Outer Shear Layer Research Articles

Flow structures of a precessing jet in an axisymmetric chamber

This work investigates the flow structures of a precessing jet in an axisymmetric chamber with expansion ratio $$D/d=5$$ and length-to-diameter ratio $$L/D=2.75$$ at Reynolds number $${\mathrm{Re}}_{d}=2.4\times 10$$ 4 by use of planar particle image velocimetry. Time-averaged and statistical results indicate that the precessing jet flow is symmetric, on average, in the streamwise plane. Large velocity fluctuations and vorticity exist in the inner and outer shear layers. In addition, vorticity is found in the boundary layer of the chamber wall, due to backflow and confinement. Subsequent correlative analysis indicates that coherent structures are mainly distributed in the shear layer and decay with its development. The results also indicate that precession occurs in the region $$x/d>5$$ and may lead to changes in the structure and position of the shear layer. Further spectral analysis shows that a low-frequency structure with $$\mathrm{St}\approx 7.4\times 10$$ −3, which can be interpreted as precession, exists in the flow field and that the corresponding dominant frequency decreases as the fluid flows downstream. Finally, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis reveals the most energetic mode representing the flow structure of precession, which has the highest proportion of the total downstream energy. The precession induces an alternating flow, switching between outflow from one side of the chamber and inflow from another side. In addition, four typical instances of flow structures of precession with different intensities or phases are presented through low-order reconstruction of the specified POD modes. These cases show that due to the instability of the reattachment point, the mainstream oscillates up and down in the region near the nozzle exit and twists back and forth in the region near the chamber exit, with changes of scale and position of flow structures on the measurement plane, exposing complex behavior of the instantaneous flow field of precession.

Decomposition of swirling flame transfer function in the complex space

In this work, we propose an analytical decomposition of the flame transfer function (FTF) in the complex space. The decomposition provides new insight into the relationship between the local heat release oscillator and the global flame response of a periodically oscillating system in the linear regime. The FTF of a premixed methane-air swirling flame is decomposed using two-region and pixel-by-pixel division of the chemiluminescence images. The two-region decomposition uses horizontal or vertical dividing lines to examine the effects of dividing positions and orientations. The complex curves of the two-region division are more sensitive to the dividing line's position than its orientation. The pixel-by-pixel decomposition provides detailed distributions of the weighting factor, weighted gain, and phase of all local oscillators. The weighted gain distribution highlights the inner fluctuating region (IFR) and outer fluctuating region (OFR), as well as the node region. These regions are mainly controlled by the radial velocity and its fluctuations induced by the vortices in the inner and outer shear layers. The unwrapped phase, which gradually increases as the downstream distance from the injector increases, highlights the convective characteristics of the oscillating heat release rate. Angular wavenumbers and phase velocities are deduced from the phase distribution. The phase velocities agree well with the mean velocities measured with particle image velocimetry. Sorting all the local oscillators in the ascending phase allows constructing complex curves that favorably represent the FTF. The algebraic sum of weighted gain and the efficiency of phase interference are calculated to examine the phase interference. Phase interference plays a large role in suppressing the global fluctuating amplitude of the heat release rate. The local extrema at low and intermediate frequencies are attributed to in- or out-of-phase interference, while the reduced local response also explains why small FTF gains are observed at high frequencies.

Modelling ignition probability with pairwise mixing-reaction model for flame particle tracking

Reduced order models for ignition analysis can offer insights into ignition processes and facilitate the combustor optimization. In this study, a Pairwise Mixing-Reaction (PMR) model is formulated to model the interaction between the flame particle and the surrounding cell mixture during Lagrangian flame particle tracking. Specifically, the model accounts for the two-way coupling of mass and energy between the flame particle and the surrounding shell layer by modelling the corresponding turbulent mixing, chemical reaction and evaporation process if present. The state of a flame particle, e.g., burnt, hot gas or extinguished, is determined based on particle temperature. This model can properly describe the ignition process with a spark kernel being initiated in a nonflammable region, which is of practical importance in certain turbine engines and has not been rigorously accounted for by the existing models based on the estimation of local Karlovitz number. The model is integrated into an ignition probability analysis platform and is demonstrated for a methane/air bluff-body flame with the flow and fuel/air mixing characteristics being extracted from a non-reacting simulation. The results show that for the spark location being at the extreme fuel-lean outer shear layer of the recirculation zone, PMR can yield ignition events with a significant number of active flame particles. The mechanisms for the survival of the initial flame particles and the entrainment of the survived flame particles into the recirculation zone are analyzed. The results also show that the ignition probability map from PMR agrees well with the experimental observation: a high ignition probability in the shear layer of the recirculation zone near the mean stoichiometric surface, and low ignition probabilities inside the recirculation zone and the top stagnation region of the recirculation zone. The parametric study shows that the predicted shape of the ignition progress factor and ignition probability is in general insensitive to the model parameters and the model is adequate for quantifying the regions with high ignition probabilities.

Influence of effusion cooling air on the thermochemical state of combustion in a pressurized model single sector gas turbine combustor

Thermochemical interaction – represented by CO mole fraction and gas phase temperature measurements – between flame and cooling air is investigated in a close-to-reality effusion-cooled single sector model gas turbine combustor. To investigate the influence of effusion cooling air mass flow on the thermochemical state, a parametric study is conducted. Temperature measurements are performed using ro-vibrational N 2 coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS). CO mole fraction is measured by means of quantitative CO two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (CO-LIF) using a temperature dependent calibration acquired in an adiabatic pressurized laminar flame. Significantly different thermochemical states are observed in the inner and outer shear layer of the swirl stabilized flame. Within the primary zone, increasing cooling air mass flow leads to decreased CO concentrations. Close to the effusion cooled liner, the interaction varies with axial coordinate. In the outer recirculation zone, increased CO mole fractions were measured with increasing cooling air mass flow, indicating occurrence of chemical quenching in the late oxidation branch in the CO-T diagram. Further downstream, processes are dominated by mixing and CO concentrations decrease with the amount of supplied effusion cooling air. To our best knowledge, this is the first time that these effects has been shown experimentally.

Monitoring combustion instabilities of stratified swirl flames by feature extractions of time-averaged flame images using deep learning method

The present article investigates the application of deep learning methods to monitor combustion instabilities based on time-averaged flame images. Experiments on BASIS (Beihang Axial Swirler Independently-Stratified) burner are carried out in a wide range of operating conditions to cover various flame shapes. We design a CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks) named BIM (BASIS Image Monitor) to extract features from flame shapes and determine the thermoacoustic states of the flames ahead of time. Experiments of 112 operating conditions are conducted, and their images are fed into BIM for training and testing purposes. BIM achieves around 99% prediction accuracy after a short training process lasting less than 20 minutes. Features extracted by BIM and visualized by Class Activation Maps (CAM) method reflect the underlying statistical links between flame images and their stabilities. Several phenomena (lift-off flame, flame-wall interaction, outer shear layer (OSL) flame and fuel mixing process) and their contributions to stabilities can be captured and quantified by CAM. After that, we test BIM with eight unknown operating conditions, and BIM can still perform well, identifying their stabilities and unstable features accurately. This paper explores the monitoring accuracy and feature extraction abilities of CNN in combustion. The BIM model shows potential to be a precursor in monitoring and active control systems of combustion instabilities.

Quantitative Analysis of Forced and Unforced Turbulent Multiphase Coaxial Jets

Abstract This study explores the structure of liquid/gas coaxial jets under forced and unforced conditions. The forcing is in the form of a transverse acoustic resonance within the confined space where the mixing occurs. The studied flows are relevant to combustion instabilities which involve an interaction between acoustic waves and reactant mixing. A variety of local and global signal processing methods were applied to digital flow visualization data to identify spatial and temporal features. The unforced case is in particular chaotic and influenced by a broad range of spatial and temporal phenomena. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was able to extract flapping and convecting features, and spectral content of these behaviors is presented. The forced case results in organized structures that emerge above the background turbulence, including harmonics of the forcing frequency and nonlinear interactions between specific frequencies. The dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) performs the best in the forced case, clearly isolating all of these features. Wavelet analysis showed that forcing tended to reorganize energy from longer to shorter time scales. Bicoherence analysis of the data showed that the forcing causes a much different energy exchange in the outer and inner shear layers. The outer-to-inner jet coupling during forced conditions appears to be limited to an axial extent of about one to three inner jet diameters downstream of the jet exit. The recirculation zone between the inner and outer jet, extending about one inner jet diameter downstream, appears to disrupt the influence of forcing on the inner jet.

Absolute instability of an annular jet: local stability analysis

The paper presents parametric studies of the first and second azimuthal absolute modes in annular non-swirling and swirling jets. The spatio-temporal linear stability analysis is applied to investigate an influence of governing parameters including axial velocity gradients in inner and outer shear layers, back-flow velocity, swirl number and shape of the azimuthal velocity. A new base flow is formulated allowing a flexible variation of the shape of axial and azimuthal velocity profiles. It is shown that the first helical absolute mode is governed mainly by the back-flow velocity and swirl intensity. A steepness of the inner shear layer can control the absolute mode frequency. The velocity gradient in the outer shear layer and the shape of the azimuthal velocity have rather limited impact on the absolute mode characteristics. Finally, it is shown that the second helical absolute mode can dominate the flow with a stronger swirl intensity.

STABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPRESSIBLE BINARY PLANAR JETS

The present work investigates the stability of compressible binary planar jets. Different from a homogeneous jet, where a single chemical species is present, the binary jet may have strong density gradients due to the choice of the chemical species considered in each stream. The goal is to identify the possible instability modes for simple and co-flowing jets and investigate the effect of density gradients on the flow structure, growth rates, unstable frequency range and disturbance phase speed for each mode. The effect of species concentration on free shear layer stability has been reported previously in the literature, but detailed comparisons between stability modes and characteristics for a range of density ratios typical of oxygen and hydrogen mixtures as well as the identification of inner and outer sinuous and varicose modes are new. Linear stability theory is used to determine the stability characteristics of the different configurations. For the co-flowing jet four different modes are found, the inner and outer shear layers both have sinuous and varicose modes. Both for the sinuous and varicose modes the simple jet is more unstable when the fluid with the highest density is at the inner jet, with amplification rates twice as high as the lowest density ratio considered, but the range of unstable frequencies can be four times lower. The sinuous mode is less dispersive than the varicose and the disturbance speeds may vary by one order of magnitude with density ratio. For co-flowing jets the external mode is up to seven times more unstable, but this is due to the choice of the velocity ratio considered. For the inner mode the density gradient has a stabilizing effect regardless of which species is at the center. The co-flowing jet is more dispersive, except for the varicose inner mode. The variation of phase speed with density gradient is not as strong as in the simple jet. The ratio of larges to lower phase speeds are of the order of 2 for the co-flowing jet and 4 for the simple jet.

Investigation of large-scale coherent structures and momentum interference of twin rectangular jets

An experimental study was performed to investigate the effects of nozzle spacing between twin rectangular jets on the non-linear momentum interference and spatial evolution of large-scale flow structures. Five test cases of different spacing ratios (S/de = 1.8, 2.8, 3.7, 5.5 and 7.3) were examined. Two-point correlation, joint probability density function and swirling strength were used to characterize the large-scale structures. Turbulent/non-turbulent interface along the inner and outer shear layers were investigated. The results showed that due to the interactions in the merging region, the spatial correlation of streamwise velocity fluctuations was considerably lower along the inner shear layer than along the outer shear layer. As a result of the mixing process, the swirling strength of retrograde vortices generated along the inner shear layer was also lower than that of the prograde vortices. Along the symmetry line, longitudinal and transverse integral length scales increased linearly as the downstream distance from the jets increases. For the longitudinal length scale, the slope of the linear region was independent of the spacing ratio, while for the transverse length scale, the slope increases as the spacing ratio increases. For cases of S/de < 3.7, due to the suppression effects of the adjacent jet, the jump in the conditionally-averaged mean streamwise velocity profile around the turbulent/non-turbulent interface was lower for the inner shear layer compared to the outer shear layer.

Stability of the solitary wave boundary layer subject to finite-amplitude disturbances

The stability and transition in the bottom boundary layer under a solitary wave are analysed in the presence of finite amplitude disturbances. First, the receptivity of the boundary layer is investigated using a linear input-output analysis, in which the environment noise is modelled as distributed body forces. The most dangerous perturbations in a time frame until flow reversal are found to be arranged as counter-rotating streamwise-constant rollers. One of these roller configurations is then selected and deployed to nonlinear equations, and streaks of various amplitudes are generated via lift-up mechanism. By means of secondary stability analysis and direct numerical simulations, the dual role of streaks in the boundary-layer transition is shown. When the amplitude of streaks remains moderate, these elongated features remain stable until the adverse-pressure-gradient stage and have a dampening effect on the instabilities developing thereafter. In contrast, when the low-speed streaks reach high amplitudes exceeding 15% of free-stream velocity at the respective phase, they become highly unstable to secondary sinuous modes in the outer shear layers. Consequently, a subcritical transition to turbulence, i.e., bypass transition, can be already initiated in the favourable-pressure-gradient region ahead of the wave crest.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of a microjet with a Mach disk by Mach–Zehnder interferometers

The Mach–Zehnder interferometer with the finite fringe method is applied for the first time to diagnose the three-dimensional density field of a shock-containing microjet issued from a convergent nozzle with an inner diameter of 1 mm at the exit. Experiments are performed at a nozzle pressure ratio of 4.0 to produce an underexpanded free jet with a Mach disk in the first shock-cell where the Reynolds number, based upon the diameter and flow properties at the nozzle exit, is . Interferogram analyses for reconstructing the jet density fields are performed using the Abel inversion method, in which the analysis of the phase shift of the deformed fringe relative to the background fringe is carried out by the Fourier transform method. In addition to experiments, the flow field of the shock-containing microjet is simulated by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations with the SST – turbulence model for a quantitative mutual comparison between the simulation and the experiment. The detailed variation of the density field associated with the Mach disk, the slip streams and the outer shear layers near the jet boundaries are successfully captured. Furthermore, the density profile along the jet centreline obtained by the present experiment is quantitatively compared with those from prior quantitative visualization studies, such as rainbow schlieren deflectometry, background oriented schlieren, moire schlieren and Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The three-dimensional contour map coloured by the magnitude of the density gradient vector inside the microjet reveals the flow topology of the near-field shock systems and elucidates the spatial variation of the shock strength.

Effects of hydrogen enrichment on CH4/Air turbulent swirling premixed flames in a cuboid combustor

Effects of H2-enrichment on structures of CH4/air turbulent swirling premixed flames affected by high intensity turbulence in a gas turbine model combsutor are investigated by conducting direct numerical simulations. Two stoichiometric mixture conditions, of which volume ratio of CH4:H2 = 50:50 and 80:20, are simulated by considering a reduced chemistry (25 species and 111 reactions). Results showed qualitatively different flame shapes and reaction zone characteristics between the cases. For the higher H2-ratio case, the flame is stabilized both in the inner and outer shear layers. For the lower H2-ratio case, the flame is stabilized only in the inner shear layer and extinction occurs in the outer shear layer. Comparison of the reaction zone characteristics with unstrained and strained laminar flames in phase space showed that H2 mass fraction for the lower H2-ratio case and reaction rate profiles for both cases deviate from the corresponding laminar values. Analysis of fuel species conservation equation suggests that the turbulent transports are substantially influential to determine local and global flame structures. These findings would be useful for designing practical H2-enriched gas turbine combustor in the aspect of flame structures under high intensity turbulence.

Analysis of eigenmodes in a swirling jet and flame: 3D PIV and PLIF study

The existence of spiral structures was directly confirmed experimentally on the basis of 3D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements both in a strongly swirling non-reacting jet and in a fuel-lean premixed methane-air flame. Flows were characterized by the presence of vortex breakdown and precession of the vortex core. The differences in magnitude and spatial distribution of flow eigenmodes with distance from the nozzle are analyzed by using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) based on Spatial Fourier Transform over azimuthal coordinate. The analysis of flow eigenmodes reveal that for a high-swirl isothermal jet, the vortex core co-existed with the pair of counter-rotating helical vortices, which were located in outer shear layer and inside the recirculation zone. This double-vortex helical structure was also detected in a swirling flame, but its magnitude was suppressed compared with isothermal flow. It was determined that the change in the shape of the chemical reaction area was associated with two types of large-scale coherent structures: nearly axisymmetric mode m = 0 of the flame front deformation, presumably due to the effect of buoyancy forces on the combustion products, and the quasi-solid rotation of the asymmetric global mode |m| = 1 in the form of double-vortex structure due to precession of the swirling flow. It was shown that the energy of the axisymmetric mode m = 0 in a reacting jet increased downstream by almost 10 %, unlike other modes, whose energy was only diminished.

Investigation on the Flame Front and Flow Field in Acoustically Excited Swirling Flames with and without Confinement

ABSTRACT Open and confined dimethyl ether/air swirling flames were investigated with an acoustically excited swirling burner. Simultaneous particle-image velocimetry and formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence were measured using a high repetition rate burst-mode laser at 20 kHz. Time-averaged velocity field, vorticity and flame brush cloud were compared under different confinements and acoustic excitation conditions. The integrated fluorescence intensities are similar while the open flame has dramatically large fluorescence areas. Time-resolved velocity field and flame brush were measured to investigate the continuous evolution of swirling flame front and acoustically induced vortex. The flame brush was found to be much dispersed in the open flame due to the mixing effect from the surrounding air. Flame root and flame angle were extracted and analyzed statistically using the fluorescence images. Different stages of acoustically induced vortex were observed in both confined and open cases. The vortex trajectory along the outer shear layer determines that the flame tip can perceive the vortex instead of the flame base. The flame regions affected and unaffected by acoustically induced vortex indicate different perturbation mechanisms for the heat release.

Large eddy simulation study of flow field characteristics of a combustor with two coaxial swirlers

The cold and reaction flow fields of a combustor with two coaxial swirlers are investigated by means of large eddy simulation. Effective data processing methods such as proper orthogonal decomposition and fast Fourier transform are employed for analysis. The complex flow phenomena such as swirling jet, shear layer, recirculation zone, and precession vortex core are observed and their characteristics are analyzed. The dynamics of the flame and its interactions with the complex swirling flows and large-scale eddies are characterized. The precession vortex core structures and its influences on the combustion process are emphatically explored. It is found that the outer shear layer produces spiral precession vortex core cantilever structures and the change of structural characteristics of the PVC determines the pressure pulsation frequency of the combustor. The results also indicate precession vortex core accelerates the mixing of unburned and burned mixture, leading to the ignition. The principal structures are studied by determining the highest energy modes via proper orthogonal decomposition. The modes are classified according to energy size. By means of proper orthogonal decomposition four-decomposition method, the vortexes of different energy and scales in swirling flow field are classified and analyzed in detail, the flow field is reconstructed, and the large-scale coherent structures and small energy flow structures are obtained. A spectral map of the turbulent kinetic energy density exhibits the −5/3 slope given by the Kolmogorov–Obukhov law. Based on the analysis of the vortex structures and their evolution, and the analysis of the transports and distributions of flow field characteristic parameters, a novel unsteady swirling flow combustion organization mechanism is proposed. It is found that combustion mainly occurs in low-energy small-scale vortexes, releasing a large amount of heat. High-temperature gas enters the recirculation zone and continues to provide energy for the precession vortex cores.

Large-scale motions in a plane wall jet

The plane wall jet (PWJ) is a wall-bounded flow in which a wall shear layer develops in the presence of extremely energetic flow structures of the outer free-shear layer. The structure of a PWJ, developing in still air, was studied with the focus on the large scales in the flow. Wall-normal hot-wire anemometry (HWA) measurements along with double-frame particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements (wall-normal–streamwise plane) were carried out at streamwise distances up to $162b$, where $b$ is the slot width of the PWJ exit. The nominal PWJ Reynolds number based on exit parameters was $Re_{j}\approx 5940$. Comparisons with a zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer (ZPGBL) at nominally matched friction Reynolds number $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}$ were also carried out as appropriate, to highlight key features of the PWJ structure. Consistent with previous work, the PWJ showed a dependence of the peak turbulent stresses on the jet exit Reynolds number. The turbulent production showed a peak corresponding to the near-wall cycle similar to the peak seen in the ZPGBL. However, another turbulent production peak was observed in the outer free-shear layer that was an order of magnitude larger than the inner one. Along with the change in sign of the viscous and Reynolds shear stresses, the PWJ was shown to have a region of very low turbulent production between these two peaks. The dissipation rate increased over the PWJ layer with a peak also in the outer region. Visualizations of the flow and two-point correlations reveal that the most energetic large-scale structures within a PWJ are vortical motions in the wall-normal–streamwise plane similar to those structures seen in free-shear layers. These structures are referred to as J (for jet) type structures. In addition two-point correlations reveal the existence of large-scale structures in the wall region which have a signature similar to those structures seen in canonical boundary layers. These structures are referred to as W (for wall) type structures. Instantaneous PIV realizations and flow visualizations reveal that these W type large-scale features are consistent with the paradigm of hairpin vortex packets in the wall region. The J type structures were seen to intrude well into the wall region while the W type structures were also seen to extend into the outer shear layer. Further, these large-scale structures were shown to modulate the amplitude of the finer scales of the flow.

Analysis of coherent structures in the near-field region of an isothermal free swirling jet after vortex breakdown

This work is focused on the near-exit region of a round isothermal free swirling jet to characterize the effect of swirl on the flow field and dominant coherent structures. Most of the work in this field investigated jets produced by vane swirl generators, whereas in our case an axial plus tangential swirl generator without a center-body was used. Stereoscopic PIV has been employed to capture the instantaneous flow field for Reynolds number equal to 21,800 and two swirl levels (0 and 1.4). A proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) applied to the instantaneous velocity vector fields allowed to identify the dominant flow structures associated with the precessing vortex core (PVC). The time coefficients of the most energetic first two POD modes were used to reconstruct the phase of the fluctuating motion in the swirling flow. The phase information was used to conditionally average the instantaneous velocity fields and swirl strength maps; this allowed to reconstruct the 3D structure of the PVC from the 2D data. Overlapping phase slots were used to improve the quality of the reconstructed 3D structure. The minima of negative swirling strength revealed the presence of two co-winding helical structures located in the inner and outer shear layers. The helical structures wind opposite to the base flow rotation and disappear at an axial location of approximately x/D=1.5. Detailed analysis of the mean, phase averaged and POD modes velocity fields are also reported to further highlight the flow field features. The third and fourth transverse POD modes evidenced the presence of a m=2 azimuthal wave buried in the dominant m=1 wave; such wave belong to a vortex pair superimposed to the precessing vortex core. Close to the nozzle exit, the analysis of the coherent and random parts of the velocity fluctuations evidenced that the PVC slightly increases the stochastic velocity fluctuations, but the latter resulted to be more isotropic respect to the non-swirling case. Our results put into evidence that the combined application of PIV, POD and phase averaging techniques can provide detailed observations of coherent fluctuations induced by vortex precession. The latter can help to improve the understanding of PVC and VB and to find possible strategies to prevent/control their formation. Finally, they can be of interest to develop numerical models for the simulation of these complex flows.

Impact of molecular mixing and scalar dissipation rate closures on turbulent bluff-body flames with increasing local extinction

Bluff-body turbulent CH4: H2 (1:1) flames at 50% (HM1), 75% (HM2) and 91% (HM3) of the blow-off velocity (235 m s−1) were studied experimentally by Masri and co-workers and found to exhibit gradually increasing periodic and shear layer instabilities. The latter are coupled with increasing levels of local extinction with subsequent re-ignition further downstream. This study provides a systematic evaluation of the sensitivity of predictions to molecular mixing and scalar dissipation rate closures. The latter include extended forms of the Euclidean Minimum Spanning Tree (EMST) and modified Curl’s (MC) models, applicable to premixed turbulent flames via a closure that accounts for local Damköhler number effects (EEMST and EMC), and a conceptually related blended scalar time-scale approach (BEMST and BMC). Computations are performed using a hybrid finite volume (FV) – transported Joint Probability Density Function (JPDF) algorithm featuring stochastic Lagrangian particles, a comprehensive 48-scalar systematically reduced C/H/N/O mechanism, and a second moment method based on the Generalised Langevin Model that provides a partial resolution of the unsteady fluid motion. The sensitivity to solution parameters affecting the temporal resolution is quantified using Fourier transforms of the time histories of velocity and scalar traces. Radial profiles, conditional means and scatter plots are compared to the experimental data along with burning indices based on the conditional mean temperature. Vortex related instabilities ∼ 1 kHz in the outer shear layer appear for all closures with EMC showing periodic local extinction and re-ignition in the neck region for HM3 and flame turbules (i.e., discrete pockets of hot gas) separating periodically at frequencies ∼ 85 Hz. Results are similar to well–resolved JPDF/LES simulations for HM1. It is shown that the EMC and (E)EMST models essentially enclose the experimental data for HM2 and HM3. For HM3, emissions of NO are controlled by local extinction events that become increasingly sensitive to the molecular mixing closure as blow-off is approached.

Experimental investigation of aerodynamics and structure of a swirl-stabilized kerosene spray flame with laser diagnostics

A gas turbine model combustor was equipped with an industrial Lean Premixed fuel injection system operating with liquid commercial kerosene (Jet-A1) at atmospheric pressure. Large optical accesses enable joint Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements at repetition rates up to 5 kHz and 10 kHz, respectively. Using these diagnostics, flame topologies and non-stationary events were investigated in operating conditions representative of the ones encountered in real aeronautic propulsion systems. The flame shape was analyzed in terms of interactions between the different flame zones responsible for flame stabilization in confined swirled flames. Data processing of the strain rate and vorticity fields highlighted the existence of two shear layers that interfere differently with the inlet air/fuel mixing jet. An inner shear layer (ISL) between the Inner Recirculation Zone (IRZ) and the fresh inlet flow is located at the upper base of the fuel spray. An Outer Shear Layer (OSL) is also identified between the Outer Recirculation Zone (ORZ) and the fresh incoming flow. Spanwise-oriented vortices are produced from this latter, with a growth rate function of the free stream speed ratio (fresh incoming reactants and the flow circulating inside ORZ). The detailed analysis of the shear layers gives new insight on the flame structures obtained from OH-PLIF data. Finally, high-speed simultaneous measurements of flow velocity and OH distributions highlighted unusual flame pinching mechanisms leading to the release of subsequent unburned pockets propagating in the burned gases.

Burner geometry effect on coherent structures and acoustics of a confined swirling partially premixed methane flame

The effect of the mixing tube length and fuel nozzle geometry on coherent structures and acoustics’ characteristics of partially premixed swirling methane flame is experimentally studied. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to document the flowfield inside the transparent confinement tube. Proper orthogonal decomposition along with phase averaging are used to capture coherent structures. High-speed imaging is carried out to shed light on the flame front dynamics within the outer shear layer (OSL). The acoustic waves are measured using a Bruel & Kjaer type 4189 microphone. A radial-type swirl generator with a swirl number (S) of 1.15 is adopted. Two different lengths of the mixing tube and two different geometries of the fuel nozzle with a similar equivalent diameter are tested. The swirling airflow and fuel flowrates are kept constant. The results showed a significant difference in the energy of coherent structures between the two central nozzle geometries with the same mixing length. Both, the mixing length and central nozzle geometry, are found to alter the integral length scale and the central recirculation zone (CRZ). The mixing length is found to alter the amplitude of the acoustics modes when using the same central nozzle geometry. However, keeping the same mixing tube and varying the central nozzle geometry has the same effect. The flame front dynamics within the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) is found to depend on both the central nozzle geometry and mixing tube length (i.e., level of mixing). High amplitude coherent structures are found to contribute to flame roll-up within the outer shear layer. The results showed that the mixing length is not the only parameter to mitigate combustion instabilities. That is, combustion stability can be improved using a single-orifice nozzle with a long mixing length or a multi-orifice nozzle with a short mixing length.