Effects of H2 and H preferential diffusion and unity Lewis number on superadiabatic flame temperatures in rich premixed methane flames

The structures of freely propagating rich CH₄/air and CH₄/O₂ flames were studied numerically using a relatively detailed reaction mechanism. Species diffusion was modeled using five different methods/assumptions to investigate the effects of species diffusion, in particular H₂ and H, on superadiabatic flame temperature. With the preferential diffusion of H₂ and H accounted for, significant amount of H₂ and H produced in the flame front diffuse from the reaction zone to the preheat zone. The preferential diffusion of H₂ from the reaction zone to the preheat zone has negligible effects on the phenomenon of superadiabatic flame temperature in both CH₄/air and CH₄/O₂ flames. It is therefore demonstrated that the superadiabatic flame temperature phenomenon in rich hydrocarbon flames is not due to the preferential diffusion of H₂ from the reaction zone to the preheat zone as recently suggested by Zamashchikov et al. [V.V. Zamashchikov, I.G. Namyatov, V.A. Bunev, V.S. Babkin, Combust. Explosion Shock Waves 40 (2004) 32]. The suppression of the preferential diffusion of H radicals from the reaction zone to the preheat zone drastically reduces the degree of superadiabaticity in rich CH₄/O₂ flames. The preferential diffusion of H radicals plays an important role in the occurrence of superadiabatic flame temperature. The assumption of unity Lewis number for all species leads to the suppression of H radical diffusion from the reaction zone to the preheat zone and significant diffusion of CO₂ from the postflame zone to the reaction zone. Consequently, the degree of superadiabaticity of flame temperature is also significantly reduced. Through reaction flux analyses and numerical experiments, the chemical nature of the superadiabatic flame temperature phenomenon in rich CH₄/air and CH₄/O₂ flames was identified to be the relative scarcity of H radical, which leads to overshoot of H₂O and CH₂CO in CH₄/air flames and overshoot of H₂O in CH₄/O₂ flames.     

Soot topography in a planar diffusion flame wrapped by a line vortex

An experimental study of the interaction of a planar diffusion flame with a line vortex is presented. A planar diffusion flame is established between two coflowing, equal velocity streams of acetylene diluted with nitrogen and air. A line vortex is generated on demand by momentarily pulsing one of the flow streams by way of electromagnetic actuation of a piston in the flow apparatus. The flame-vortex interactions are diagnosed by planar laser-induced incandescence for soot yield and by particle image velocimetry for vortex flow characterization. The results show that soot formation and distribution are influenced by the reactant streams from which vortices are initiated. The vortices interacting with the flame from the air side produce more soot and soot is distributed in and around the vortex core in diffuse layers. In contrast, topography of soot in vortices interacting from the fuel side is such that soot is confined to thinner layers around the vortex core which does not contain any soot. The flame curvature is found to influence the local soot production with the flame regions convex to the fuel side containing more soot locally. It is also found that the overall soot yield is less sensitive to the vortex strength and is of lower magnitude when vortex is spun from the fuel side. The knowledge of this type of asymmetry in soot yield in flame-vortex interactions is useful for combustion engineering and design of practical devices.     

Flame temperatures along a laminar premixed flame with a non-uniform stretch rate

We investigated experimentally the effects of a spatially non-uniform stretch rate on the flame temperature. A flame surface with a non-uniform stretch rate was formed by creating a wrinkled laminar premixed flame in a spatially periodic flow field of a lean propane/air mixture. The measured flame temperature was lower/higher than the adiabatic flame temperature at flame segments with positive/negative stretch rates. This was a result of the effects of flame stretch and preferential diffusion for Lewis number greater than unity. The flame temperature estimated using the conventional flame stretch theory, which is based on a uniform stretch rate along the flame surface, did not agree quantitatively with the measured temperature. Therefore, we revised the theory, taking into account heat transfer along the flame surface, and then produced estimates that agreed with the measured temperature. We found that the effect of flame stretch and preferential diffusion is changed along the flame surface which has spatially non-uniform stretch rate, causing a temperature gradient along the surface, which in turn transfers heat and changes the flame temperature. Thus, heat transfer along the flame surface is an important factor in estimating flame temperature. In addition, a second temperature gradient appears downstream just behind the flame, because the temperature of the burned gas is also non-uniform. Therefore, conductive heat transfer is believed to occur between the flame and the burned gas. The effect of the downstream heat transfer is not as large as that of the heat transfer along the flame surface.     

Effect of unequal fuel and oxidizer Lewis numbers on flame dynamics

The interaction of non-unity Lewis number (due to preferential diffusion and/or unequal rates of heat and mass transfer) with the coupled effect of radiation, chemistry and unsteadiness alters several characteristics of a flame. The present study numerically investigates this interaction with a particular emphasis on the effect of unequal and non-unity fuel and oxidizer Lewis numbers in a transient diffusion flame. The unsteadiness is simulated by considering the flame subjected to modulations in reactant concentration. Flames with different Lewis numbers (ranging from 0.5 to 2) and subjected to different modulating frequencies are considered. The results show that the coupled effect of Lewis number and unsteadiness strongly influences the flame dynamics. The impact is stronger at high modulating frequencies and strain rates, particularly for large values of Lewis numbers. Compared to the oxidizer side Lewis number, the fuel side Lewis number has greater influence on flame dynamics.     

Laminar flame speed studies of lean premixed H2/CO/air flames

Laminar flame speeds of lean premixed H₂/CO/air mixtures were measured in the counterflow configuration over a wide range of H₂ content at lean conditions. The values were determined by extrapolating the referenced flame speed to zero stretch rate using the non-linear extrapolation method to reduce the systematic error. Detailed calculation of laminar flame speed was also conducted using PREMIX code coupled with three different kinetic models. In general, simulation results agreed well with the experimental data. Both the experimental and calculation results revealed that the laminar flame speeds of lean premixed H₂/CO/air mixtures increased with H₂ content significantly when H₂ content was small (?15%) and gradually when H₂ content was large (>15%).     

Analysis of autoignition of a turbulent lifted H2/N2 jet flame issuing into a vitiated coflow

Due to energy crisis and concern regarding the environmental emission, hydrogen as an alternative clean fuel has received more attention. To develop new devices or upgrade the conventional combustion systems for hydrogen flames, fundamental concepts necessary for burner design need to be investigated. In the present work, characteristics of flame stabilization for a turbulent lifted H₂/N₂ jet flame issuing into a hot coflow of lean combustion are investigated using the Scalar probability density function (PDF) approach. Calculations are carried out for different coflow temperatures, concentrations of species and equivalence ratio. Reaction rate analyses are used to investigate the dominant chemistry at the flame base for a variety of conditions. The results show the occurrence of autoignition at the flame base that is responsible for the stabilization of the lifted turbulent flame. The coflow temperature plays an important role in the relative contribution of elementary reactions and the determination of the dominant chemistry at the flame base. This leads to a high sensitivity of lift-off height to the coflow temperature. Oxygen and water content in the hot coflow could affect the ignition process and lift-off height depending on the dominant chemistry at the flame base. Furthermore, the effect of oxygen content in hot coflow is found to be very important on the reactions controlling the high temperature combustion.     

Effect of free stream turbulence on NOx and soot formation in turbulent diffusion CH4-air flames

A two-dimensional axisymmetric RANS numerical model was solved to investigate the effect of increasing the turbulence intensity of the air stream on the NOx and soot formation in turbulent methane diffusion flames. The turbulence–combustion interaction in the flame field was modelled in a k − ε/EDM framework, while the NO and soot concentrations were predicted through implementing the extended Zildovich mechanism and two transport equations model, respectively. The predicted spatial temperature gradients showed acceptable agreement with published experimental measurements. It was found that the increase of free stream turbulence intensity of the air supply results in a significant reduction in the NO formation of the flame. Such phenomenon is discussed by depicting the spatial distribution of the NO concentration in the flame. An observable reduction of the soot formation was also found to be associated with the increase of inlet turbulence intensity of air stream.     

A numerical study of laminar flame speed of stratified syngas/air flames

Numerical simulations are performed to study the flame propagation of laminar stratified syngas/air flames with the San Diego mechanism. Effects of fuel stratification, CO/H₂ mole ratio and temperature stratification on flame propagation are investigated through comparing the distribution of flame temperature, heat release rate and radical concentration of stratified flame with corresponding homogeneous flame. For stratified flames with fuel rich-to-lean and temperature high-to-low, the flame speeds are faster than homogeneous flames due to more light H radical in stratified flames burned gas. The flame speed is higher for case with larger stratification gradient. Contrary to positive gradient cases, the flame speeds of stratified flames with fuel lean-to-rich as well as with temperature low-to-high are slower than homogeneous flames. The flame propagation accelerates with increasing hydrogen mole ratio due to higher H radical concentration, which indicates that chemical effect is more significant than thermal effect. Additionally, flame displacement speed does not match laminar flame speed due to the fluid continuity. Laminar flame speed is the superposition of flame displacement speed and flow velocity.     

Preferential diffusion effects on flame characteristics in H2/CO syngas diffusion flames diluted with CO2

Numerical study is conducted to clarify preferential diffusion effects of H₂ and H on flame characteristics in synthetic diffusion flames of the compositions of 80% H₂/20% CO and 20% H₂/80% CO as representatively H₂-enriched and CO-enriched H₂/CO flames. Impacts of CO₂ addition to the flames are also examined through the variation of added CO₂ mole fraction from 0 to 0.5. A comparison was made by employing a mixture-averaged diffusivity and the suppression of the diffusivities of H and H₂. It is found that preferential diffusion effects on maximum flame temperature cannot be explained by the well-known behavior between maximum flame temperature and scalar dissipation rate but by chemical processes. The concrete evidence is also presented through the examination of the behavior of maximum H mole fraction and the behavior of importantly-contributing reaction steps to overall heat release rate.     

A numerical study of vortex interactions with flames developing from ignition kernels in lean methane/air mixtures

In this work, the outcomes of interactions of counter-rotating vortex pairs with developing ignition kernels are studied. The conditions are selected to represent those in a lean-burn natural-gas engine with hot-jet ignition. The evolution of flame surface area during kernel–vortex interaction is quantitatively and qualitatively examined. It is observed that flame development is accelerated and the net flame surface area growth rate, i.e. heat release rate, increased with increasing vortex velocity. In general, increasing the vortex length scale increases the surface growth rate, i.e. increases heat release rates, but for small length scales, i.e. when the ratio of vortex length scale to kernel diameter is small, high flame curvature induced during the interaction leads to flame weakening and slower growth rates. When the vortex velocity is high relative to the flame speed and the length scale is comparable to the kernel diameter, the vortex breaks through the ignition kernel carrying with it hot products of combustion. This accelerates growth of the flame surface area and heat release rates compared to a kernel with no vortex interaction. On decreasing the vortex velocity and increasing the length scale, the wrinkling of the kernel becomes important. This also results in increased surface growth rates and higher heat release rates.     

Detailed numerical simulation of radiative transfer in a nonluminous turbulent jet diffusion flame

Radiative transfer in a turbulent jet diffusion flame has been calculated using the discrete ordinates and the ray tracing. The radiative properties of the medium were computed using the correlated k-distribution method and the statistical narrow-band model. The interaction between turbulence and radiation was examined and ways to account for this interaction were compared. Calculations using a stochastic semicausal model were carried out to accurately simulate that interaction, and to provide reference solutions for evaluating the precision of simpler approaches. The models were applied to decoupled radiative transfer calculations in a flame, using experimental fields for temperature and species' concentrations as an input. The correlated k-distribution method, along with the full turbulence/radiation interaction, gave results in very good agreement with the statistical narrow band along with the stochastic model, but the total measured radiative heat loss was underestimated by ∼11.5%. This is likely to be mainly due to the need to extrapolate the data downstream of the last measured radial profile. Enhancement of the radiative heat loss due to turbulent fluctuations was almost 50% in this flame; this exceeds a previous estimate based on a simpler model for the radiative properties of a gas.     

Effects of fuel compositions on the heat generation and emission of syngas/producer gas laminar diffusion flame

Demand for the clean and sustainable energy encourages the research and development in the efficient production and utilisation of syngas for low-carbon power and heating/cooling applications. However, diversity in the chemical composition of syngas, resulting due to its flexible production process and feedstock, often poses a significant challenge for the design and operation of an effective combustion system. To address this, the research presented in this paper is particularly focused on an in-depth understanding of the heat generation and emission formation of syngas/producer gas flames with an effect of the fuel compositions. The heat generated by flame not only depends on the flame temperature but also on the chemistry heat release of fuel and flame dimension. The study reports that the syngas/producer gas with a low H_2:CO maximises the heat generation, nevertheless the higher emission rate of CO₂ is inevitable. The generated heat flux at H_2:CO = 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 is found to be 222, 432 and 538 W m^-2 respectively. At the same amount of heat generated, H₂ concentration in fuel dominates the emission of NO_x. The addition of CH₄ into the syngas/producer gas with H_2:CO = 1:1 also increases the heat generation significantly (e.g. 614 W m^-2 at 20%) while decreases the emission formation. In contrast, adding 20% CO₂ and N₂ to the syngas/producer gas composition reduces the heat generation from 432 W m^-2 to 364 and 290 W m^-2, respectively. The role of CO₂ on this aspect, which is weaker than N₂, thus suggests CO₂ is preferable than N₂. Along with the study, the significant role of CO₂ on the radiation of heat and the reduction of emission are examined.     

An investigation into the heat release and emissions from counterflow diffusion flames of methane/dimethyl ether/hydrogen blends in air

In the present work, the effects of blending dimethyl ether (DME) and hydrogen (H₂) with methane (CH₄) have been numerically studied in the context of counterflow diffusion flames. In order to do so, a reaction mechanism consisting of 974 reaction steps among 146 species with updated thermodynamic and transport properties has been developed. This mechanism has been validated against the experimental data on laminar burning velocity, ignition delay time and species profiles in counterflow diffusion flames. The present study suggests that the heat release pattern of the CH₄ counter flow diffusion flame shows major changes when DME and H₂ are present in the fuel stream. Furthermore, the results show that the presence of low volume fractions of DME in CH₄ increases the formation of benzene (C₆H₆) in the flame. This fact can be negated by the presence of H₂ together with CH₄ and DME in the fuel stream. Moreover, the present study suggests that H₂ mitigates the C₆H₆ formation in the CH₄ diffusion flame with greater effectiveness compared to DME. Contrary to the popular belief, the main reason behind such efficacy of H₂ has been found to be physical rather than chemical. On the other hand, the NO production routes are primarily dominated by the Zeldovich mechanism in the flames involving CH₄, DME and H₂ blends. In this regard, the present analysis suggests that the simultaneous presence of DME and H₂ in CH₄ effectively prevents the formation of NO in the flame.