Hysteresis and transition in swirling nonpremixed flames

Strongly swirling nonpremixed flames are known to exhibit a hysteresis when transiting from an attached long, sooty, yellow flame to a short lifted blue flame, and vice versa. The upward transition (by increasing the air and fuel flow rates) corresponds to a vortex breakdown, i.e. an abrupt change from an attached swirling flame (unidirectional or with a weak bluff-body recirculation), to a lifted flame with a strong toroidal vortex occupying the bulk of the flame. Despite dramatic differences in their structures, mixing intensities and combustion performance, both flame types can be realised at identical flow rates, equivalence ratio and swirl intensity. We report here on comprehensive investigations of the two flame regimes at the same conditions in a well-controlled experiment in which the swirl was generated by the rotating outer pipe of the annular burner air passage. Fluid velocity measured with PIV (particle image velocimetry), the qualitative detection of reaction zones from OH PLIF (planar laser-induced fluorescence) and the temperature measured by CARS (coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy) revealed major differences in vortical structures, turbulence, mixing and reaction intensities in the two flames. We discuss the transition mechanism and arguments for the improved mixing, compact size and a broader stability range of the blue flame in comparison to the long yellow flame.     

Burning syngas in a high swirl burner: Effects of fuel composition

Flame characteristics of swirling non-premixed H₂/CO syngas fuel mixtures have been simulated using large eddy simulation and detailed chemistry. The selected combustor configuration is the TECFLAM burner which has been used for extensive experimental investigations for natural gas combustion. The large eddy simulation (LES) solves the governing equations on a structured Cartesian grid using a finite volume method, with turbulence and combustion modelling based on the localised dynamic Smagorinsky model and the steady laminar flamelet model respectively. The predictions for H₂-rich and CO-rich flames show considerable differences between them for velocity and scalar fields and this demonstrates the effects of fuel variability on the flame characteristics in swirling environment. In general, the higher diffusivity of hydrogen in H₂-rich fuel is largely responsible for forming a much thicker flame with a larger vortex breakdown bubble (VBB) in a swirling flame compare to the H₂-lean but CO-rich syngas flames.     

Thermal characteristics of a premixed impinging circular laminar-flame jet with induced swirl

A swirling flow has been induced in a premixed gas-fired impinging circular flame jet by adding two tangential air flows to the main axial air/fuel flow. The flame jet system was considered to be small-scale and operated under low-pressure, laminar flow conditions. The effects of Reynolds number of the air/butane mixture and nozzle-to-plate distance on the heating performance of the flame were studied and compared with the heat-flux distributions on an impingement plate under different operating conditions. The whole investigation was conducted under the stoichiometric air/fuel condition (i.e., equivalence ratio, Φ = 1) with the Reynolds number being varied from 800 to 1700, and nozzle-to-plate distance being selected between 1.5 and 4.0. The introduction of swirl to small-scale, low-pressure, laminar premixed gas-fired impinging circular flame jets is the method for enhancing their thermal performances. The heat-flux distribution on the impingement plate was more uniform and the flame temperatures essentially higher when compared with a similar flame jet system without induced swirl.     

Direct numerical simulation and analysis of a hydrogen/air swirling premixed flame in a micro combustor

A three dimensional spatially developing hydrogen/air premixed flame in a micro combustor with a moderate Reynolds number and a high swirl number is studied using direct numerical simulation. The inflow mixture is composed of hydrogen and air at an equivalent ratio of 1.0 in the jet core region, and pure air elsewhere. The maximum axial velocity at the inlet is 100 m/s. A fourth-order explicit Runge–Kutta method for time integration and an eighth-order central differencing scheme for spatial discretization are used to solve the full Navier–Stokes (N–S) equation system. A 9 species 19-step reduced mechanism for hydrogen/air combustion is adopted. Vortex and turbulence characteristics are examined. Two instabilities, namely Kalvin–Helmholtz instability and centrifugal instability, are responsible for the transition from laminar flow to turbulence. A cone-like vortex breakdown is observed both in the isothermal swirling flow and in the swirling flame. One dimensional premixed laminar flame is studied, the structure of which is compared with that of the multi-dimensional one. Probability density functions of the curvature and tangential strain rate are presented. It is shown that the flame curvature has a near zero mean, and the flame aligns preferentially with extensive strain. Finally, the turbulent premixed flame regime diagram is used to characterize the flame. It is found that most of the flame elements lie in the laminar flame regime and the thin reaction zones regime.     

Highly turbulent counterflow flames: A laboratory scale benchmark for practical systems

We propose a highly turbulent counterflow flame as a very useful benchmark of complexity intermediate between laminar flames and practical systems. By operating in a turbulent Reynolds number regime of relevance to practical systems such as gas turbines and internal combustion engines, it retains the interaction of turbulence and chemistry of such environments, but offers several advantages including: (a) the achievement of high Reynolds numbers without pilot flames, which is particularly advantageous from a modeling standpoint; (b) control of the transition from stable flames to local extinction/reignition conditions; (c) compactness of the domain by comparison with jet flames, with obvious advantages from both a diagnostic and, especially, a computational viewpoint; and (d) the reduction or, altogether, elimination of soot formation, thanks to the high strain rates and low residence times of such a system, and the establishment of conditions of large stoichiometric mixture fraction, as required for robust flame stabilization. We demonstrate the phenomenology of such highly strained turbulent flames under conditions spanning unpremixed, partially premixed and premixed regimes. The system lends itself to the validation of DNS and other computational models. It is also well-suited for the examination of practical fuel blends - a need that is becoming more and more pressing in view of the anticipated diversification of the future fossil fuel supply.     

Enhanced radiation output from foam burners operating with a nonpremixed flame

An enhancement in the radiation flux from porous medium burners operating with nonpremixed flames was obtained by a vane-rotary burner, in which the swirling fuel flow was confined by an air duct. By optimizing the gap distance between the swirling flow and the base of the porous medium, the relative enhancement in radiation flux reached 5.7 times. This improvement is attributed to the superior fuel-air swirl mixing, with the resulting flame efficiently transferring the heat to the solid phase, as been substantiated by the exhaust gas analysis, the radiation spectrum, flame, and solid temperatures. A significant reduction in CO and UHC concentrations was obtained at high swirl numbers, whereas the NOx emission was decreased to a level below 10 ppm.     

A DNS study of hydrogen/air swirling premixed flames with different equivalence ratios

Hydrogen/air swirling premixed flames with different equivalence ratios are studied using direct numerical simulation. A fourth-order explicit Runge–Kutta method for time integration and an eighth-order central differencing scheme for spatial discretization are used to solve the full Navier–Stokes (N–S) equation system. A 9 species 19-step reduced mechanism for hydrogen/air combustion is adopted. The flames are stabilized with the help of a recirculation zone characterizing a high swirling flow. The vortex structures of the swirling premixed flames are presented. The flame structures are investigated in terms of the flame front curvature and tangential strain rate probability density functions (pdfs). The local flamelet temperature profiles are also extracted randomly along the flame front and compared with the corresponding laminar flame temperature profile. In order to study preferential diffusion effects, direct numerical simulation of two additional freely propagating planar flames in isotropic turbulence is conducted. Preferential diffusion effects observed in the planar flames are suppressed in the swirling flames. Further analysis confirms that the coherent small-scale eddies play important roles in the interactions between turbulence and the flame front. They are able to change the dynamic properties of the flame font and lead to enhanced burning intensity in the flame front with negative curvature for both stoichiometric and fuel-lean flames.     

Control of flames by tangential jet actuators in oxy-fuel burners

The active control of oxy-fuel flames from burners with separated jets is investigated. The control system consists of four small jet actuators, placed tangential to the exit of the main jets to generate a swirling flow. These actuators are able to modify the flow structure and to act on mixing between the reactants and consequently on the flame behavior. The burner (25 kW) is composed of separated jets, one jet of natural gas and one or two jets of pure oxygen. Experiments are conducted with three burner configurations, according to the number of jets, the jet exit velocities, and the separation distance between the jets. OH chemiluminescence measurements, particle image velocimetry, and measurements of NO_x emissions are used to characterize the flow and the flame structure. Results show that the small jet actuators have a significant influence on the behavior of jets and the flame characteristics, particularly in the stabilization zone. It is shown that the control leads to a decrease in lift-off heights and to better stability of the flame. The use of jet actuators induces high jet spreading and an increase in turbulence intensity, which improves the mixing between the reactants and the surrounding fluid. Pollutant measurements show important results in terms of NO_x reductions (up to 60%), in particular for low swirl intensity. The burner parameters, such as the number of jets and the spacing between the jets, also impact the flame behavior and NO_x formation.     

Numerical simulation of 3D turbulent isothermal flow in a vortex combustor

Numerical simulations of strongly swirling turbulent flows in a vortex combustor (VC) are conducted. A comprehensive investigation of a three-dimensional isothermal VC flow using three first-order turbulence models: the standard k–ε turbulence model, Renormalized Group (RNG) k–ε model and shear stress transport (SST) k–ω model; and a second-order turbulence model, Reynolds stress model (RSM) together with a second-order numerical differencing scheme is conducted in the present work. The computation indicates that the RSM is superior to the other turbulence models in capturing the swirl flow effect in comparison with measurements. The numerical results for the VC flow provide the characteristics of the flow in terms of relevant parameters for the VC design and operation, composed of axial and tangential velocities, pressure fields, and turbulence kinetic energy.     

Effects of swirl on the stability of jet diffusion flames

An experimental study was made, using a double-swirl burner, of the stability of swirling-fuel-jet diffusion flames in swirling air streams. The fuels were hydrogen and methane. The primary variables studied were swirl intensities of the fuel jet and the air stream. It was found that the stability of flame depended on the swirl intensity of both the fuel jet and the air stream. The application of swirl to the fuel jet decreased the rim stability of the flame, but increased the blowout stability of the lifted diffusion flame. For low swirl intensity of the air stream, the effect was similar to that of the fuel jet. At higher swirl intensities of the air stream, above a critical value, the flame stability increased noticeably because of the formation of a recirculation zone near the injector exit. Even in strongly swirling air streams, the favorable effect of fuel swirl on stability of the lifted flame was evident, particularly for the methane flame.     

An Investigation of the Swirling Flow and Heat Transfer in a Duct

This paper presents the results of experiments and numerical simulation of the turbulent swirling flow and heattransfer in a duct.The calculated results are in good agreement with data obtained by measurements.It isfound that the swirling flow promotes heat transfer to the wall of the duct;the swirl numbers are dependentupon the vane exit angles of the swirler,distance from the swirler and the duct Reynolds number.But the decayof swirling flow in streamwise direction is related to local Reynolds numbers and is independent of the swirlerexit angle.The swirl flow characteristics presented in this paper may be used for engineering purposes.     

Investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in a concentric heat exchanger with snail entrance

In this study, in order to increase heat transfer in concentric double-pipe heat exchangers by passive method, snail which is mounted at inlet of the inner pipe and assumed as a swirl generator was used. In the experimental set-up, cold air in ambient conditions was passed through the inner pipe while hot water was flowing through the annulus. The effects of a snail on the heat transfer and pressure drop were investigated for parallel and counter-flow, and obtained Nusselt numbers (Nu) were compared with those found, using a standard correlation such as Dittus–Boelter equation given for axial flows in smooth pipes. The results were correlated in the form of Nusselt number as a function of Reynolds number, Prandtl number and the swirling angle. An augmentation of up to 120% in Nusselt number was obtained in the swirl flow for counter-flow and 45° swirling angle. Though the swirl flow effect of the snail caused some increase in pressure drop, this effect was unimportant compared with the improvement in heat transfer capacity.     

Emission of impinging swirling and non-swirling inverse diffusion flames

The overall pollutants emission from impinging swirling and non-swirling inverse diffusion flames (IDFs) was evaluated quantitatively by the ‘hood’ method. The results of in-flame volumetric concentrations of CO and NO_x and overall pollutants emission of CO and NO_x in terms of emission index were reported. The in-flame volumetric concentrations of CO and NO_x were measured through a small hole drilled on the impingement plate. In comparison with the corresponding open flame, the CO and NO_x concentrations for the impinging swirling IDF are greatly lowered due to the entrainment of much more ambient air which is related to the increased flame surface area. For the swirling and non-swirling IDFs, the EINO_x increases as the nozzle-to-plate distance (H) increases because more space is available for the development of the high-temperature zone in the free jet portion of the impinging flame, which favors the thermal NO formation. The variation of EICO with H is different for the impinging swirling and non-swirling IDFs because they have different flame structures. For both flames, the EICO is high when their main reaction zone or inner reaction cone is impinged and quenched by the copper plate. The parameters of air jet Reynolds number, overall equivalence ratio and nozzle-to-plate distance have significant influence on the overall pollutants emission of the impinging swirling and non-swirling IDFs and the comparison shows that the swirling IDF emits less NO_x and CO under most of the experimental conditions tested. Furthermore, it is found that compared with the open flames, the impinging flames emit lower level of NO_x and higher level of CO.     

CFD and correlations of the heat transfer from a wall at constant temperature to an impinging swirling jet

Numerical simulations of the impingement of a swirling jet against a heated solid wall at a prescribed temperature are presented in order to propose correlations of the heat transfer coefficients along the heated wall as a function of the jet Reynolds number Re, jet swirl intensity S_i, jet average turbulent intensity I_avg, and jet to wall spacing H. The swirling jet used as boundary condition of the numerical simulations is the one described by Ortega-Casanova et al. [1]. It is created by a experimental nozzle (whose exit diameter is D) and with the swirl given to the jet by moving swirl blades: different blade orientations give jets with different swirl intensities. In Ortega-Casanova et al. [1], the jet velocity components (measured by means of a LDA system) just at the nozzle exit and their mathematical models are also presented for seven Reynolds numbers and each nozzle configuration. The LDA measurements show the jet is axisymmetric and highly turbulent. For those reasons, axisymmetric flow and turbulent models are used in the simulations. The same seven Reynolds numbers and three nozzle-to-wall distances are simulated numerically in this work. Taking into account the blade orientations, the Reynolds numbers and the nozzle-to-wall distances, a total of 63 different simulations have been carried out. From them, correlations of the area-weighted average Nusselt number Nu_avg and the stagnation point Nusselt number Nu₀ as a function of the dimensionless parameter Re (ranging from around 7000 to 20 000), S_i (ranging from around 0.015 to 0.45), I_avg (ranging from around 10 to 40%), and H/D (=5, 10 and 30), are proposed. The results presented in Ortega-Casanova [2], where the heat transfer when other blade orientation is studied, have been also taken into account to obtain some of the proposed correlations.     

Effect of turbulent motions at different length scales on turbulent premixed swirl-stabilised flame topology

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation data of H₂-air turbulent swirling premixed combustion at two different swirl numbers are analysed to investigate the local reaction zone morphology and its relation with local turbulent motions at different length scales. The effect of small scale turbulent mixing on local flames is investigated, and the results have shown that the contribution of microscale turbulent diffusivity on the local flamelet is insignificant, although there is some evidence of flame thinning for the higher swirl number case. The flame morphology such as high-level convolution and interacting flames, on the other hand, shows greater influence on local flamelets, suggesting the importance of local reaction zone topology on overall combustion processes. The local reaction zones are analysed by using the shapefinders to quantify their topology. Although the shapefinders showed various local reaction zone shapes consisting of “pancakes” and “tubes” and intermissive intense reaction zone distributions, the smallest characteristic length scale shows that the local reaction zones are thin. Finally, the relationship between these local reaction zone topology and turbulent motions at different sizes were discussed. The local reaction zone topology has a direct relation with Taylor microscale, integral length scale and their associated velocity scale, whereas almost no correlation is observed with Kolmogorov length scale, in the presence of inhomogeneous turbulence and strong mean shears. The present results suggest the importance of Taylor microscale on flame surface topology, which is often understated in turbulent combustion modelling frameworks.     

Experimental study on the interactions for bluff-body and swirl in stabilized flame process

This paper focuses on investigating the interaction effects for swirl and bluff-body in stabilized flame process. Particle image velocimetry was used to measure velocity fields in three burners. First, the comparison of flames in bluff-body stabilized burners with and without swirl is presented. The results of the experiments present the variations of bluff-body stabilized flame when swirl is added into burner: the maximum reverse flow velocity and the maximum mean average radial velocity decrease; the maximum radial rootmean squared fluctuating (rms) velocity increases; the values of the axial velocity peak on the side of nozzle axis are lower, and the distance between the peak and centerline is bigger; the location of the maximum radial rms velocity moves to the outlet of annular air-flow from central recirculation zone (CRZ). Then, the comparison of flames in swirl burners with and without bluff-body is provided. The results of the experiments show the changes of swirling flame when bluff-body is added into swirl burner: the air vortex in the CRZ moves to the burner; the peak values of axial mean and rms velocity decrease; the distance between centerline and the mean axial and rms velocity peak increase; the peak of mean radial velocity decreases, and the peak of rms raidial velocity increase. The data from this experiment can also be established as benchmarks for the development and validation of combustion numerical simulations.     

Experimental investigation of the stability and emission characteristics of premixed formic acid-methane-air flames in a swirl combustor

Formic acid (FA) is a potential hydrogen energy carrier and low-carbon fuel by reversing the decomposition products, CO₂ and H_2, back to restore FA without additional carbon release. However, FA-air mixtures feature high ignition energy and low flame speed; hence stabilizing FA-air flames in combustion devices is challenging. This study experimentally investigates the flame stability and emission of swirl flames fueled with pre-vaporized formic acid-methane blends over a wide range of formic acid fuel fractions. Results show that by using a swirl combustor, the premixed formic acid-methane-air flames could be stabilized over a wide range of FA fuel fractions, Reynolds numbers, and swirl numbers. The addition of formic acid increases the equivalence ratios at which the flashback and lean blowout occur. When Reynolds number increases, the equivalence ratio at the flashback limit increases, but that decreases at the lean blowout limit. Increasing the swirl number has a non-monotonic effect on stability limits variation because increasing the swirl number changes the axial velocity on the centerline of the burner throat non-monotonically. In addition, emission characteristics were investigated using a gas analyzer. The CO and NO concentrations were below 20 ppm for all tested conditions, which is comparable to that seen with traditional hydrocarbon fuels, which is in favor of future practical applications with formic acid.     

Basic considerations in the turbulent flame propagation in premixed gases

A general discussion is given of some fundamental problems of turbulent flame propagation in premixed gases. The following subjects are considered in greater detail: Stability of laminar flames in turbulent flow, shear wave-flame interaction, flame generated turbulence, influence of small scale turbulence on flame propagation and structure of turbulent flames at high Reynolds numbers. The principal object of this study is to describe the basic physical facts which have to be taken into consideration in the modeling of turbulent flames in gases without giving a detailed survey of all the research that has been carried out in the field.     

Flame flow field interaction in non-premixed CH4/H2 swirling flames

Alternative fuels and stocks like biomass or chemical and refinery waste, may potentially be used in gas turbines and industrial applications after gasification. Thus, understanding the role of hydrogen in these fuels is critical to the broader aim of utilising alternative fuels for power generation. In this work, the interaction between the flame and the flow field was studied in a quarl-stabilised swirl non-premixed flame burning CH₄ and H₂–enriched CH₄. Simultaneous high-speed OH-PLIF/PIV imaging at 5 kHz was carried out on these flames to explore the flame-flow interaction. The instantaneous flow fields in the CH₄ or CH₄+H₂ flames showed a small scale vortical structure near the shear layers, which were not apparent in the time-averaged flow fields. Increasing H₂% in the fuel jet was observed to dampen the velocity fluctuations. The fuel composition affected the spatial location of the reaction zone; in the CH₄ flames, the axial position of the reaction zone is seen to track the relatively large-magnitude axial velocity fluctuations while remaining in locally low-speed regions of the flow. In contrast, in H₂-enriched flames, where the flame is more robust, the reaction zone was able to survive longer, in terms of axial distance, in the vicinity of high swirling jet velocity, with less sensitivity to velocity fluctuations. With increasing the H₂%, the reaction zone steadily leaves the IRZ towards the swirling jet flow and localised between its outer and inner vortices. This acts as a stabilisation factor where the internal vortices convect hot product towards the fresh mixture. Moreover, the flame curvatures, the vorticity and compressive strain fields interactions with the reaction zone are presented and discussed. This article outlines results that yield more in-depth insight into hydrogen-enriched hydrocarbon non-premixed swirling flames' combustion, which is essential to accelerate the fuel switching from hydrocarbons to hydrogen.     

Liftoff of turbulent jet flames—assessment of edge flame and other concepts using cinema-PIV

Three theories of the liftoff of a turbulent jet flame were assessed using cinema-particle imaging velocimetry movies recorded at 8000 images/s. The images visualize the time histories of the eddies, the flame motion, the turbulence intensity, and streamline divergence. The first theory assumes that the flame base has a propagation speed that is controlled by the turbulence intensity. Results conflict with this idea; measured propagation speeds remains close to the laminar burning velocity and are not correlated with the turbulence levels. Even when the turbulence intensity increases by a factor of 3, there is no increase in the propagation speed. The second theory assumes that large eddies stabilize the flame; results also conflict with this idea since there is no significant correlation between propagation speed and the passage of large eddies. The data do support the “edge flame” concept. Even though the turbulence level and the mean velocity in the undisturbed jet are large (at jet Reynolds numbers of 4300 and 8500), the edge flame creates its own local low-velocity, low-turbulence-level region due to streamline divergence caused by heat release. The edge flame has two propagation velocities. The actual velocity of the flame base with respect to the disturbed local flow is found to be nearly equal to the laminar burning velocity; however, the effective propagation velocity of the entire edge flame with respect to the upstream (undisturbed) flow exceeds the laminar burning velocity. A simple model is proposed which simulates the divergence of the streamlines by considering the potential flow over a source. It predicts the well-established empirical formula for liftoff height, and it agrees with experiment in that the controlling factor is streamline divergence, and not turbulence intensity or large eddy passage. The results apply only to jet flames for Re<8500; for other geometries the role of turbulence could be larger.