Effect of plasma on boron-based two-phase flow diffusion combustion

Abstract

A parallel intake diffusion combustion physical model is designed to study the influence of plasma on the secondary combustion of boron-based gas in the after-burning chamber, with excluding mixing effects of the intake air. The flame images of the diffusion combustion of the boron-based gas in the after-burning chamber are obtained by a high-speed photographic apparatus. The diffusion combustion characteristics of the physical model and the secondary ignition distance of boron particles are analyzed. The King ignition model, finite-rate/eddy-dissipation model, particle-trajectory model, RNG k-ε model, and plasma model are adopted to simulate the influence of plasma on the diffusion combustion of boron-based two-phase flow in a certain condition. The results show that the secondary ignition distance of boron particles, which is based on the boron-based flame image, is consistent well with the numerical simulation result, which verifies the accuracy of the boron-based two-phase flow diffusion combustion numerical model and the calculation method. When the boron-based gas passes through the plasma area, the temperature of the boron particles increases while the diameter decreases significantly on their trajectory. The distribution area of the B2O3 mass fraction increases significantly, and more than 70% boron particles reach a 100% combustion efficiency before they arrive at the area of the two-thirds after-burning chamber. More heat is released by fully burning the boron particles under the influence of plasma, which results in a half increase of the central area. It can be indicated that plasma can obviously enhance the combustion process of the boron-based gas, which improves the combustion efficiency of boron particles and releases more energy.