A numerical study on the effects of H2 addition in non-premixed turbulent combustion of C3H8–H2–N2 mixture using a steady flamelet approach

Abstract

This study has been implemented in two sections. At first, the turbulent jet flame of DLR-B is simulated by combining the k–ε turbulence model and a steady flamelet approach. The DLR-B flame under consideration has been experimentally investigated by Meier et al. who obtained velocity and scalar statistics. The fuel jet composition is 33.2% H2, 22.1% CH4 and 44.7% N2 by volume. The jet exit velocity is 63.2 m/s resulting in a Reynolds number of 22,800. Our focus in the first part is to validate the developed numerical code. Comparison with experiments showed good agreement for temperature and species distribution. At the second part, we exchanged methane with propane in the fuel composition whilst maintaining all other operating conditions unchanged. We investigated the effect of hydrogen concentration on C3H8–H2–N2 mixtures so that propane mole fraction extent is fixed. The hydrogen volume concentration rose from 33.2% up to 73.2%. The achieved consequences revealed that hydrogen addition produces elongated flame with increased levels of radiative heat flux and CO pollutant emission. The latter behavior might be due to quenching of CO oxidation process in the light of excessive cold air downstream of reaction zone.