Characteristics of a Laminar Diffusion Flame in a Cross-Flow of Combustion Products

Abstract

This study was an investigation of the characteristics of a horizontal laminar diffusion flame established from a tubular burner in a buoyant vertical flow vitiated with combustion products created by a flat flame. The effects of varying flat flame equivalence ratio on these characteristics were studied. Applications of this study include exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), staged combustion in furnaces, and afterburners in jet engines. The fuel used for both the horizontal (cross-flow flame) and the flat flame in this study was propane. For a range of flat flame burner equivalence ratio (0.6 to 0.9), measurements of cross-flow flame length, and global emissions of NO were made. The mass flow rate of propane delivered to the cross-flow flame was held constant during these measurements. The flames were photographed with a digital camera. Profiles of combustion species concentrations and temperature were taken at 25% and 50% of the cross-flow flame length for flat flame burner equivalence ratios of 0.6 and 0.8, and for a non-combustion case (air flow only) in the flat flame. It was found that increasing the flat flame burner equivalence ratio caused an increase in the length of the cross-flow flame. The maximum temperature of the cross-flow flame decreased with increasing flat flame burner equivalence ratio. The introduction of the cross-flow flame increased the NO production in a flat flame with an equivalence ratio of 0.6, but did not significantly affect the NO production in a flat flame of an equivalence ratios of 0.7 or 0.8, and reduced it (by as much as 25%) in a flat flame of equivalence ratio of 0.9. This reduction of NO production and flame temperature and increase in flame length with increasing flat flame equivalence ratio was attributed to the reduction of oxygen available to the cross-flow flame. These results were supported with the in-flame combustion species concentration profiles.