No abstract

This study investigates the stability and combustion features of premixed oxy-propane flames in a dry low emission (DLE) model combustor for clean fuel/oxidizer-flexible combustion applications in gas turbines. The stability of the oxy-propane flame is characterized by its blowout and flashback limits over ranges of equivalence ratios (ϕ) from 0.1 to 1.0 and oxygen fractions (OF: volumetric concentration of O 2 in the O 2 /CO 2 oxidizer) from 15 to 70%. For better understanding of the physics behind the flame extinction mechanisms, the stability limits were plotted within the ϕ−OF space against the contours of adiabatic flame temperature (T ad ), inlet Reynolds number (Re), mixture mass flow rate (ṁm ix ), and combustor power density (PD). The flame speed (FS) was also estimated at selected operating conditions. It was observed that the FS is contingent to T ad only. A correlation of T ad −FS was developed for better characterization of premixed oxy-propane flames. It was also found that the blowout curve follows a constant T ad contour on the stability map, whereas the flashback curve does not. This implies that T ad is a more relevant controlling parameter choice of combustor stability near the blowout limit, whereas the reaction rate is a suitable indicator of the flame stability limit near flashback. The stability map of the present oxy-propane flame was compared with that of an oxy-methane flame on the same combustor. It was found that, at the same OF, the blowout and flashback limits of the propane flame occur at leaner ϕ, compared to those of methane flame, which was expected for a higher hydrocarbon fuel like propane. Flame shapes at different sets of operating conditions were investigated for inferring key information on the flame behavior and macrostructure while varying ϕ, OF, and hence, T ad . Similar flame shapes were obtained at the same T ad regardless of ϕ and OF values. Flames of similar T ad also demonstrated similar temperature distributions near the flame core. The findings confirm the dependence of the FS on T ad , irrespective of the combinations of ϕ and OF used to achieve any particular T ad .

Previous studies on the Cambridge/Sandia stratified burner have produced a comprehensive database of line Rayleigh/Raman/CO LIF measurements of scalars, as well as LDA and PIV measurements of velocity, for flames under non-uniform mixture fraction, under moderate turbulent conditions where the ratio of the turbulent velocity fluctuations to the laminar flame speed is of order 10. In prior work, we applied multiple conditioning methods to demonstrate how local stratification increases the levels of CO and H 2 , relative to the corresponding turbulent premixed flame, and enhances surface density function (SDF) and scalar dissipation rate of progress of reaction (SDR), based on extent of temperature rise, at a particular location in the flame where the mixing layer and flame brush cross. In the present study, we examine the global features of selected flames at all locations, by obtaining probability density functions (PDFs) for species concentrations, SDRs, and SDFs, conditioned on local equivalence ratio and location in the flame brush throughout the domain. We find that for most cases, species profiles as a function of temperature are well represented by laminar flame relationships at the local equivalence ratio, with some deviations attributable to either differential diffusion near the flame base and local stratification effects further downstream where the flame brush crosses the mixing layer. In particular, CO 2 is significantly affected by differential diffusion, and CO and H 2 by stratification. However, the stratification effects on the species are relatively minor when conditioned on local equivalence ratio, a simplifying result in the context of modelling. Measurements of the gradient of progress of reaction and scalar dissipation rates, conditioned on local equivalence ratio, show that the thermal zone of the flame is thickened by turbulence: the mean SDF and SDR values are in general lower than those of unstrained laminar flames. The effect is greater under rich conditions, with conditional mean SDR decreasing to less than half of the corresponding laminar value. The extent of flame thickening is the same in the premixed as the stratified case, once the stratified measurements are conditioned on the same equivalence ratio.

Previous studies using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) have raised the question of how these measurements should be compared. This study reports on the difference between Favre-averaged and Reynolds-averaged velocity statistics for a turbulent burner using PIV and LDA for unconditional and conditional velocity measurements. The experimental characterization of flow fields of premixed and stratified methane/air flames is carried out under globally turbulent lean conditions (global equivalence ratio at 0.75), over a range of stratifications and swirl numbers. Unconditioned velocity data was acquired using aluminium oxide to seed the flow field. Conditioned measurements were performed using vegetable oil aerosol as seed, which burns through the flame front, thus allowing only the non-reacting flow velocities to be obtained. A critical comparison of unconditioned velocity profiles measured using both PIV and LDA, including axial, radial, and tangential components is made against conditioned and reconstructed mean velocities at different cross-sections of the flame. The comparison reveals how the differences between the Favre-averaged (unconditioned) and the Reynolds-averaged (conditioned) velocity measurements in the flame brush region can be accounted for using the mean progress of reaction, and highlights the limits of the accuracy and agreement between PIV and LDA measurements.

No abstract