Experimental annular stratified flames characterisation stabilised by weak swirl

A burner for the investigation of lean stratified premixed flames propagating in intense isotropic turbulence has been developed. Lean pre-mixtures of methane at different equivalence ratios were divided between two concentric co-flows to obtain annular stratification. Turbulence generators were used to control the level of turbulence intensity in the oncoming flow. A third annular weakly swirling airflow provided the flame stabilisation mechanism. A fundamental characteristic was that flame stabilisation did not rely on flow recirculation. The flames were maintained at a position where the local mass flux balanced the burning rate, resulting in a freely propagating turbulent flame front. The absence of physical surfaces in the vicinity of the flame provided free access for laser diagnostics. Stereoscopic Planar Image Velocimetry (SPIV) was applied to obtain the three components of the instantaneous velocity vectors on a vertical plane above the burner at the point of flame stabilisation. The instantaneous temperature fields were determined through Laser Induced Rayleigh (LIRay) scattering. Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) of acetone was used to calculate the average equivalence ratio distributions. Instantaneous turbulent burning velocities were extracted from SPIV results, while flame curvature and flame thermal thickness were calculated using the instantaneous temperature fields. The PDFs of these quantities were analysed to consider the separate influence of equivalence ratio stratification and turbulence. Increased levels of turbulence resulted in the expected higher turbulent burning velocities and flame front wrinkling. Flames characterised by higher fuel gradients showed higher turbulent burning velocities. Increased fuel concentration gradients gave rise to increased flame wrinkling, particularly when associated with positive small radius of curvature.     

On the ignition and flame development in a spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition engine

High-speed fuel, flow, and flame imaging are combined with spark discharge measurements to investigate the causes of rare misfires and partial burns in a spray-guided spark-ignited direct-injection (SG-SIDI) engine over a range of nitrogen dilution levels (0–26% by volume). Planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) of biacetyl is combined with planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) to provide quantitative measurements of equivalence ratio and flow velocity within the tumble plane of an optical engine. Mie scattering images used for PIV are also used to identify the enflamed region to resolve the flame development. Engine parameters were selected to mimic low-load idle operating conditions with stratified fuel injection, which provided stable engine performance with the occurrence of rare misfire and partial burn cycles. Nitrogen dilution was introduced into the intake air, thereby displacing the oxygen, which destabilized combustion and increased the occurrence of poor burning cycles. Spark measurements revealed that all cycles exhibited sufficient spark energy and duration for successful ignition. High-speed PLIF, PIV, and Mie scattering images were utilized to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of the fuel distribution and flow velocity on flame kernel development to better understand the nature of poor burning cycles at each dilution level. The images revealed that all cycles exhibited a flammable mixture near the spark plug at spark timing and a flame kernel was present for all cycles, but the flame failed to develop for misfire and partial burn cycles. Improper flame development was caused by slow flame propagation which prevented the flame from consuming the bulk of the fuel mixture within the piston bowl, which was a crucial step to achieve further combustion. The mechanisms identified in this work that caused slower flame development are: (1) lean mixtures, (2) external dilution, and (3) convection velocities that impede transport of the flame into the fuel mixture.     

Laminar burning characteristics of ammonia/hydrogen/air mixtures with laser ignition

Ammonia, as a zero-carbon fuel, is drawing more and more attention. The major challenge of using ammonia as a fuel for the combustion engines lies in its low chemical reactivity, and therefore more fundamental researches on the combustion characteristics of ammonia are required to explore effective ways to burn ammonia in engines. In this study, the laminar burning characteristics of the premixed ammonia/hydrogen/air mixtures are investigated. In the experiment, the laser ignition was used to achieve stable ignition of the ammonia/air mixtures with an equivalence ratio range from 0.7 to 1.4. The propagating flame was recorded with the high-speed shadowgraphy. Three different processing methods were introduced to calculate the laminar burning velocity with a consideration of the flame structure characteristics induced by the laser ignition. The effects of initial pressure (0.1 MPa–0.5 MPa), equivalence ratio (0.7–1.4), hydrogen fraction (0–20%) on the laminar burning velocity were investigated under the initial ambient temperature of 360 K. The state-of-the-art kinetic models were used to calculate the laminar burning velocities in the CHEMKIN-pro software. Both the simulation and experimental results show that the laminar burning velocity of the ammonia mixtures increases at first, reaches the peak around ϕ of 1.1, and then decreases with the equivalence ratio increasing from 0.7 to 1.4. The peak laminar burning velocities of the ammonia mixture are lower than 9 cm/s and are remarkably lower than those of hydrocarbon fuels. The laminar burning velocity of the ammonia mixture decreases with the increase of the initial ambient pressure, and it can be drastically speeded up with the addition of hydrogen. While the models except for those by Miller and Bian can give reasonable predictions compared to the experimental results for the equivalence ratio from 0.7 to 1.1 in the ammonia (80%)/hydrogen (20%)/air mixtures, all the kinetic models overpredict the experiments for the richer mixtures, indicating further work necessary in this respect.     

Experimental and modeling study of laminar burning velocity of biomass derived gases/air mixtures

Laminar burning velocities of four biomass derived gases have been measured at atmospheric pressure over a range of equivalence ratios and hydrogen contents, using the heat flux method on a perforated flat flame burner. The studied gas mixtures include an air-blown gasification gas from an industrial gasification plant, a model gasification gas studied in the literature, and an upgraded landfill gas (bio-methane). In addition, co-firing of the industrial gasification gas (80% on volume basis) with methane (20% on volume basis) is studied. Model simulations using GRI mechanisms and detailed transport properties are carried out to compare with the measured laminar burning velocities. The results of the bio-methane flame are generally in good agreement with data in the literature and the prediction using GRI-Mech 3.0. The measured laminar burning velocity of the industrial gasification gas is generally higher than the predictions from GRI-Mech 3.0 mechanism but agree rather well with the predictions from GRI-Mech 2.11 for lean and moderate rich mixtures. For rich mixtures, the GRI mechanisms under-predict the laminar burning velocities. For the model gasification gas, the measured laminar burning velocity is higher than the data reported in the literature. The peak burning velocities of the gasification gases/air and the co-firing gases/air mixtures are in richer mixtures than the bio-methane/air mixtures due to the presence of hydrogen and CO in the gasification gases. The GRI mechanisms could well predict the rich shift of the peak burning velocity for the gasification gases but yield large discrepancy for the very rich gasification gas mixtures. The laminar burning velocities for the bio-methane/air mixtures at elevated initial temperatures are measured and compared with the literature data.     

二甲醚-空气混合气层流燃烧速度的测定

在定容燃烧弹中利用高速纹影摄像法系统地研究了不同燃空当量比和初始压力下二甲醚-空气混合气的层流燃烧特性.利用球形扩散火焰理论分析纹影照片,获得了不同初始压力和当量比下的二甲醚-空气混合气层流燃烧速率.结果表明：随着初始压力的增大,层流燃烧速率显著减小,层流燃烧速率的峰值向浓混合气侧偏移.拉伸层流燃烧速率随拉伸率的增加而增加,拉伸层流质量燃烧速率随拉伸率的增加而减小.根据球形扩散火焰模型得到混合气的马克斯坦长度值表明：在各初始压力下,随着当量比的增加,二甲醚-空气混合气的马克斯坦长度值逐渐减小,火焰前锋面的不稳定性增加.     

Experimental analysis of an oblique turbulent flame front propagating in a stratified flow

This paper details the experimental study of a turbulent V-shaped flame expanding in a nonhomogeneous premixed flow. Its aim is to characterize the effects of stratification on turbulent flame characteristics. The setup consists of a stationary V-shaped flame stabilized on a rod and expanding freely in a lean premixed methane-air flow. One of the two oblique fronts interacts with a stratified slice, which has an equivalence ratio close to one and a thickness greater than that of the flame front. Several techniques such as PIV and CH^* chemiluminescence are used to investigate the instantaneous fields, while laser Doppler anemometry and thermocouples are combined with a concentration probe to provide information on the mean fields. First, in order to provide a reference, the homogeneous turbulent case is studied. Next, the stratified turbulent premixed flame is investigated. Results show significant modifications of the whole flame and of the velocity field upstream of the flame front. The analysis of the geometric properties of the stratified flame indicates an increase in flame brush thickness, closely related to the local equivalence ratio.     

Burning rates and surface characteristics of hydrogen-enriched turbulent lean premixed methane–air flames

The burning rates and surface characteristics of hydrogen-enriched turbulent lean premixed methane–air flames were experimentally studied by laser tomography visualization method using a V-shaped flame configuration. Turbulent burning velocity was measured and the variation of flame surface characteristics due to hydrogen addition was analyzed. The results show that hydrogen addition causes an increase in turbulent burning velocity for lean premixed CH₄–air mixtures when turbulent level in unburned mixture is not changed. Moreover, the increase of turbulent burning velocity is faster than that of the corresponding laminar burning velocity at constant equivalence ratio, suggesting that the kinetics effect is not the sole factor that results in the increase in turbulent burning velocity when hydrogen is added. The further analysis of flame surface characteristics and brush thickness indicates that hydrogen addition slightly decreases local flame surface density, but increases total flame surface area because of the increased flame brush thickness. The increase in flame brush thickness that results in the increase in total surface area may contribute to the faster increase in turbulent burning velocity, when hydrogen is added. Besides, the stretched local laminar burning velocity may be enhanced with the addition of hydrogen, which may also contribute to the faster increase rate of turbulent burning velocity. Both the variation in flame brush thickness and the enhancement in stretched local laminar burning velocity are due to the decreased fuel Lewis number when hydrogen is added. Therefore, the effects of fuel Lewis number and stretch should be taken into account in correlating burning velocity of turbulent premixed flames.     

Burning velocities of chlorinated hydrocarbonmethaneair mixtures

Results are presented for the variation in burning velocities with equivalence ratio and reactant gases preheat temperature for a number of chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds in methane-air mixtures of different concentrations at atmospheric pressure. Flame velocity of the mixture is determined with a Bunsen burner by measuring the unignited mixture approach flow rates and the area of the flame front. The method provides acceptable results and compares favorably with widely published methane flame data. Activation energy for a particular chlorinated compound was calculated by relating the flame velocity to the overall combustion reaction rate. Results are compared with nonchlorinated compounds and the available data in the literature. The reasons for discrepancies are discussed. The results show that increasing chlorine content decreases flame velocity and shifts the maximum flame velocity from fuel rich toward fuel lean. The flame velocity increases with increasing gas preheat temperature.     

Measurements of laminar burning velocities and flame stability analysis for dissociated methanol–air–diluent mixtures at elevated temperatures and pressures

The laminar burning velocities and Markstein lengths for the dissociated methanol–air–diluent mixtures were measured at different equivalence ratios, initial temperatures and pressures, diluents (N₂ and CO₂) and dilution ratios by using the spherically outward expanding flame. The influences of these parameters on the laminar burning velocity and Markstein length were analyzed. The results show that the laminar burning velocity of dissociated methanol–air mixture increases with an increase in initial temperature and decreases with an increase in initial pressure. The peak laminar burning velocity occurs at equivalence ratio of 1.8. The Markstein length decreases with an increase in initial temperature and initial pressure. Cellular flame structures are presented at early flame propagation stage with the decrease of equivalence ratio or dilution ratio. The transition positions can be observed in the curve of flame propagation speed to stretch rate, indicating the occurrence of cellular structure at flame fronts. Mixture diluents (N₂ and CO₂) will decrease the laminar burning velocities of mixtures and increase the sensitivity of flame front to flame stretch rate. Markstein length increases with an increase in dilution ratio except for very lean mixture (equivalence ratio less than 0.8). CO₂ dilution has a greater impact on laminar flame speed and flame front stability compared to N₂. It is also demonstrated that the normalized unstretched laminar burning velocity is only related to dilution ratio and is not influenced by equivalence ratio.     

Flame propagation through concentration gradient

IntroductionIn the matter of internal combustion engine, thesimultaneous reduction of fuel consumption andpollutant emission are required. Pedial premixedcombustion is expected to be a combustion method torealize this. The combustion method has both theadvantage of premixed combustion (low environmentalpollution ) and that of diffusive combustion (highefficiency ). The method is already used in the directinjection gasoline engine and in diesel engine with twostage injection or spray atomizatio…     

Study of laminar combustion characteristics of gasoline surrogate fuel-hydrogen-air premixed flames

This paper investigated the effects of hydrogen addition to gasoline surrogates fuel-air mixture on the premixed spherical flame laminar combustion characteristics. The experiments were carried out by high speed Schlieren photography on a constant-volume combustion vessel. Combining with nonlinear fitting technique, the variation of flame propagation speed, laminar burning velocity, Markstein length, flame thickness, thermal expansion coefficient and mass burning flux were studied at various equivalence ratios (0.8–1.4) and hydrogen mixing ratios (0%–50%). The results suggested that the nonlinear fitting method had a better agreement with the experimental data in this paper and the flame propagation was strongly effected by stretch at low equivalence ratios. The stretched propagation speed increased with the increase of hydrogen fraction at the same equivalence ratio. For a given hydrogen fraction, Markstein length decreased with the increase of equivalence ratio; flame propagation speed and laminar burning velocity first increased and then decreased with the increase of equivalence ratio while the peaks of the burning velocity shifted toward the richer side with the increase of hydrogen fraction.     

Minimum ignition energy of hydrogen-air mixtures at ambient and cryogenic temperatures

The ignition and combustion of hydrogen in air is considered more hazardous compared to other fuels due to the lower minimum ignition energy (MIE) and the wider flammability range. Spark discharge is the most common type of electrostatic ignition hazard. There is a need in validated safety engineering tools to accurately calculate MIE in a wide range of temperatures from atmospheric to cryogenic which are characteristic for hydrogen systems and infrastructure. Current MIE assessment methodologies rely on the availability of experimental data on quenching distance and/or laminar burning velocity and thus are mostly empirical correlations. This prevents their application beyond the limited number of experimental data, i.e. to arbitrary composition of the hydrogen-air mixture at arbitrary temperatures including cryogenic. This work aims at the development of a model able to accurately predict MIE for hydrogen-air mixtures with arbitrary initial composition and temperature. Cantera and Chemkin software are used to calculate the properties and unstretched laminar burning velocity of hydrogen-air mixtures. The flame thickness is found to well represent the critical flame kernel in the suggested model. The model is validated against experimental data on MIE for mixtures at ambient and cryogenic (down to 123 K) temperatures. Results show that the effect of flame stretch and preferential diffusion shall be considered to accurately predict MIE for lean hydrogen-air mixtures, which was not possible for previous models.     

Experimental study of limit lean methane/air flame in a standard flammability tube using particle image velocimetry method

Lean limit methane/air flame propagating upward in a standard 50 mm diameter and 1.8 m length tube was studied experimentally using particle image velocimetry method. Local stretch rate along the flame front was determined by measured gas velocity distributions. It was found that local stretch rate is maximum at the flame leading point, which is in agreement with earlier theoretical results. Similar to earlier observations, extinction of upward propagating limit flame was observed to start from the flame top. It is stated that the observed behavior of the extinction of the lean limit methane/air flame can not be explained in terms of the coupled effect of flame stretch and preferential diffusion. To qualitatively explain the observed extinction behavior, it is suggested that the positive strain-induced flame stretch increases local radiation heat losses from the flame front. An experimental methodology for PIV measurements in a round tube is described.     

Time-resolved blowoff transition measurements for two-dimensional bluff body-stabilized flames in vitiated flow

Flame holding and blowoff characteristics of bluff-body stabilized, turbulent flames were measured in an enclosed rectangular duct with a triangular flame holder in vitiated, premixed flows. Blowoff stability margins were characterized with chemiluminescence measurements performed by high-speed imaging to capture flame dynamics during the approach to flame blow off. As the equivalence ratio was decreased, local extinctions along the flames interacting with shear layers surrounding the bluff body recirculation zone occurred with greater frequency and proximity to the wake stagnation zone. Decreased equivalence ratio resulted in extinction events at the trailing edge of the stagnation zone, which allowed reactants to be convected into the recirculation zone and burned behind the bluff body. Increasing reactant dilution of the recirculation zone eventually resulted in flame lift-off or extinction of the flame in the neighboring shear layer. These near field shear layer flames convected to the wake stagnation zone, and were eventually quenched. Simultaneous particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements captured the flame edge location and aerodynamic behavior as blowoff was approached. Two-dimensional hydrodynamic stretch along the flame front and flow field vorticity maps were extracted from the combined PIV/OH PLIF data. The distribution of flame stretch shifted to greater values as the equivalence ratio decreased and is believed to be the cause of local flame extinction in the wake stagnation zone that starts the blowoff process.     

天然气-氢气-空气混合气的层流燃烧速度测定

在定容燃烧弹内研究了常温常压下天然气-氢气-空气混合气的火焰传播规律,得到了不同掺氢比例（氢气在天然气中的体积掺混比例为0％～100％）和燃空当量比（0．6～1．4）下混合气的层流燃烧速率和马克斯坦长度,通过对马克斯坦长度的测量,分析了拉伸对火焰传播的影响。结果表明,随着天然气中掺氢比例的增加,混合气的燃烧速率呈指数规律增加,马克斯坦长度值减小,火焰的稳定性下降。各掺氢比例下,随当量比的增加,马克斯坦长度值增加,火焰的稳定性增强。通过对试验结果的数据拟合,得到了计算天然气-氢气-空气混合气层流燃烧速率的关系式。     

Ignition and burning process in a divided chamber bomb

Ignition and burning mechanisms of the main chamber mixture by a torch jet were experimentally investigated using a divided chamber bomb. The effects of the nozzle diameter and volume ratio on the structure of the torch jet, ignition process, and subsequent burning process in the main chamber were minutely examined, in both uniform and stratified charges, by measurements of ion current, light emission, OH-emission (306.4 nm), initial torch jet velocity, and main chamber pressure histories and by schlieren photography. The structure of the torch jet was greatly influenced by the nozzle diameter and volume ratio independently of the main chamber mixture ratio. According to the physical and chemical characteristics obtained for it, the structure of the torch jet could be classified into four types, and the ignition and burning processes in the main chamber could also be classified into four patterns depending on the torch jet structure: pattern I, chemical chain ignition and well-dispersed burning; pattern II, composite ignition and well-dispersed burning followed by wrinkled laminar burning; pattern III, flame kernel torch ignition and wrinkled laminar burning; and pattern IV, flame front torch ignition and wrinkled laminar burning. Combustion characteristics such as main chamber pressure and net burning time in the main chamber also showed their own peculiar features. Examination of the lean flammability limit gave a possibility of lean burning outside of the normal flammability limit by using divided chamber systems. From these results combustion pattern II was found to be most favorable for lean burning.     

Laminar burning velocities and Markstein lengths of premixed methane/air flames near the lean flammability limit in microgravity

Effects of flame stretch on the laminar burning velocities of near-limit fuel-lean methane/air flames have been studied experimentally using a microgravity environment to minimize the complications of buoyancy. Outwardly propagating spherical flames were employed to assess the sensitivities of the laminar burning velocity to flame stretch, represented by Markstein lengths, and the fundamental laminar burning velocities of unstretched flames. Resulting data were reported for methane/air mixtures at ambient temperature and pressure, over the specific range of equivalence ratio that extended from 0.512 (the microgravity flammability limit found in the combustion chamber) to 0.601. Present measurements of unstretched laminar burning velocities were in good agreement with the unique existing microgravity data set at all measured equivalence ratios. Most of previous 1-g experiments using a variety of experimental techniques, however, appeared to give significantly higher burning velocities than the microgravity results. Furthermore, the burning velocities predicted by three chemical reaction mechanisms, which have been tuned primarily under off-limit conditions, were also considerably higher than the present experimental data. Additional results of the present investigation were derived for the overall activation energy and corresponding Zeldovich numbers, and the variation of the global flame Lewis numbers with equivalence ratio. The implications of these results were discussed.     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the explosion characteristics of n-hexane/air mixtures

To study the effects of hydrogen addition on the explosion characteristics (the explosion pressure and maximum rate of pressure rise) of n-hexane/air mixtures, experiments were performed in a cylindrical vessel at 100 kPa, 353 K, with equivalence ratios of 0.8–1.7 and hydrogen addition range from 0% to 80%. Concurrently, flame images were captured by high-speed schlieren photography to study the burning performance. The results indicate that both the explosion pressure and maximum pressure rise rate increase with the increase in hydrogen addition in terms of the lean n-hexane/hydrogen/air mixtures. With respect to the richer mixtures, however, the inverse tendency is observed. With increasing hydrogen fractions, the explosion pressure and maximum pressure rise rate decrease. The peak values of the explosion pressure and maximum pressure rise rate shift to the leaner mixture with increased hydrogen proportion. Moreover, the laminar burning velocities of n-hexane/hydrogen/air mixture were also obtained via the expanding spherical method and the pressure-time histories, respectively. Variation of laminar burning velocity with hydrogen proportion from both methods were studied as well, and the results show that the laminar burning velocity changes significantly under different hydrogen addition.     

Flame speed and tangential strain measurements in widely stratified partially premixed flames interacting with grid turbulence

Methane-air partially premixed flames subjected to grid-generated turbulence are stabilized in a two-slot burner with initial fuel concentration differences leading to stratification across the stoichiometric concentration. The fuel concentration gradient at the location corresponding to the flame base is measured using planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) of acetone in the non-reacting mixing field. Simultaneous PLIF of the OH radical and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed to deduce the flow velocity and the flame front. These flames exhibit a convex premixed flame front and a trailing diffusion flame, with flow divergence upstream of the flame, as indicated by the instantaneous OH–PLIF, Mie scattering images, and PIV data. The mean streamwise velocity profile attains a global minimum just upstream of the flame front due to expansion of a gases caused by heat release. The flame speed measured just upstream of the flame leading edge is normalized with respect to the turbulent stoichiometric flame speed that takes into account variations in turbulent intensity and integral length scale. The turbulent edge flame speed exceeds the corresponding stoichiometric premixed flame speed and reaches a peak at a certain concentration gradient. The mean tangential strain at the flame leading edge locally peaks at the concentration gradient corresponding to the peak flame speed. The strain varies non-monotonically with the flame curvature unlike in a non-stratified curved premixed flame. The mechanism of peak flame speed is explained as the competition between availability of hot excess reactants from the premixed flame branches to the flame stretch induced due to flame curvature. The results suggest that the stabilization of lifted turbulent partially premixed flames occurs through an edge flame even at a relatively gentle concentration gradient. The strain is also evaluated along the flame front; it peaks at the flame leading edge and decreases gradually on either side of the leading edge. The present results also show qualitatively similar trends as those of laminar triple flames.