Global Turbulent Consumption Speeds (ST,GC) Of H2/CO Blends

Author(s):  
Prabhakar Venkateswaran ◽  
Andrew D. Marshall ◽  
David R. Noble ◽  
Jose Antezana ◽  
Jerry M. Seitzman ◽  
...  

This paper describes measurements of the global turbulent consumption speed, ST,GC, of atmospheric pressure H2/CO flames at mean flow velocities and turbulence intensities up to U = 50 m/s and u′/SL = 100, respectively. The particular emphasis of the paper is to characterize H2/CO mixture properties upon turbulent flame speeds — a number of prior studies have noted that different fuels, with the same laminar flame speed and combusted in the same turbulent flow, can have widely different turbulent flame speeds. This effect is believed to be due to flame speed sensitivities to stretch and possibly thermo-diffusive instabilities. While this effect is widely known, little data are available for syngas blends. Turbulent flame speeds were obtained with blends ranging from 30–90% H2, with the mixture equivalence ratio, φ, adjusted at each fuel composition to have nominally the same laminar flame speed, SL. In addition, equivalence ratio sweeps at constant H2 level were also performed. The data clearly corroborate results from other studies that show significant sensitivity of ST,GC to fuel composition. In particular, at a fixed u′ and SL, values of ST,GC increase by almost a factor of 1.5–2 when H2 levels are increased from 30% (at φ = 0.59) to 90% (at φ = 0.46). Moreover, ST,GC in the 90% H2 case is 3 times larger than the φ = 0.9 CH4/air mixture with the same SL value. An important conclusion from this work is that fuel effects on ST,GC highlighted above are not simply a low turbulence intensity phenomenon — they clearly persist over the entire range of turbulence intensities used in the measurements.

Author(s):  
Prabhakar Venkateswaran ◽  
Andrew D. Marshall ◽  
David R. Noble ◽  
Jerry M. Seitzman ◽  
Tim C. Lieuwen

This paper describes measurements and analysis of global turbulent consumption speeds, ST,GC, of hydrogen/carbon monoxide (H2/CO) mixtures. The turbulent flame properties of such mixtures are of fundamental interest because of their strong stretch sensitivity and of practical interest since they are the primary constituents of syngas fuels. Data are analyzed at mean flow velocities and turbulence intensities of 4 < U0 < 50 m/s and 1 < u′rms/SL,0 < 100, respectively, for H2/CO blends ranging from 30–90% H2 by volume. Data from two sets of experiments are reported. In the first, fuel blends ranging from 30–90% H2 and mixture equivalence ratio, Φ, were adjusted at each fuel composition to have nominally the same un-stretched laminar flame speed, SL,0. In the second set, equivalence ratios were varied at constant H2 levels. The data clearly corroborate results from other studies that show significant sensitivity of ST,GC to fuel composition. For example, at a fixed u′rms, ST,GC of a 90% H2 case (at Φ = 0.48) is a factor of three times larger than the baseline Φ = 0.9, CH4/air mixture that has the same SL,0 value. We also describe physics-based correlations of these data, using leading points concepts and detailed kinetic calculations of their stretch sensitivities. These results are used to develop an inequality for negative Markstein length flames that bounds the turbulent flame speed data and show that the data can be collapsed using the maximum stretched laminar flame speed, SL,max, rather than SL,0.


Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for multiple alternative liquid fuels. Understanding the combustion characteristics of these synthetic fuels is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to real fuels. Included in this study are two synthetic Jet fuels: Syntroleum S-8 and Shell GTL. The precise composition of these fuels is known to change from sample to sample. Since these are low vapor pressure fuels, there are additional uncertainties in their introduction into gas-phase mixtures, leading to uncertainty in the mixture equivalence ratio. An in-situ laser absorption technique was implemented to verify the procedure for filling the vessel and to minimize and quantify the uncertainty in the experimental equivalence ratio. The diagnostic utilized a 3.39-μm HeNe laser in conjunction with Beer’s Law. The resulting spherically expanding flame experiments were conducted over a range of equivalence ratios from φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5 at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure constant-volume vessel at Texas A&M University. The experimental results show that both fuels have similar flame speeds with a peak value just under 60 cm/s. However, it is shown that when comparing the results from different data sets for these real fuels, equivalence ratio is not necessarily the best parameter to use. Fuel mole fraction may be a better parameter to use as it is independent of the average fuel molecule or fuel surrogate used to calculate equivalence ratio in these real fuel/air mixtures.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan-Sebastián Gómez-Meyer ◽  
Subramanyam R Gollahalli ◽  
Ramkumar N. Parthasarathy ◽  
Jabid-Eduardo Quiroga

In this article, the flame speed values determined experimentally for laminar premixed flames of the vapors of two biofuels in air are presented. The laminar flame speed is a fundamental thermochemical property of fuels, and is essential for analyzing the flame propagation in practical devices, even those employing turbulent flames. The fuels obtained from transesterification of soy and canola oils are tested. Also, the diesel flames are studied to serve as a baseline for comparison. The experiments are performed with a tubular burner; pre-vaporized fuel is mixed with hot air and is ignited. The flame speed is determined at fuel-equivalence ratios of 1; 1,1 and 1,2 by recording the geometry of the flame. The experimental results show that the flame speed of biofuels is lower by about 15% than that of diesel. Also, the maximum value of flame speed is obtained at an equivalence ratio of approximately 1,1.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for two alternative liquid fuels. Understanding the combustion characteristics of these synthetic fuels is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to real fuels. Included in this study are two synthetic Jet fuels: Syntroleum S-8 and Shell GTL. The precise composition of these fuels is known to change from sample to sample. Since these are low-vapor pressure fuels, there are additional uncertainties in their introduction into gas-phase mixtures, leading to uncertainty in the mixture equivalence ratio. An in-situ laser absorption technique was implemented to verify the procedure for filling the vessel and to minimize and quantify the uncertainty in the experimental equivalence ratio. The diagnostic utilized a 3.39-μm HeNe laser in conjunction with Beer's law. The resulting spherically expanding, laminar flame experiments were conducted over a range of equivalence ratios from φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5 at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) constant-volume vessel at Texas A&M University. The experimental results show that both fuels have similar flame speeds with a peak value just under 60 cm/s. However, it is shown that when comparing the results from different datasets for these real fuels, equivalence ratio may not be the best parameter to use. Fuel mole fraction may be a better parameter to use as it is independent of the average fuel molecule or fuel surrogate used to calculate equivalence ratio in these real fuel/air mixtures.


Author(s):  
Andrew Marshall ◽  
Julia Lundrigan ◽  
Prabhakar Venkateswaran ◽  
Jerry Seitzman ◽  
Tim Lieuwen

Fuel composition has a strong influence on the turbulent flame speed, even at very high turbulence intensities. An important implication of this result is that the turbulent flame speed cannot be extrapolated from one fuel to the next using only the laminar flame speed and turbulence intensity as scaling variables. This paper presents curvature and tangential strain rate statistics of premixed turbulent flames for high hydrogen content fuels. Global (unconditioned) stretch statistics are presented as well as measurements conditioned on the leading points of the flame front. These measurements are motivated by previous experimental and theoretical work that suggests the turbulent flame speed is controlled by the flame front characteristics at these points. The data were acquired with high speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) in a low swirl burner (LSB). We attained measurements for several H2:CO mixtures over a range of mean flow velocities and turbulence intensities. The results show that fuel composition has a systematic, yet weak effect on curvatures and tangential strain rates at the leading points. Instead, stretch statistics at the leading points are more strongly influenced by mean flow velocity and turbulence level. It has been argued that the increased turbulent flame speeds seen with increasing hydrogen content are the result of increasing flame stretch rates, and therefore SL,max values, at the flame leading points. However, the differences observed with changing fuel compositions are not significant enough to support this hypothesis. Additional analysis is needed to understand the physical mechanisms through which the turbulent flame speed is altered by fuel composition effects.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 464-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo Gerke ◽  
Konstantinos Boulouchos

The mixture formation and combustion process of a hydrogen direct-injection internal combustion engine is computed using a modified version of a commercial three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code. The aim of the work is the evaluation of hydrogen laminar flame speed correlations and turbulent flame speed closures with respect to combustion of premixed and stratified mixtures at various levels of air-to-fuel equivalence ratio. Heat-release rates derived from in-cylinder pressure traces are used for the validation of the combustion simulations. A turbulent combustion model with closures for a turbulent flame speed is investigated. The value of the computed heat-release rates mainly depends on the quality of laminar burning velocities and standard of turbulence quantities provided to the combustion model. Combustion simulations performed with experimentally derived laminar flame speed data give better results than those using laminar flame speeds obtained from a kinetic scheme. However, experimental data of hydrogen laminar flame speeds found in the literature are limited regarding the range of pressures, temperatures and air-to-fuel equivalence ratios, and do not comply with the demand of high-pressure engine-relevant conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 714-719
Author(s):  
Alaeldeen Altag Yousif ◽  
Shaharin Anwar Sulaiman

Accurate value of laminar flame speed is an important parameter of combustible mixtures. In this respect, experimental data are very useful for modeling improvement and validating chemical kinetic mechanisms. To achieve this, an experimental characterization on spherically expanding flames propagation of methane-air mixtures were carried out. Tests were conducted in constant volume cylindrical combustion chamber to measure stretched, unstretched laminar flame speed, laminar burning velocity, and flame stretch effect as quantified by the associated Markstein lengths. The mixtures of methane-air were ignited at extensive ranges of lean-to-rich equivalence ratios, under ambient pressure and temperature. This is achieved by high speed schlieren cine-photography for flames observation in the vessel. The results showed that the unstretched laminar burning velocity increased and the peak value of the unstretched laminar burning velocity shifted to the richer mixture side with the increase of equivalence ratio. The flame propagation speed showed different trends at different equivalence ratio for tested mixtures. It was found that the Markstein length was increased with the increase of equivalence ratio.


Author(s):  
Marissa Brower ◽  
Eric Petersen ◽  
Wayne Metcalfe ◽  
Henry J. Curran ◽  
Marc Füri ◽  
...  

Applications of natural gas and hydrogen co-firing have received increased attention in the gas turbine market, which aims at higher flexibility due to concerns over the availability of fuels. While much work has been done in the development of a fuels database and corresponding chemical kinetics mechanism for natural gas mixtures, there are nonetheless few if any data for mixtures with high levels of hydrogen at conditions of interest to gas turbines. The focus of the present paper is on gas turbine engines with primary and secondary reaction zones as represented in the Alstom and Rolls Royce product portfolio. The present effort includes a parametric study, a gas turbine model study, and turbulent flame speed predictions. Using a highly optimized chemical kinetics mechanism, ignition delay times and laminar burning velocities were calculated for fuels from pure methane to pure hydrogen and with natural gas/hydrogen mixtures. A wide range of engine-relevant conditions were studied: pressures from 1 to 30 atm, flame temperatures from 1600 to 2200 K, primary combustor inlet temperature from 300 to 900 K, and secondary combustor inlet temperatures from 900 to 1400 K. Hydrogen addition was found to increase the reactivity of hydrocarbon fuels at all conditions by increasing the laminar flame speed and decreasing the ignition delay time. Predictions of turbulent flame speeds from the laminar flame speeds show that hydrogen addition affects the reactivity more when turbulence is considered. This combined effort of industrial and university partners brings together the know-how of applied, as well as experimental and theoretical disciplines.


Author(s):  
Pinaki Pal ◽  
Yunchao Wu ◽  
Tianfeng Lu ◽  
Sibendu Som ◽  
Yee Chee See ◽  
...  

Knock is a major impediment to achieving higher efficiency in Spark-Ignition (SI) engines. The recent trends of boosting, downsizing and downspeeding have exacerbated this issue by driving engines toward higher power density and higher load duty cycles. Apart from the engine operating conditions, fuel anti-knock quality is a major determinant of the knocking tendency in engines, as quantified by its octane number (ON). The ON of a fuel is based on an octane scale which is defined according to the standard octane rating methods for Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON). These tests are performed in a single cylinder Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. In the present work, a numerical approach was developed based on multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict knocking combustion in a CFR engine. The G-equation model was employed to track the propagation of the turbulent flame front and a multi-zone model based on temperature and equivalence ratio was used to capture auto-ignition in the endgas ahead of the flame front. Furthermore, a novel methodology was developed wherein a lookup table generated from a chemical kinetic mechanism could be employed to provide laminar flame speed as an input to the G-equation model, instead of using empirical correlations. To account for fuel chemistry effects accurately and lower the computational cost, a compact 121-species primary reference fuel (PRF) skeletal mechanism was developed from a more detailed gasoline surrogate mechanism using the directed relation graph assisted sensitivity analysis (DRGASA) reduction technique. Extensive validation of the skeletal mechanism was performed against experimental data available in the literature for both homogeneous ignition delay and laminar flame speed. The skeletal mechanism was used to generate the lookup tables for laminar flame speed as a function of pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio. The engine CFD model incorporating the skeletal mechanism was employed to perform numerical simulations under RON and MON conditions for different PRFs. Parametric tests were conducted at different compression ratios and the predicted values of critical compression ratio (at knock onset), delineating the boundary between “no knock” and “knock”, were found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data. The virtual CFR engine model was, therefore, demonstrated to be capable of adequately capturing the sensitivity of knock propensity to fuel chemistry.


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