An investigation of hydrogen/methane premixed flame propagation in a tube with copper foam

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, the influence of hydrogen volume fraction, pore size and layer number of foam copper on the explosion characteristics of hydrogen/methane premixed gas is discussed with the help of a self-built premixed gas explosion experimental platform. The volume fraction of hydrogen in the fuel is delineated as 0, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%. The pore diameters (Pd) of copper foam are Pd≈2.0 mm, Pd≈1.0 mm, and Pd≈0.5 mm, respectively, with three layers of foam copper for each pore diameter and a total of 45 sets of experiments are conducted. The experimental results show that the copper foam material has a significant hindering effect on the propagation of premixed hydrocarbon flame. As the hydrogen volume fraction gradually increases, the hindering effect of copper foam on the premixed flame gradually attenuates and can even promote flame development. The pore diameters of copper foam play a dominant role in the stability of flame behavior. The flame that can be halted during the propagation process is also mainly determined by the copper foam pore diameters. The number of copper foam layers does not determine the propagation state of the flame but only produces a greater degree of suppression or promotion of the flame once the propagation state has changed.