed flames for combustion characteristics in the oxidant atmospheres of N2/CO2/H2O/Ar-O2

The freely-propagating laminar premixed flames of CH₄–N₂/CO₂/H₂O/Ar-O₂ mixtures were conducted with the PREMIX code. The effects of the equivalence ratio and various oxidant atmospheres on the basic combustion characteristics were analyzed with the initial pressure and temperature of 1 atm and 398 K, respectively, O₂ content in the oxidant of 21%. The chemical reaction mechanism GRI-Mech 3.0 was chosen to determine the effects of the oxidant atmospheres of N₂/O₂, CO₂/O₂, H₂O/O₂, and Ar/O₂ on the adiabatic flame temperature, laminar burning velocity, flame structure, free radicals, intermediate species, net heat release rate and specific heat of the fuel/oxidant mixtures. The numerical results show that the maximum adiabatic flame temperatures and laminar burning velocities are at Ar/O₂ atmosphere. The mole fractions of CO and H₂ increased fastest at CO₂/O₂ atmosphere and H₂O/O₂, respectively. The mole fractions of CH₃ and H follow the order Ar/O₂> N₂/O₂>H₂O/O₂>CO₂/O₂. In addition, for 4 oxidant atmospheres, the peak mole fraction of C₂H₂ is following the order H₂O/O₂>Ar/O₂>N₂/O₂>CO₂/O₂ and the net heat release rate is following the order Ar/O₂>N₂/O₂>H₂O/O₂>CO₂/O₂ for all equivalence ratios.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the laminar premixed combustion characteristics the main components of natural gas

With the increasing use of natural gas, improving the thermal efficiency and reducing emissions has become the major goals in its combustion. The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of hydrogen addition on the combustion characteristics of natural gas. A ChemkinⅡ/Premix Code with the detailed chemical reaction mechanisms was employed with the Soret effect taken into account in all the calculations. With the mole fraction of hydrogen in the fuel varied from 0 to 40% at different initial temperatures (298–500 K) and pressures (1–8 atm), the results showed that the laminar burning velocities (LBVs) and the adiabatic flame temperatures of the C₁C₄ four alkanes increased with increasing hydrogen-doping ratio. The LBV and the adiabatic flame temperature of methane displayed the maximum increase with the hydrogen-doping ratio. Additionally, the generation of active radicals H, O, and OH during the combustion process was strongly correlated with the LBV. The sensitivity of the flame temperature in four alkane fuels present in the natural gas at the maximum temperature gradient was analyzed. At a constant hydrogen-doping ratio, the LBV and the adiabatic flame temperature increased significantly with the increasing initial temperature. With increasing the pressure, the LBV gradually decreased while the adiabatic flame temperature increased.     

Effects of density ratio and differential diffusion on flame accelerative propagation of H2/O2/N2 mixtures

The effects of density ratio and differential diffusion on premixed flame propagation of H₂/O₂/N₂ mixtures are investigated by constant volume combustion chamber. The density ratio and differential diffusion are controlled independently by adjusting the O₂/N₂ ratio and equivalence ratio. Results show that the density ratio has no effect on turbulent burning velocity while the differential diffusion has a promotion effect on turbulent burning velocity. The onsets of laminar flame acceleration are promoted by both density ratio and differential ratio. The turbulent flames perform a continuous acceleration propagation and the dependence between flame propagation speed and flame radius can be characterized as (dR/dt)/(σ·S_L) ～ R^0.33～0.37, which is lower than the 1/2 power law. The acceleration parameters of laminar flames and turbulent flames (u^’/S_L = 1) are around 0.17 and 0.36 respectively, and both of them are not affected by density ratio and differential diffusion. The empirical formula m = 0.19·(u^’/S_L)^0.4+0.17 is concluded to quantitatively describe the accelerative characteristics of laminar and turbulent flames. The current study indicates that the acceleration of laminar flames is mainly induced by flame intrinsic instability, and the latter can affect the acceleration onset but not affect the fractal excess. The acceleration of turbulent flames is dominated by turbulent stretch, while the effects of density ratio and differential diffusion can be ignored.     

Combined effect of ignition position and equivalence ratio on the characteristics of premixed hydrogen/air deflagrations

Premixed hydrogen/air deflagrations were performed in a 100 mm × 100 mm × 1000 mm square duct closed at one end and opened at the opposite end under ambient conditions, concerning with the combined effect of ignition position IP and equivalence ratio ?. A wide range of ? ranging from 0.4 to 5.0, as well as multiple IPs varying from 0 mm to 900 mm off the closed end of the duct were employed. It is indicated that IP and ? exerted a great impact on the flame structure, and the corresponding pressure built-up. Except for IP₀, the flame can propagate in two directions, i.e., leftward and rightward. A regime diagram for tulip flames formation on the left flame front (LFF) was given in a plane of ? vs. IP. In certain cases (e.g. the combinations of ? = 0.6 and IP₅₀₀ or IP₇₀₀), distorted tulip flames were also observed on the right flame front (RFF). Furthermore, the combinations of IP and ? gave rise to various patterns of pressure profiles. The pressure profiles for ignition initiated at the right half part of the duct showed a weak dependence on equivalence ratio, and showed no dependence on ignition position. However, the pressure profiles for ignition initiated at the left half part of the duct were heavily dependent on the combination of IP and ?. More specifically, in the leanest (? = 0.4) and the richest (? = 4.0–5.0) cases, intensive periodical oscillations were the prime feature of the pressure profiles. With the moderate equivalence ratios (? = 0.8–3.0), periodical pressure oscillations were only observed for IP₉₀₀. The maximum pressure peaks P_max were reached at ? = 1.25 rather than at the highest reactivity ? = 1.75 irrespective of ignition position. The ignition positions that produced the worst conditions were different, implying a complex influence of the combination of IP and ?.     

Experimental studies on the explosion indices in turbulent stoichiometric H2/CH4/air mixtures

Explosion characteristics of the stoichiometric hydrogen/methane/air mixtures with different hydrogen fractions (λ) and different turbulent intensities (u'_rms) in a fan-jet-stirred spherical explosion vessel. From the experimental results, it could be clearly found that both the maximum explosion overpressure (p_max) and the maximum rise rate of overpressure rose with the increase of u'_rms, but the major reasons to such rising were not totally the same. In turbulence, with the increase of λ, p_max declined but (dp/dt)_max rose, and such behaviours were mainly attributed to the completion on the variations between propagation speed and adiabatic explosion pressure. The explosion duration (t_c) was also measured, it rose with the increase of u'_rms and/or λ for the enhancement on propagation albeit such enhancement was attributed to different mechanism for different influence factors. The variations of deflagration index (K_G) indicated that the hazardous level of stoichiometric hydrogen/methane mixtures would become more hazardous in the presence of turbulence. Furthermore, the heat loss during the explosion also was calculated and analysed. The results reported in this article could provide more basic but important information to practical utilizations of hydrogen/methane blended fuels, especially on the safety protection strategies.