Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Flame blowoff'

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-86).
Oxy-fuel combustion is a promising technology to implement carbon capture and sequestration for energy conversion to electricity in power plants that burn fossil fuels. In oxy-fuel combustion, air separation is used to burn fuel in oxygen to easily obtain a pure stream of carbon dioxide from the products of combustion. A diluent, typically carbon dioxide, is recycled from the exhaust to mitigate temperature. This substitution of carbon dioxide with the nitrogen in air alters the thermodynamics, transport properties, and relative importance of chemical pathways of the reacting mixture, impacting the flame temperature and stability of the combustion process. In this thesis, methane oxy-combustion flames are studied for relevance to natural gas. First, a numerical 1-D strained flame shows significantly reduced consumption speeds for oxy-combustion compared to air combustion at the same adiabatic flame temperature. Competition for the H radical from the presence of carbon dioxide causes high CO emissions. Elevated strain rates also cause incomplete combustion in oxy-combustion, demonstrated by the effect of Lewis number with a value greater than one for flame temperatures under 1900 K. Most of this work focuses on experimental results from premixed flames in a 50 kW axi-symmetric swirl-stabilized combustor. Combustion instabilities, upon which much effort is expended to avoid in gas turbines with low pollutant emissions, are described as a baseline for the given combustor geometry using overall sound pressure level maps and chemiluminescence images of 1/4, 3/4, and 5/4 wave mode limit cycles. These oxy-combustion results are compared to conventional air combustion, and the collapse of mode transitions with temperature for a given Reynolds number is found. Hysteresis effects in mode transition are important and similar for air and oxy-combustion. Blowoff trends are also analyzed. While oxy-combustion flames blow off at a higher temperature for a given Reynolds number due to weaker flames, there is an unexpected negative slope in blowoff velocity vs temperature for both air and oxy-combustion. The blowoff data are shown to collapse due to blowoff velocity being inversely proportional to the molar heat capacities of the burned gas mixtures at a given power. Finally, particle image velocimetry results are discussed to relate flow structures to corresponding flame structures.
by Andrew Philip Shroll.
S.M.

The focus of this work was to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of flame stabilization and extinction for shear layer stabilized, premixed flames. Planar experimental studies were performed in the attachment point region of an inner shear layer stabilized flame in an annular, swirl combustor. Through high resolution, simultaneous PIV & CH-PLIF measurements, the instantaneous flow field and flame position was captured enabling the characterization of 2D flame stretch and velocity conditions in the attachment point region. In addition, measurements performed at various equivalence ratios and premixer velocities provided insight into the physics governing blowoff. Most notably, these studies showed that as lean blowoff conditions are approached by decreasing equivalence ratio, the mean stretch rates near the attachment point decrease but remain positive throughout the measurement domain. In fact, compared to numerically calculated extinction stretch rates, the flame becomes less critically stretched as equivalence ratio is decreased. Also, investigation of the flame structure at the leading edge of the flame showed strong evidence that the flame is edge flame stabilized. This was supported by inspection of the CH-PLIF images, which showed the CH-layer oriented tangent to the flow field and terminating abruptly at the leading edge. Lastly, the flame anchoring location was observed to be highly robust as the mean flame edge flow conditions and mean location of leading edge of the flame were insensitive to changes in equivalence ratio, remaining nearly constant for values ranging from 0.9 to 1.1. However, at the leanest equivalence ratio of 0.8, the flame leading edge was located farther downstream and subject to much higher flow velocities. These results thus suggest that blowoff is the result of a kinematic balance and not directly from stretch induced flame extinction.

Biomass is among the primary alternative energy sources that supplements the fossil fuels to meet today’s energy demand. Gasification is an efficient and environmental friendly technology for converting the energy content in the biomass into a combustible gas mixture, which can be used in various applications. The composition of this gas mixture varies greatly depending on the gasification agent, gasifier design and its operation parameters and can be classified as low and medium LHV gasified biomass. The wide range of possible gas composition between each of these classes and even within each class itself can be a challenge in the combustion for heat and/or power production. The difficulty is primarily associated with the range in the combustion properties that may affect the stability and the emission levels. Therefore, this thesis is intended to provide data of combustion properties for improving the operation or design of atmospheric combustion devices operated with such gas mixtures. The first part of this thesis presents a series of experimental work on combustion of low LHV gasified biomass (a simulated gas mixture of CO/H2/CH4/CO2/N2) with variation in the content of H2O and tar compound (simulated by C6H6). The laminar flame speed, lean blowoff limit and emission levels of low LHV gasified biomass based on the premixed combustion concept are reported in paper I and III. The results show that the presence of H2O and C6H6 in gasified biomass can give positive effects on these combustion parameters (laminar flame speed, lean blowoff limit and emission levels), but also that there are limits for these effects. Addition of a low percentage of H2O in the gasified biomass resulted in almost constant laminar flame speed and combustion temperature of the gas mixture, while its NOx emission and blowoff temperature were decreased. The opposite condition was found when H2O content was further increased. The blowoff limit was shifted to richer fuel equivalence ratio as H2O increased. A temperature limit was observed where CO emission could be maintained at low concentration. With C6H6 addition, the laminar flame speed first decreased, achieved a minimum value, and then increased with further addition of C6H6. The combustion temperature and NOx emission were increased, CO emission was reduced, and blowoff occurs at slightly higher equivalence ratio and temperature when C6H6 content is increased. The comparison with natural gas (simulated by CH4) is also made as can be found in paper I and II. Lower laminar flame speed, combustion temperature, slightly higher CO emission, lower NOx emission and leaner blowoff limit were obtained for low LHV gas mixture in comparison to natural gas. In the second part of the thesis, the focus is put on the combustion of a wide range of gasified biomass types, ranging from low to medium LHV gas mixture (paper IV). The correlation between laminar flame speed or lean blowoff limit and the composition of various gas mixtures was investigated (paper IV). It was found that H2 and content of diluents have higher influence on the laminar flame speed of the gas mixture compared to its CO and hydrocarbon contents. For lean blowoff limit, the diluents have the greatest impact followed by H2 and CO. The mathematical correlations derived from the study can be used to for models of these two combustion parameters for a wide range of gasified biomass fuel compositions.

QC 20130411

Lean combustion is increasingly employed in both ground-based gas turbines and aircraft engines for minimizing NOx emissions. Operating under lean conditions increases the risk of Lean Blowout (LBO). Thus LBO proximity sensors, combined with appropriate blowout prevention systems, have the potential to improve the performance of engines. In previous studies, atmospheric pressure, swirl flames near LBO have been observed to exhibit partial extinction and re-ignition events called LBO precursors. Detecting these precursor events in optical and acoustic signals with simple non-intrusive sensors provided a measure of LBO proximity. This thesis examines robust LBO margin sensing approaches, by exploring LBO precursors in the presence of combustion dynamics and for combustor operating conditions that are more representative of practical combustors, i.e., elevated pressure and preheat temperature operation. To this end, two combustors were used: a gas-fueled, atmospheric pressure combustor that exhibits pronounced combustion dynamics under a wide range of lean conditions, and a low NOx emission liquid-fueled lean direct injection (LDI) combustor, operating at elevated pressure and preheat temperature. In the gas-fueled combustor, flame extinction and re-ignition LBO precursor events were observed in the presence of strong combustion dynamics, and were similar to those observed in dynamically stable conditions. However, the signature of the events in the raw optical signals have different characteristics under various operating conditions. Low-pass filtering and a single threshold-based event detection algorithm provided robust precursor sensing, regardless of the type or level of dynamic instability. The same algorithm provides robust event detection in the LDI combustor, which also exhibits low level dynamic oscillations. Compared to the gas-fueled combustor, the LDI events have weaker signatures, much shorter durations, but considerably higher occurrence rates. The disparity in precursor durations is due to a flame mode switch that occurs during precursors in the gas-fueled combustor, which is absent in the LDI combustor. Acoustic sensing was also investigated in both the combustors. Low-pass filtering is required to reveal a precursor signature under dynamically unstable conditions in the gas-fueled combustor. On the other hand in the LDI combustor, neither the raw signals nor the low-pass filtered signals reveal precursor events. The failure of acoustic sensing is attributed in part to the lower heat release variations, and the similarity in time scales for the precursors and dynamic oscillations in the LDI combustor. In addition, the impact of acoustic reflections from combustor boundaries and transducer placement was addressed by modeling reflections in a one-dimensional combustor geometry with an impedance jump caused by the flame. Implementing LBO margin sensors in gas turbine engines can potentially improve time response during deceleration transients by allowing lower operating margins. Occurrence of precursor events under transient operating conditions was examined with a statistical approach. For example, the rate at which the fuel-air ratio can be safely reduced might be limited by the requirement that at least one precursor occurs before blowout. The statistics governing the probability of a precursor event occurring during some time interval was shown to be reasonably modeled by Poisson statistics. A method has been developed to select a lower operating margin when LBO proximity sensors are employed, such that the lowered margin case provides a similar reliability in preventing LBO as the standard approach utilizing a more restrictive operating margin. Illustrative improvements in transient response and reliabilities in preventing LBO are presented for a model turbofan engine. In addition, an event-based, active LBO control approach for deceleration transients is also demonstrated in the engine simulation.

Combustor blowout is a very serious concern in modern land-based and aircraft engine combustors. The ability to sense blowout precursors can provide significant payoffs in engine reliability and life. The objective of this work is to characterize the blowout phenomenon and develop a sensing methodology which can detect and assess the proximity of a combustor to blowout by monitoring its acoustic signature, thus providing early warning before the actual blowout of the combustor. The first part of the work examines the blowout phenomenon in a piloted jet burner. As blowout was approached, the flame detached from one side of the burner and showed increased flame tip fluctuations, resulting in an increase in low frequency acoustics. Work was then focused on swirling combustion systems. Close to blowout, localized extinction/re-ignition events were observed, which manifested as bursts in the acoustic signal. These events increased in number and duration as the combustor approached blowout, resulting an increase in low frequency acoustics. A variety of spectral, wavelet and thresholding based approaches were developed to detect precursors to blowout. The third part of the study focused on a bluff body burner. It characterized the underlying flame dynamics near blowout in greater detail and related it to the observed acoustic emissions. Vorticity was found to play a significant role in the flame dynamics. The flame passed through two distinct stages prior to blowout. The first was associated with momentary strain levels that exceed the flames extinction strain rate, leading to flame holes. The second was due to large scale alteration of the fluid dynamics in the bluff body wake, leading to violent flapping of the flame front and even larger straining of the flame. This led to low frequency acoustic oscillations, of the order of von Karman vortex shedding. This manifested as an abrupt increase in combustion noise spectra at 40-100 Hz very close to blowout. Finally, work was also done to improve the robustness of lean blowout detection by developing integration techniques that combined data from acoustic and optical sensors.

This thesis describes an experimental investigation of lean blowoff for H2/CO/CH4 mixtures in a swirling combustor. This investigation consisted of three thrusts. The first thrust focused on correlations of the lean blowoff limits of H2/CO/CH4 mixtures under different test conditions. It was found that a classical Damköhler number approach with a diffusion correction could correlate blowoff sensitivities to fuel composition over a range of conditions. The second part of this thesis describes the qualitative flame dynamics near blowoff by systematically characterizing the blowoff phenomenology as a function of hydrogen level in the fuel. These near blowoff dynamics are very complex, and are influenced by both fluid mechanics and chemical kinetics; in particular, the role of thermal expansion across the flame and extinction strain rate were suggested to be critical in describing these influences. The third part of this thesis quantitatively analyzed strain characteristics in the vicinity of the attachment point of stable and near blowoff flames. Surprisingly, it was found that in this shear layer stabilized flame, flow deceleration is the key contributor to flame strain, with flow shear playing a relatively negligible role. Near the premixer exit, due to strong flow deceleration, the flame is negatively strained i.e., compressed. Moving downstream, the strain rate increases towards zero and then becomes positive, where flames are stretched. As the flame moves toward blowoff, holes begin to form in the flame sheet, with a progressively higher probability of occurrence as one moves downstream. It is suggested that new holes form with a more uniform probability, but that this behavior reflects the convection of flame holes downstream by the flow. It has been shown in prior studies, and affirmed in this work, that flames approach blowoff by first passing through a transient phase manifested by local extinction events and the appearance of holes on the flame. A key conclusion of this work is that the onset of this boundary occurs at a nearly constant extinction strain rate. As such, it is suggested that Damköhler number scalings do not describe blowoff itself, but rather the occurrence of this first stage of blowoff. Given the correspondence between this first stage and the actual blowoff event, this explains the success of classical Damköhler number scalings in describing blowoff, such as shown in the first thrust of this thesis. The physics process associated with the actual blowoff event is still unclear and remains a key task for future work.

The goal of this work was to identify the mechanisms that effect stabilization of hydrocarbon jet flames. Methane, nitrogen, and co-flowing air were regulated and directed through a burner that created fully-developed fuel flow with concurrent air. The behavior of the reaction zone at the leading-edge was analyzed from digital images obtained from a camera optimally positioned to capture the movements of the entire flame front. Low Reynolds number flows allowed for the investigation of hysteretic behavior. The hysteresis regime refers to the situation where the jet flame has dual positions favorable to flame stabilization: attached and lifted. Results indicate that flame height in hysteresis is significantly impacted by high velocities of co-flow and that past a critical value a local minimum will be created. Fully turbulent lifted flames were also studied to determine the fluctuations in the height of lifted methane flames in the presence of air co-flow. The partially-premixed flame front of the lifted flame fluctuates in the axial direction, with the fluctuations becoming greater in flames stabilized further downstream. These fluctuations are also observed in flames where blowout is imminent. The height and rate of these fluctuations are studied with respect to average height, flow velocities, and Reynolds number. Additionally, the mechanisms that cause jet-flame blowout, particularly in the presence of air co-flow, are not completely understood. Two types of experiments are described, and the data report that a predictor of blowout is the prior disappearance of the axially-oriented flame branch which is consistently witnessed despite a turbulent flameâs inherent variable behavior. The conclusions are supported by experiments with nitrogen-diluted flames. A blowout parameter is also calculated for methane flames in co-flow and diluted methane flames that can be used to predict at what flow velocities blowout will occur. This work analyzes flames near the burner, in the far field, and approaching blowout. The comprehensive study allows for the realization that the mechanisms of flame stabilization differ throughout the combustible field.

Lean, premixed combustion offers a practical approach for reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, but increases the risk of lean blowout (LBO) in gas turbines. Active control techniques are therefore sought which can stabilize a lean flame and prevent LBO. The present work has resulted in the development of flame detection, dynamic modeling, blowout margin estimation, and actuation and control techniques. The flame s acoustic emissions were bandpass filtered at select frequencies to detect localized extinction events, which were found to increase in number near LBO. The lean flame was also found to intermittently burst into a transient tornado configuration in which the flame s inner recirculation zone would collapse. The localized extinctions were dynamically linked to the tornado bursts using a linear, first order model. The model was subsequently applied to predict tornado bursts based on optically detected localized extinction events. It was found that both localized extinctions and tornado bursts are by themselves Poisson processes; the exponential distribution of their spacing times could be used to determine blowout probability. Blowout mitigation was achieved by redistributing the fuel flow between the annular swirlers and central preinjection pilot, both of which were premixed. Rule-based and lead-lag control architectures were developed and validated.

A compreensão dos mecanismos de estabilidade de chamas é de extrema importância tanto para o projeto/dimensionamento de queimadores utilizados em fornos e fornalhas industriais, câmaras de combustão de turbinas a gás e flares; como para a substituição de combustíveis em queimadores existentes. Há um intervalo de condições (como velocidade de descarga do jato e concentração de combustível na mistura gasosa) na qual a combustão estável pode ser mantida, sendo limitada por dois fenômenos denominados como liftoff (descolamento da base da chama do bocal e posterior estabilização desta a certa distância do bocal) e blowout (desprendimento e extinção da chama). Por razões de segurança, operações próximas às condições em que o blowout pode ocorrer devem ser evitadas. Muitas teorias têm sido publicadas para descrever as características de liftoff e blowout de chamas de difusão turbulenta. Este trabalho apresenta algumas destas teorias, bem como as hipóteses assumidas e os processos físicos considerados responsáveis por estes fenômenos (liftoff e blowout). Correlações para a previsão da velocidade de blowout e resultados experimentais disponíveis na literatura também são apresentados. Uma nova correlação para a velocidade de blowout é proposta, a qual se baseia nos movimentos de grande escala observados em jatos turbulentos e no adimensional número de Damköhler (relação entre o tempo de cinética química e o tempo de mistura dos reagentes e destes com os produtos da reação). Comparações entre as previsões da correlação proposta com resultados experimentais e com previsões de outras correlações disponíveis na literatura foram realizadas, para diferentes combustíveis e diâmetros de bocais. A correlação proposta apresentou boa concordância com os resultados experimentais. A partir das análises desenvolvidas neste trabalho, verificou-se que a velocidade de blowout de chamas de difusão turbulenta é função das propriedades do combustível, das características do bocal, das condições do ambiente e do adimensional número de Damköhler.
The study of flame stability is very important to the design of burners used in industrial ovens and furnaces, combustion chambers of gas turbines and flares; and fuel substitution in burners. There is a range of conditions (for example gas velocity at the nozzle exit and jet fuel concentration in the gas mixture) at which stable combustion can be maintained, being limited by two phenomena called liftoff and blowout. Lift-off is the detachment of the flame from the fuel nozzle, and blowout its detachment and extinction. Operating conditions close to stability limits should be avoided for security reasons. Many theories have been published to describe the blowout and lifted characteristics of turbulent jet diffusion flames. This document presents some theories, as well as the assumptions and physical processes considered responsible for these phenomena (liftoff and blowout). Correlations for predicting the blowout velocity and experimental results available in the literature are also shown. A new correlation is proposed, which is based on large-scale motions observed in turbulent jets and the dimensionless Damköhler number (ratio of the characteristic chemical reaction time and the time associated with the mixing of reentrained hot products into fresh reactants). Comparisons between the predictions of the proposed correlation with experimental results and predictions of other correlations available in the literature were performed for different fuels and nozzle diameters. The proposed correlation showed good agreement with the experimental results. The analyses developed in this work allow us to conclude that the blowout velocity of the turbulent diffusion flame depends on the fuel properties, characteristics of the nozzle, the environmental conditions and the Damköhler number.

碩士
國立成功大學
航空太空工程學系
88
An experimental study is performed in order to investigate the roles of triple flames and flamefront instabilities in the blowout transient process. Two dimensional laser LIPF(laser induced predissociative fluorescence) OH and PIV (particle image velocimetry) diagnostic techniques are used for measurements of instantaneous flame structure and velocity data. Initial conditions are controlled by external acoustic excitation and beginning the blowout transien process. The blowout transient process can be divided into four regions: the pulsating, onset of receding, receding and extinction regions, according to the dynamic characteristics of the flame. In the pulsating region, the flame base is basically pulsating at two specific heights with jittering. Flamefront instability may play a role in leading the onset of blowout process. Both LIPF OH image and PIV results show the possible existence of the triple (or edge) flame structures in the flame base for cases in the pulsating and onset regions. High strain rate, higher than the extinction strain rate, in the flame base in the onset region should be considered as a prominent factor for the blowout process. Moreover, according to the instability in the pulsating and onset regions, we predicts the value of Lewis number would decrease from more than one to less than one. As to the experiment apparatus, PIV system in the experiment can supply two dimensional instantaneous velocity data, and it has the advantages of the low cost, so it deserves to be popularized.

博士
國立成功大學
航空太空工程學系碩博士班
91
Characteristics of the blowout limits, instability phenomenon, and transient blowout process of jet flames were investigated experimentally. Based upon qualitative observations and phenomenological arguments, an extended model of the transient turbulent blowout process of jet flames was proposed to explain the characteristic behavior of the blowout phenomenon. Quantitative experimental data were used to further examine and verify the proposed model of the transient blowout process of jet flames. In this work, an extended database of the global blowout limits, blowout velocities of various inert-diluted methane, propane, and hydrogen jet flames were constructed and studied experimentally. Helium, argon, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide were used as the diluents to generate different initial properties. Extension of the widely-applied premixed and large-scale blowout models by Kalghatgi and Broadwell, respectively, was carefully examined using inert-diluted methane, propane, and hydrogen jet flames. Results showed that among the models the obtained blowout-velocity estimation based on the premixed model of Kalghatgi is more reliable in the extended dilution region, while that based on the large-scale model of Broadwell needs to take Reynolds number effect into account so that a better prediction of blowout velocity can be made. The trajectory of the flame base propagation in the transient blowout process was evaluated using digital image processing and the specific blowout behaviors was also categorized and analyzed statistically. In addition, the fuel/air mixing and flow characteristics in the upstream region of the flame base during the blowout process were also explored using Rayleigh Scattering and LIPF-OH imaging techniques. In addition, PIV was used to obtain velocity distributions near the lifted flame base. A mechanism related to blowout process model was constructed and proposed to explain the instability behavior and evolution of different stages of the transient blowout process. The accurate blowout-limit estimation and comprehension of the instability behavior of the jet flames are of significant importance to practical combustion applications and advanced combustor design.