Effects of Leading-Edge Flame Behavior on Flame Stabilization and Blowout

Abstract

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 flame’s 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.