Effects of ignition location on premixed hydrogen/air flame propagation in a closed combustion tube

Abstract

The dynamics of premixed hydrogen/air flame ignited at different locations in a finite-size closed tube is experimentally studied. The flame behaves differently in the experiments with different ignition positions. The ignition location exhibits an important impact on the flame behavior. When the flame is ignited at one of the tube ends, the heat losses to the end wall reduce the effective thermal expansion and moderate the flame propagation and acceleration. When the ignition source is at a short distance off one of the ends, the tulip flame dynamics closely agrees with that in the theory. And both the tulip and distorted tulip flames are more pronounced than those in the case with the ignition source placed at one of the ends. Besides, the flame–pressure wave coupling is quite strong and a second distorted tulip flame is generated. When the ignition source is in the tube center, the flame propagates in a much gentler way and the tulip flame can not be formed. The flame oscillations are weaker since the flame–pressure wave interaction is weaker.