COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY

Lecture 3

COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY

Lecture 3

Content of Todays Lecture

Basic Flame Types

Turbulent Premixed Flames

Fuel/Oxidiser Mixing

Fluid Motion
laminar

Examples
flat flame
Bunsen flame

turbulent

spark-ignited petrol engines

low NOx stationary gas turbine
wood fire
gas heaters
candle

Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames

Premixed

CANTERA laminar flame analysis

laminar

Non premixed

CANTERA Autoignition Demonstration

turbulent

CANTERA Premix Flame Demonstration

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23rd. October 2013

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Lecture 3

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Three kinds of turbulent-flame regimes:

Wrinkled laminar-flame regime
Distributed-reaction regime
Flamelets-in-eddies regime

Da

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Lecture 3

characteristic flow (mixing) time / characteristic chemical time

eddy turnover time for largest eddies

flow
l0/vrms
=
=
=
chemical reaction time
chem
L /SL

l0 integral scale (eddy size)

SL laminar flame speed

u unburnt gas density

23rd. October 2013

Turbulent fluctuation velocity

vrms
= (u )2 + (v )2 + (w )2
Turbulent length scales Integral scale and Kolmogorov scale
l0 integral scale - largest eddy scale

1/4
v 3 l0
lk Kolmogorov microscale - the smallest eddy size =

(vrms
)3

vrms
l0
Turbulence Reynolds number
Rel0 =

Damkohler number:

Sturb =

m
reactant flow rate

23rd. October 2013

Turbulent Premixed Flames II

Basic concepts
Turbulent flow increases the flame propagation, but no evidence that turbulence substantially alters
the chemistry
No practical universal method to predict turbulent flame behavior

u
A
time averaged flame area
A

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Turbulent Premixed Flames I

Turbulent flame speed

pulverised coal combustion

aircraft turbine
Diesel engine
rocket motor

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l0
L



SL

vrms

L laminar flame thickness

vrms
turbulent fluctuation velocity

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23rd. October 2013

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Lecture 3

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Turbulent Premixed Flame Regimes I

Lecture 3

Wrinkled Laminar-Flame Regime

Wrinkled laminar flame: Flame Thickness L Kolmogorov scale lk

Wrinkled laminar-flame regime

Chemical reactions occur in thin sheets (thinner than Kolmogorov scale);
Damkohler number always greater than 1 - Fast chemistry compared to fluid mixing
Flame becomes wrinkledflame - flame area larger than laminar flame
Flame speed less dependent on SL thus less dependent on fuel/air or fuel type

3 5 times laminar burning speed

Sturb /SL

Clavin and Williams:

Klimov:

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Distributed-Reaction Regime

Aflamelets /A

h

1/2 io1/2

0.5 1 + 1 + 8C ( 1) vrms
/SL2

0.7

St /SL = 3.5 vrms

/SL

St /SL =

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Flamelets-In-Eddies Regime

Flamelets-in-eddies flame: Integral scale - largest eddy sizes l0 > Flame Thickness L > Kolmogorov scale lk

Distributed-reaction flame: Flame Thickness L > Integral scale - largest eddy sizes l0

vrms
>> 1)
SL
Of special interest: some practical combustion devices operate in this regime

Difficult to achieve in practice

Characterized by moderate Damkohler number and high turbulence (

Requires small integral length scale (l0) and large turbulent intensity simultaneously
Above requires high velocity in small passages - high pressure loss and less sustainable flame

Close to ideas behind eddy-breakup model

1. Burning zone consists of parcels of unburnt gas and almost fully burnt gas
2. Combustion rate determined by the rate at which parcels of unburnt gas are broken down into
smaller ones (create sufficient interfacial area between unburnt mixture and hot gases to enable
reaction)
3. Thus chemical reaction rates play no role in determining burning rate but combustion completely
controlled by turbulent mixing rates

Damkohler number always less than unity Slow chemistry compared to mixing
Many pollution formation reactions are slow and occur in distributed regions
Difficult to handle - transport in reaction zone governed by both molecules turbulence

= CF Y
m
F
F,rms vrms /l0

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23rd. October 2013

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volumetric mass burning rate, isotropic turbulence

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Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames I

Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames II

Most common type of flame

Common domestic oil and gas burners
Diesel engine combustion
Pulverised coal flames in power plants
After-burners in military jet aircraft
Flaring in refineries or oil fields
Pool or natural fires
Supplementary burners in gas-turbine combined cycle plants

Stabilise flame by:

Strong recirculation zones - by swirling reactants
Behind bluff body (gutter)
Many burners/flames often a combination of premixed and non-premixed
Premixing - for practical reasons or to reduce NOx - lower peak temperature
Premixed burners - more difficult to control - (turndown) and more susceptible to combustion
pulsations

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Lecture 3

Interested in:
- Flame shape and size
- Flame holding and stability
- Heat transfer
- Pollutant emissions
Jet flames
Liftoff
Liftoff distance
Blowout

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Lecture 3

Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames Length I

Low flowrate - laminar flame

Visible flame length longer than temperature / concentration measured lengths (65% 80%)
Factors affecting flame length:
1. Relative importance of initial jet momentum flux versus buoyant forces - F rf
2. Stoichiometry
3. Ratio of nozzle fluid to ambient gas density - e/
4. Initial jet diameter - djet
Flame Froude number characterises buoyancy effect
Small value - flame dominated by buoyancy - simplified flame analysis neglects buoyancy
Large value - initial jet momentum controls mixing

Length independent of Djet

Only depends on flow

Increase flow
Transition to turbulence
Flame shortens

Increase flow - turbulent

Flame still attached

Increase flow - base holes form

Flame liftoff

Increase flow
Increase liftoff distance

3/2
note error in Turns(2.ed)Ve fs

Increase flow

F rf = 

Blowout - NOT desirable

Turbulent flame length

Flow independent (almost)

L =

Port diameter dependent

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23rd. October 2013

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Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames III

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23rd. October 2013

11

1/4 h T

f
T gdj

i1/2

Tf : characteristic combustion temperature rise

2/5

Lf fs
dj (e / )

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1/2

13.5F rf

for F rf < 5 L = 
1/5 :
1 + 0.07F rf2

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Thomas Condra

for F rf 5 L = 23

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Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames Length II

Flame Stabilisation
Methods of turbulent flame stabilization
Low-velocity bypass ports - hand held propane torches
Refractory burner tiles - often combined with swirler
Bluff-body flame-holders
Swirl or jet-induced recirculating flow - rapid increase in flow area creates recirculating zone
Creation of strong recirculation zone of hot products close to the burner throat
1. Ignites unburned gases
2. Provides a zone where local turbulent flame speed matches local flow velocity

Flame in gravity and zero-gravity conditions

Short jet flame height with buoyancy
Notice (almost) independence of flow

1 ) Smaller stoichiometric mixture fractions (fs = +1

longer the flame

Because get larger air amount entrained per kg fuel

Increasing the density of the nozzle fluid produces the same

effect as increasing the nozzle diameter

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23rd. October 2013

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Lecture 3

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Premixed Flame - Numerical Solution Method I

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Lecture 3

Premixed Flame - Numerical Solution Method II

The equations involved are:

What are the aims of this section ?

= uA
M

Continuity

1. To introduce the basis equations involved

2. To introduce the numerical strategy used
3. To introduce the solution parameters used - to achieve convergence

Energy

What is this section based upon ?

Species

The CHEMKIN PREMIX flame manual

Why CHEMKIN when we are using CANTERA ?
Because the techniques used in CANTERA, for all intents and purposes, is the same as CHEMKIN

dT 1 d
M
dx
cp dx

dT
dx

AX
dT
AX
Yk Vk cpk
+
k hk Wk = 0
cp k=1
dx
cp k=1

dYk + d (AYk Vk ) Ak Wk = 0
M
dx
dx

pW
Equation of State
=
RT

(k = 1, . . . , K)

Mass flow rate (independent of x)

M
T Temperature
Yk Mass fraction of species k
p Pressure
u Local velocity of fluid mixture
Density
Wk Molecular mass of kth species R Universal gas constant Thermal conductivity of mixture
Mean molecular mass of mixture
W
cpk Specific heat of kth species
k Molar rate production (unit volume) - from Arrhenius expression
hk Enthalpy of kth species
Vk Diffusion velocity of kth species
A Cross section area of stream tube
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23rd. October 2013

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Lecture 3

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Premixed Flame - Numerical Solution Method III

Premixed Flame - Numerical Solution Method IV

Two general types of premixed flames (actually CANTERA has more):

is known, mass flux fractions specified at cold boundary
Burner-stabilised flame - where M

Freely propagating flame - M is not known (may give start guess) - this is treated here

Finite difference approximations used - backward difference and central difference (equation 11 p. 15)
First and second derivative in energy equation - use central difference

Transport properties are needed - multicomponent diffusion coefficients, thermal conductivities and
thermal diffusion coefficients
Transport properties: two possible methods of description
Mixture-Averaged Transport properties
Multicomponent Transport properties - the more sophisticated method
Boundary conditions:
Temperature and species gradients nearly vanish at cold boundary (i.e. inlet)
All gradients vanish at hot boundary (i.e. outlet)
Yk,J Yk,J1
=0
xJ xJ1

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COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY

n+1 = n

F (n)

1

F (n)

F (n)
is the Jacobian - Never calculate the inverse!

Save time by re-using Jacobian for a number of iterations - Jacobian Age (setMaxJacAge(2, 2))

TJ TJ1
=0
xJ xJ1

Thomas Condra

Finite-difference flow equations - form a system of nonlinear algebraic equations

Use a hybrid Newton (damped) method to solve
Taking as variable - function as F ():

The term

Initial approximations on a very coarse mesh

Remember that gravity does not appear in the equations

Physical extent is given - initial-grid = [0.0, 0.001, . . . 0.05, 0.1] (in metres)
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New mesh points added in regions where the solution or its gradients change rapidly (refine-grid = 1)

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Lecture 3

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If Newton iteration fails to find the steady-state solution - then attempt to solve a psuedo-transient
problem

Premixed Free Flame at 1 atm and 298 K

stoichiometric combustion of (kmol)
CH4(1), O2 (2) and N2 (7.52)
Temperature (K)

Psuedo-transient problem - much more stable - is much more certain to converge

2500

0.2

2000

0.15

1500

0.1

1000

0.05

500
298

0
0

If time stepping diverges - then restart

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Lecture 3

Premixed Flame - CANTERA Simulation I

So try Newton - no convergence - then take some time steps

Then try Newton steady-state solution - no convergence - take more time steps

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Premixed Flame - Numerical Solution Method V

Why not use transient method from the start?

Because it takes MUCH LONGER time to calculate

23rd. October 2013

Mole fraction

COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0
0.1

Distance from burner inlet (m)

Restarting:
Change the Fixed temperature (tfix = ) - lowest level 400 K
Decrease Jacobian age (setMaxJacAge)

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23rd. October 2013

T (K)
O2

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CO2
H2 O

CO
CH4

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23rd. October 2013

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Lecture 3

Premixed Free Flame at 1 atm and 298 K

stoichiometric combustion of (kmol)
CH4(1), O2 (2) and N2 (7.52)

Premixed Free Flame at 1 atm and 298 K

stoichiometric combustion of (kmol)
CH4(1), O2 (2) and N2 (7.52)

2000
1500
1000
500
0
0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

Temperature (K)

Temperature (K)

8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0.1

Mole fraction (ppm)

Premixed Flame - CANTERA Simulation III

298

T (K)

OH

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Lecture 3

Premixed Flame - CANTERA Simulation IV

1500
1000
500
298

0.0325

0.035

0.0375

8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0.04

Mole fraction (ppm)

Premixed Free Flame at 1 atm and 298 K

stoichiometric combustion of (kmol)
CH4(1), O2 (2) and N2 (7.52)

2000

Distance from burner inlet (m)

T (K)

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OH

Thomas Condra

23rd. October 2013

2000

0.15

1500

0.10

1000

0.05

500
298

0.0325

T (K)
O2

23rd. October 2013

2500

0.20

0.035

0.0375

0.00
0.04

Distance from burner inlet (m)

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Department of ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AAU

2500

0
0.03

Distance from burner inlet (m)

Temperature (K)

Lecture 3

Premixed Flame - CANTERA Simulation II

2500

0
0.03

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Mole fraction

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CO2
H2 O

CO
CH4

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23rd. October 2013

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