The interaction of high-speed turbulence with flames: Global properties and internal flame structure

We study the dynamics and properties of a turbulent flame, formed in the presence of subsonic, high-speed, homogeneous, isotropic Kolmogorov-type turbulence in an unconfined system. Direct numerical simulations are performed with Athena-RFX, a massively parallel, fully compressible, high-order, dimensionally unsplit, reactive flow code. A simplified reaction-diffusion model represents a stoichiometric H₂-air mixture. The system being modeled represents turbulent combustion with the Damköhler number Da=0.05 and with the turbulent velocity at the energy injection scale 30 times larger than the laminar flame speed. The simulations show that flame interaction with high-speed turbulence forms a steadily propagating turbulent flame with a flame brush width approximately twice the energy injection scale and a speed four times the laminar flame speed. A method for reconstructing the internal flame structure is described and used to show that the turbulent flame consists of tightly folded flamelets. The reaction zone structure of these is virtually identical to that of the planar laminar flame, while the preheat zone is broadened by approximately a factor of two. Consequently, the system evolution represents turbulent combustion in the thin reaction zone regime. The turbulent cascade fails to penetrate the internal flame structure, and thus the action of small-scale turbulence is suppressed throughout most of the flame. Finally, our results suggest that for stoichiometric H₂-air mixtures, any substantial flame broadening by the action of turbulence cannot be expected in all subsonic regimes.     

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.     

Study of non-premixed turbulent flame of hydrogen/air downstream Co-Current injector

For three decades, hydrogen has been identified as a versatile potential fuel concurrent to the conventional fuel such as gasoline. In order to fully implement it and to develop the combustion based power devices that may supply much higher energy density, it is very essential to understand the mechanism of Hydrogen/Air combustion. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations have been performed to study the combustion of non-premixed turbulent hydrogen-air mixture with different equivalence ratios and different mass flow rates and its effect on different species formation, peak temperature and NO_x formation. The performance of the combustor is evaluated by using FLUENT software under adiabatic wall condition. Generalized finite rate chemistry model was used to analyze the hydrogen-air combustion system. The combustion is modeled using multi-step reaction mechanism with 14 species, until complete conversion of fuel to H₂O. Through such a systematic analysis, a proper controlled operation condition for the combustor is suggested which may be used as a guideline for combustor design. Results reported in this work illustrate that the CFD simulation can be one of the most powerful, beneficial and economical tool for combustor design and for optimization and performance analysis. They are more sensitive to the model of the transport properties while the reasonable results can be achieved even with the use of global reaction mechanism and a simple turbulence model as k- ε, which are not excessively time and memory consuming. From an environmental point view, this study shows that the radical production (OH and NO) is very small although maximum temperature reached exceeded 2000 (K). The mass fraction of NO is much lower if we increase the air inlet velocity, which makes the cold reaction mixture do not promote the NO formation by dissociation.     

A statistical description of turbulent diffusion flame holes

A statistical approach to the dynamics of diffusion-flame holes is presented. The dynamics of the holes are assumed to be controlled by the edge-flame velocity that is determined by the mixture fraction rate of dissipation, a random variable in a turbulent flow. The formulation is then specialized to the case of small circular holes and a stochastic model is used to investigate the dynamics of the joint probability density function of flame-hole radius and scalar dissipation. The associated Fokker-Planck transport equation for the joint pdf is solved and the hole area evolution with time is computed. Furthermore, the one-dimensional marginal probability density function transport equation for the hole radius is derived and the conditional edge-flame velocity is studied for both expanding and collapsing holes.     

Assessment of elliptic flame front propagation characteristics of hydrogen in an optically accessible spark ignition engine

The absence of carbon content of hydrogen fuel makes it an attractive candidates for future energy carriers. Hydrogen or dual fuelled engines are a practical alternative to pure hydrocarbon fuelling modes. However, fine tuning of current engines is necessary. In this study premixed hydrogen flame propagation is investigated in a single-cylinder, spark-ignited, four-stroke optically accessible spark ignition test engine using high-speed imaging. Ellipses were fitted on the flame contours during the analysis to obtain flame speeds and flame centre motion. The test conditions covered a range of engine speeds from 1000 rpm to 2000 rpm with 100 rpm increments using a lean mixture, ? = 0.67. The fine temporal resolution allowed the time, at which spark governed kernel formation becomes a function of engine parameters to be determined. The few data that have been published in the literature regarding hydrogen flame speeds were compared with the finding of this study.     

Non-Boussinesq turbulent buoyant jet resulting from hydrogen leakage in air

This paper is devoted to introduce a numerical investigation of a vertical axisymmetric non-Boussinesq buoyant jet resulting from hydrogen leakage in air as an example of injecting a low-density gas jet into high-density ambient. As the domain temperature is assumed to be constant and therefore the density of the mixture is a function of the concentration only, the binary gas mixture is assumed to be of a linear mixing type. Also, it is assumed that the rate of entrainment to be a function of the plume centerline velocity and the ratio of the mean plume and ambient densities. On the other hand, the local rate of entrainment may be considered to be consisted from two components; one is the component of entrainment due to jet momentum while the other is the component of entrainment due to buoyancy. Firstly, the integral models of the mass, momentum and concentration fluxes are obtained and transformed to a set of ordinary differential equations using some non-dimensional transformations known as similarity transformations. The given ordinary differential system is integrated numerically and the mean centerline mass fraction, jet width and mean centerline velocity are obtained. In the second step, the mean axial velocity, mean concentration and mean density of the jet are obtained. Finally in the third step of this article, several quantities of interest, including the cross-stream velocity, Reynolds stress, velocity-concentration correlation (radial flux), turbulent eddy viscosity and turbulent eddy diffusivity, are obtained. In addition, the turbulent Schmidt number is estimated and the normalized jet-feed material density and the normalized momentum flux density are correlated.     

Analysis of flame surface density measurements in turbulent premixed combustion

In premixed turbulent combustion, reaction rates can be estimated from the flame surface density. This parameter, which measures the mean flame surface area available per unit volume, may be obtained from algebraic expressions or by solving a transport equation. In this study, detailed measurements were performed on a Bunsen-type burner fed with methane/air mixtures in order to determine the local flame surface density experimentally. This burner, located in a high-pressure combustion chamber, allows investigation of turbulent premixed flames under various flow, mixture, and pressure conditions. In the present work, equivalence ratio was varied from 0.6 to 0.8 and pressure from 0.1 to 0.9 MPa. Flame front visualizations by Mie scattering laser tomography are used to obtain experimental data on the instantaneous flame front dynamics. The exact equation given by Pope is used to obtain flame surface density maps for different flame conditions. Some assumptions are made in order to access three-dimensional information from our two-dimensional experiments. Two different methodologies are proposed and tested in term of global mass balance (what enters compared to what is burned). The detailed experimental flame surface data provided for the first time in this work should progressively allow improvement of turbulent premixed flame modeling approaches.     

The effect of turbulent jet induced by pre-chamber sparkplug on combustion characteristics of hydrogen-air pre-mixture

Effect of turbulent jet ignition induced by pre-chamber sparkplug (PCSP), a simper version of turbulent jet ignition pre-chamber system without fuel injection, on the air-hydrogen combustion characteristics was conducted based on an optical constant volume chamber under varied equivalence ratio conditions. The dynamic pressure sensor and schlieren system were used to evaluate the heat release and flame propagation characteristics. The results confirm the feasibility of PCSP type turbulent jet. The jet increase the flame propagation speed significantly compared to standard ignition, which shorten ignition delay and combustion duration, advance T50 largely, and increase the maximum combustion pressure slightly. As a result, the combustion intensity is increased largely, especially under lean regime, the combustion intensity index can be as high as 1.7 at certain equivalence ratio. In addition, the PCSP turbulent jet reduces the sensitivity of heat release to variation of equivalence ratio, which is helpful to simplify the combustion controlling strategy. Furthermore, with the enhancement of the flame propagation, the tendency of knocking combustion can be suppressed potentially.     

High-pressure hydrogen/carbon monoxide syngas turbulent burning velocities measured at constant turbulent Reynolds numbers

Using a double-chamber explosion facility, we measure high-pressure turbulent burning velocities (S_T) of lean syngas (35%H₂/65%CO) spherical flames at constant turbulent Reynolds numbers (Re_T ≡ u′L_I/ν) varying from 6700 to 14,200, where the root-mean-square turbulent fluctuation velocity (u′) and the integral length scale (L_I) are adjusted in proportion to the decreasing kinematic viscosity of reactants (ν) at elevated pressure (p) up to 1.2 MPa. Results show that, contrary to popular scenario for turbulent flames, at constant Re_T, S_T decreases similarly as laminar burning velocities (S_L) with increasing p in minus exponential manners. Moreover, at constant p, S_T/S_L increases noticeably with increasing Re_T. It is found that the present very scattering S_T/S_L data at different p and Re_T can be nicely merged onto a relation of S_T/u′ = 0.49Da^0.25, where Da is the turbulent Damköhler number and values of S_T/u′ tends to level-off when Da > 160 and p > 0.7 MPa.     

Large eddy simulation of reacting flow in a hydrogen jet into supersonic cross-flow combustor with an inlet compression ramp

Large eddy simulation (LES) has been performed to investigate transverse hydrogen jet mixing and combustion process in a scramjet combustor model with a compression ramp at inlet to generate shock train. Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) sub-grid combustion model with a skeleton of 19 reactions and 9 species hydrogen/air reaction mechanism was used. The numerical solver is implemented in an Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) and validated against experimental data in terms of mean wall pressure. Effects of a shock train induced by the inlet compression ramp on the flame stabilization process are then studied. It can be observed that the interaction of the oblique shock and the jet mixing layer enhance the combustion and stabilize the flame. Symmetrical recirculation zone, which contributes to the flame anchoring of the supersonic transverse jet combustion, is observed in the near wall region of 10 < x/D < 20. The hydrogen fuel is transported from the center of jet plume to the near wall region on both sides of the central plane (z/D = 0) and thus intense combustion near the wall is observed due to the enhanced mixing and shock compression heating. Besides, the jet penetration in the reacting field is different from that in non-reacting case with the influence of the interaction between the reflected oblique shock and the jet shear layer on the windward side.     

Small-scale flame acceleration and application of medium and large-scale flame speed correlations

The flame acceleration plays a major role on the explosion effects. Then, it is of importance to understand the flame acceleration process and to predict explosion effects in open and congested areas for industrial safety reasons. In this aim, small-scale deflagration experiments were performed in cylindrical congested volumes of hydrogen – air mixtures varying from 1.77 L to 7.07 L. The influence of the reactivity was studied since the equivalence ratio of hydrogen – air mixtures were ranging from 0.5 to 2. The congestion was realized with varying numbers of grid layers and configurations. Experimental results, in term of flame speeds, were compared to results from correlations of the literature. Correlations were also adapted to the small-scale and modified to take into account the volume and the reactivity of the combustible mixtures.     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the structure and pollutant emissions of a turbulent unconfined swirling flame

This article aims at investigating the effect of hydrogen addition on the temperature and pollutant emissions of turbulent unconfined swirling methane/air flame. A computational approach utilizing the steady laminar flamelet and the realizable k–ε combustion and turbulence models, respectively, has been used. The turbulence–combustion interaction has been modeled by a β-shaped presumed probability density function. The percentage of hydrogen in the fuel stream is modeled at a wide range from 0% to 50% of the fuel volume flow rate. Results show that with the increase of volumetric hydrogen percentage in the fuel stream the flame structure changes considerably. The size of maximum temperature region decreases significantly to a small region at flame tip and peak temperature rises which leads to increase in NO emission levels. The flame with 10% hydrogen is observed to be slightly of the general trend. This is deemed to be due to the change in flow field as a result of change in fuel density, while the amount of hydrogen is not effective enough to change the combustion characteristics of the flame.     

The effect of hydrogen addition on biogas non-premixed jet flame stability in a co-flowing air stream

An investigation of the stability limits of biogas jet non-premixed (diffusion) flames in a co-flowing air stream was conducted. The stability limits were determined experimentally for two different methane–carbon dioxide mixtures that represent the typical biogas composition. Moreover, the effect of jet nozzle diameter was also investigated. It was found that with the presence of a significant amount of CO₂ in the fuel, the stability limits were very low and the flames can only be stabilized over a very small range of co-flowing air velocities. As expected, an increase in carbon dioxide concentration resulted in the narrowing of the region for stable flames. However, it was shown that the flame stability of such mixtures can be enhanced very significantly over a much wider range of co-flowing air velocities by introducing a small amount of hydrogen into the fuel. Results obtained in the current experimental setup indicate that an increase in the stability limits by approximately four-fold when 10% (by vol.) of hydrogen is added under the same operating conditions. The effect of the addition of hydrogen on the enhancement of biogas stability is most significant with a 10% initial addition. The degree of enhancement diminishes with further increases in hydrogen addition from 10% to 30%.     

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.     

Numerical simulation and validation of flame acceleration and DDT in hydrogen air mixtures

Combustion of hydrogen can take place in different modes such as laminar flames, slow and fast deflagrations and detonations. As these modes have widely varying propagation mechanisms, modeling the transition from one to the other presents a challenging task. This involves implementation of different sub-models and methods for turbulence-chemistry interaction, flame acceleration and shock propagation. In the present work, a unified numerical framework based on OpenFOAM has been evolved to simulate such phenomena with a specific emphasis on the Deflagration to Detonation Transition (DDT) in hydrogen-air mixtures. The approach is primarily based on the transport equation for the reaction progress variable. Different sub-models have been implemented to capture turbulence chemistry interaction and heat release due to autoignition. The choice of sub-models has been decided based on its applicability to lean hydrogen mixtures at high pressures and is relevant in the context of the present study. Simulations have been carried out in a two dimensional rectangular channel based on the GraVent experimental facility. Numerical results obtained from the simulations have been validated with the experimental data. Specific focus has been placed on identifying the flame propagation mechanisms in smooth and obstructed channels with stratified initial distribution. In a smooth channel with stratified distribution, it is observed that the flame surface area increases along the propagation direction, thereby enhancing the energy release rate and is identified to be the key parameter leading to strong flame acceleration. When obstacles are introduced, the increase in burning rate due to turbulence induced by the obstacles is partly negated by the hindrance to the unburned gases feeding the flame. The net effect of these competing factors leads to higher flame acceleration and propagation mechanism is identified to be in the fast deflagration regime. Further analysis shows that several pressure pulses and shock complexes are formed in the obstacle section. The ensuing decoupled shock-flame interaction augments the flame speed until the flame coalesces with a strong shock ahead of it and propagates as a single unit. At this point, a sharp increase in propagation speed is observed thus completing the DDT process. Subsequent propagation takes place at a uniform speed into the unburned mixture.     

Effects of ammonia substitution on hydrogen/air flame propagation and emissions

In order to evaluate the potential of partial ammonia substitution to improve the safety of hydrogen use and the effects on the performance of internal combustion engines, the propagation, development of surface cellular instability and nitrogen oxide (NO_x) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions of spark-ignited spherical laminar premixed ammonia/hydrogen/air flames were studied experimentally and computationally. With ammonia being the substituent, the fundamental unstretched laminar burning velocities and Markstein numbers, the propensity of cell formation and the associated flame structure were determined. Results show substantial reduction of laminar burning velocities with ammonia substitution in hydrogen/air flames, similar to hydrocarbon (e.g., methane with a similar molecular weight to ammonia) substitution. In all cases, ammonia substitution enhances the NO_x and N₂O formation. At fuel-rich conditions, however, the amount of NO_x emissions increases and then decreases with ammonia substitution and the increased amount of NO_x and N₂O emissions with ammonia substitution is much lower than that under fuel-lean conditions. These observations support the potential of ammonia as a carbon-free, clean additive for improving the safety of hydrogen use with low NO_x and N₂O emissions in fuel-rich hydrogen/air flames. The potential of ammonia as a suppressant of both preferential-diffusional and hydrodynamic cellular instabilities in hydrogen/air flames was also found particularly for fuel-lean conditions, different from methane substitution. However, it should be noted that the use of ammonia also imposes considerable technological challenges and public concerns, particularly those associated with toxicity and the specific properties such as high reactivity with container materials and water, which should be completely resolved.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the structure and stabilization of a micro-jet methane diffusion flame

The micro-jet diffusion flame can act as the heat source for the micro power generation systems due to some advantages. The present work investigates the effect of hydrogen addition on the structure and stabilization of micro-jet methane diffusion flame by numerical simulation. The results show that the oval flame becomes more and more circular with the increase of hydrogen addition fraction. The addition of hydrogen remarkably suppresses the increase of the flame height with the inlet velocity. The methane sharply decreases around the outlet of the micro-jet tube due to the high fresh fuel temperature. The intermediate species (e.g., H₂ and CO) increase sharply before the flame front, and they are consumed sharply within the flame front. With the increase of hydrogen addition fraction, the concentration gradients of reactive species increase before the flame front, while the flame temperature decreases. In addition, with the increase of hydrogen addition fraction, the micro-jet flame root shifts toward the tube-wall and downstream direction at the radial and axial directions, respectively, and the addition of hydrogen decreases the anchoring temperature of the micro-jet flame root, which is conductive to improve the flame stabilization. Meanwhile, a large hydrogen addition fraction is detrimental for the flame stabilization in terms of the thermal interaction between the micro-jet flame and tube-wall. However, the positive effects brought by a large hydrogen addition fraction are noticeably larger than the adjunctive negative effects. This study not only provides the guideline for further expanding the operating range of the micro-jet methane diffusion flame but also helps us to gain insights into the mechanism of hydrogen addition on improving the flame stabilization.     

Generation of PDFS for flame curvature and for flame stretch rate in premixed turbulent combustion

Experimentally derived pdfs of turbulent, premixed, flame curvatures from a variety of sources, for a wide range of conditions are surveyed and a suitable expression sought to generalize these. This proves to be one based on the Damköhler number, Da. This is tantamount to normalizing the curvature by multiplying it by the Taylor scale of turbulence. It enables the distribution of flame curvature when normalized by the laminar flame thickness, to be expressed in terms of the Karlovitz stretch factor, K, and the turbulent Reynolds number, R_l. The value of the pdf at zero curvature is linearly related to Da^1/2.The pdf expressions of Yeung et al. [3] obtained from numerical simulations are used for the strain rate distribution and, on the assumption that these and that for flame curvature are statistically independent, values of flame stretch rate pdfs are generated numerically. It is necessary to define an appropriate surface to define the burning velocity, flame stretch rate, and appropriate Markstein numbers. Two surfaces are considered and employed in the computations, one located at the start of the preheat zone, the other at the start of the reaction zone. The latter seems more rational and gives the better generalisation of the pdfs of flame stretch rate.An assumed linearity of laminar burning velocity with flame stretch rate, extending over both positive and negative stretch rates, enables flame stretch rate pdfs to be generated. It is concluded that negative values of burning velocity are unlikely and that burning velocities should tend to zero rather than attain negative values. This modifies the derivation of flame stretch rate pdfs. These depend on the Markstein number, Karlovitz stretch factor and turbulent Reynolds number. Computations suggest that, for values of K above 0.1 and of R_l above 100, the pdf of stretch rate is similar to that of strain rate. At very low values of K and negative values of Markstein number, pronounced flamelet instability might be anticipated.     

Self-ignition and flame propagation of high-pressure hydrogen jet during sudden discharge from a pipe

Hydrogen is expected to serve as a clean energy carrier. However, since there are serious ignition hazards associated with its use, it is necessary to collect data on safety in a range of possible accident scenarios so as to assess hazards and develop mitigation measures. When high-pressure hydrogen is suddenly released into the air, a shock wave is produced, which compresses the air and mixes it with hydrogen at the contact surface. This leads to an increase in the temperature of the hydrogen–air mixture, thereby increasing the possibility of ignition. We investigated the phenomena of ignition and flame propagation during the release of high-pressure hydrogen. When a hydrogen jet flame is produced by self-ignition, the flame is held at the pipe outlet and a hydrogen jet flame is produced. From the experiment using the measurement pipe, the presence of a flame in the pipe is confirmed; further, when the burst pressure increased, the flame may be detected at a position near the diaphragm. At the pipe outlet, the flame is not lifted and self-ignition is initiated at the outer edge of the jet.     

Pressure influence on the flame front curvature of turbulent premixed flames: comparison between experiment and theory

In gas turbines, lean premixed combustion is executed in strongly turbulent flow fields and under high-pressure to allow large thermal loads within small-size combustors. Previous research on turbulent premixed flames has revealed the vital importance of flame-vortex interactions, but most of these investigations have been performed only at atmospheric pressure disregarding the large pressure dependency of the flame front dynamics. We report about spatially high-resolved laser-induced predissociation fluorescence imaging of OH (OH-LIPF) in premixed, high-pressure bluff-body stabilized methane/air flames. For each of the two measurement series with different equivalence ratio (φ = 0.7 and φ = 1.0), the planar flame topology at different pressures (0.1 to 1.1 MPa) but constant exit velocity was detected and stored for analysis. As the pressure was increased, the flame front contour of both equivalence ratios became strongly wrinkled with formation of highly curved flame front elements. For quantification of this phenomenon, the probability density function of flame curvature was evaluated with definition of the mean curvature radius as representative folding scale. To discuss different mechanisms of flame front disturbances according to their relevance, the flame curvature is compared with characteristic turbulence scales of the flow field and with the expected folding scale derived with Sivashinsky‘s formulation of linear flame instability theory. Significant changes become obvious especially if the pressure is increased up to 0.5 MPa. The mean curvature radius decreases distinctly and can be linked to the decreasing size of the Taylor length. Additionally, the formation of highly convoluted flame front elements is enforced by the increasing flame instability behavior. As the results show, the flame stoichiometry has a strong impact on the flame front topology at increasing pressures due to the differences of their flame dynamics.