Experimental Investigation of Buoyant Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames in an Inverted Configuration

Abstract

Buoyant laminar jet diffusion flames are studied experimentally in an inverted configuration, where gaseous fuel-stream jets vertically downward into air. Flame shape, thermal structure, soot and stability behaviors are obtained until the blowoff limit is reached. By comparing with conventional jet flames, which are established when the fuel jets upward, the effects of buoyancy on laminar diffusion flames are analysed. Downward flame yields larger flame height, although the non-dimensional flame height increases linearly with the Reynolds number at nozzle exit, which is similar to upward flame. Possible reasons for the increased flame height include flow deceleration within downward buoyant flames and presence of more combustion products surrounded the jet stream, thus slowing mixing process between fuel and air. The different relative directions of buoyant flows and jet streams also result in different temperature distributions in downward and upward flames, and a stagnant interface produced by the balance between buoyant flow and jet stream is particularly observed downstream of downward flame. Downward flames contain more soot and the soot formation region is wider, which are mainly attributed to the modifications of flow field and soot path. In addition, downward and upward flames stabilize at different axial positions relative to the nozzle exit. Because of increased characteristic flame residence time, downward flames have higher blowoff limits. The downward jet flame provides an alternative configuration to upward jet flame in studying buoyant diffusion flames due to the different manifestations of buoyancy effects.