On the propagation dynamics of lean H2/CO/air premixed flame

Abstract

Syngas is a promising alternative fuel. The combustion of lean H2/CO meets the demand of high efficiency with low emission. In this paper, the propagation dynamics of lean H2/CO/air premixed flame in a closed duct were experimentally investigated at an atmospheric condition. Propagation of the premixed flame is recorded by using high-speed cinematograph, and results show that the tulip flame is attained in all cases while the occurrence of tulip distortion is determined by both equivalence ratios and hydrogen volume fractions. The flame tip location and speed are attained through using image processing technique. Results show that the analytical theory, which is firstly proposed to model the flame acceleration in tulip flame propagation phase, can be used to predict the early phase flame tip motion in some limited cases. In fuel-lean combustion, with the effect of the diffusive-thermal instability, the analytical theory underestimates the flame tip motion, but overestimates the time instant of the flame initial touching the lateral walls. The overpressure build-up is specially scrutinized in conjunction with the scaled flame tip speed. The disorderly scaled flame tip speed of distorted tulip flame indicates that the distorted tulip flame is a phenomenon which relates to pressure waves. The pressure wave is of importance for tulip distortion, but it cannot change the overpressure build-up directly. Finally, both the flame-wall interaction and the combustion instability have a crucial effect on flame propagation dynamics, and these factors should be accounted for the build of flame propagation models.