Lift-off and blow-off of methane and propane subsonic vertical jet flames, with and without diluent air

Abstract

The paper seeks to increase understanding of subsonic jet flame blow-off phenomena, through experimental studies that include the controlled introduction of air into the fuel jet. As the molar concentration of air in the jet flame gas, Aj, is increased the reaction zone becomes leaner, and the flame lift-off distance increases. Eventually, flame oscillations develop and are followed by flame blow-off. A jet mixing analysis enables the extent of the leaning-off of the mixture to be estimated. From this, the reduced mean flamelet burning velocity, ua, is found at the location of the pure fuel jet flame. The conditions for blow-off are correlated with the last measured stable values of the dimensionless flow number, Ub∗, for methane and propane jet flames, with and without added air. Values of Ub∗ decline as the proportion of added air increases, more markedly so with methane. This is attributed to the leaning-off of the flame, and the associated decrease in the flame extinction stretch rate. As Ub∗ declines in value, with increasing air dilution, the emissions of unburned hydrocarbons just prior to blow-off increase. An underlying generality of the findings is revealed when ua is introduced into the expression for Ub∗, and Aj is normalised by the moles of air required to burn a mole of fuel.