Karlovitz Number Research Articles

Evolution of Flame Displacement Speed Within Flame Front in Different Regimes of Premixed Turbulent Combustion

A transport equation for the flame displacement speed evolution in premixed flames is derived from first principles, and the mean behaviours of the terms of this equation are analysed based on a Direct Numerical Simulation database of statistically planar turbulent premixed flames with a range of different Karlovitz numbers. It is found that the regime of combustion (or Karlovitz number) affects the statistical behaviour of the mean contributions of the terms of the displacement speed transport equation which are associated with the normal strain rate and curvature dependence of displacement speed. The contributions arising from molecular diffusion and flame curvature play leading order roles in all combustion regimes, whereas the terms arising from the flame normal straining and reactive scalar gradient become leading order contributors only for the flames with high Karlovitz number values representing the thin reaction zones regime. The mean behaviours of the terms of the displacement speed transport equation indicate that the effects arising from fluid-dynamic normal straining, reactive scalar gradient and flame curvature play key roles in the evolution of displacement speed. The mean characteristics of the various terms of the displacement speed transport equation are explained in detail and their qualitative behaviours can be expounded based on the behaviours of the corresponding terms in the case of 1D steady laminar premixed flames. This implies that the flamelet assumption has the potential to be utilised for the purpose of any future modelling of the unclosed terms of the displacement speed transport equation even in the thin reaction zones regime for moderate values of Karlovitz number.

Investigation of Entrainment and its Effect on Flame Stabilization in a Turbulent High Karlovitz Number Premixed Jet Flame using Direct Numerical Simulation

Investigation of Entrainment and its Effect on Flame Stabilization in a Turbulent High Karlovitz Number Premixed Jet Flame using Direct Numerical Simulation

Grid resolution requirement of chemical explosive mode analysis for large eddy simulations of premixed turbulent combustion

The grid resolution requirement for trustworthy Chemical Explosive Mode Analysis (CEMA) in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of premixed turbulent combustion is proposed. Explicit filtering, to emulate the effect of the LES filter, is applied to one-dimensional laminar flame and three-dimensional planar turbulent flames across a wide range of Karlovitz numbers . The identification of the flame front by CEMA is found relatively insensitive to the cell size (Δ), while the combustion mode identification shows more significant sensitivity. Specifically, increasing Δ falsely enhances the auto-ignition and local extinction modes and suppresses the diffusion-assisted mode. Limited dependence of the CEMA performance on the turbulent combustion regime (Karlovitz number) is observed. A simple grid size criterion for reliable CEMA mode identification in LES is proposed as ; The criterion can be relaxed to in the laminar flame limit. Furthermore, theoretical analysis is conducted on an idealised chemistry-diffusion system. The effects of the filtering process and turbulence on the local combustion mode are demonstrated, which is consistent with the numerical observations. By incorporating turbulent combustion models in CEMA, potential improvement in identifying local combustion modes can be expected.

Experimental study on turbulent burning velocities of premixed flames for natural gas/air mixtures

Experiments on the spherical expanding flame of turbulent premixed natural gas/air mixtures were conducted in a fan-stirred turbulent combustor for the first time. As the belief that the methane burning velocity data can be obtained for natural gas is not justified, natural gas constitutes of 90% CH4, 7% C2H6 and 3% C3H8 by volume fraction was used. The operation conditions are equivalence ratio of 0.7–1.3, initial temperature of 300–400 K, initial pressure of 0.1–0.3 MPa, turbulence intensity of 1.0–2.7 m/s, oxygen volume fraction of 15–21% and carbon dioxide volume fraction of 0–20%. A self-developed program and post-processing procedure was developed to highly restore the real information of flame front without ignoring small local information. It was concluded that methane cannot be taken as a representative of natural gas for studying turbulent burning velocities. The increase of flame propagation speed with initial pressure is not as significant as that with initial temperature and turbulence intensity under low-intermediate pressure range. Dispersions exists for previous correlations relating to turbulent flame Reynolds number, Karlovitz number, Damköhler number, respectively, and a new correlation were proposed based on the ratio of Karlovitz number and Damköhler number. The new correlation was validated by both current and previous experimental data and its advantage and applicability were summarized. It will be validated by turbulent flames of various kinds of fuels over a wide range of working conditions in the further study.

Turbulent burning velocity and thermodiffusive instability of premixed flames.

Reported in the paper are results of unsteady three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of laminar and turbulent, lean hydrogen-air, complex-chemistry flames propagating in forced turbulence in a box. To explore the eventual influence of thermodiffusive instability of laminar flames on turbulent burning velocity, (i) a critical length scale Λ_{n} that bounds regimes of unstable and stable laminar combustion is numerically determined by gradually decreasing the width Λ of computational domain until a stable laminar flame is obtained, and (ii) simulations of turbulent flames are performed by varying the width from Λ<Λ_{n} (in this case, the instability is suppressed) to Λ>Λ_{n} (in this case, the instability may grow). Moreover, simulations are performed either using mixture-averaged transport properties (low Lewis number flames) or setting diffusivities of all species equal to heat diffusivity of the mixture (equidiffusive flames), with all other things being equal. Obtained results show a significant increase in turbulent burning velocity U_{T} when the boundary Λ=Λ_{n} is crossed in weak turbulence, but almost equal values of U_{T} are computed at Λ<Λ_{n} and Λ>Λ_{n} in moderately turbulent flames characterized by a Karlovitz number equal to 3.4 or larger. These results imply that thermodiffusive instability of laminar premixed flames substantially affects burning velocity in weak turbulence only, in line with a simple criterion proposed by Chomiak and Lipatnikov (Phys. Rev. E 107, 015102, (2023)10.1103/PhysRevE.107.015102).

On flame speed enhancement in turbulent premixed hydrogen-air flames during local flame-flame interaction

Local flame displacement speed Sd of a turbulent premixed flame is of fundamental and practical interest. For H2-air flames, the interest is further accentuated given the recent drive towards the development of zero-carbon combustors for both power and aircraft engine applications. The present study investigates several three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulation (3D DNS) cases of premixed H2-air turbulent flames to theoretically model the Sd at negative curvatures, building upon recent works. Two of the four DNS cases presented are simulated at atmospheric pressure and two at elevated pressure. The DNS cases at different turbulence Reynolds numbers (Ret) and Karlovitz numbers (Ka) are generated using detailed chemistry. It has been shown in the previous studies that at atmospheric pressure, the density-weighted flame displacement speed Sd˜ is enhanced significantly over its laminar value (SL) at large negative curvature κ due to flame-flame interactions. The current work justifiably employs an imploding cylindrical laminar flame configuration to represent the local flame surfaces undergoing flame-flame interaction in a 3D turbulent flame. Therefore, to acquire a deep understanding of the interacting flame dynamics at large negative curvatures, one-dimensional (1D) simulations of an inwardly propagating cylindrical H2-air laminar premixed flame, with detailed chemistry at the corresponding atmospheric and elevated pressure conditions are performed. In particular, the 1D simulations emphasized the transient nature of the flame structure during these interactions. Based on the insights from the 1D simulations, we utilize an analytical approach to model the Sd˜ at these regions of extreme negative κ of the 3D DNS. The analytical approach is formulated to include the effect of variable density, convection and the inner reaction zone motion. The joint probability density function (JPDF) of Sd˜ and κ and the corresponding conditional averages obtained from 3D DNS showed clear negative correlation between Sd˜ and κ at all pressures. The obtained model successfully predicts the variation of 〈Sd˜|κ〉 with κ for the regions on the flame surface with large negative curvature (κδL≪−1) at atmospheric as well as at elevated pressure, with good accuracy. This showed that the 1D cylindrical, interacting flame model is a fruitful representation of a local flame-flame interaction that persists in a 3D turbulent flame, and is able to capture the intrinsically transient dynamics of the local flame-flame interaction. The 3D DNS cases further showed that even in the non-interacting state at κ=0, on average Sd˜ can deviate from SL. Sd˜ at κ=0 is a manifestation of the internal flame structure, controlled by turbulence transport in the large Ka regime. Therefore, the correlation of 〈Sd˜〉/SL with the the normalized gradient of the progress variable, 〈|∇c^|c0〉 at κ=0 is explored.

Lift-off height model of hydrogen autoignited flame in turbulent hot air coflow

This study aims to develop a lift-off height model suitable for hydrogen autoignited flames in turbulent hot coflow. The differences in flame structure and lift-off characteristics between hydrogen and acetylene flames are compared through experiments. Due to hydrogen's high flame speed, the autoignition spots of hydrogen are undetectable, and the flame zone becomes regular and continuous. Therefore, the flame speed can be used to improve the calculation of the chemical time scale to incorporate the flame propagation factor into the lift-off height model. A novel model is established to consider the combined effects of flame propagation and autoignition on flame stabilization through the Karlovitz number and Damkohler number, respectively. Positive parameters β and 1-β represent the relative contributions of flame propagation and autoignition. The Ka/Da model successfully predicts the variations in the lift-off height of hydrogen flames at various coflow temperatures and fuel mole fractions. In addition, the good correlations based on the Ka/Da model to the lift-off heights of hydrogen, methane, and ethylene flames in the literature prove the model's generality. Unlike hydrocarbon flames (β < 0.5), hydrogen flames' β is bigger than 0.5, indicating that flame propagation plays a more significant role than autoignition in stabilizing autoignited flames.

Penetration and distribution efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs in biological tissues: A computational investigation

Many chemotherapeutic drugs, developed so far, show significant anticancer activities during the clinical trials; however, their treatment efficacy is limited in practice. The limited efficacy is attributed to the inadequate knowledge of interplay between a drug and the physicochemical properties of tissues. This study employs the finite volume heterogeneous multiscale method to study the penetration and distribution efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents such as, fluorouracil, carmustine, cisplatin, methotrexate, doxorubicin, and paclitaxel. The physical properties of these drugs are incorporated in the model to provide physiological scenario. The effects of fluid flow, drug elimination, and microscopic cellular structures are analysed on penetration and distribution of these chemotherapeutic drugs. It is observed that carmustine penetrates deeper into the tissue, followed by paclitaxel, methotrexate, fluorouracil, doxorubicin, whereas cisplatin penetrates least. In order to explain advection–diffusion–reaction processes, a novel dimensionless number KT=Ka/Th2 is introduced, where Ka and Th are Karlovitz and Thiele modulus numbers, respectively. This number may be defined as the ratio of time-scale of reaction rate with the cumulative time-scale of advection and diffusion processes. As the model involves several parameters, the global sensitivity analysis is also performed to determine the sensitivity of uncertainties in the input parameters to the model output.

A Numerical Study on Premixed Turbulent Planar Ammonia/Air and Ammonia/Hydrogen/Air Flames: An Analysis on Flame Displacement Speed and Burning Velocity

The economic storage and transportation of ammonia (NH3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3$$\\end{document}), and its capability to be thermally decomposed to hydrogen (H2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {H}_2$$\\end{document}) make it a potential carbon-free synthetic fuel for the future. To comprehend the fundamental characteristics of NH3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3$$\\end{document} as a primary fuel enriched with H2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {H}_2$$\\end{document} under low turbulent premixed flame conditions, three quasi direct numerical simulations (quasi-DNS) with detailed chemistry and the mixture-averaged transport model are conducted under decaying turbulence herein. The Karlovitz number is fixed to 4.28 for all the test conditions. The blending ratio (α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha$$\\end{document}), specifying the hydrogen concentration in the ammonia/hydrogen mixture, varies from 0.0 to 0.6. The results reveal that the mean value of the density-weighted flame displacement speed (Sd∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S_{\ extrm{d}}^{*}$$\\end{document}) is similar to (higher than) the unstrained premixed laminar burning velocity (SL0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S_{\ extrm{L}}^{0}$$\\end{document}) for NH3/\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3/$$\\end{document}air flame (NH3/H2/\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3/\\hbox {H}_2/$$\\end{document}air flames). Furthermore, the performance of two extrapolation relations for estimating Sd∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S_{\ extrm{d}}^{*}$$\\end{document} as linear and non-linear functions of flame front curvature is discussed thoroughly. The performances of both models are almost similar when evaluating the data near the leading edge of the flame. However, the non-linear one offers more accurate results near the trailing edge of the flame. The results show that the mean flame stretch factor increases with increasing the blending ratio, suggesting that the mean flamelet consumption velocity deviates from SL0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S_{\ extrm{L}}^{0}$$\\end{document} by enriching the mixture with H2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {H}_2$$\\end{document}. The mean value of the local equivalence ratio (ϕ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\phi$$\\end{document}) for the turbulent NH3/\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3/$$\\end{document}air flame is almost equal to its laminar counterpart, while it deviates significantly for NH3/H2/\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3/\\hbox {H}_2/$$\\end{document}air flames. In addition, the local equivalence ratio for the flame front with positive curvature values is higher than the negatively curved regions for NH3/H2/\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {NH}_3/\\hbox {H}_2/$$\\end{document}air flames due to H2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\hbox {H}_2$$\\end{document} preferential diffusion. Furthermore, the results indicate that hydrogen is consumed faster in positively curved regions compared to the negatively curved zones due to enhanced reaction rates of specific chemical reactions.

Onset of flame acceleration in propane–oxygen mixtures

In this study, the onset of flame acceleration because of Darrieus–Landau and diffusive–thermal instability in propane–oxygen mixtures was investigated using experiments and analysis. Using the soap bubble method, the unstretched laminar burning velocity Su0 and critical flame radius rc at which flame acceleration occurs of the propane-oxygen mixture were evaluated. The experimental values of Su0 and critical Péclet number Pec agreed qualitatively with the calculated values, and Pec tended to decrease with increasing equivalence ratios. In addition, the dependency of Pec on the Markstein number Mab and the critical Karlovitz number Kac on Mab for the propane–oxygen flame was compared with that for other fuel–air mixtures. The comparison revealed that the decreasing trend of Kac with Mab for the propane-oxygen flame was qualitative consistent with other fuel-air mixtures, in contrast to the different slopes of the Pec-Mab relationship.

Turbulence Effects on the Statistical Behaviour and Modelling of Flame Surface Density and the Terms of Its Transport Equation in Turbulent Premixed Flames

The influence of the ratio of integral length scale to flame thickness on the statistical behaviours of flame surface density (FSD) and its transport has been analysed using a Direct Numerical Simulation database of three-dimensional statistically planar turbulent premixed flames for different turbulence intensities. It has been found that turbulent burning velocity based on volume-integration of reaction rate and flame surface area increase but the peak magnitudes of the FSD and the terms of the FSD transport term decrease with an increase in length scale ratio for a given turbulence intensity. The flame brush thickness and flame wrinkling increase with an increase in length scale ratio for all turbulence intensities. However, the qualitative behaviours of the unclosed terms in the FSD transport equation remain unaltered by the length scale ratio and in all cases the tangential strain rate term and the curvature term act as leading order source and sink, respectively. A decrease in length scale ratio for a given turbulence intensity leads to a decrease in Damköhler number and an increase in Karlovitz number. This has an implication on the alignment of reactive scalar gradient with local strain rate eigenvectors, which in turn increases positive contribution of the tangential strain rate term with a decrease in length scale ratio. Moreover, an increase in Karlovitz number increases the likelihood of negative contribution of the curvature term. Thus, the magnitude of the negative contribution of the FSD curvature term increases with a decrease in length scale ratio for a given turbulence intensity. The model for the tangential strain rate term, which explicitly considers the scalar gradient alignment with local principal strain rate eigenvectors, has been shown to be more successful than the models that do not account for the scalar gradient alignment characteristics. Moreover, the existing model for the curvature and propagation term needed modification to account for greater likelihood of negative values for higher Karlovitz number. However, the models for the unclosed flux of FSD and the mean reaction rate closure are not significantly affected by the length scale ratio.

Investigation of cellularization characteristics of hydrogen-methane-ethanol expanding spherical flame at elevated pressures

The incorporation of ethanol into hydrocarbon fuels for use is attracting increasing interest and it is necessary to investigate its inherent flame instability for better application in combustion units. The instability of hydrogen-methane-ethanol spherically expanding flame has been investigated at an initial temperature of 400 K, initial pressures of (2–4 bar), ethanol fraction of (20%, 50%, 80%), and equivalence ratios (Ф) of (0.7–1.4) using the constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC). High-speed schlieren technology was used to record flame propagation images. The effects of hydrodynamic and thermal-diffusion effect on the inherent instability of the flame were investigated. As the ethanol ratio increased, the hydrodynamic effect was enhanced. The thermal-diffusion effect was discovered to stabilize the flame surface under all conditions, as judged jointly by the effective Lewis number and the critical Lewis number. The critical conditions (critical radius and Peclet number) at the onset of unstability were evaluated, and it was found that the flames were more prone to flame instability at higher pressures. The critical Peclet number increased with the increase in the equivalence ratio when the ethanol ratio was 20%, and showed the opposite trend when the ethanol ratio was 50% and 80%. In addition, as the ethanol ratio increases, the stability of the lean mixtures flame increases, while the rich mixtures flame suffers from early onset of instability. The theoretical and experimental results were consistent, with some differences at Ф = 1.4. An empirical correlation formula for the critical Peclet number (Pec) and Markstein number (Mb) was further proposed (Pec= 18.03Mb+214.78). Finally, the Karlovitz number was used to study the instability behavior of the flame. The critical Karlovitz number (Kac) decreased with increasing Mb and the tendency of the flame to suffer from instability diminished, and the following correlation was obtained Kac=0.05635×e−0.13852Mb. Furthermore, the flame was more unstable in rich mixtures, this was consistent with the conclusion of instability derived from the critical radius.

Quenching modes of local flame–wall interaction for turbulent premixed methane combustion in a constant volume vessel

The quenching mode of local flame–wall interaction (FWI) is investigated for its response to different levels of turbulence intensity as well as its effect on quenching distance, wall heat flux, and near-wall reaction. For that, direct numerical simulations of turbulent premixed methane combustion in a constant volume vessel are carried with initial Karlovitz numbers (Ka) of 1.0, 10.0, and 30.0. Local flame–wall quenching positions are identified based on the local fuel consumption speed during the turbulent combustion process, and the local FWI events have been classified into four quenching modes according to the flame–wall geometric relationships of quenching positions, namely head-on quenching (HOQ), oblique-wall quenching, side-wall quenching (SWQ), and back-on quenching (BOQ). The results show that in the case with higher initial Ka, the flame surface shows a more complicated wrinkled structure due to the flame–turbulence interaction. Meanwhile, the local quenching distance defined based on the identified quenching position is strongly influenced by the near-wall flow, and the range of the local quenching mode extends further to BOQ. However, for all three cases, HOQ and near-HOQ modes account for the majority of local FWI. Wall heat flux and heat release rate (HRR) of near-wall reaction yield high values for the FWI under HOQ or BOQ and are low for SWQ. In addition, there is a discrepancy in the near-wall transportation of some species under different quenching modes, which further leads to the difference in FWI-induced near-wall reaction regarding its total and elementary HRR.

A study of flame dynamics and structure in premixed turbulent planar NH3/H2/air flames

Ammonia (NH3) has received considerable attention as a near future carbon-free synthetic fuel due to its economic storage/transportation/distribution, and its potential to be thermally decomposed to hydrogen (H2). To promote the low burning velocity and heat of combustion of ammonia, one viable option is to enrich pure ammonia with hydrogen. In this study, two quasi direct numerical simulations (quasi-DNS) with detailed chemistry and the mixture-averaged transport model are examined to study stoichiometric planar ammonia/hydrogen/air flames under decaying turbulence. The reactants temperature and pressure are set to 298 K and 1 atm, respectively. The initial turbulent Karlovitz number is changed from 4.3 to 16.9, implying that all the test conditions are located within the thin reaction zones combustion regime. The results indicate that the density-weighted flame displacement speed ([Formula: see text]), on average, is higher than the unstrained premixed laminar burning velocity ([Formula: see text]) value for both test cases. This suggests that the flame elements propagate faster than their laminar flame counterpart. With increasing the Karlovitz number, the turbulent burning velocity and the wrinkled flame surface area increase by about 35%. Furthermore, the mean flame stretch factor defined as the ratio of the turbulent to the laminar burning velocity divided by the ratio of the wrinkled to the unwrinkled flame surface area is equal to 1.08. This indicates that the local flamelet velocity value, on average, is higher than the unstrained premixed laminar burning velocity. In addition, the results show that the mean value of the local equivalence ratio for the turbulent conditions is higher than its laminar counterpart due to the preferential diffusion of hydrogen and turbulent mixing. Furthermore, the net production rate of hydrogen is shown to be negatively correlated with the flame front curvature suggesting that the local burning rate is intensified in positively curved regions.

Turbulent flame speed based on the mass flow rate: Theory and DNS

Starting with an integral formulation of average mass flow rate through an ensemble of isotherms constituting a statistically planar, turbulent premixed flame, a scaling for the corresponding turbulent flame speed is derived without invoking Damköhler’s hypotheses. Major approximations and interim results are validated using a large Karlovitz number, unity Lewis number, Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) dataset of n-heptane/air mixture, computed with reduced chemistry. A length scale quantifying the fluctuation distance of the isotherms within the premixed flame structure is analysed.

Flame structure and broadening in turbulent premixed jet flames

High-resolution and high signal-to-noise (SNR) planar Rayleigh scattering thermometry measurements are performed to investigate preheat and reaction zone broadening, turbulent transport of high-temperature gases, and the internal flame structure in a series of highly turbulent, lean (ϕ = 0.75), premixed methane-air turbulent jet flames. These flames are characterized by turbulence intensities ranging from u′/SL of 35 to 150 and turbulent Reynolds numbers approaching 104, as determined from separate particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. Average flame profiles obtained using a gradient-based flame reconstruction method and probability density functions (PDFs) of the preheat, reaction, and thermal layer thicknesses show substantial broadening of the preheat and thermal layers. Instantaneous preheat zones are broadened by as much as a factor of 30 compared to laminar flames, with an average broadening approaching a factor of 14 for the most turbulent case. Moderate broadening of the reaction layer is observed with up to a factor of eight times that of a laminar premixed flame for instantaneous realizations and an average broadening of four times that of a laminar flame for the most turbulent case. Conditional statistics of temperature obtained at isodistance contours within and upstream of the preheat zone show large shifts towards significantly higher temperatures compared to laminar flame values. In addition, broad temperature distributions and reduced thermal gradients at each position provide strong evidence of persistent turbulent transport of high-temperature gases ahead of the preheat zone. Finally, a detailed analysis of scalar dissipation rate statistics and dissipation layer topology was conducted. The conditional mean scalar dissipation rates for the turbulent flames show significant reductions compared to calculated laminar flame values and a shift towards higher values of the reaction progress variable (CT) for increasing turbulence levels. PDFs show a transition from near-Gaussian to highly negatively skewed with increasing turbulence levels, where the most probable values of the scalar dissipation rate shift towards higher values of CT, indicating that the primary reaction zone and flame front are subjected to increased strain. In terms of structure, no significant broadening of the small-scale dissipation layers was observed with increasing turbulence intensity. However, as turbulence intensity increases, there is a transition from a sparse number of continuous layers to a large number of shorter, ”broken”, nearly straight segments. The reduction of individual layer lengths (i.e., ”breaking”) is favored over increases in dissipation layer wrinkling, where the sharp decreases in the local dissipation rate values are highly correlated with regions of high curvature. A final notable outcome of this work is that there were negligible differences in all statistical and topological results when moving between the two highest turbulent cases, even though the turbulence intensity, turbulent Reynolds number, and the turbulence Karlovitz number increased substantially (70 - 120%). This implies that there may be an asymptotic limit in which turbulence affects flame behavior for the current configuration.

Closure modeling for the conditional pressure gradient in turbulent premixed combustion

In turbulent premixed combustion, turbulence is affected by both the influence of combustion heat release and turbulent shear effects. At low Karlovitz number, heat release effects are more dominant than turbulent shear effects, but, at high Karlovitz number, turbulent shear effects dominate the turbulence dynamics. Closure models for the velocity and scalar fields that only account for one of those effects are incapable of generally describing combustion-turbulence interactions at any finite Karlovitz number. A manifold-based turbulence model that solves the conditional mean momentum transport equation conditioned on a progress variable has the potential to provide such a general description, but closure models for the equation are required. Among the unclosed terms, the conditional mean pressure gradient is significant at both low and high Karlovitz numbers but has fundamentally different behaviors in each regime. In this work, a general closure model is developed to capture the conditional pressure gradient in both Karlovitz number regimes by considering heat release and turbulent shear effects. The deviation of the conditional pressure gradient from the unconditional pressure gradient is modeled with two components. One represents the pressure decrease across the flame due to combustion heat release, and the other represents the hydrodynamic pressure fluctuations due to turbulent shear. The heat release component depends on the heat release rate and the flame-normal vector, and the turbulent shear component depends on the conditional Reynolds stresses and the gradient of the progress variable probability density function. The model is validated against Direct Numerical Simulations of spatially-evolving turbulent premixed hydrogen/air planar jet flames at low and high Karlovitz numbers. The proposed model well captures the conditional pressure gradient at both Karlovitz numbers and shows a natural transition of its dominant term: the heat release component at low Karlovitz number and the turbulent shear component at high Karlovitz number.

Numerical and Experimental Study on Flame Dynamics of the Premixed Methane-Air Mixture at Different Ignition Positions in a Two-Side 45° Branch Tube.

The combustion characteristics of premixed methane-air flames in a half-open tube with a two-sided 45° branch structure at different ignition positions were investigated by experiments and large eddy simulations. The numerical results were compared with the experimental results to verify the correctness of the model. The results show that the simulation results are highly consistent with the experiment. This study provides a basic understanding of the effects of the branch tube structure and the ignition position on flame dynamics. When the flame propagates to the branch interface, it forms a symmetrical vortex structure at the branch tube with the opposite rotation direction. When the ignition position is at IP0 and IP900, the maximum overpressures obtained in the experiment are 10.1 and 10.7 kPa, respectively, and 9.2 and 10.4 kPa in the simulation, respectively. At IP0, the Karlovitz number indicating the interaction intensity between the flame surface and the turbulence during flame propagation is a maximum of 9.2 and a minimum of 0.04. The premixed flame has a folded small flame, a corrugated small flame, and a thin reaction zone.

Simple criterion of importance of laminar flame instabilities in premixed turbulent combustion of mixtures characterized by low Lewis numbers.

By (i) highlighting the mitigation effect of strain rates on laminar flame instabilities and (ii) comparing peak growth rates of laminar flame instabilities with strain rates generated by small-scale turbulent eddies, a simple criterion of importance of the influence of the instabilities on an increase in premixed flame surface area in turbulent flows is suggested. The criterion implies that, even in lean hydrogen-air mixtures, laminar flame instabilities can significantly affect the flame area only in weak or moderate turbulence (the Karlovitz number defined using laminar flame speed, thermal flame thickness, and Kolmogorov time scale is on the order of 10 or less under room conditions).

The impact of N2 micro-jets on the V-to-M flame shape transition in a premixed swirl burner

Injection of N2 through micro-jets located on the dump plane of a lean premixed swirl stabilized combustor is investigated as a new method for mitigating combustion instabilities. This study focuses on the chemical and fluid dynamic processes by which the N2 micro-jets impact the flame dynamics. An experimental and numerical investigation is performed to characterize the combustion instability during the V-to-M flame shape transition in a swirl burner fueled with premixed CH4/air, at an equivalence ratio of 0.62. Reasonable agreements have been found between the experimental measurements and simulation results. Both of them present that the flame changes from V-shape to M-shape periodically, and a low-frequency instability around 10 Hz is observed accordingly. It is confirmed that intermittent flame extinction in the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) is the source of the combustion instability. Furthermore, injection of N2 through micro-jets located on the combustor dump plane, into the outer recirculation zone, results in a stable V shape flame. It is clearly seen that the ORZ dilution can eliminate the combustion instability without inhibiting the combustion efficiency. A special focus is placed on the impact of the diluent injection on the local flame-flow interaction. The nitrogen micro-jets increase the local nitrogen concentration by 7% on average, lowering the flame speed and extinction strain rates by 27% and 17% respectively. Moreover, the micro-jets increase the turbulence intensity in the ORZ, leading to a significant increase in the Karlovitz number and transferring the local combustion regime from the thin reaction zone regime to the broken reaction zone regime. Hence, the nitrogen micro-jets impact on both the turbulence and the chemical reaction rates prevents flame propagation into the ORZ and results in a stable flame.