Premixed flame reaction

Summerfield then argues that at low pressures, the combustion process should behave as a premixed flame. If the reaction is second-order, the flame thickness is given by the equation... 

A comparison of Horton s data for composite propellants with the theoretical results of Hart and Friedly is difficult. The theoretical studies are based on premixed flames, which are more appropriate for double-base propellants. The applicability of premixed flames to composite propellants is open to question, as indicated in Section II. Brown et al. (B13) have indicated that the data are consistent with the expected contributions of surface reactions in the transient combustion process. These comparisons are preliminary, however, and more research is required to study these observations in detail. 

Laminar flame speed is one of the fundamental properties characterizing the global combustion rate of a fuel/ oxidizer mixture. Therefore, it frequently serves as the reference quantity in the study of the phenomena involving premixed flames, such as flammability limits, flame stabilization, blowoff, blowout, extinction, and turbulent combustion. Furthermore, it contains the information on the reaction mechanism in the high-temperature regime, in the presence of diffusive transport. Hence, at the global level, laminar flame-speed data have been widely used to validate a proposed chemical reaction mechanism. 

J.P. Dumont, D. Durox, and R. Borghi 1993, Experimental study of the mean reaction rates in a turbulent premixed flame. Combust. Sci. Technol. 89 219-251 (more informations through www.informaworld.com). 

Y.C. Chen and R. Bilger 2001, Simultaneous 2-D imaging measurements of reaction progress variable and OF radical concentration in turbulent premixed flames Instantaneous flame front structure. Combust. Sci. Tech. 167 187-222 (more informations through www.infor-maworld.com). 

A number of theoretical (5), (19-23). experimental (24-28) and computational (2), (23), (29-32). studies of premixed flames in a stagnation point flow have appeared recently in the literature. In many of these papers it was found that the Lewis number of the deficient reactant played an important role in the behavior of the flames near extinction. In particular, in the absence of downstream heat loss, it was shown that extinction of strained premixed laminar flames can be accomplished via one of the following two mechanisms. If the Lewis number (the ratio of the thermal diffusivity to the mass diffusivity) of the deficient reactant is greater than a critical value, Lee > 1 then extinction can be achieved by flame stretch alone. In such flames (e.g., rich methane-air and lean propane-air flames) extinction occurs at a finite distance from the plane of symmetry. However, if the Lewis number of the deficient reactant is less than this value (e.g., lean hydrogen-air and lean methane-air flames), then extinction occurs from a combination of flame stretch and incomplete chemical reaction. Based upon these results we anticipate that the Lewis number of hydrogen will play an important role in the extinction process. 

Recall that we are assuming faem "C faff (°r fax, if turbulent flow). Anyone who has carefully observed a laminar diffusion flame - preferably one with little soot, e.g. burning a small amount of alcohol, say, in a whiskey glass of Sambucca - can perceive of a thin flame (sheet) of blue incandescence from CH radicals or some yellow from heated soot in the reaction zone. As in the premixed flame (laminar deflagration), this flame is of the order of 1 mm in thickness. A quenched candle flame produced by the insertion of a metal screen would also reveal this thin yellow (soot) luminous cup-shaped sheet of flame. Although wind or turbulence would distort and convolute this flame sheet, locally its structure would be preserved provided that faem fax. As a consequence of the fast chemical kinetics time, we can idealize the flame sheet as an infinitessimal sheet. The reaction then occurs at y = yf in our one dimensional model. 

The thickness of the flame zone can be estimated in a manner similar to that used for the premixed flame. A control volume is selected between the condensed phase surface and the point just before the reaction zone. This is the preheat zone , which is heated to 7j. 

Much of the discussion of oxygen flame calorimetry presented in section 7.3 is directly applicable to fluorine flame calorimetry. As in the case of bomb calorimetry, however, the special properties of fluorine combustion systems and problems associated with handling fluorine require a somewhat different experimental method [109,115,116]. Thus, for example, a metal burner should be used. Also, the fact that the mixing of many gases with F2 may lead to spontaneous ignition hinders the use of a premixed flame. Fluorine combustion calorimetry has been used to study the thermochemistry of important reactions, such as... 

The complexity of the turbulent reacting flow problem is such that it is best to deal first with the effect of a turbulent field on an exothermic reaction in a plug flow reactor. Then the different turbulent reacting flow regimes will be described more precisely in terms of appropriate characteristic lengths, which will be developed from a general discussion of turbulence. Finally, the turbulent premixed flame will be examined in detail. 

Unlike premixed flames, which have a very narrow reaction zone, diffusion flames have a wider region over which the composition changes and chemical reactions can take place. Obviously, these changes are principally due to some interdiffusion of reactants and products. Hottel and Hawthorne [5] were the first to make detailed measurements of species distributions in a concentric laminar H2-air diffusion flame. Fig. 6.5 shows the type of results they obtained for a radial distribution at a height corresponding to a cross-section of the overventilated flame depicted in Fig. 6.2. Smyth et al. [2] made very detailed and accurate measurements of temperature and species variation across a Wolfhard-Parker burner in which methane was the fuel. Their results are shown in Figs. 6.6 and 6.7. 

The theory of premixed flames essentially consists of an analysis of factors such as mass diffusion, heat diffusion, and the reaction mechanisms as they affect the rate of homogeneous reactions taking place. Inasmuch as the primary mixing processes of fuel and oxidizer appear to dominate the burning processes in diffusion flames, the theories emphasize the rates of mixing (diffusion) in deriving the characteristics of such flames. 

Prompt NO mechanisms In dealing with the presentation of prompt NO mechanisms, much can be learned by considering the historical development of the concept of prompt NO. With the development of the Zeldovich mechanism, many investigators followed the concept that in premixed flame systems, NO would form only in the post-flame or burned gas zone. Thus, it was thought possible to experimentally determine thermal NO formation rates and, from these rates, to find the rate constant of Eq. (8.49) by measurement of the NO concentration profiles in the post-flame zone. Such measurements can be performed readily on flat flame burners. Of course, in order to make these determinations, it is necessary to know the O atom concentrations. Since hydrocarbon-air flames were always considered, the nitrogen concentration was always in large excess. As discussed in the preceding subsection, the O atom concentration was taken as the equilibrium concentration at the flame temperature and all other reactions were assumed very fast compared to the Zeldovich mechanism. 

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