Numerical Investigation of Oxidizer Dilution Effects on Autoignited Laminar Lifted Methane/Hydrogen Jet Flames

Burning characteristics of grape marc under mild combustion conditions

Autoignited lifted flames in laminar jets with hydrogen-enriched methane fuels have been investigated experimentally in heated coflow air. The results showed that the autoignited lifted flame of the methane/hydrogen mixture, which had an initial temperature over 920 K, the threshold temperature for autoignition in methane jets, exhibited features typical of either a tribrachial edge or mild combustion depending on fuel mole fraction and the liftoff height increased with jet velocity. The liftoff height in the hydrogen-assisted autoignition regime was dependent on the square of the adiabatic ignition delay time for the addition of small amounts of hydrogen, as was the case for pure methane jets. When the initial temperature was below 920 K, where the methane fuel did not show autoignition behavior, the flame was autoignited by the addition of hydrogen, which is an ignition improver. The liftoff height demonstrated a unique feature in that it decreased nonlinearly as the jet velocity increased. The differential diffusion of hydrogen is expected to play a crucial role in the decrease in the liftoff height with increasing jet velocity.

On the flame structure and stabilization characteristics of autoignited laminar lifted n-heptane jet flames in heated coflow air

In this paper, the importance of fluctuations in flow field parameters is studied under MILD combustion conditions. In this way, a turbulent non-premixed CH4+H2 jet flame issuing into a hot and deficient co-flow air is modeled using the RANS Axisymmetric equations. The modeling is carried out using the EDC model to describe the turbulence-chemistry interaction. The DRM-22 reduced mechanism and the GRI2.11 full mechanism are used to represent the chemical reactions of H2/methane jet flame. Results illustrate that although the fluctuations in temperature field are small and the reaction zone volume are large in the MILD regime, the fluctuations in temperature and species concentrations are still effective on the flow field. Also, inappropriate dealing with the turbulence effect on chemistry leads to errors in prediction of temperature up to 15% in the present flame. By decreasing of O2 concentration of hot co-flow air, the effect of fluctuations in flow field parameters on flame characteristics are still significant and its effect on species reaction rates does not decrease. On the other hand, although decreasing of jet inlet Reynolds number at constant inlet turbulence intensity addresses to smaller fluctuations in flow filed, it does not lead to lower the effect of turbulence on species distribution and temperature field under MILD combustion conditions.

Butane has the potentiality to be a new-era energy source. MILD combustion can be realised by jet flame in vitiated co-flow. Lift-off height is an important parameter of jet flame in vitiated co-flow. This study aimed at understanding the effects of co-flow condition on lift-off characteristics of the butane jet flame. Vitiated co-flow conditions are created with O2-methane pre-combustion, co-flow equivalence ratios of methane/air mixtures changed from 0.5 to 0.7. On the basis of the results, O2 concentration shows main effects on the lift-off height changing tendency versus Rej. The increase of O2 concentration results in a decreasing tendency, while a further increment of O2 concentration stabilises the value of lift-off height. Under the turbulent butane central jet fuel, co-flow rate doesn’t show an obvious and monotonous effect on the lift-off height of butane jet flame in vitiated-flow.

Differential diffusion effect on the stabilization characteristics of autoignited laminar lifted methane/hydrogen jet flames in heated coflow air

Characterization of temperature criteria using gas-phase fuel streams for MILD coal combustion

Geometrical features and global radiant heat of double turbulent jet flames

MILD combustion of co-firing biomass and pulverized coal fuel blend for heterogeneous fuel NO and PM2.5 emission reduction

Mild Combustion

Effect of hydrogen addition on NOx formation mechanism and pathways in MILD combustion of H2-rich low calorific value fuels

In this paper, the importance of molecular diffusion versus turbulent transport in the moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution (Mild) combustion mode has been numerically studied. The experimental conditions of Dally et al. [Proc. Combust. Inst. 29 (2002) 1147–1154] were used for modelling. The EDC model was used to describe the turbulence–chemistry interaction. The DRM-22 reduced mechanism and the GRI 2.11 full mechanism were used to represent the chemical reactions of an H2/methane jet flame. The importance of molecular diffusion for various O2 levels, jet Reynolds numbers and H2 fuel contents was investigated. Results show that the molecular diffusion in Mild combustion cannot be ignored in comparison with the turbulent transport. Also, the method of inclusion of molecular diffusion in combustion modelling has a considerable effect on the accuracy of numerical modelling of Mild combustion. By decreasing the jet Reynolds number, decreasing the oxygen concentration in the airflow or increasing H2 in the fuel mixture, the influence of molecular diffusion on Mild combustion increases.

Both cold and flame jets find numerous applications in different fields, ranging from domestic applications to aerospace and space technology. Indeed, the applications of isothermal and non-isothermal jets in the flame heating industry fascinated the researchers to gain an in-depth understanding. Nevertheless, these benefits are not standalone, rather, they are associated with major disadvantages such as improper jet mixing and flame instabilities that require careful remedies. In the present investigation, three-inline jets, having methane jet at the center and two oxygen jets at the periphery, are studied computationally in a three-dimensional domain, with and without considering the effects of combustion. To study the mixing characteristics of cold jets, the radial velocity distributions at different streamwise locations have been analyzed at the jet inlet velocity of 27 m/s. However, for oxygen and methane flame jets, inlet velocities are varied as 27 m/s and 54 m/s. Moreover, to investigate the effects of temperature variation on mixing characteristics at a particular jet velocity, the inlet temperatures of reactants are varied as 300 K, 500 K, and 700 K, at the jet inlet velocity of 27 m/s. Combustion is found to have a profound impact on the mixing characteristics. At the inlet temperature of 300 K, a higher centerline velocity decay is observed for non-reactive jets as compared to reactive flame jets. Moreover, the turbulent kinetic energy distribution is relatively higher in the case of non-reactive jets, which is the direct evidence of an augmented mixing. As is obvious, the turbulent kinetic energy at the jet shear layer is maximum due to the formation of large-scale coherent eddies. The decay in centerline velocity is found to be increasing with an increase of inlet temperature. Additionally, with an increase of jet velocity, the radial velocity profiles become more asymmetrical, consequently yielding an unstable flame.

Transient inception of MILD combustion in hot diluted diffusion ignition (HDDI) regime: A numerical study

Computational Modeling of Turbulent Spray Combustion