Hydrodynamic effect of nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges produced throughout a laminar stagnation flame

Abstract

Plasma-assisted combustion has the potential to improve flame stability and combustion performance. Among all the different types of plasma source, nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) discharges have received a lot of attention since they can produce nonequilibrium plasma containing excited species, ionized species, and radicals. These species can then accelerate combustion processes by opening new kinetic pathways. NRP discharges can also affect combustion through thermal and hydrodynamic pathways. This study investigates the hydrodynamic effect of NRP discharges produced throughout the surface of a lean premixed methane-air flame at atmospheric pressure. Time-resolved imaging was used to study the effect of the NRP discharges pulse repetition frequency (PRF). The imaging showed that the flame stabilizes further upstream as the PRF increases and that the flame remains steady and does not relax between consecutive discharges. The flame relaxation was also studied using time-resolved imaging after abruptly turning off the NRP discharges. This revealed that the flame takes about 50ms to completely relax to its unactuated position. Particle image velocimetry showed that the NRP discharges substantially reduce the flow velocity in their vicinity, which causes the flame to move upstream and stretch. The induced stretch was found to increase flame speed though nonequidiffusive effects. The experiment was repeated with a lean premixed propane-air flame. In those conditions, the flame speed was unaffected by the NRP discharges, as expected for a mixture that is less sensitive to nonequidiffusive effects. Hence, the hydrodynamic effect of NRP discharges appears to dominate over the thermal and kinetic pathways for the conditions investigated.