Effect of stratification on the combustion behavior and dynamic response of a bluff-body stabilized ammonia–hydrogen flames with radial staging

Abstract

The present study deals with the flames of ammonia–hydrogen blends that form a prospective fuel for power generation in practical devices. In particular, the spatial flame dynamics of the bluff body stabilized laminar and stratified ammonia–air/hydrogen–air mixtures with acoustic excitation are considered. For this, we consider a radially staged burner consisting of two concentric tubes namely, the inner and outer tubes with the bluff body housed by the former. Two annulus passages are formed between (i) the inner and outer tube, and (ii) the inner tube and bluff body in which premixed hydrogen–air and ammonia–air mixtures are supplied, respectively. The stratification is controlled by varying the upstream location of the inner tube about the burner exit, termed mixing length taking the values namely, 20 mm (stratified), 60 mm, and 100 mm (unstratified). Time-resolved images of the flames are obtained using OH* (320 ± 10 nm) and NH2* (632 nm ± 10 nm) filters. For the unforced stratified flames, the flames are narrower and the spatial separation between OH* and NH2* region increases towards rich NH3/air mixtures ( ϕNH3–air) compared to the unstratified flames. In addition, the mean spatial OH* is relatively localized for the unforced stratified flames. For any operating condition of the flames, the forced flame response is significant for frequencies < 120 Hz. The rich stratified flame exhibits a higher response at a frequency of ∼ 40 Hz compared to the unstratified flame having a flatter response. The forced flames accompany lobed spatial patterns in OH* and NH2* for richer ϕNH3–air. The flame oscillation registers a non-sinusoidal oscillation for the rich stratified flame compared to flames of any other condition. The main effect of stratification is the alteration of flame shape resulting in a low-frequency response for which regions of significant flame flapping coincide with regions of peak flame OH*.