Turbulence Intensity and Length Scale Effects on Premixed Turbulent Flame Propagation

The effects of varying turbulence intensity and turbulence length scale on premixed turbulent flame propagation are investigated using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The DNS dataset contains the results of a set of turbulent flame simulations based on separate and systematic changes in either turbulence intensity or turbulence integral length scale while keeping all other parameters constant. All flames considered are in the thin reaction zones regime. Several aspects of flame behaviour are analysed and compared, either by varying the turbulence intensity at constant integral length scale, or by varying the integral length scale at constant turbulence intensity. The turbulent flame speed is found to increase with increasing turbulence intensity and also with increasing integral length scale. Changes in the turbulent flame speed are generally accounted for by changes in the flame surface area, but some deviation is observed at high values of turbulence intensity. The probability density functions (pdfs) of tangential strain rate and mean flame curvature are found to broaden with increasing turbulence intensity and also with decreasing integral length scale. The response of the correlation between tangential strain rate and mean flame curvature is also investigated. The statistics of displacement speed and its components are analysed, and the findings indicate that changes in response to decreasing integral length scale are broadly similar to those observed for increasing turbulence intensity, although there are some interesting differences. These findings serve to improve current understanding of the role of turbulence length scales in flame propagation.

Investigation of Dilution Effect on CH4/Air Premixed Turbulent Flame Using OH and CH2O Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence

Diluting the combustion mixtures is one of the advanced approaches to reduce the NOx emission of methane/air premixed turbulent flame, especially with high diluents to create a distributed reaction zone and mild combustion, which can lower the temperature of reaction zone and reduce the formation of NOx. The effect of N2/CO2 dilution on the combustion characteristics of methane/air premixed turbulent flame with different dilution ratio and different exit Reynolds number was conducted by OH-PLIF and CH2O-PLIF. Results show that the increase of dilution ratio can sharply reduce the concentration of OH and CH2O, and postpone the burning of fuel. Compared with the ultra-lean combustion, the dilution weakens the combustion more obviously. For different dilution gases, the concentration of OH in the combustion zone varies greatly, while the concentration of CH2O in the unburned zone is less affected by different dilution gas. The CO2 dilution has a more significant effect on OH concentration than N2 with the given dilution ratio, but a similar effect on the concentration of CH2O in the preheat zone of flame. However, dilution does not have much influence on the flame structure with the given turbulent intensity.

Comparison of Flame Transfer Functions Acquired by Chemiluminescence and Density Fluctuation

The goal of this study was to measure the Flame Transfer Function of a perfectly and a partially premixed turbulent flame by means of Laser Interferometric Vibrometry. For the first time, this technique is used to detect integral heat release fluctuations. The results were compared to classical OH*-chemiluminescence measurements. Effects of equivalence ratio waves and vortex rollup were found within those flames and were then investigated by means of time resolved planar CH*/OH*-chemiluminescence and Frequency modulated Doppler global velocimetry. This work is motivated by the difficulties chemiluminescence encounters when faced with partially premixed flames including equivalence ratio waves and flame stretching. LIV, recording the time derivative of the density fluctuations as line-of-sight data, is not affected by these flame properties.