The impact of residence time on ignitability and time to ignition in a toroidal jet-stirred reactor

Abstract

Understanding of ignition processes is central to design for reliable and safe aerospace combustor systems. Ignition is influenced by many factors including combustor geometry, flow conditions, fuel composition, turbulence intensity, ignition source, and energy deposition method. A toroidal jet-stirred reactor (TJSR) utilizes bulk fluid motion, presence of recirculation zones, a bulk residence time, and turbulence intensities which emulate characteristics relevant to cavity stabilized and swirl stabilized combustors. In this work, a TJSR was used to quantify ignitability and time-to-ignition of premixed ethylene and air. The effects of inlet temperature, residence time, and reactivity were studied on forced ignition processes. Experimental conditions ranged from residence times of 15–35 ms, mixture temperatures of 340–450 K, and equivalence ratios of 0.5–1 using capacitive spark-discharge ignition. The minimum equivalence ratio for ignition (MER), or the equivalence ratio at 50% probability, shows an inverse relationship with mixture temperature and residence time. Prior theory of real engine combustor performance for lean light off, proposed by Ballal and Lefebvre, was compared to the MER and displayed similar trends to the model. Spatially integrated OH* chemiluminescence was used to measure time to ignition within the reactor. Reduction in ignitibility was experienced as the time-to-ignition approached the residence time stressing the importance of device flow time scales in relation to kernel growth dynamics and ignition probability.