Diffusion flame

About: Diffusion flame is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9266 publications have been published within this topic receiving 233522 citations.

Visualization of blow-off events in bluff-body stabilized turbulent premixed flames

Abstract: Confined and unconfined turbulent methane-air lean premixed flames stabilized on an axisymmetric bluff-body of diameter d = 25 mm have been examined close to the blow-off limit and during the extinction transient, with OH∗ chemiluminescence, flame tomography and OH-PLIF operated at 5 kHz, allowing a quantification of the duration of the blow-off event. Blow-off was approached by increasing the bulk velocity U b or decreasing the equivalence ratio and the flame shape changed from conical to cylindrical with decreasing length. Close to blow-off, the flame closed on the axis and was about 2 d long, and just before the blow-off condition it took an “M” shape with reaction fronts inside the recirculation zone (RZ). During the blow-off event, fresh reactants entered the RZ from the forward stagnation region and significant fragmentation of the flame occurred, with branches of the flame remaining anchored on the bluff-body edge and separate flame pockets moving randomly inside the RZ. Overall blow-off occurred with the gradual elimination of these flame fragments. The integrated OH∗ emission decreased slowly to zero as the flame surface decreased over a period of about 15 d / U b . The results suggest that the blow-off event in recirculating flames lasts long compared to the residence time in the RZ and the structure of the flame close to extinction supports the underlying assumptions behind well-stirred reactor concepts of blow-off.

Effects of lewis number on extinction behavior of premixed flames in a stagnation flow

Abstract: The combined effects of the velocity gradient and the Lewis number of deficient reactantsin the premixed gas on the behavior and extinction of a premixed flame in a stagnation flow were studied experimentally. The flat twin flames established in the stagnation region of the two dimensional opposed flow of the same mixture were used in order to make an adiabatic and noncatalytic stagnation surface. The flame extinction behavior observed is purely attributed to the flow-transport properties-chemical reaction interaction. The mixture employed was hydrogen, methane, propane, or butane with air. The flame temperature and the distance between the two flames were measured for the wide variations of the fuel concentration and the velocity gradient. As the stagnation velocity gradient was increased by increasing the opposed flow velocity, the flat two flames approached each other, and finally the extinction occurred abruptly. By observing the flame behavior, the extinction process of the flame was classified into two patterns corresponding to the ranges of the Lewis number Le of the deficient reactant in the premixed gas (fuel in the lean mixture and oxygen in the rich mixture). Its ranges are Le 1. Under the condition of Le 1 (lean hydrogen or methane-air and rich propane or butane-air), as the velocity gradient is increased, the flame temperature increases and reaches a maximum point at a certain value of the velocity gradient, beyond which the flame temperature decreases. The flame is extinguished close to the stagnation surface or in contact with the stagnation surface. The results of this experiment are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.

Experimental research on combustion dynamics of medium-scale fire whirl

Abstract: The medium-scale fire whirl was extensively investigated by experimental means, in order to establish correlations of the burning rate, flame height and flame temperature of fire whirl, and to clarify the difference between fire whirls and general pool fires. Experimental observations and data confirmed that a free burning fire whirl is a highly stable burning phenomenon with large quasi-steady periods. Burning rates of fire whirls depend on pool diameter similarly to those of general pool fires; however the transition turbulent burning occurs sooner as the pool diameter increases. The lip height seems to have little effect on the burning rate of fire whirls. The correlation H ∗ = K · ( Q ˙ ∗ · Γ ∗ 2 ) m was proposed to couple the height of fire whirl to the fire release rate and ambient circulation. It correlates the data from both this work and the literature. Radial temperature profiles in the continuous region of the fire whirl were confirmed to be hump-type, implying the existence of fuel-rich inner core. The pool diameter and heat release rate do not significantly affect the radial temperature profiles in non-dimensional radial coordinates. It was found that the fire plume of fire whirl involves three distinct zones just like that of pool fire, but with different normalized ranges. Fire whirls maintain a higher ratio of continuous flame height to the overall flame height, and also higher maximum centerline excess temperature in continuous flame region, as compared to general pool fires. It was further demonstrated that the fire whirl plume at its origin behaves like a turbulent jet with moderate swirling, and then tends to become buoyancy dominated downstream, with slight swirling. With an increase in dimensionless height adjusted by the plume origin, the plume centerline excess temperature decays rapidly and approaches the theoretical value of −5/3 for free buoyancy plume.