Lean Premixed Combustion Research Articles

Premixed flame response to equivalence ratio fluctuations: Comparison between reduced order modeling and detailed computations

Combustion instability events in lean premixed combustion systems can cause spatio-temporal variations in unburnt mixture fuel/air ratio. This provides a driving mechanism for heat-release oscillations when they interact with the flame. Several Reduced Order Modelling (ROM) approaches to predict the characteristics of these oscillations have been developed in the past. The present paper compares results for flame describing function characteristics determined from a ROM approach based on the level-set method, with corresponding results from detailed, fully compressible reacting flow computations for the same two dimensional slot flame configuration. The comparison between these results is seen to be sensitive to small geometric differences in the shape of the nominally steady flame used in the two computations. When the results are corrected to account for these differences, describing function magnitudes are well predicted for frequencies lesser than and greater than a lower and upper cutoff respectively due to amplification of flame surface wrinkling by the convective Darrieus-Landau (DL) instability. However, good agreement in describing function phase predictions is seen as the ROM captures the transit time of wrinkles through the flame correctly. Also, good agreement is seen for both magnitude and phase of the flame response, for large forcing amplitudes, at frequencies where the DL instability has a minimal influence. Thus, the present ROM can predict flame response as long as the DL instability, caused by gas expansion at the flame front, does not significantly alter flame front perturbation amplitudes as they traverse the flame.

모형 덤프 연소기에서 혼합기 유입구 길이 변화에 따른 연소불안정 특성에 대한 실험적 연구

The main objective of this study was investigation of natural gas flames in a lean premixed swirl-stabilized dump combustor with an attention focused on the effect of the various fuel-air mixing section geometry on the combustion instability characteristics. The combustor and mixing section length was varied in order to have different acoustic resonance characteristics from 800 to 1800 mm in combustor and 470, 550, 870 mm in mixing section. We observed two dominant instability frequencies in this study. Lower frequencies were associated with a fundamental longitudinal mode of combustor length. Higher frequencies were related to secondary longitudinal mode of coupled with the combustor and mixing section. As a result, combustion instability was strongly affected by acoustic characteristics of combustor and mixing section geometry.

Simulation of nitrogen emissions in a premixed hydrogen flame stabilized on a low swirl burner

There is considerable interest in developing fuel-flexible, low emissions turbines for power generation. One approach is based on burning a variety of lean premixed fuels with relatively low flame temperatures. Such flames can be stabilized in a low swirl burner configuration, for example, using a variety of fuels such as pure hydrogen and hydrogen-seeded hydrocarbon mixtures. However, many hydrogen-rich fuels are thermodiffusively unstable and burn in cellular flame structures, which can have a significant impact on the local nitrogen chemistry. These cellular burning patterns are characterized by a local enhancement of fuel concentration and a corresponding increase in local flame temperature just downstream. In turn, these regions become sites for enhanced thermal NOx production. The structure of these cells, and their impact on the net emissions of a flame is influenced by the global flame stabilization mechanisms and by local turbulence properties. Here we investigate the role of thermodiffusive instabilities on NOx emissions in the context of a laboratory-scale low swirl burner fueled with a lean hydrogen–air mixture at atmospheric pressure. The simulations show how the cellular burning structures characteristic of lean premixed hydrogen combustion lead to local and global enhancements in the NOx emissions. We quantify the chemical pathways that lead to the formation of NO and N2O, and how they are enhanced within local regions of intense burning.

Investigation on the thermal flame thickness for lean premixed combustion of low calorific H2/CO mixtures within porous inert media

The lean premixed combustion of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (H2/CO) mixtures within a porous inert media model-burner was investigated for ranges of H2/CO volumetric ratios from 2 to 4, inert volumetric concentrations in the fuel stream from 85% to 90%, thermal loads of 400kW/m2 (2kW) and 1000kW/m2 (5kW), constant reactants temperature of 673K and an equivalence ratio of ϕ=0.5. Experimental measurements and numerical predictions of temperature profiles and temperature gradients along the axial center-line of the combustion zone are presented and the thermal flame thickness is estimated and analyzed for the effect of thermal load, inert components in the fuel stream and H2/CO ratios. The adopted numerical model uses a volume-averaged approach and solves both the gas- and solid-phase energy balances explicitly and accounts for the radiative heat transport in the solid-phase. The thermal flame thickness results are compared with the respective laminar free flame values and differences between the flame thickness of free flames and flames inside a porous inert media are discussed.

Bifurcation analysis of the effect of hydrogen addition on the dynamic behavior of lean premixed pre-vaporized ethanol combustion

In this work, a mathematical model of fuel conversion and energy balance has been developed to study the dynamic behavior of a lean premixed pre-vaporized combustor fed with ethanol/air and ethanol–hydrogen/air mixtures. The combustor was modeled as a well stirred reactor (WSR). Results show that, for a simplified model reaction, Hopf bifurcations occur. Spontaneous oscillations have been found, suggesting that the combustion reaction plays an important role in the development of dynamic regimes. Hydrogen addition stabilizes ethanol combustion, damping the oscillations.

화학반응기 네트워크을 이용한 희박 예혼합 가스터빈 연소기에서의 오염물질 예측에 관한 연구

A chemical reactor network (CRN) was developed for a lean premixed gas turbine combustor to predict the emission of pollutants such as NOx and CO. In this study, the predictions of NOx and CO emissions from lean premixed methane-air combustion in the gas turbine were carried out using CHEMKIN and a GRI 3.0 methane-air combustion mechanism, which includes the four NO formation mechanisms for various load conditions. The calculated results were compared with experimental data obtained from a modified test combustor to validate the model. The contributions of the four NO pathways were investigated for various load conditions. The effects of nonuniformity of the mass flux and of the equivalence ratio of the injector on the NOx formation were investigated, and a method of reducing the pollutant formation was suggested for the development of a sub-10 ppm gas turbine combustor.

Autoignition Limits of Hydrogen at Relevant Reheat Combustor Operating Conditions

The use of highly reactive fuels in the lean premixed combustion systems employed in stationary gas turbines can lead to many practical problems, such as unwanted autoignition in regions not designed for combustion. In the present study, autoignition characteristics for hydrogen, diluted with up to 30 vol. % nitrogen, were investigated at conditions relevant to reheat combustor operation (p = 15 bar, T >1000 K, hot flue gas, relevant residence times). The experiments were performed in a generic, optically accessible reheat combustor, by applying high-speed imaging and particle image velocimetry. Autoignition limits for different mixing section (temperature, velocity) and fuel jet (N2 dilution) parameters are described. The dominant factor influencing autoignition was the temperature, with an increase of around 2% leading to a reduction of the highest possible H2 concentration without “flame-stabilizing autoignition kernels” of approximately 16 vol. %. Furthermore, the onset and propagation of the ignition kernels were elucidated using the high-speed measurements. It was found that the ability of individual autoignition kernels to develop into stable flames depends on the initial position of the kernel and the corresponding axial velocity at that position. While unwanted autoignition occurred prior to reaching the desired operating point for most investigated conditions, for certain conditions the reheat combustor could be operated stably with up to 80 vol. % H2 in the fuel.

Large Eddy simulation for lean premixed combustion

AbstractIn comparison to previous numerical studies interested in the ORACLES benchmark (One Rig for Accurate Comparisons with Large Eddy Simulations), the present study demonstrates the advantages of LES‐WALE model in both inert and reacting flows using the Fluent‐CFD. So, the confirmation is based on the experimental research effort that was involved in the European Union‐funded research program MOLECULES (Modelling of Low Emissions Combustors Using Large Eddy Simulations), for three parameters: longitudinal velocity, longitudinal velocity fluctuation, and length of recirculation zone. In line with what was observed by the experimental reference study, the dynamic model (LES‐WALE) predicts, respectively, as well as the asymmetry and the symmetry, for both inert and reacting flows. In addition, the simulation succeeds to predict the zones of recirculation and shows the differences between the two cases, inert and reacting flows. Moreover, results have been compared with those of the k–ε model performed by Kurenkov and Obserlack [Kurenkov and Obserlack, Flow Turbulence Combustion 74, 387–407 (2005)] study. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering

Experimental Characterization of Fuel-Air Mixing in a Multihole Tube

The multihole tube is an important component used for lean premixed prevaporized low-emission combustion in micro gas turbines, as it plays a key role in establishing uniform fuel-air mixture before flowing into the combustor. Recognizing that poor fuel-air mixing leads to increased emissions, it is therefore imperative to characterize the extent of fuel-air mixing at the exit of the multihole tube. In the present investigation, mixing characterization experiments were conducted by mapping the distribution of fuel-air equivalence ratios at the tube exit with gas analysis technique. Two different multihole tube configurations were tested and compared using aviation kerosene. Experiments were performed under atmospheric pressure, with an inlet air temperature of 480 K and an overall fuel-air equivalence ratio of 0.6. While the baseline configuration yielded the maximum magnitude of equivalence ratio deviation close to 35% at the tube exit, the modified configuration demonstrated much improved mixing uniformity with the maximum extent of equivalence ratio deviation being reduced to ∼10%. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation was also carried out to illustrate the resulting flow field associated with the baseline configuration and suggest the needed configuration modifications for performance improvement. Experimental and computational results indicate that the matching of fuel atomization and flow field is the primary factor affecting fuel-air mixture uniformity. By optimizing the flow rate ratio of the axial jet air in the nozzle section to the swirling jet air in the tube section as well as the axial jet momentum, enhanced fuel-air mixture uniformity can be achieved.

Numerical simulation of instabilities in lean premixed hydrogen combustion

PurposeThe present paper is about numerical simulations of one‐ and two‐dimensional lean hydrogen combustion at an equivalence ratio of 0.7. The initial flat two‐dimensional flames show unstable behavior. The instabilities generate flame wrinkling and flame induced turbulence. As a result, cusp‐like structures arise that both merge and break up in new cusps. Therefore, physically, the laminar burning velocity associated to an adiabatic flat flame does not exist. Instead, a statistical effective burning velocity and flame width develop in which the cusp like structures and their effects are included. The purpose of this paper is to describe the phenomena with a reduced chemical approach.Design/methodology/approachSimulations are performed with detailed kinetics, to study the main properties and dynamics of the wrinkling. An attempt is made to reduce the chemistry employing flamelet generated manifolds to make a step towards large‐scale, low cost simulations, which are still able to capture the physics. Here the manifold was built of premixed flames with variations of stretch, unburnt temperature and equivalence ratio. A priori correlations are presented, together with results from actual reduced chemistry simulations.FindingsIt was found that with introduction of variation of equivalence ratio into the manifold the main physical phenomena are captured. Moreover, an effective inclusion of differential diffusion was succesfully tested and applied. Results of effective burning velocities and flame widths are presented.Originality/valueThe paper shows the potential of performing accurate simulations using the chemical reduction technique of flamelet generated manifolds for pure lean hydrogen flames.

Experimental Investigation of Thermoacoustic Instabilities for a Model Combustor With Varying Fuel Components

In this study, a combustion facility was constructed that includes a flexible fuel supply system to produce synthesis gas using a maximum of three components. The rig with lean premixed burner is able to operate at up to five bars. The length of the inlet plenum and the outlet boundary conditions of the combustion chamber are adjustable. Experiments were carried out under a broad range of conditions, with variations in fuel components including hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide, equivalence ratios, thermal power and boundary conditions. The dynamic processes of self-excited combustion instabilities with variable fuel components were measured. The mechanisms of coupling between the system acoustic waves and unsteady heat release were investigated. The results show that instability modes and flame characteristics were significantly different with variations in fuel components. In addition, the results are expected to provide useful information for the design and operation of stable syngas combustion systems.

Application of Dielectric Barrier Discharge to Improve the Flashback Limit of a Lean Premixed Dump Combustor

In recent years, lean-premixed (LP) combustors have been widely studied due to their potential to reduce NOx emissions in comparison to diffusion type combustors. However, the fact that the fuels and oxidizers are mixed upstream of the combustion zone makes LP type of combustors a candidate for upstream flame propagation (i.e., flashback) in the premixer that is typically not designed to sustain high temperatures. Moreover, there has been a recent demand for fuel-flexible gas turbines that can operate on hydrogen-enriched fuels like Syngas. Combustors originally designed for slower kinetics fuels like natural gas can potentially encounter flashback if operated with faster burning fuels like those containing hydrogen as a constituent. There exists a clear need in fuel-flexible lean-premixed combustors to control flashback that will not only prevent costly component damage but will also enhance the operability margin of engines. A successful attempt has been made to control flashback in an atmospheric LP combustor, burning natural gas-air mixtures, via the application of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). A low-power DBD actuator was designed, fabricated and integrated into a premixer made out of quartz. The actuator was tuned to produce a low magnitude ionic wind with an intention to modify the velocity profile in the premixer. Flashback conditions were created by decreasing the air flow rate while keeping the fuel flow rate constant. Within this experimental setup, flashback happened in the core flow along the axis of the cylindrical premixer. Results show that the utilization of the DBD delays the occurrence of flashback to higher equivalence ratios. Improvements as high as about 5% of the flashback limit have been obtained without compromising the blowout limit. It is anticipated that this novel application of DBD will lead to future demonstrations of the concept under realistic gas turbine operating conditions.

Porous Burner for Application in Stationary Gas Turbines: An Experimental Investigation of the Flame Stability, Emissions and Temperature Boundary Condition

A possible solution to ensure the stability of lean premixed flames over an extended operational range is to provide enhanced heat recirculation by employing porous inert material. A potential application of the porous burner concept is the generation of the pilot flames based on lean premixed combustion which is a prerequisite for ultra low NOx emission. For the optimization of the porous burner an experimental study investigating flame stability and emissions was conducted. In particular axial concentration profiles of the stable species and temperature within the porous burner reaction zone are presented. Furthermore the surface temperature of the burner having a 10 PPI SiSiC material was measured for various operating conditions using two colour pyrometry.

희박 예혼합 가스터빈 연소기 3 차원 전산 해석 및 화학반응기 네트워크에 의한 NOx 예측

This paper presents 3D simulation by STAR-CCM+ for lean premixed combustion in a stationary gas turbine combustor with separate pilot and main nozzles. The constant for the source term in the flame area density transport equation was modified to account for a low global equivalence ratio and validated against measurement data. A Partially-premixed Coherent Flame Model(PCFM) involves propagation of a laminar premixed flame with the predicted flame surface density and equilibrium assumption in the burned gas with spatial inhomogeneity. The conditions for cooling by radiation and convection are considered for accurate determination of the heat flux on the wall. A parametric study is of the pilot-fuel-to-total-fuel-ratio is carried out. A chemical reactor network (CRN) was constructed on the basis of the 3D simulation results and compared against measurements of NOx.

Flammability conditions for ultra-lean hydrogen premixed combustion based on flame-ball analyses

It has been reasoned that the structures of strongly cellular flames in very lean mixtures approach an array of flame balls, each burning as if it were isolated, thereby indicating a connection between the critical conditions required for existence of steady flame balls and those necessary for occurrence of self-sustained premixed combustion. This is the starting assumption of the present study, in which structures of near-limit steady sphericosymmetrical flame balls are investigated with the objective of providing analytic expressions for critical combustion conditions in ultra-lean hydrogen-oxygen mixtures diluted with N2 and water vapor. If attention were restricted to planar premixed flames, then the lean-limit mole fraction of H2 would be found to be roughly ten percent, more than twice the observed flammability limits, thereby emphasizing the relevance of the flame-ball phenomena. Numerical integrations using detailed models for chemistry and radiation show that a one-step chemical-kinetic reduced mechanism based on steady-state assumptions for all chemical intermediates, together with a simple, optically thin approximation for water-vapor radiation, can be used to compute near-limit fuel-lean flame balls with excellent accuracy. The previously developed one-step reaction rate includes a crossover temperature that determines in the first approximation a chemical-kinetic lean limit below which combustion cannot occur, with critical conditions achieved when the diffusion-controlled radiation-free peak temperature, computed with account taken of hydrogen Soret diffusion, is equal to the crossover temperature. First-order corrections are found by activation-energy asymptotics in a solution that involves a near-field radiation-free zone surrounding a spherical flame sheet, together with a far-field radiation-conduction balance for the temperature profile. Different scalings are found depending on whether or not the surrounding atmosphere contains water vapor, leading to different analytic expressions for the critical conditions for flame-ball existence, which give results in very good agreement with those obtained by detailed numerical computations. The one-step chemistry employed in the present work, which involves a non-Arrhenius rate having a cutoff at the crossover temperature, applies with excellent accuracy to the description of lean premixed hydrogen-air combustion, i.e, for ϕ≲0.5 at atmospheric pressure, and could be used for instance in the numerical simulation of the propagation of curved or cellular flames in ultra-lean reactive atmospheres, of interest for safety analyses related to the storage, transport, and handling of hydrogen.

Experimental and Numerical Study of NOx Formation From the Lean Premixed Combustion of CH4 Mixed With CO2 and N2

This paper describes an experimental and numerical study of the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the lean premixed (LPM) combustion of gaseous fuel alternatives to typical pipeline natural gas in a high intensity, single-jet, stirred reactor (JSR). In this study, CH4 is mixed with varying levels CO2 and N2. NOx measurements are taken at a nominal combustion temperature of 1800K, atmospheric pressure, and a reactor residence time of 3 ms. The experimental results show the following trends for NOx emissions as a function of fuel dilution: (1) more NOx is produced per kg of CH4 consumed with the addition of a diluent, (2) the degree of increase in emission index is dependent on the chosen diluent; N2 dilution increases NOx production more effectively than equivalent CO2 dilution. Chemical kinetic modeling suggests that NOx production is less effective for the mixture diluted with CO2 due to both a decrease in N2 concentration and the ability of CO2 to deplete the radicals taking part in NOx formation chemistry. In order to gain insight on flame structure within the JSR, three dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are carried out for LPM CH4 combustion. A global CH4 combustion mechanism is used to model the chemistry. While it does not predict intermediate radicals, it does predict CH4 and CO oxidation quite well. The CFD model illustrates the flow-field, temperature variation, and flame structure within the JSR. A 3-element chemical reactor network (CRN), including detailed chemistry, is constructed using insight from spatial measurements of the reactor, the results of CFD simulations, and classical fluid dynamic correlations. GRI 3.0 is used in the CRN to model the NOx emissions for all fuel blends. The experimental and modeling results are in good agreement and suggest the underlying chemical kinetic reasons for the trends.

Nonlinear simulations of combustion instabilities with a quasi-1D Navier–Stokes code

As lean premixed combustion systems are more susceptible to combustion instabilities than non-premixed systems, there is an increasing demand for improved numerical design tools that can predict the occurrence of combustion instabilities with high accuracy. The inherent non-linearities in combustion instabilities can be of crucial importance, and we here propose an approach in which the one-dimensional Navier-Stokes and scalar transport equations are solved for geometries of variable cross-section. The focus is on attached flames, and for this purpose a new phenomenological model for the unsteady heat release from a flame front is introduced. In the attached flame method (AFM) the heat release occurs over the full length of the flame. The non-linear code with the use of the AFM approach is validated against results from an experimental study of thermoacoustic instabilities in oxy-fuel flames by Ditaranto and Hals [Combustion and Flame, 146, 493-512 (2006)]. The numerical simulations are in accordance with the experimental measurements and both the frequencies and the amplitudes of the resonant acoustic pressure modes are reproduced with good accuracy.

A simulation for prediction of nitrogen oxide emissions in lean premixed combustor

Chemical reactor networks (CRN) models were developed for lean premixed gas turbine combustor to predict the NOx emissions. In this study, CRN models are constructed based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for both non-pilot and pilot flame cases. Predictions of NOx emissions in combustor with the developed models were made by using CHEMKIN code and full GRI 3.0 chemical kinetic mechanism in the CRN. The predicted results agree reasonably well with the experimental data obtained from a simplified test combustor for the GE7FA gas turbine. The effects of overall equivalence ratio, swirl angle and pilot fuel ratio on the NOx emissions were investigated.

An Experimental Investigation of the Nonlinear Response of an Atmospheric Swirl-Stabilized Premixed Flame

Due to stringent emission restrictions, modern gas turbines mostly rely on lean premixed combustion. Since this combustion mode is susceptible to thermoacoustic instabilities, there is a need for modeling tools with predictive capabilities. Linear network models are able to predict the occurrence of thermoacoustic instabilities but yield no information on the oscillation amplitude. The prediction of the pulsation levels and hence an estimation whether a certain operating condition has to be avoided is only possible if information on the nonlinear flame response is available. Typically, the flame response shows saturation at high forcing amplitudes. A newly constructed atmospheric test rig, specifically designed for the realization of high excitation amplitudes over a broad frequency range, is used to generate extremely high acoustic forcing power with velocity fluctuations of up to 100% of the mean flow. The test rig consists of a generic combustor with a premixed swirl-stabilized natural gas flame, where the upstream part has a variable length to generate adaptive resonances of the acoustic field. The OH∗ chemiluminescence response, with respect to velocity fluctuations at the burner, is measured for various excitation frequencies and amplitudes. From these measurements, an amplitude dependent flame transfer function is obtained. Phase-averaged OH∗ pictures are used to identify changes in the flame shape related to saturation mechanisms. For different frequency regimes, different saturation mechanisms are identified.

Dynamic Adaptation of Aerodynamic Flame Stabilization of a Premix Swirl Burner to Fuel Reactivity Using Fuel Momentum

Due to the expected increase in available fuel gas variants in the future and the interest in independence from a specific fuel, fuel flexible combustion systems are required for future gas turbine applications. Changing the fuel used for lean premixed combustion can lead to serious reliability problems in gas turbine engines caused by the different physical and chemical properties of these gases. A new innovative approach to reach efficient, safe, and low-emission operation for fuels such as natural gas, syntheses gas, and hydrogen with the same burner is presented in this paper. The basic idea is to use the additionally available fuel momentum of highly reactive gases stemming from their lower Wobbe index (lower volumetric heating value and density) compared with lowly reactive fuels. Using fuel momentum opens the opportunity to influence the vortex dynamics of swirl burners designed for lowly reactive gases in a favorable way for proper flame stabilization of highly reactive fuels without changing the hardware geometry. The investigations presented in this paper cover the development of the optimum basic aerodynamics of the burner and the determination of the potential of the fuel momentum in water channel experiments using particle image velocimetry. The results show that proper usage of the fuel momentum has enough potential to adjust the flow field to different fuels and their corresponding flame behavior. As the main challenge is to reach flashback safe fuel flexible burner operation, the main focus of the study lies on avoiding combustion induced vortex breakdown. The mixing quality of the resulting injection strategy is determined by applying laser induced fluorescence in water channel tests. Additional OH∗ chemiluminescence and flashback measurements in an atmospheric combustion test rig confirm the water channel results for CH4, CH4/H2 mixtures, H2 with N2 dilution, and pure H2 combustion. They also indicate a large operating window between flashback and lean blow out and show expected NOx emission levels. In summary, it is shown for a conical four slot swirl generator geometry that the proposed concept of using the fuel momentum for tuning of the vortex dynamics allows aerodynamic flame stabilization for different fuels in the same burner.