Important role of chemical interaction on flame extinction in downstream interaction between stretched premixed H2-air and CO-air flames

Important role of chemical interaction in flame extinction is numerically investigated in downstream interaction among lean (rich) and lean (rich) premixed as well as partially premixed H₂- and CO-air flames. The strain rate varies from 30 to 5917 s⁻¹ until interacting flames cannot be sustained anymore. Flame stability diagrams mapping lower and upper limit fuel concentrations for flame extinction as a function of strain rate are presented. Highly stretched interacting flames are survived only within two islands in the flame stability map where partially premixed mixture consists of rich H₂-air flame, extremely lean CO-air flame, and a diffusion flame. Further increase in strain rate finally converges to two points. It is found that hydrogen penetrated from H₂-air flame (even at lean flame condition) participates in CO oxidation vigorously due to the high diffusivity such that it modifies the slow main reaction route CO + O₂ → CO₂ + O into the fast cyclic reaction route involving CO + OH → CO₂ + H. These chemical interactions force even rich extinction boundaries with deficient reactant Lewis numbers larger than unity to be slanted at high strain rate. Appreciable amount of hydrogen in the side of lean H₂-air flame also oxidizes the CO penetrated from CO-air flame, and this reduces flame speed of the H₂-air flame, leading to flame extinction. At extremely high strain rates, interacting flames are survived only by a partially premixed flame such that it consists of a very rich H₂-air flame, an extremely lean CO-air flame, and a diffusion flame. In such a situation, both the weaker H₂- and CO-air flames are parasite on the stronger diffusion flame such that it can lead to flame extinction in the situation of weakening the stronger diffusion flame. Important role of chemical interaction in flame extinction is discussed in detail.     

Effect of flame stretch in downstream Interaction between premixed syngas-air flames

The effect of strain rate in downstream interactions between lean (rich) and lean (rich) premixed syngas flames with the fuel composition of 50% H₂ and 50% CO is numerically investigated by varying the strain rate in the range of 5∼500 s⁻¹. The flame stability maps for several strain rates are presented and main concerns are focused on the downstream interactions on the lean and rich extinction boundaries. The fuel composition of 50% H₂ and 50% CO with effective Lewis numbers larger than unity for both lean and rich extinction boundaries is chosen for grasping the important role of hydrogen with the deficient reactant Lewis numbers much smaller than unity. The results show that the lean extinction boundaries have the slanted shape, thereby leading to strong interactions; meanwhile the rich extinction boundaries at appropriately low strain rates are of square, indicating weak interactions. However, at highly strained interacting rich flames, the rich extinction boundaries show a slanted shape, thereby leading to strong interactions even for Lewis numbers much larger than unity. In such situations, thermal and chemical interactions are explained in detail. It is found that, in interacting flames, the excessive heat loss of the stronger flame partly to the weaker flame and mostly to the ambience is the mechanism of flame extinction.     

Effects of preferential diffusion on downstream interaction in premixed H2/CO syngas–air flames

Effects of strain rate and preferential diffusion of H₂ on flame extinction are numerically explored in interacting premixed syngas–air flames with the fuel compositions of 50% H₂ + 50% CO and 30% H₂ + 70% CO. Flame stability diagrams mapping lower and upper limit fuel concentrations at flame extinction as a function of strain rate are examined. Increasing strain rate reduces the boundaries of both flammable lean and rich fuel concentrations and produces a flammable island and subsequently even a point, implying that there exists a limit strain rate over which interacting flame cannot be sustained anymore. Even if effective Lewis numbers are slightly larger than unity on the lean extinction boundaries, the shape of the lean extinction boundary is slanted even at low strain rate, i.e. a_g = 30 s⁻¹ and is more slanted in further increase of strain rate, implying that flame interaction on lean extinction boundary is strong and thus hydrogen (as a deficient reactant) Lewis number much less than unity plays an important role of flame interaction. It is also shown that effects of preferential diffusion of H₂ cause flame interaction to be stronger on lean extinction boundaries and weaker on rich extinction boundaries. Detailed analyses are made through the comparison between flame structures with and without the restriction of the diffusivities of H₂ and H in symmetric and asymmetric fuel compositions. The reduction of flammable fuel compositions in increase of strain rate suggests that the mechanism of flame extinction is significant conductive heat loss from the stronger flame to ambience.     

Chemical effects of added CO2 on the extinction characteristics of H2/CO/CO2 syngas diffusion flames

Chemical effects of added CO₂ on flame extinction characteristics are numerically studied in H₂/CO syngas diffusion flames diluted with CO₂. The two representative syngas flames of 80% H₂ + 20% CO and 20% H₂ + 80% CO are inspected according to the composition of fuel mixture diluted with CO₂ and global strain rate. Particular concerns are focused on impact of chemical effects of added CO₂ on flame extinction characteristics through the comparison of the flame characteristics between well-burning flames far from extinction limit and flames at extinction. It is seen that chemical effects of added CO₂ reduce critical CO₂ mole fraction at flame extinction and thus extinguish the flame at higher flame temperature irrespective of global strain rate. This is attributed by the suppression of the reaction rate of the principal chain branching reaction through the augmented consumption of H-atom from the reaction CO₂ + H→CO + OH. As a result the overall reaction rate decreases. These chemical effects of added CO₂ are similar in both well-burning flames far from extinction limit and flames at extinction. There is a mismatching in the behaviors between critical CO₂ mole fraction and maximum flame temperature at extinction. This anomalous phenomenon is also discussed in detail.     

On the effective Lewis number formulations for lean hydrogen/hydrocarbon/air mixtures

Decades of research have underlined the undeniable importance of the Lewis number (Le) in the premixed combustion field. From early experimental observations on laminar flame propagation to the most recent DNS studies of turbulent flames, the unbalanced influence of thermal to mass diffusion (i.e. Le ≠ 1), known as nonequidiffusion, has shed the light on a wide range of combustion phenomena, especially those involving stretched flames. As a result the determination of the Lewis number has become a routine task for the combustion community. Recently, the growing interest in hydrogen/hydrocarbon (HC) fuel blends has produced extensive studies that have not only improved our understanding of H₂/HC flame dynamics, but also, in its wake, raised a fundamental question: which effective Lewis number formulation should we use to characterize the combustion of hydrogen/hydrocarbon/air blends? While the Lewis number is unambiguously defined for combustible mixtures with a single fuel reactant, the literature is unclear regarding the appropriate equivalent formulation for bi-component fuels. The present paper intends to clarify this aspect. To do so, effective Lewis number formulations for lean (φ = 0.6 and 0.8) premixed hydrogen/hydrocarbon/air mixtures have been investigated in the framework of an existing outwardly propagating flame theory. Laminar burning velocities and burned Markstein lengths of H₂/CH₄, H₂/C₃H₈, H₂/C₈H₁₈ and H₂/CO fuel blends in air were experimentally and numerically determined for a wide range of fuel compositions (0/100% → 100/0% H₂/HC). By confronting the two sets of results, the most appropriate effective Lewis number formulation was identified for conventional H₂/HC/air blends. Observed deviations from the validated formulation are discussed for the syngas (H₂/CO) flame cases.     

Extinction of premixed methane/air flames in microgravity by diluents: Effects of radiation and Lewis number

Laminar burning velocities and flammability limits of premixed methane/air flames in the presence of various diluents were investigated by combined use of experiments and numerical simulations. The experiments used a 1-m free-fall spherical combustion chamber to eliminate the effect of buoyancy, enabling accurate measurements of near-limit burning velocities and flammability limits. Burning velocities were measured for CH₄/air flames with varying concentrations of He, Ar, N₂ and CO₂ at NTP. The limiting concentration of each diluent was measured by systematically varying the composition and ignition energy and finding the limiting condition through successive experiment trials. The corresponding freely-propagating, planar 1-D flames were simulated using PREMIX. The transient spherically-expanding flames were simulated using the 1-D Spherical Flame & Reactor Module of COSILAB considering detailed radiation models. The results show that helium exhibits more complex limit behavior than the other diluents due to the large Lewis number of helium mixtures. The near-limit helium-diluted flames require much higher ignition energy than the other flames. In addition, for the spherically expanding helium-diluted flames studied here (Le > 1), stretch suppresses flame propagation and may cause flame extinction. For the CO₂-diluted flames, the flame speed predicted by the optically-thick model based on the Discrete Transfer Method (DTW) and a modified wide band model has better agreement with measurements in the near-limit region. A significant amount of heat is absorbed by the dilution gas CO₂, resulting in elevation of temperature of the ambient gases. The optically-thick model, however, still overpredicts flame speed, indicating a more sophisticated radiation property model may be needed. Finally, the chemical effect of CO₂ on flame suppression was quantified by a numerical analysis. The results show that the chemical effect of CO₂ is more important than the other diluents due to its active participation in the reaction CO₂ + H = CO + OH, which competes for H radicals with the chain-branching reactions and thus reduces flame speed.     

A study on flame interaction between methane/air and nitrogen-diluted hydrogen–air premixed flames

Numerical and experimental studies are conducted to grasp downstream interactions between premixed flames stratified with two different kinds of fuel mixture. The selected fuel mixtures are methane and a nitrogen-diluted hydrogen with composition of 30% H₂ + 70% N₂. Extinction limits are determined for methane/air and (30% H₂ + 70% N₂)/air over the entire range of mixture concentrations. These extinction limits are shown to be significantly modified due to the interaction such that a mixture much beyond the flammability limit can burn with the help of a stronger flame. The lean extinction limit shows both the slanted segments of lower and upper branches due to the strong interaction with Lewis numbers of deficient reactant less than unity, while the rich extinction limit has a square shape due to the weak interaction with Lewis numbers of deficient reactant larger than unity. The regimes of negative flame speed show an asymmetric aspect with a single wing shape. The negative flame always appears only when methane is weak. The extent of interaction depends on the separation distance between the flames, which are the functions of the mixtures’ concentrations, the strain rate, the Lewis numbers, and the preferential diffusions of the penetrated hydrogen from the nitrogen-diluted hydrogen flame. The important role of preferential diffusion effects of hydrogen in the flame interaction is also discussed.     

Structural study of non-premixed tubular hydrocarbon flames

Tubular non-premixed flames are formed by a uniquely designed opposed tubular burner. Structural measurements of hydrocarbon flames are conducted using the laser-induced Raman scattering technique. Temperature and major species concentrations are recorded for flames produced by 30% CH₄/N₂ and 15% C₃H₈/N₂ burning against air. Numerical simulations of these flames with detailed chemistry show good agreement between the measured and simulated results. By comparing the numerical results of the tubular curved flames to those of the opposed-jet planar flames, it is shown that flame curvature towards the fuel stream strongly effects the temperature (±80 K) of flames with low fuel Lewis number (15% H₂/N₂, Le_f = 0.41). The effect of curvature on flames with high (15% C₃H₈/N₂, Le_f = 1.51) and near-unity (30% CH₄/N₂, Le_f ≅ 1) fuel Lewis numbers is much less.     

Effect of hydrocarbon addition on tip opening of hydrogen-air bunsen flames

The effect of hydrocarbon addition on tip opening of lean and stoichiometric hydrogen-air flames is studied computationally by performing two-dimensional numerical simulations. The numerical study reveals that the flame tip of the H₂-air burner stabilized flame is open at lean and stoichiometric mixture conditions. The flame tip closes upon hydrocarbon addition. The tip closing is mainly affected by preferential diffusion of the multi-component mixture and the stretch effects. In the addition of light hydrocarbon (CH₄), the tip closing starts at a higher percentage of hydrocarbon addition in H₂-air flames. Whereas, upon the addition of heavy hydrocarbons such as propane and butane in H₂-air flames, tip closing starts with a lesser amount of hydrocarbon addition. Temperature, OH mole fraction and heat release rate have been investigated, focusing on the flame structure at the tip. The tip opening regime diagram for H₂–CH₄-air, H₂–C₃H₈-air and H₂–C₄H₁₀-air mixtures are presented.     

Experimental and numerical study of the role of NCN in prompt-NO formation in low-pressure CH4-O2-N2 and C2H2-O2-N2 flames

We report an experimental and modeling study on prompt-NO formation in low-pressure (5.3 kPa) premixed flames. Special emphasis is given to the quantitative detection (and prediction) of NCN, whose role in prompt-NO formation has recently been confirmed in alkane flames. Here a rich (Φ = 1.25) CH₄-O₂-N₂ flame and rich (Φ = 1.25) and stoichiometric C₂H₂-O₂-N₂ flames have been investigated. Absolute concentration profiles of CH and NCN radicals and NO species are obtained by combining laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS). Temperature profile is determined in each flame using OH and NO-LIF thermometry. Flame modeling is performed to determine the role of NCN in prompt-NO formation and to test the capacity of the present chemical mechanisms to predict some intermediate species involved in prompt-NO formation. The methane flame is modeled using GDFkin®3.0_NCN mechanism [El Bakali et al., Fuel 85 (2006), 896-909]. The acetylene flames are modeled using the Lindstedt and Skevis C/H/O mechanism [Lindstedt and Skevis, Proc. Combust. Inst. 28 (2000), 1801-1807], completed by the submechanism issued from GDFkin®3.0_NCN for nitrogen chemistry. This submechanism includes the initiation reaction CH + N₂ = NCN + H. Rate constants of NO-sensitive reactions of the submechanism are modified by taking into account the recent literature. In particular, the C₂O route could be explored thanks to a significant presence of C₂O in acetylene flames. Globally, the modified submechanism of nitrogen chemistry coupled with the two hydrocarbon mechanisms leads to a satisfying prediction of NCN and NO mole fraction profiles, even though refinements of rate constant determination is still required. The role of NCN in prompt-NO formation in acetylene flames is demonstrated.     

An experimental and numerical study on characteristics of laminar premixed H2/CO/CH4/air flames

The effects of variations in the fuel composition on the characteristics of H₂/CO/CH₄/air flames of gasified biomass are investigated experimentally and numerically. Experimental measurements and numerical simulations of the flame front position and temperature are performed in the premixed stoichiometric H₂/CO/CH₄/air opposed-jet flames with various H₂ and CO contents in the fuel. The adiabatic flame temperatures and laminar burning velocities are calculated using the EQUIL and PREMIX codes of Chemkin collection 3.5, respectively. Whereas the flame structures of the laminar premixed stoichiometric H₂/CO/CH₄/air opposed-jet flames are simulated using the OPPDIF package with the GRI-Mech 3.0 chemical kinetic mechanisms and detailed transport properties. The measured flame front position and temperature of the stoichiometric H₂/CO/CH₄/air opposed-jet flames are closely predicted by the numerical calculations. Detailed analysis of the calculated chemical kinetic structures reveals that the reaction rate of reactions (R38), (R46), and (R84) increase with increasing H₂ content in the fuel mixture. It is also found that the increase in the laminar flame speed with H₂ addition is most likely due to an increase in active radicals during combustion (chemical effect), rather than from changes in the adiabatic flame temperature (thermal effect). Chemical kinetic structure and sensitivity analyses indicate that for the stoichiometric H₂/CO/CH₄/air flames with fixed H₂ concentration in the fuel mixture, the reactions (R99) and (R46) play a dominant role in affecting the laminar burning velocity as the CO content in the fuel is increased.     

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.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of low-pressure laminar premixed synthetic natural gas/O2/N2 and natural gas/H2/O2/N2 flames

The oxidation of laminar premixed natural gas flames has been studied experimentally and computationally with variable mole fractions of hydrogen (0, 20, and 60%) present in the fuel mixture. All flames were operated at low pressure (0.079 atm) and at variable overall equivalence ratios (0.74<?<1.0) with constant cold gas velocity. At the same global equivalence ratio, there is no significant effect of the replacement of natural gas by 20% of H₂. The small differences recorded for the intermediate species and combustion products are directly due to the decrease of the amount of initial carbon. However, in 60% H₂ flame, the reduction of hydrocarbon species is due both to kinetic effects and to the decrease of initial carbon mole fraction. The investigation of natural gas and natural gas/hydrogen flames at similar C/O enabled identification of the real effects of hydrogen. It was shown that the presence of hydrogen under lean conditions activated the H-abstraction reactions with H atoms rather than OH and O, as is customary in rich flames of neat hydrocarbons. It was also demonstrated that the presence of H₂ favors CO formation.     

NOx emission characteristics of partially premixed laminar flames of H2/CO/CO2 mixtures

NO_x emission indices were experimentally measured for partially premixed laminar flames of five different H₂/CO/CO₂ fuels over a wide range of equivalence ratios. Through those fuels, the effects of H₂/CO ratio and CO₂ concentration on NO_x emissions, flame appearance, visible flame height and flame temperature are presented. EINO_x values increase when 1.0 ≤ Φ ≤ 1.6, then remain near the highest value, before decreasing slowly when 3.85 ≤ Φ ≤ ∞. The increase of the CO₂ concentration reduces the EINO_x for the whole range of equivalence ratios, while the increase in the H₂/CO ratio reduces the EINO_x when Φ ≤ 2.0 and is inconsequential for richer mixtures. The variation in flame temperatures approximates EINO_x trends. The variation of flame color from blue to orange when the H₂/CO ratio is increased might be explained by higher CO levels in by-product combustion.     

Assessment of the method for calculating the Lewis number of H2/CO/CH4 mixtures and comparison with experimental results

This paper investigates the various techniques used in the literature to calculate the effective Lewis number of two-component (H₂/CO and H₂/CH₄) and three-component fuels (H₂/CO/CH₄ and H₂/CO/CO₂) over a wide range of equivalence ratios (0.6 ≤ φ ≤ 1.4) under laminar flame conditions. The most appropriate effective Lewis number formulation is identified through comparison with experimentally extracted Lewis numbers (Le). The paper first identifies the proper methodology to extract the experimental Le from the burned Markstein length of an outwardly propagating flame. Second, the different methodologies for the calculation of the effective Le are presented and compared to experimental results for H₂/CH₄ and H₂/CO mixtures. Based on the experimental results, it is shown that the calculation of the effective Le of mixtures can be divided into a three-step procedure depending on the equivalence ratio: (1) calculation of the Le for each fuel and the oxidizer; (2) use of the Le mixing rule; and (3) assessment of the necessity or not of combining the fuel's and oxidizer's Lewis numbers. The paper shows that, in rich mixtures, the oxidizer Le needs to be taken into account. Lastly, the methodology is validated for H₂/CO/CH₄ and H₂/CO/CO₂ fuels.     

Direct numerical simulation of lean premixed CH4/air and H2/air flames at high Karlovitz numbers

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation with detailed chemical kinetics of lean premixed CH₄/air and H₂/air flames at high Karlovitz numbers (Ka ∼ 1800) is carried out. It is found that the high intensity turbulence along with differential diffusion result in a much more rapid transport of H radicals from the reaction zone to the low temperature unburned mixtures (∼500 K) than that in laminar flamelets. The enhanced concentration of H radicals in the low temperature zone drastically increases the reaction rates of exothermic chain terminating reactions (e.g., H + O₂+M = HO₂ + M in lean H₂/air flames), which results in a significantly enhanced heat release rate at low temperatures. This effect is observed in both CH₄/air and H₂/air flames and locally, the heat release rate in the low temperature zone can exceed the peak heat release rate of a laminar flamelet. The effects of chemical kinetics and transport properties on the H₂/air flame are investigated, from which it is concluded that the enhanced heat release rate in the low temperature zone is a convection–diffusion-reaction phenomenon, and to obtain it, detailed chemistry is essential and detailed transport is important.     

Role of CO2 in the CH4 oxidation and H2 formation during fuel-rich combustion in O2/CO2 environments

The effect of CO₂ reactivity on CH₄ oxidation and H₂ formation in fuel-rich O₂/CO₂ combustion where the concentrations of reactants were high was studied by a CH₄ flat flame experiment, detailed chemical analysis, and a pulverized coal combustion experiment. In the CH₄ flat flame experiment, the residual CH₄ and formed H₂ in fuel-rich O₂/CO₂ combustion were significantly lower than those formed in air combustion, whereas the amount of CO formed in fuel-rich O₂/CO₂ combustion was noticeably higher than that in air. In addition to this experiment, calculations were performed using CHEMKIN-PRO. They generally agreed with the experimental results and showed that CO₂ reactivity, mainly expressed by the reaction CO₂ + H → CO + OH (R1), caused the differences between air and O₂/CO₂ combustion under fuel-rich condition. R1 was able to advance without oxygen. And, OH radicals were more active than H radicals in the hydrocarbon oxidation in the specific temperature range. It was shown that the role of CO₂ was to advance CH₄ oxidation during fuel-rich O₂/CO₂ combustion. Under fuel-rich combustion, H₂ was mainly produced when the hydrocarbon reacted with H radicals. However, the hydrocarbon also reacted with the OH radicals, leading to H₂O production. In fact, these hydrocarbon reactions were competitive. With increasing H/OH ratio, H₂ formed more easily; however, CO₂ reactivity reduced the H/OH ratio by converting H to OH. Moreover, the OH radicals reacted with H₂, whereas the H radicals did not reduce H₂. It was shown that OH radicals formed by CO₂ reactivity were not suitable for H₂ formation. As for pulverized coal combustion, the tendencies of CH₄, CO, and H₂ formation in pulverized coal combustion were almost the same as those in the CH₄ flat flame.     

Laminar burning velocities and flame instabilities of diluted H2/CO/air mixtures under different hydrogen fractions

An experimental study was conducted using outwardly propagating flame to evaluate the laminar burning velocity and flame intrinsic instability of diluted H₂/CO/air mixtures. The laminar burning velocity of H₂/CO/air mixtures diluted with CO₂ and N₂ was measured at lean equivalence ratios with different dilution fractions and hydrogen fractions at 0.1 MPa; two fitting formulas are proposed to express the laminar burning velocity in our experimental scope. The flame instability was evaluated for diluted H₂/CO/air mixtures under different hydrogen fractions at 0.3 MPa and room temperature. As the H₂ fraction in H₂/CO mixtures was more than 50%, the flame became more unstable with the decrease in equivalence ratio; however, the flame became more stable with the decrease in equivalence ratio when the hydrogen fraction was low. The flame instability of 70%H₂/30%CO premixed flames hardly changed with increasing dilution fraction. However, the flames became more stable with increasing dilution fraction for 30%H₂/70%CO premixed flames. The variation in cellular instability was analyzed, and the effects of hydrogen fraction, equivalence ratio, and dilution fraction on diffusive-thermal and hydrodynamic instabilities were discussed.     

Lean and ultralean stretched propane-air counterflow flames

Stretched laminar flame structures for a wide range of C₃H₈-air mixtures vs hot products are investigated by laser-based diagnostics and numerical simulation. The hot products are produced by a lean H₂-air premixed flame. The effect of stretch rate and equivalence ratio on four groups of C₃H₈-air flame structures is studied in detail by Raman scattering measurements and by numerical calculations of the major species concentration and temperature profiles. The equivalence ratio, ?, is varied from a near-stoichiometric condition (?=0.86) to the sublean limit (?=0.44) and the stretch rate varies from 90 s⁻¹ to near extinction. For most of these C₃H₈-air lean mixtures, hot products are needed to maintain the flame. The significant feature of these flames is the relatively low flame temperatures (1200-1800 K). For this temperature range, the predicted C₃H₈-air flame structure is sensitive to the specific chemical kinetic mechanism. Two types of flame structures (a lean self-propagating flame and a lean diffusion-controlled flame) are obtained based on the combined effect of stretch and equivalence ratio. Three different mechanisms, the M5 mechanism, the Optimized mechanism, and the San Diego mechanism, are chosen for the numerical simulations. None of the propane chemical mechanisms give good agreement with the data over the entire range of flame conditions.     

Piloted jet flames of CH4/H2/air: Experiments on localized extinction in the near field at high Reynolds numbers

Measurements of temperature and major species concentrations, based on the simultaneous line-imaged Raman/Rayleigh/CO-LIF technique, are reported for piloted jet flames of CH₄/H₂ fuel with varying amounts of partial premixing with air (jet equivalence ratios of ?_j = 3.2, 2.5, 2.1 corresponding to stoichiometric mixture fraction values of ξ_st = 0.35, 0.43, 0.50, respectively) and varying degrees of localized extinction. Each jet flame is operated at a fixed and relatively high exit Reynolds number (60,000 or 67,000), and the probability of localized extinction is increased in several steps by progressively decreasing the flow rate of the pilot flame. Dimensions of the piloted burner, originally developed at Sydney University, are the same as for previous studies. The present measurements complement previous results from piloted CH₄/air jet flames as targets for combustion model calculations by extending to higher Reynolds number, including more steps in the progression of each flame from a fully burning state to a flame with high probability of local extinction, and adding the degree of partial premixing as an experimental parameter. Local extinction in these flames occurs close to the nozzle near a downstream location of four times the jet exit diameter. Consequently, these data provide the additional modeling challenge of accurately representing the initial development of the reacting jet and the near-field mixing processes.