Tesi sul tema "Stretched Flames"

Le cycle thermodynamique classique des turbines à gaz n'a subi aucune modification majeure au cours des dernières décennies, et les améliorations d'efficacité les plus importantes ont été obtenues en réduisant les pertes thermiques, en augmentant le taux de compression et la température maximale. Malgré les efforts visant à améliorer les performances des chambres de combustion, les technologies actuelles pourraient ne pas être à la hauteur des contraintes environnementales de plus en plus strictes. Par conséquent, une percée technologique est essentielle pour façonner l'avenir des moteurs thermiques. La combustion à gain de pression (PGC) émerge comme l'une des solutions les plus prometteuses, introduisant de nouveaux cycles thermodynamiques où la pression augmente tout au long du processus de combustion. Cela peut conduire à une augmentation d'entropie plus faible, bénéficiant à l'efficacité globale du cycle.Plusieurs concepts de PGC sont actuellement étudiés par la communauté scientifique, allant de la déflagration, telle que la combustion à volume constant (CVC), à la détonation, notamment la combustion à détonation rotative (RDC). La simulation numérique est utilisée pour évaluer les performances de ces systèmes et pour mieux comprendre leur comportement afin de les améliorer avant de procéder à des essais expérimentaux. La simulation aux grandes échelles (LES) a un rôle important dans ce domaine grâce à sa capacité à prédire fidèlement les écoulements réactifs. Cependant, avec la complexité croissante des systèmes de combustion, des modèles physiques avancés sont cruciaux pour assurer des simulations prédictives.Dans ce travail, la combustion à volume constant est évaluée et les principaux défis numériques posés par ces systèmes de combustion sont examinés. L'allumage, la combustion à haute pression, la dilution, l'interaction flamme-turbulence, les effets d'étirement, les flux de chaleur font partie intégrante de la physique que les systèmes CVC englobent, et leur interaction conduit à des phénomènes physiques complexes qui doivent être modélisés. Les modèles numériques développés dans ce travail sont principalement examinés dans des cas test, puis appliqués dans le calcul de la chambre à volume constant CV2, opérée au laboratoire Pprime (Poitiers, France).D'abord, des nouvelles conditions limites sont dérivées de la théorie des tuyères pour mimer les effets des soupapes d'admission et d'échappement. Les propriétés d'écoulement sont imposées dynamiquement à la fois à l'entrée et à la sortie de ces systèmes contrôlés par des vannes.Une chimie globale pour les mélanges propane/air est dérivée pour différentes pressions, températures et compositions de gaz frais. La cinétique chimique est optimisée pour différentes concentrations de diluants, composés des gaz brûlés tels que le dioxyde de carbone et la vapeur d'eau. Comme les moteurs à piston, les chambres CVC fonctionnent cycliquement, et chaque cycle de combustion est influencé par les gaz résiduels provenant des cycles précédents. Pour cette raison, un modèle numérique détaillant la composition locale des mélanges inflammables dilués est proposé pour fournir toutes les informations sur les gaz frais nécessaires à la cinétique et au modèle de combustion. Basé sur une généralisation du Thickened Flame (TF), un nouveau modèle de combustion, le Stretched-Thickened Flame (S-TF) model, est développé pour surmonter les limitations du modèle TF dans la prédiction des effets d'étirement sur la vitesse de combustion des flammes laminaire. Cela est crucial pour capturer efficacement les événements transitoires des flammes propagative, fondamentaux dans les chambres CVC. Enfin, dans le cadre de la modélisation de l'allumage, le modèle de dépôt d'énergie est couplé avec le modèle S-TF.Les modèles développés dans cette thèse sont ensuite appliqués à la chambre CV2, mettant en évidence leur impact positif dans la prédiction de la physique transitoire impliquée dans ces systèmes
Classical gas turbine thermodynamic cycle has undergone no major changes over the last decades and the most important efficiency improvements have been obtained reducing thermal losses and raising the overall pressure ratio and peak temperature. Despite the efforts in research and development aiming at enhancing especially combustion chambers performances, current technologies may fall short of complying the increasingly stringent environmental constraints. Consequently, a technological breakthrough is essential to shape the future of thermal engines. Pressure Gain Combustion (PGC) emerges as one of the most promising solutions, introducing new thermodynamic cycles where, unlike the Brayton cycle, pressure increases across the combustion process. This can lead to a lower entropy raise, benefiting the overall cycle efficiency.Several PGC concepts are currently studied by the combustion community, ranging from deflagration, such as constant volume combustion (CVC), to detonation, including Rotating Detonation Combustion (RDC) and Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE). Numerical simulation is used to assess the performance of these systems as well as better understand their behavior for improvements before performing experimental tests. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) has assumed an increasingly significant role in combustion science thanks to its high capability in capturing reacting flows. However, with the increasing complexity of combustion systems, advanced physical models are crucial to ensure predictive simulations.In this work, constant volume combustion technology is assessed and the main numerical challenges posed by these combustion systems are scrutinized. Ignition, high pressure combustion, dilution, flame-turbulence interaction, flame-stretch effects, heat fluxes are just part of the physics that CVC systems encompass and their interplay leads to complex physical phenomena that have to be modeled. The numerical models developed in this work are primarily scrutinized in simple test cases and then applied in complete 3D LES framework to compute the constant volume combustion chamber CV2, operated at Pprime laboratory (Poitiers, France).First, novel boundary conditions, based on NSCBC formalism, are derived from nozzle theory to mimic intake and exhaust valve effects. With this strategy no moving part is introduced in the LES and the flow properties are imposed both at the inlet and the outlet of these valves-controlled systems.Second, a two-step chemistry for propane/air mixtures is derived for multiple pressure, temperature and composition of fresh gases. The chemical kinetics is optimized for different concentration of dilutants, composed by burnt products such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. Like piston engines, constant volume chambers operate cyclically and each combustion event is affected by the residual burnt gases coming from previous cycles. For this reason, a numerical model to detail the local composition of diluted flammable mixtures is proposed to provide all the fresh gas information required by the kinetics and the combustion model. Based on a generalization of the classical Thickened Flame (TF) model, a new combustion model, the Stretched-Thickened Flame (S-TF) model, is developed to overcome the TF model limitations in predicting stretch effects on the laminar flame burning velocity. This is crucial to well capture transient events of propagating flames, which are fundamental in CVCs.Eventually, the ignition modeling is assessed and the Energy Deposition model is coupled with the S-TF model by tracking the kernel size in time.The models developed in this thesis are then applied to the CV2 chamber, highlighting their positive impact in capturing the unsteady physics involved in such systems

The propagation of premixed flames in turbulent flows is a problem of wide physical and technological interest, with a significant literature on their propagation speed and front topology. While certain scalings and parametric dependencies are well understood, a variety of problems remain. One major challenge, and focus of this thesis, is to model the influence of fuel/oxidizer composition on turbulent burning rates. Classical explanations for augmentation of turbulent burning rates by turbulent velocity fluctuations rely on global arguments - i.e., the turbulent burning velocity increase is directly proportional to the increase in flame surface area and mean local burning rate along the flame. However, the development of such global approaches is complicated by the abundance of phenomena influencing the propagation of turbulent premixed flames. Emphasizing key governing processes and cutting-off interesting but marginal phenomena appears to be necessary to make further progress in understanding the subject. An alternative approach to understand turbulent augmentation of burning rates is based upon so-called "leading points", which are intrinsically local properties of the turbulent flame. Leading points concepts suggest that the key physical mechanism controlling turbulent burning velocities of premixed flames is the velocity of the points on the flame that propagate farthest out into the reactants. It is postulated that modifications in the overall turbulent combustion speed depend solely on modifications of the burning rate at the leading points since an increase (decrease) in the average propagation speed of these points causes more (less) flame area to be produced behind them. In this framework, modeling of turbulent burning rates can be thought as consisting of two sub-problems: the modeling of (1) burning rates at the leading points and of (2) the dynamics/statistics of the leading points in the turbulent flame. The main objective of this thesis is to critically address both aspects, providing validation and development of the physical description put forward by leading point concepts. To address the first sub-problem, a comparison between numerical simulations of one-dimensional laminar flames in different geometrical configurations and statistics from a database of direct numerical simulations (DNS) is detailed. In this thesis, it is shown that the leading portions of the turbulent flame front display a structure that on average can be reproduced reasonably well by results obtained from model geometries with the same curvature. However, the comparison between model laminar flame computations and highly curved flamelets is complicated by the presence of negative (i.e., compressive) strain rates, due to gas expansion. For the highest turbulent intensity investigated, local consumption speeds, curvatures, strain rates and flame thicknesses approach the maximum values obtained by the laminar model geometries, while other cases display substantially lower values. To address the second sub-problem, the dynamics of flame propagation in simplified flow geometries is studied theoretically. Utilizing results for Hamilton-Jacobi equations from the Aubry-Mather theory, it is shown how the overall flame front progation under certain conditions is controlled only by discrete points on the flame. Based on these results, definitions of leading points are proposed and their dynamics is studied. These results validate some basic ideas from leading points arguments, but also modify them appreciably. For the simple case of a front propagating in a one-dimensional shear flow, these results clearly show that the front displacement speed is controlled by velocity field characteristics at discrete points on the flame only when the amplitude of the shear flow is sufficiently large and does not vary too rapidly in time. However, these points do not generally lie on the farthest forward point of the front. On the contrary, for sufficiently weak or unsteady flow perturbations, the front displacement speed is not controlled by discrete points, but rather by the entire spatial distribution of the velocity field. For these conditions, the leading points do not have any dynamical significance in controlling the front displacement speed. Finally, these results clearly show that the effects of flame curvature sensitivity in modifying the front displacement speed can be successfully interpreted in term of leading point concepts.

The laminar burning velocity is an important fundamental property of a fuel-air mixture at given conditions of temperature and pressure. Knowledge of burning velocities is required as an input for combustion models, including engine simulations, and the validation of chemical kinetic mechanisms. It is also important to understand the effect of stretch upon laminar flames, to correct for stretch and determine true (unstretched) laminar burning velocities, but also for modelling combustion where stretch rates are high, such as turbulent combustion models. A constant volume combustion vessel has been used in this work to determine burning velocities using two methods: a) flame speed measurements during the constant pressure period, and b) analysis of the pressure rise data. Consistency between these two techniques has been demonstrated for the first time. Flame front imaging and linear extrapolation of flame speed has been used to determine unstretched flame speeds at constant pressure and burned gas Markstein lengths. Measurement of the pressure rise during constant volume combustion has been used along with a numerical multi-zone combustion model to determine burning velocities for elevated temperatures and pressures as the unburned gas ahead of the spherically expanding flame front is compressed isentropically. This burning velocity data is correlated using a 14 term correlation to account for the effects of equivalence ratio, temperature, pressure and fraction of diluents. This correlation has been modified from an existing 12 term correlation to more accurately represent the dependence of burning velocity upon temperature and pressure. A number of fuels have been tested in the combustion vessel. Biogas (mixtures of CH₄ and CO₂) has been tested for a range of equivalence ratios (0.7–1.4), with initial temperatures of 298, 380 and 450 K, initial pressures of 1, 2 and 4 bar and CO₂ fractions of up to 40% by mole. Hydrous ethanol has been tested at the same conditions (apart from 298 K due to the need to vaporise the ethanol), and for fractions of water up to 40% by volume. Binary, ternary and quaternary blends of toluene, n-heptane, ethanol and iso-octane (THEO) have been tested for stoichiometric mixtures only, at 380 and 450 K, and 1, 2 and 4 bar, to represent surrogate gasoline blended with ethanol. For all fuels, correlation coefficients have been obtained to represent the burning velocities over wide ranging conditions. Common trends are seen, such as the reduction in burning velocity with pressure and increase with temperature. In the case of biogas, increasing CO₂ results in a decrease in burning velocity, a shift in peak burning velocity towards stoichiometric, a decrease in burned gas Markstein length and a delayed onset of cellularity. For hydrous ethanol the reduction in burning velocity as H₂O content is increased is more noticeably non-linear, and whilst the onset of cellularity is delayed, the effect on Markstein length is minor. Chemical kinetic simulations are performed to replicate the conditions for biogas mixtures using the GRI 3.0 mechanism and the FlameMaster package. For hydrous ethanol, simulations were performed by Carsten Olm at Eötvös Loránd University, using the OpenSMOKE 1D premixed flame solver. In both cases, good agreement with experimental results is seen. Tests have also been performed using a single cylinder optical engine to compare the results of the hydrous ethanol tests with early burn combustion, and a good comparison is seen. Results from tests on THEO fuels are compared with mixing rules developed in the literature to enable burning velocities of blends to be determined from knowledge of that of the pure components alone. A variety of rules are compared, and it is found that in most cases, the best approximation is found by using the rule in which the burning velocity of the blend is represented by weighting by the energy fraction of the individual components.

Increasingly stringent pollution and emission controls have caused a rise in the use of combustors operating under lean, premixed conditions. Operating lean (excess air) lowers the level of nitrous oxides (NOx) emitted to the environment. In addition, concerns over climate change due to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the need for energy independence in the United States have spurred interest in developing combustors capable of operating with a wide range of fuel compositions. One method to decrease the carbon footprint of modern combustors is the use of high hydrogen content (HHC) fuels. The objective of this research is to develop tools to better understand the physics of turbulent flame propagation in highly stretch sensitive premixed flames in order to predict their behavior at conditions realistic to the environment of gas turbine combustors. This thesis presents the results of an experimental study into the flame propagation characteristics of highly stretch-sensitive, turbulent premixed flames generated in a low swirl burner (LSB). This study uses a scaling law, developed in an earlier thesis from leading point concepts for turbulent premixed flames, to collapse turbulent flame speed data over a wide range of conditions. The flow and flame structure are characterized using high speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) over a wide range of fuel compositions, mean flow velocities, and turbulence levels. The first part of this study looks at turbulent flame speeds for these mixtures and applies the previously developed leading points scaling model in order to test its validity in an alternate geometry. The model was found to collapse the turbulent flame speed data over a wide range of fuel compositions and turbulence levels, giving merit to the leading points model as a method that can produce meaningful results with different geometries and turbulent flame speed definitions. The second part of this thesis examines flame front topologies and stretch statistics of these highly stretch sensitive, turbulent premixed flames. Instantaneous flame front locations and local flow velocities are used to calculate flame curvatures and tangential strain rates. Statistics of these two quantities are calculated both over the entire flame surface and also conditioned at the leading points of the flames. Results presented do not support the arguments made in the development of the leading points model. Only minor effects of fuel composition are noted on curvature statistics, which are mostly dominated by the turbulence. There is a stronger sensitivity for tangential strain rate statistics, however, time-averaged values are still well below the values hypothesized from the leading points model. The results of this study emphasize the importance of local flame topology measurements towards the development of predictive models of the turbulent flame speed.

A new technique is presented for determining burning velocities and stretch effects in laminar flames, and applied to a range of fuel/air mixtures. The speeds of expanding spherical flames, measured by high-speed schlieren cine-photography, are shown to vary with flame radius. A simple phenomenological model has been developed to analyse the data and obtain the one-dimensional flame speed by extrapolation to infinite radius. The validity of the simple model has been tested by using it to analyse the results of detailed simulations of expanding spherical flames. The true one-dimensional flame speeds in this case are known from planar flame modelling using the same kinetic scheme. The simple model predicted flame speeds within 2% of the true values for hydrogen/air mixtures over most of the stoichiometric range. This demonstrates that the extrapolation procedure is sound and will produce reliable results when applied to experimental data. Since the flame speeds derived from experiments are one-dimensional values, multiplying them by the density ratio gives one-dimensional burning velocities (s,'). Maximum burning velocities of hydrogen, methane, ethane, propane and ethylene mixtures with air were 2.85 ms-', 0.37 ms-', 0.41 ms-', 0.39 ms-' and 0.66 ms-' respectively. These are considerably smaller than most burner-derived values. The discrepancies can be explained by flow divergence and stretch effects perturbing burner measurements. The rate at which the measured flame speed approaches its limiting value depends on flame thickness and flame stretch. By subtracting the flame thickness term, the influence of flame stretch, expressed as the Markstein length, can be derived. Again values are given across the whole stoichiometric range of all fuels listed above, and form the most complete set of Markstein lengths reported to date. The Markstein lengths are negative in lean hydrogen and methane and in rich ethane and propane mixtures: this means that stretch increases the burning rate. They are positive in all other mixtures, showing that stretch decreases the burning rate. The results are in line with predictions based on Lewis number considerations. An alternative method of deriving one-dimensional burning velocities and Markstein lengths has been investigated. Burning velocities were measured at different stretch rates in flames in stagnation-point flow. Particle tracking was used to derive burning velocities referred to the hot side of the flame from the upstream values. The two burning velocities extrapolated to different one-dimensional values, both of which differed slightly from the expanding flame results. The suggested reason is that the upstream velocity gradient is not an accurate measure of the stretch experienced by the flame. Markstein lengths were consistent with those from the expanding flame method but the uncertainties were much larger. The method in its present form is therefore useful qualitatively but not quantitatively.

Experimental measurements of the lift-off velocity and lift-off height, and numerical simulations were conducted on the liftoff and stabilization phenomena of laminar jet diffusion flames of inert-diluted C3H8 and CH4 fuels. Both non-reacting and reacting jets were investigated, including effects of multi-component diffusivities and heat release (buoyancy and gas expansion). The role of Schmidt number for non-reacting jets was investigated, with no conclusive Schmidt number criterion for liftoff previously known in similarity solutions. The cold-flow simulation for He-diluted CH4 fuel does not predict flame liftoff; however, adding heat release reaction leads to the prediction of liftoff, which is consistent with experimental observations. Including reaction was also found to improve liftoff height prediction for C3H8 flames, with the flame base location differing from that in the similarity solution - the intersection of the stoichiometric and iso-velocity contours is not necessary for flame stabilization (and thus lift-off). Possible mechanisms other than that proposed for similarity solution may better help to explain the stabilization and liftoff phenomena. The stretch rate at a wide range of isotherms near the base of the lifted tribrachial flame were also quantitatively plotted and analyzed.
Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering
Engineering and Computer Science
Mechanical Engineering PhD

O interesse no desenvolvimento de sistemas eficientes de combustão para reduzir a poluição ambiental e aumentar a eficiência de queima tem chamado a atenção para a combustão em meios porosos inertes. A recirculação de calor, induzida pela matriz sólida a partir dos produtos quentes para os reagentes frios, aumenta a temperatura da chama melhorando a sua estabilidade e permitindo a utilização de combustíveis com baixo poder calorífico. Um estudo teórico recente mostra que uma chama estabilizada por um plano de estagnação imersa em um meio poroso pode, sob certas condições, estender os limites de inflamabilidade de uma mistura de ar e combustível. Por outro lado, o plano de estagnação é um problema que simula o efeito da taxa de deformação do escoamento sobre a estabilidade da chama, o que é relevante para várias configurações de queimador poroso. Portanto, o foco deste trabalho é o estudo da combustão em um queimador poroso com um plano de estagnação. Um experimento é conduzido com empacotamento de esferas, onde uma chama pode ser estabilizada por plano de estagnação devido a um anteparo. A razão de equivalência e a taxa de deformação são controladas pelos fluxos de ar e de combustível e da distância entre injetor e anteparo. A posição da chama é aproximadamente determinada pelo campo de temperaturas medidas por termopares. Complementarmente é realizada uma análise numérica simplificada do problema na qual se pode verificar o efeito da taxa de deformação sobre a estabilidade de chamas em queimadores porosos. Os resultados mostram que é possível estabilizar chamas no interior do meio poroso com plano de estagnação, porém, não foi possível atribuir um aumento de temperatura devido ao aumento da taxa de deformação.
The interest in developing efficient combustion systems to reduce environmental pollution and increase the burning efficiency has called attention to the combustion in inert porous media. The heat recirculation, induced by the solid matrix, from the hot products to the incoming cold reactants, increases the flame temperature and improves its stability, allowing for the use of fuels with low heat content. A recent study shows theoretically that a flame stabilized by a stagnation plane immersed in a porous medium may, under certain conditions, to extend the flammability limits of a mixture of fuel and air. On the other hand, the stagnation plane imposes a certain strain rate on the flow field, which is relevant to various porous burner configurations. Therefore, the focus of this work is the study of combustion in a porous burner with a stagnation plane. An experiment is conducted with packing bed of spheres where a flame can be stabilized against a stagnation plane. The equivalence ratio and the strain rate are controlled by the flows of air and fuel and the distance between the injector and the stagnation plane. The flame position is approximately determined by the temperature field measured by thermocouples. In addition, it is performed a simplified numerical analysis of the problem in which one can see the effect of the strain rate on the stability of flames in porous burners. The results show that it is possible to stabilize flames within the porous medium with stagnation plane, however, it has not been possible to assign a temperature increase due to the increased strain rate.

Pour satisfaire les exigences environnementales et d'agrément de conduite, le moteur automobile a évolué en une vingtaine d'années en un système très complexe combinant de nombreux composants de haute technologie avec des stratégies de contrôle très élaborées. L'optimisation et le contrôle de ce système sont alors devenus de véritables challenges pour les constructeurs automobiles. Ces derniers points sont aujourd'hui d'autant plus complexes que le contexte actuel de raréfaction des ressources impose de plus en plus le couplage ou le remplacement des carburants conventionnels par des carburants alternatifs tels que l'éthanol, le gaz naturel ou encore l'hydrogène. Ces nouveaux carburants présentent, en plus de leur intérêt économique, un certain nombre de propriétés physico-chimiques favorisant un meilleur rendement du moteur ainsi que la réduction des gaz à effet de serre. L'élaboration de ces nouveaux moteurs est finalement rendue possible par l'utilisation de dispositifs physiques et numériques de plus en plus sophistiqués. Dans ce contexte, les outils de simulation système destinés aux groupes motopropulseurs se sont démocratisés et peuvent aujourd'hui être utilisés à toutes les étapes de développement des moteurs, du choix de l'architecture au développement des stratégies de contrôle et à la calibration. Cependant, l'efficacité de tels outils demande encore à être améliorée afin de fournir un haut niveau de prédictivité couplé à un temps de calcul proche du temps réel. Les travaux réalisés lors de cette thèse ont visé à contribuer au développement du modèle de combustion 0-dimensionnel CFM1D (Coherent Flame Model) afin d'améliorer la prédiction du dégagement d'énergie, des polluants et des phénomènes d'auto-inammation (AI) dans les moteurs à allumage commandé lorsque des variations de la composition du carburant sont considérées. Le formalisme CFM distingue deux zones : les gaz frais et les gaz brûlés qui sont séparés par un front de flamme et qui sont entièrement décrits par leur masse, température et composition. Dans ce formalisme, le taux de consommation des espèces est directement lié aux processus de combustion et de post-oxydation assujettis aux mécanismes de chimie et de turbulence. Dans la version initiale du CFM1D, ces mécanismes sont représentés par des approches simples pouvant souffrir d'un manque de prédictivité. Ainsi, la prédiction de la formation de polluants peut être limitée par les chimies simples ou réduites la décrivant. Ces dernières sont en effet généralement définies dans des domaines de validité restreints en température, pression et composition. De la même manière, le calcul de la vitesse de flamme laminaire, de l'étirement de la flamme ou encore des éventuels délais d'auto-inammation intervenant dans l'évaluation du dégagement d'énergie met en jeux des corrélations phénoménologiques initialement développées sur un nombre limités de points de validation. Toutes ces limitations peuvent finalement entraîner une mauvaise réaction du modèle de combustion à des variations thermodynamiques ou de compositions et ont donc nécessite un certain nombre d'améliorations présentées dans ce manuscrit. L'originalité des développements réside dans l'intégration de chimie complexe dans le modèle CFM1D en utilisant des méthodes inspirées de récents travaux de CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) 3D.

De nos jours, la conception de moteurs à combustion interne à allumage commandé exige une consommation de carburant réduite et des émissions polluantes faibles, tout en conservant une performance adéquate. Le coût élevé des essais expérimentaux vient en faveur de l'utilisation de la simulation numérique pour l'évaluation de nouvelles définitions techniques. La modélisation phénoménologique zéro-dimensionnelle de combustion permet d'évaluer les différentes définitions techniques en tenant compte de différents aspects de de la combustion à allumage commandé comme la géométrie, la flamme laminaire et l'impact de la turbulence. Ces modèles calculent également la concentration des espèces de gaz d'échappement. Afin de créer un modèle de combustion, qui pourra décrire la physique de la combustion, les aspects principaux de la combustion pré-mélangée laminaire et turbulent sont identifiés. Trois versions de modèles de combustion typiques sont comparées en termes de description physique du processus de combustion. Le résultat de cette comparaison a indiqué le modèle le plus pertinent (le modèle de densité de surface de flamme). Ce modèle est retenu et il est complété avec la modélisation physique des plusieurs phénomènes qui affectent le taux de dégagement de chaleur. Ces phénomènes sont l’interaction flamme-paroi, les réactions post flamme et l’étirement de flamme. Enfin, le modèle proposé est validé pour plusieurs configurations techniques. Chaque configuration a un impact sur un paramètre spécifique de moteur. Cette analyse montre quels sont les intervalles de confiance et les limitations du modèle proposé
Nowadays, the design of Spark Ignition internal combustion engines is focused on the reduction of fuel consumption and low pollutant emissions, while conserving an adequate output power. The high cost of experimental testing comes in favor of the use of numerical simulations for the assessment of engine technologies. Phenomenological Zero-Dimensional combustion models allow evaluating various technical concepts since they take into account various aspects of spark ignition combustion such as chamber geometry, laminar flame characteristics (thickness and speed) and the impact of turbulence. Such models also calculate species concentration of the exhaust gases. In order to create a zero-dimensional combustion model, which can be able to describe correctly the physics of combustion, the key aspects of laminar and turbulent premixed combustion are identified. Three versions of typical combustion models are compared in terms of physical description of the combustion process. The result of this comparison indicated the most physically pertinent mod-el (the Flame Surface Density model). This model is retained and is enhanced with physical modeling of the several phenomena, which affect the heat release rate. Those phenomena are the wall-flame interaction, post-flame reactions and flame stretch. Finally, the proposed model is validated for several engine configurations. Each configuration has an impact on a specific engine parameter. This analysis shows which are the confidence intervals and the limitations of the proposed model

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.

The interactions between laminar premixed flames and counter-rotating vortex pairs in natural and synthetic gas mixtures have been computationally investigated through the use of Direct Numerical Simulations and parallel processing. Using a computational model for premixed combustion, laminar flames are simulated for single- and two-component fuel mixtures of methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. These laminar flames are forced to interact with superimposed laminar vortex pairs, which mimic the effects of a pulsed, two-dimensional slot-injection. The premixed flames are parameterized by their unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness. The simulated vortices are of a fixed size (relative to the flame thickness) and are parameterized, solely, by their rotational velocity (relative to the flame speed). Strain rate and surface curvature measurements are made along the stretched flame surfaces to study the effects of additive syngas species (CO and H2) on lean methane-air flames. For flames that share the same unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness, it is observed that the effects of carbon monoxide on methane-air mixtures are essentially negigible while the effects of hydrogen are quite substantial. The dynamics of stretched CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames are nearly identical to one another for interactions with both strong and weak vortices. However, the CH4/H2/Air flames demonstrate a remarkable tendency toward surface area growth. Over comparable interaction periods, the flame surface area produced during interactions with CH4/H2/Air flames was found to be more than double that of the pure CH4/Air flames. Despite several obvious differences, all of the interactions revealed the same basic phenomena, including vortex breakdown and flame pinch-off (i.e. pocket formation). In general, the strain rate and surface curvature magnitudes were found to be lower for the CH4/H2/Air flames, and comparable between CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames. Rates of flame stretching are not explicitely determined, but are, instead, addressed through observation of their individual components. Two different models are used to determine local displacement speed values. A discrepancy between practical and theoretical definitions of the displacement speed is evident based on the instantaneous results for CH4/Air and CH4/H2/Air flames interacting with weak and strong vortices.

Numerical simulations have proven itself as a significant and powerful tool for accurate prediction of turbulent premixed flames in practical engineering devices. The work presented in this thesis concerns the development of simulation techniques for premixed turbulent combustion of three different fuels, namely, CNG, LPG and Hydrogen air mixtures. The numerical results are validated against published experimental data from the newly built Sydney combustion chamber. In this work a newly developed Large Eddy Simulation (LES) CFD model is applied to the new Sydney combustion chamber of size 50 x 50 x 250 mm (0.625 litre volume). Turbulence is generated in the chamber by introducing series of baffle plates and a solid square obstacle at various axial locations. These baffles can be added or removed from the chamber to adapt various experimental configurations for studies. This is essential to understand the flame behaviour and the structure. The LES numerical simulations are conducted using the Smagorinsky eddy viscosity model with standard dynamic procedures for sub-grid scale turbulence. Combustion is modelled by using a newly developed dynamic flame surface density (DFSD) model based on the flamelet assumption. Various numerical tests are carried out to establish the confidence in the LES based combustion modelling technique. A detailed analysis has been carried out to determine the regimes of combustion at different stages of flame propagation inside the chamber. The predictions using the DFSD combustion model are evaluated and validated against experimental measurements for various flow configurations. In addition, the in-house code capability is extended by implementing the Lewis number effects. The LES predictions are identified to be in a very good agreement with the experimental measurements for cases with high turbulence levels. However, some disagreement were observed with the quasi-laminar case. In addition a data analysis for experimental data, regarding the overpressure, flame position and the flame speed is carried out for the high and low turbulence cases. Moreover, an image processing procedure is used to extract the flame rate of stretch from both the experimental and numerical flame images that are used as a further method to validate the numerical results. For the grids under investigation, it is concluded that the employed grid is independent of the filter width and grid resolution. The applicability of the DFSD model using grid-independent results for turbulent premixed propagating flames was examined by validating the generated pressure and other flame characteristics, such as flame position and speed against experimental data. This study concludes that the predictions using DFSD model provide reasonably good results. It is found that LES predictions were slightly improved in predicting overpressure, flame position and speed by incorporating the Lewis number effect in the model. Also, the investigation demonstrates the effects of placing multiple obstacles at various locations in the path of the turbulent propagating premixed flames. It is concluded that the pressure generated in any individual configuration is directly proportional to the number of baffles plates. The flame position and speed are clearly dependent on the number of obstacles used and their blockage ratio. The flame stretch extracted from both the experimental and numerical images shows that hydrogen has the highest stretch values over CNG and LPG. Finally, the regime of combustion identified for the three fuels in the present combustion chamber is found to lie within the thin reaction zone. This finding supports the use of the laminar flamelet modelling concept that has been in use for the modelling of turbulent premixed flames in practical applications.

Laminar burning velocity is very useful for both combustion modeling and kinetic scheme validationand improvement. Accurate experimental data are needed. To achieve this, the spherical flame method was chosen. However various expression for burning velocity from the spherically expanding flame can be found. A theorical review details all the expressions and models for the burning veolcity and shows how they can be obtained experimentally. These models were comparated considering basic fuels - various Lewis numbers. As a result, it is shown that the pure kinematic measurement method is the only one thet does not introduce any assumptions. This kinematic measurement had needed the development and validation of an original post-processing tool. Following the theorical review, a parametric experimental study is presented. The new technique is extended to extract burning velocity and Markstein length relative to the fresh gas for pure ethanol, isooctane and blended fuels at high pressure.

Comprendre et prédire les différents mécanismes en jeu dans les flammes prémélangées turbulentes est un enjeu crucial pour le dimensionnement ou l’optimisation de nombreux systèmes de combustion. Les écoulements réactifs turbulents se caractérisent par une interaction complexe entre les mouvements hydrodynamiques, le dégagement de chaleur produit par la flamme et la turbulence. Ce défi étant extrêmement difficile à relever, l’étude préalable des interactions entre une flamme plane et une structure tourbillonnaire fournit un cadre canonique idéal pour mieux appréhender et comprendre les mécanismes physiques à l’oeuvre. Dans cette perspective, des études expérimentales ont été réalisées utilisant un brûleur à jet impactant alimenté par un prémélange (méthane/air, propane/air, hydrogène/air). Un panel de techniques expérimentales ainsi que des outils numériques ont été utilisés pour caractériser finement les interactions entre une flamme de prémélange et un vortex toroïdal. En modifiant la richesse et la composition du mélange ainsi que l’intensité du vortex, le suivi temporel de l’interaction a permis d’extraire différentes informations telles que la dynamique de la surface de flamme, de l’étirement et de la courbure du front de flamme ainsi que les vitesses de déplacement/consommation. De surcroit, la structure interne du front de flamme a été étudiée en la décomposant en une zone de préchauffage et une zone de réaction
Understanding and predicting the different mechanisms at play in turbulent premixed flames is a tremendously difficult issue for sizing or optimizing many combustion systems. Turbulent reactive flows are characterized by a complex interaction between the fluid motion, the inherent heat generated by the flame and turbulence. This challenge being extremely difficult to meet, the study of the interactions between a flat flame and a toroidal vortex provide an ideal canonical framework to better understand the physical mechanisms at play. In this perspective, experimental studies were carried out using a stagnation burner fed by a premixed fuel and air (methane/air,propane/air, hydrogen/air). A panel of experimental techniques as well as numerical tools have been used to characterize thoroughly the flame/vortex interactions. By modifying the equivalence ratio, the mixture composition and the vortex intensity, the temporal evolution of the interaction enable the extraction of the flame surface, the flame front stretch and curvature as well as the displacement/consumption speeds. In addition, the internal flame structure is deeply investigated by decomposing the flame front into a preheat zone and a reaction zone

This thesis investigates the laminar flame speed of C₁-C₃ alkanes and their binary mixtures at conditions of interest in natural gas based gas turbines viz. high temperature, pressure and dilution. Laminar flame speed has been found useful not only for validating chemical kinetics mechanisms but also for developing empirical scaling laws for practical combustion systems. The thesis addresses the lack of laminar flame speed data of C₁-C₃ alkanes at preheat (300-650 K), pressure (1-10 atm) and significant oxidizer dilution (15-21 vol% O₂). Over 400 measurements are reported over a wide range of conditions along with comparison to predictions from leading chemical mechanisms. Unstretched flame speed measurements were performed using a modified Bunsen flame technique based on reaction zone area from chemiluminescence imaging, whereas the strain sensitivity measurements were performed using a bluff-body stabilized stagnation flame with high resolution PIV. These measurements are used to: (i) discern the uncertainties associated with the measurements, (ii) understand the effect of fuel mixture and vitiation on flame speed, and (iii) validate the performance of the leading chemical kinetics mechanisms. Extensive testing shows the unstretched flame speed measurements from the modified Bunsen technique are reasonably accurate. Vitiation studies for methane and propane flames at high preheat show the reduction in flame speed results primarily from the thermal effect of the diluent and that the relative change in flame speed from the undiluted mixture is well correlated to the fractional change in the adiabatic flame temperature over a range of conditions. Significant difference in the measured and predicted flame speeds were observed for rich, atmospheric pressure, propane and lean, high pressure, methane/ethane mixtures with dilution. This highlights possible avenues for improvements in the chemical kinetics mechanisms. Systematic errors were also identified in the Bunsen flame measurements at certain conditions, such as for rich flames with dilution, indicating a need for better understanding of the Bunsen flame technique at these conditions. The difference in the measured and predicted flame speed does not show any clear correlation with the flame height or the strain sensitivity of the mixture. Finally previously proposed mixing rules for estimating flame speed of fuel mixtures from pure fuel components are shown to be reasonably accurate over a range of pressure, reactant temperature and dilution conditions.

Dans un contexte de diminution des émissions polluantes émises par les moteurs à combustion interne, le secteur des transports assiste à une amélioration des motorisations mais également à une diversification des carburants pour l’automobile. L’utilisation de ces différents carburants entraîne souvent un impact sur les performances de la combustion. Dans le cas du moteur à allumage commandé, la performance dépend du dégagement d’énergie, image de la vitesse de la combustion, soit du front de flamme consommant le mélange air-carburant. Or toute flamme en expansion est théoriquement soumise à des effets de courbure et de cisaillement, toutes deux contributions de l’étirement. La réponse à l’étirement étant propre à chaque type de mélange air-carburant (lié au carburant proprement dit, à la richesse du mélange, à la dilution …), ce travail de thèse est centré sur la compréhension de l’impact de l’étirement sur les performances des carburants dans les moteurs à allumage commandé. Pour cela, différents mélanges air-carburant similaires du point de vue des propriétés thermodynamiques et des vitesses fondamentales de combustion laminaire mais avec des sensibilités à l’étirement différentes ont été sélectionnés. Ces mélanges ont ensuite été étudiés dans différentes configurations expérimentales et à l’aide de différentes techniques de mesure: moteur monocylindre opaque et à accès optiques, chambre sphérique de combustion turbulente. Les résultats montrent que les propriétés de sensibilités à l’étirement déterminées en régime laminaire comme la longueur de Markstein et le nombre de Lewis sont indicatrices du comportement des mélanges en combustion turbulente, comme dans la chambre de combustion caractéristique des moteurs à allumage commandé, et sont des paramètres à prendre en considération afin de prédire les performances plus globales de ces carburants que ce soit expérimentalement qu’en simulation
In a context of decreasing pollutant emissions, the transport sector is facing an improvement of engine concept as well as a fuel diversification. The use of these different fuels often involves an impact on the combustion performance itself. In the case of Spark ignition engine, the efficiency is a function of the released heat, image of the combustion speed, i.e. the flame front speed consuming the air-fuel mixture. It is well known that every expanding flame is submitted to flame curvature and strain rate which are both contributors to flame stretch. As the answer of each air-fuel mixture (i.e. the fuel itself, the equivalence ratio, the dilution …) is different to flame stretch, the objective of this work is to understand flame stretch impact on fuel performance in Spark-Ignition engines. To achieve this goal, different fuel-air mixtures with similar unstretched laminar burning speed and thermodynamic properties but different responses to stretch were selected. Those mixtures were then studied with different experimental devices with different measurement techniques: single-cylinder metallic and optical engines, turbulent combustion spherical vessel. Results show that flame stretch sensitivity properties such as Markstein length and Lewis number, determined in laminar combustion regime, are relevant parameters to describe the flame propagation in turbulent combustion as in the combustion chamber of the Spark-Ignition engine and need to be taken into consideration to evaluate global performance of these fuels, experimentally and also in modeling simulation

碩士
國立中央大學
機械工程研究所
93
This thesis investigates experimentally the effect of unsteady stretch for lean premixed turbulent methane/air flames interacting with near-isotropic turbulence. We study the effect of Reynolds number (Ref) on local properties of lean premixed flames at two different turbulent intensities. The near-isotropic turbulence is generated in a large cruciform burner that includes a long vertical vessel and a large horizontal vessel equipped with a pair of counter-rotating fans and perforated plates. The long vertical vessel can be used to produce a downward propagating premixed flame to interact with near-isotropic turbulence. We apply high-speed particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) to measure flame-turbulence interactions, and thus the corresponding strain rate, curvature, stretch rate, and dilatation rate fields along the wrinkled flame front can be obtained. Results show that, at the equivalence ratio �� = 0.7, and the turbulent intensity u�S = 32.34 cm/s (Ref = 1020), no apparent correlations between the stretch rate and the dilatation can be observed. This differs with that found by Driscoll and his co-workers who used a single vortex interacting with a lean premixed flame. It is found that at Ref = 1020, the stretch rate is dominated by both the strain rate and the curvature term. This situation gradually changes as flame propagating, in which the curvature becomes more and more important that eventually dominates the stretch rate. For large values of Ref up to 1750 (u�S = 46.2 cm/s), the possible correlation between the stretch rate and the dilatation rate is even worse, and the strain rate term plays a more important role than the curvature term, indicating the effect of Reynolds number on the stretch rate.

碩士
國立中央大學
機械工程研究所
92
This thesis investigates experimentally the effect of unsteady stretch on laminar premixed flames interacting with turbulent flows. Using a turbulent wake burner and a large cruciform burner, a von Kármán turbulent wake and near-isotropic turbulent flows can be generated, respectively. We applied high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) and the laser tomography to quantitatively measure the corresponding strain rate, curvature, stretch rate, and dilatation rate along the interacting flame front with turbulent wake and near-isotropic turbulence. Experiments in the turbulent wake burner were conducted to study the effect of radiative heat losses on stretching of premixed CH4 flames by using two diluting gases, CO2 (large radiative heat loss) and N2 (small radiative heat loss),respectively. Note that the laminar burning velocities for both CO2- and N2-diluted flames are kept constant with SL = 10 cm/s at a fixed equivalence ratio Φ = 0.7. Experimental results reveal that the maximum burning rate that may be indicated by the maximum dilatation rate occurs in regions of high positive curvature rates. This confirms that the reaction rate of Le＜1 flames is increased by the positive stretch, as already suggested by Law and many other researchers. The curvature team is more important than the strain rate term in the overall stretch consideration for the present lean CH4/air premixed flames with Le＜1, at least for the ratio of the mean tangential velocity of the staggered vortex pair of the wake to the laminar burning velocity, uθ/SL , up to 2. By comparing CO2- and N2-diluted flames, the wrinkled flame propagation speeds and the peak values of the dilatation rate are largely decreased by the increase of radiative heat loss. Experiments in the cruciform burner were conducted to investigate the effect of unsteady stretch for rich (Φ = 1.45) methane/air flames interacting with near-isotropic turbulence, where the root-mean-square turbulent intensity u'=32.3 cm/s and u'/SL = 2.2. The experimental data suggest that the reaction of rich CH4 flames (Le＞1) is strengthened by the negative strain rate, but the flame is burned more intensely near regions of the flame front whose curvature is positive. For the unsteady stretch of rich CH4 flames, the strain rate term plays a dominate role on the stretch rate in the beginning of the flame-turbulence interaction, but during the interaction the curvature term gradually becomes a dominate term.

碩士
大葉大學
機械工程研究所
83
Here a hydrodynamic model was proposed for flame propagation in close tube effected by flow stretch. The flame is treated as a surface of discontinuity like in previous work. For the structure governing flame burning rate, large activation energy and large heat release assumptions are used in the model. It is well known that for laminar premixed flames with Lewis number smaller then one propagating in open space, the burning rate will increase when it is subjected to positive flow stretch and the reverse is true for negative flow stretch. And for flame with Lewis number bigger then one the trend is just the opposite. For flames propagating in open space the pressure is constant , while in present study the overall pressure is rising with the flame propagation . Present theoretical results suggest for flames propagating in closed tube the effect of flow stretch to the flame is the same as that in open space. That is for flame in closed tube positive flow stretch will increase the mass burning rate for flames with Lewis number smaller then one, and for flames with Lewis number bigger then one the mass burning rate will decrease. The trend will reverse for flames experiencing negative flow stretch.

High-pressure experiments and chemical kinetics modeling were performed for laminar spherically expanding flames for methane/air, ethane/air, methane/ethane/air and propane/air mixtures at pressures between 1 and 10 atm and equivalence ratios ranging from 0.7 to 1.3. All experiments were performed in a new flame speed facility capable of withstanding initial pressures up to 15 atm. The facility consists of a cylindrical pressure vessel rated up to 2200 psi. Vacuums down to 30 mTorr were produced before each experiment, and mixtures were created using the partial pressure method. Ignition was obtained by an automotive coil and a constant current power supply capable of reducing the spark energy close to the minimum ignition energy. Optical cine-photography was provided via a Z-type schlieren set up and a high-speed camera (2000 fps). A full description of the facility is given including a pressure rating and a computational conjugate heat transfer analysis predicting temperature rises at the walls. Additionally, a detailed uncertainty analysis revealed total uncertainty in measured flame speed of approximately +-0.7 cm/s. This study includes first-ever measurements of methane/ethane flame speeds at elevated pressures as well as unique high pressure ethane flame speed measurements. Three chemical kinetic models were used and compared against measured flame velocities. GRI 3.0 performed remarkably well even for high-pressure ethane flames. The C5 mechanism performed acceptably at low pressure conditions and under-predicted the experimental data at elevated pressures. Measured Markstein lengths of atmospheric methane/air flames were compared against values found in the literature. In this study, Markstein lengths increased for methane/air flames from fuel lean to fuel rich. A reverse trend was observed for ethane/air mixtures with the Markstein length decreasing from fuel lean to fuel rich conditions. Flame cellularity was observed for mixtures at elevated pressures. For both methane and ethane, hydrodynamic instabilities dominated at stoichiometric conditions. Flame acceleration was clearly visible and used to determine the onset of cellular instabilities. The onset of flame acceleration for each high-pressure experiment was recorded.