Bluff-body flame stabilization

FIGURE 4.55 Flame-spreading interaction behind multiple bluff-body flame stabilizers. 

Bluff-body flame stabilization in nonpremixed and partially premixed gaseous systems is complicated by the mixing of fuel and oxidizer. In addition to the aspects considered above, it is necessary to control the fuel distribution in the burner. 

Thus, theoretical modeling of bluff-body flame stabilization cannot yet compete with the experimental approaches. Partially, it is due to the fundamental problems relevant to the turbulent combustion theory. The underestimation of the role of theory is also due to the lack of systematic studies based on existing models. 

Davies, T. W., and J. M. Beer. 1971. Flow in the wake of bluff-body flame stabilizers. 13th Symposium (International) on Combustion Proceedings. Pittsburgh, PA The Combustion Institute. 631-38. 

It is well known that in a jet flame blow-out occurs if the air-fuel mixture flow rate is increased beyond a certain limit. Figure 18.3 shows the relationship between the blow-out velocity and the equivalence ratio for a premixed flame. The variation of blow-out velocity is observed for three different cases. First, the suction collar surrounding the burner is removed and the burner baseline performance obtained. Next, the effect of a suction collar itself without suction flow is documented. These experiments show that for the nozzle geometry studied, the free jet flame (without the presence of the collar) blows out at relatively low exit velocities, e.g., 2.15 m/s at T = 1.46, whereas for > 2 flame lift-off occurs. When the collar is present without the counterflow, the flame is anchored to the collar rim and blows out with the velocity of 8.5 m/s at T = 4. Figure 18.4a shows the photograph of the premixed flame anchored to the collar rim. The collar appears to have an effect similar to a bluff-body flame stabilizer. The third... 

Limitations on temperatures of solid materials often cause the methods of stabilization by solid elements, discussed so far, to be impractical. In most applications of stabilization by solid elements the flame is attached in the wake behind the element, so that the solid is not fully exposed to the flame temperature. Representative examples are bluff-body flame stabilizers, such as the stabilizing rods or plates placed normal to the flow in ramjets and afterburners, which were mentioned in Sections 5.1.1 and 10.3.5. A distinctive feature of bluff-body flame stabilization is the presence of a recirculation zone behind the body. Unlike the alternate vortices shed from bluff bodies in cold flow over the Reynolds-number range of practical interest, a well-defined vortex, steady in the mean, is observed to exist just downstream from the stabilizer when combustion occurs. This is a toroidal vortex for an axisymmetric stabilizer or a pair of identical counterrotating line vortices for rodlike stabilizers. The reason for the drastic change in the... 

From these correlations it would be natural to expect that the maximum blowoff velocity as a function of air-fuel ratio would occur at the stoichiometric mixture ratio. For premixed gaseous fuel-air systems, the maxima do occur at this mixture ratio, as shown in Fig. 56. However, in real systems liquid fuels are injected upstream of the bluff-body flame holder in order to allow for mixing. Results [60] for such liquid injection systems show that the maximum blowoff velocity is obtained on the fuel-lean side of stoichiometric. This trend is readily explained by the fact that liquid droplets impinge on the stabilizer and enrich the wake. Thus, a stoichiometric wake undoubtedly occurs for a lean upstream liquid-fuel injection system. That the wake can be modifled to alter blowoff characteristics was proved experimentally by Fetting et al. [65]. The trends of these experiments can be explained by the correlations developed in this section. 

Ihme, M., Schmitt, C., Pitsch, H. Optimal artificial neural networks and tabulatimi methods for chemistry representation in LES of a bluff-body swirl-stabilized flame. Proc. Combust Inst. 

Gas Burners Gas burners may be classified as premixed or non-premixed. Many types of flame stabilizer are employed in gas burners (see Fig. 27-32). Bluff body, swirl, and combinations thereof are the predominant stabilization mechanisms. 

Utilizing a forced-draft fan, the burner has a gas head arranged to mix the fuel and air in a blast tube which controls the stability and shape of the flame. Gas exits from nozzles or holes in the head and is mixed partly in the high-velocity air stream and partly allowed to exit into an area downstream of a bluff body. Behind the bluff body, a relatively quiescent zone forms which provides a means for flame stability. Many configurations exist, but the most... 

A bluff-body stabilized flame of CH4/H2 in air (designated HMl by Dally et al. [22]) (a) time-averaged photograph of flame luminosity, (b) time-averaged streamlines from LES, (c) instantaneous visualization of OH "luminosity" from LES, and (d) instantaneous temperature field from LES. (b and d are adapted from Raman, V. and Pitch, H., Combust. Flame, 142,329,2005. With permission.)... 

Dally, B. B., Masri, A. R., Barlow, R. S., and Fiechtner, G. J., Instantaneous and mean compositional structure of bluff-body stabilized nonpremixed flames. Combust. Flame, 114, 119, 1998. 

Raman, V. and Pitsch, H., Large-eddy simulation of a bluff-body-stabilized non-premixed flame using a recursive filter-refinement procedure. Combust. Flame, 142, 329, 2005. 

Correa, S. M., A. Gulati, and S. B. Pope (1994). Raman measurements and joint pdf modeling of a nonpremixed bluff-body-stabilized methane flame. In Twenty-fifth International Symposium on Combustion, pp. 1167-1173. Pittsburgh, PA The Combustion Institute. Corrsin, S. (1951a). The decay of isotropic temperature fluctuations in an isotropic turbulence. Journal of Aeronautical Science 18,417 -23. 

Dally, B. B., D. F. Fletcher, and A. R. Masri (1998). Measurements and modeling of a bluff-body stabilized flame. Combustion Theory and Modelling 2, 193-219. 

Recirculation of combustion products can be obtained by several means (1) by inserting solid obstacles in the stream, as in ramjet technology (bluff-body stabilization) (2) by directing part of the flow or one of the flow constituents, usually air, opposed or normal to the main stream, as in gas turbine combustion chambers (aerodynamic stabilization), or (3) by using a step in the wall enclosure (step stabilization), as in the so-called dump combustors. These modes of stabilization are depicted in Fig. 4.52. Complete reviews of flame stabilization of premixed turbulent gases appear in Refs. [66, 67],... 

Stirred reactor theory was initially applied to stabilization in gas turbine combustor cans in which the primary zone was treated as a completely stirred region. This theory has sometimes been extended to bluff-body stabilization, even though aspects of the theory appear inconsistent with experimental measurements made in the wake of a flame holder. Nevertheless, it would appear that stirred reactor theory gives the same functional dependence as the other correlations developed. In the previous section, it was found from stirred reactor considerations that... 

Recess stabilization appears to have two major disadvantages. The first is due to the large increase in heat transfer in the step area, and the second to flame spread angles smaller than those obtained with bluff bodies. Smaller flame spread angles demand longer combustion chambers. 

The technique of flame stabilization by bluff bodies has been used for a long time however, the mechanism by which the fresh gases are ignited, the flame spreads and blows off, is not well defined. Even for the simplest case of premixed flame stabilization there are still a number of uncertainties that are reflected in inconsistencies as indicated in available literature. As for the flames of fuel sprays, a topic of significant practical importance, the understanding of relevant phenomena is far from satisfactory. 

Available experimental studies of premixed flame stabilization focus on the effect of the bluff-body (stabilizer) configuration, combustion chamber geometry... 

Theoretical studies are primarily concentrated on the treatment of flame blow-off phenomenon and the prediction of flame spreading rates. Dunskii [12] is apparently the first to put forward the phenomenological theory of flame stabilization. The theory is based on the characteristic residence and combustion times in adjoining elementary volumes of fresh mixture and combustion products in the recirculation zone. It was shown in [13] that the criteria of [1, 2, 5] reduce to Dunskii s criterion. Longwell et al. [14] suggested the theory of bluff-body stabilized flames assuming that the recirculation zone in the wake of the baffle is so intensely mixed that it becomes homogeneous. The combustion is described by a second-order rate equation for the reaction of fuel and air. 

Early theoretical treatments of bluff-body stabilized flame spreading have been based, in general, on the assumption that the flame is a discontinuous surface separating gas streams of different densities and temperatures [1, 15-17]. These theories neglect the finite thickness of turbulent flame zone and predict the increase of the spreading rate both with the density ratio across the flame, and with the increase in the laminar flame velocity of fuel-air mixture. This does not correspond to experimental observations (e.g., [8, 10]). 

Currently, computing the structure of bluff-body stabilized flames has become a subject of intense activity. The general objective of numerical studies is to describe the phenomenon by solving the fundamental differential equations coupled with turbulence and combustion closures. Since there are many possible approaches, more or less substantiated, the reported results are often contradictory. Apparently, this is caused by the lack of basic understanding of the physico-chemical phenomena accompanying flame stabilization and spreading. 

The results of numerical simulation of bluff-body stabilized premixed flames by the PPDF method are presented in section 12.2. This method was developed to conduct parametric studies before applying a more sophisticated and CPU time consuming PC JVS PDF method. The adequate boundary conditions (ABC) at open boundaries derived in section 12.3 play an essential role in the analysis. Section 12.4 deals with testing and validating the computational method and discussing the mechanism of flame stabilization and blow-off. 

CONFINED TURBULENT FLAMES STABILIZED ON BLUFF BODIES... 

Figures 12.3 and 12.3c show mean velocity (Fig. 12.36) and mean temperature (Fig. 12.3c) fields under bluff-body stabilized combustion of stoichiometric methane-air mixture at inlet velocity 10 m/s, and ABC of Eq. (12.19) at the combustor outlet. Functions Wj, Wij, and W2j in Eq. (12.1) were obtained by solving the problem of laminar flame propagation with the detailed reaction mechanism [31] of Ci-C2-hydrocarbon oxidation (35 species, 280 reactions) including CH4 oxidation chemistry. The PDF of Eq. (12.4) was used in this calculation.

Analyzing Fig. 12.3, it is noticed that the flame width in the bluff-body stabilized flame increases almost linearly with the distance from the baffle with the spreading angle of about 3° to 5°. Since the flame spreading angle directly affects the ramjet combustion efficiency, it is important to check the performance of the ABC by applying it to combustors with different tailpipes. 

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