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Proceedings of the Combustion Institute xxx (2012) xxxxxx

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Combustion of gaseous and liquid fuels

in meso-scale tubes with wire mesh
Masato Mikami a,, Yoshiyuki Maeda a, Keiichiro Matsui a,
Takehiko Seo a, Lilis Yuliati b
a
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Japan

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brawijaya University, Indonesia

Abstract
Combustion of gaseous and liquid fuel in meso-scale tubes with wire mesh was studied experimentally.
For C3H8/air mixtures, the ame can be stabilized near the mesh inside the tube without external heating
even for smaller tube than the classical quenching diameter by heat recirculation from the burned gas to
the unburned gas through heat conduction in the wall and mesh. The mesh enhances heat transfer from
the heated wall to the unburned gas. For tubes larger than the classical quenching diameter, the ame can
be stabilized inside the tube even outside the ashback limit by the heat recirculation. Within a specic range
of ow velocity, the ame propagates at relatively high speed and extinction occurs near the mesh, but the
ame can be stabilized near the mesh if the condition is gradually shifted from another condition with a
stabilized ame. Therefore, the mesh can act as a combustion inhibitor or an enhancer. The two types of
burning behavior are discussed based on two steady-state ames; normal ame and weak ame predicted
by other researchers. Next, combustion of electro-sprayed ethanol/n-heptane mixtures inside a meso-scale
tube with d = 3.5 mm with a single mesh and double meshes was studied. The ame can be stabilized near
the mesh without external heating. If droplets passing through the mesh directly interact with the ame, heat
loss and asymmetric ame shape occurs. The ame stabilization region with double meshes is larger than that
with a single mesh and comparable to that for gaseous fuel combustor except for the wall wetting region.
2012 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Meso-scale combustion; Heat recirculation; Flame stabilization; Premixed ame, Electrospray

1. Introduction
In the last two decades, micro- and meso-scale
combustion as a component of micro-power
Corresponding author. Address: Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1
Tokiwadai, Ube, Yamaguchi 755 8611, Japan. Fax: +81
836 85 9101.
E-mail
address:
mmikami@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
(M. Mikami).

generator has been investigated intensively [14].

The most important component in a micro-power
generator is the microcombustor with stable
ame. It is dicult to keep stable ame inside
the microcombustor, due to limitation by inadequate residence time and high heat loss rate
associated with the increase in surface to volume
ratio, which leads to thermal quenching. Many
researches have been conducted on improving
the performance and stability of meso-scale combustors with gaseous fuels. A backward facing

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step was employed to enhance fuelair mixing and

prolong residence time [5,6]. Swiss-roll type combustor was used to reduce heat loss and to preheat
reactant [7,8], external or electrical heating were
used to enhance ame stability, extend ammability limit and reduce quenching distance [911]. It
is desirable to develop a microcombustor with
liquid hydrocarbon fuel, which has relatively high
energy density, about two orders higher than that
of a lithium ion battery. Several studies have been
conducted on meso-scale combustors with liquid
hydrocarbon fuel [1215]. Sirignano et al. [12] presented a miniature liquid lm combustor with a
stable ame inside or outside of 10 mm inner
diameter glass tube. Deng et al. [15] developed a
combustor of less than 10 mm with microfabricated multiplex electrospray sources and a catalyst. CO to CO2 ratio in exhaust gas was less
than 1%.
In order to enhance combustion in micro- and
meso-scale without external heating or catalyst,
excess enthalpy combustion by heat recirculation
from the burned gas to the unburned gas has been
conducted. The Swiss-roll type combustor is an
example to adopt this concept. The heat recirculation also occurs in ame propagation in mesoscale tubes through amewall thermal coupling.
Ju and Xu [16] theoretically showed that there exist
two steady-state solutions in ame propagation in
a meso-scale channel with amewall thermal
interaction; a normal ame regime and a weak
ame regime. In some conditions with relatively
low ow speed, the increase in heat loss leads to
extinction of normal ame but there is a new
branch of weak ame sustained by heat recirculation from the burned gas to the unburned gas
through heat conduction in the wall. This suggests
that the fuel can burn in a tube with inner diameter
less than the classical quenching diameter with
amewall thermal interaction. In order to
enhance the amewall thermal interaction, this
research inserts a wire mesh into a meso-scale
quartz glass tube. Combustion characteristics,
such as burning mode, ame stabilization limit
and transient ame behavior inside the tube with
inner diameters around the classical quenching
diameter are reported rst for gaseous fuel/air
mixtures. Combustion characteristics are discussed in comparison with the predicted two
steady-state solutions in ame propagation.
Recently, Yuliati et al. [17] successfully burned
electro-sprayed liquid fuel in 3.5 mm quartz glass
tube with a wire mesh without external heating
or catalyst. The main purpose to use the mesh
was to electrically collect charged droplets and to
contribute to the increase in the residence time of
droplets to evaporate fully. Yuliati et al. [17], however, pointed out that the mesh has another role as
ame holder by heat recirculation. Therefore, this
study also studies combustion of electro-sprayed
liquid fuel in a meso-scale tube with a wire mesh.

2. Combustion of gaseous fuel in meso-scale tubes

with wire mesh
2.1. Experimental setup
Figure 1 shows photographs of a meso-scale
tube combustor with a wire mesh used in this
research for gaseous fuel combustion. The combustor consists of two pieces of quartz glass tube
with inner diameter d and a stainless steel wire
mesh between them. These parts were adhered
by using a heat-resistant ceramic adhesive
(Ceramabond 569, Aremco Products Inc.). The
mesh was a 60 mesh/in. type and placed at
10 mm upstream from the tube end. The outer
diameter of the mesh was the same as that of
the tube. The wire diameter was 0.14 mm. The
inner diameter d of the tube was 2.5, 3.5 and
5.4 mm, which are less than, close to and larger
than the classical quenching diameter, respectively. The tube wall thickness was 0.7 mm for
all the tubes. C3H8 and air were mixed and then
introduced into the tube with the equivalence
ratio / and the cross-sectional-area averaged ow
velocity U. Each ow rate of C3H8 and air was
controlled by a mass ow controller (SECE440J, HORIBASTEC). The combustor was set
up horizontally. The combustion experiments
were conducted at the ambient temperature of
295 K, which was maintained at 100 mm away
horizontally from the combustor.
2.2. Burning modes and ame stabilization limit
Figure 2 shows typical three types of burning
modes appearing in this combustor; stable ame
at the tube end, ashback and stable ame near
the mesh inside the tube. Figure 3 displays photographs of stabilized ame near the mesh for dierent ow velocities U, equivalence ratios / and
tube inner diameters d. A stable blue ame existed
near the mesh in each condition. The mesh did not
glow although it was directly heated by the ame
or indirectly heated through heat conduction in
the wall. As can be seen in the photograph for
/ = 1.3, a dim blue ame was observed at the tube
end in addition to the ame near the mesh in some

Stainless steel wire mesh

,U
d

Heat resistant adhesive

Quartz glass tube

Fig. 1. Meso-scale tube with wire mesh. A wire mesh is

placed at 10 mm upstream from the tube end.

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70

(a) Flame at
tube end

(b) Flashback

(c) Flame near

the mesh

Fig. 2. Typical burning modes inside and outside a tube

with wire mesh (a) d = 3.5 mm, / = 1.00, U = 51.6 cm/s,
(b) and (c) d = 3.5 mm, / = 1.00, U = 21.5 cm/s.

Flow velocity U [cm/s]

60

(a) d=5.4 mm

(2)

50
40
30

(4)

20
(3)

10
0
0.6

=1.00, U=34.3 cm/s

=1.00, U=17.1 cm/s

d=3.5 mm

d=3.5 mm

d=3.5 mm

=0.99, U=24.8 cm/s

=1.05, U=34.5 cm/s

d=2.5 mm

d=5.4 mm

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Flame stabilization
limit inside tube

(b) d=3.5 mm

Flashback limit
Blowoff limit

(1)

50
40

(2)

30
20

(4)

(3)

(5)

10
0
0.6

Fig. 3. Stabilized ames near wire mesh inside the tube.

(6)

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Equivalence ratio
70
60

Flow velocity U [cm/s]

rich condition with relatively high ow velocity.

For U < 30 cm/s, such double ames did not
appear. It is interesting that the ame can be stabilized inside the tube with d = 2.5 mm, which is
less than the classical quenching diameter, as
explained later.
Figure 4 shows burning mode maps in U/
plane for three dierent tube inner diameters d.
Blowo limit in lean conditions, ashback limit
and ame stabilization limit near the mesh inside
the tube are plotted in Fig. 4. Although the blowo limit may also exist in rich conditions, we did
not examine it because it is not practically important for meso-scale combustors. In determining
the limit condition, we checked whether each stable ame inside or outside the tube lasted for at
least three minutes. Since ashback did not occur
for d = 2.5 mm, this diameter is less than the classical quenching diameter. Flashback occurred for
d = 3.5 mm, but the ashback range is much narrower than that for d = 5.4 mm. The maximum
ow velocity at the ashback limit for
d = 5.4 mm is almost the same as the maximum
burning velocity of C3H8/air mixture. The results
suggest that d = 3.5 mm is close to and slightly
larger than the classical quenching diameter. As
the tube diameter d is decreased, the ame stabilization range inside the tube also becomes

(6)

0.8

70

Flow velocity U [cm/s]

=1.30, U=34.7 cm/s

d=3.5 mm

(5)

Equivalence ratio

60

=0.90, U=34.2 cm/s

Flame stabilization
limit inside tube
Flashback limit
Blowoff limit

(1)

Flame stabilization
limit inside tube

(c) d=2.5 mm

Blowoff limit

50

(1)

40
30

(2)
(3)

20
10
0
0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Equivalence ratio
Fig. 4. Burning mode map for C3H8/air mixture in
meso-scale tubes with wire mesh for dierent inner
diameter d.

narrower, but there is condition that the ame

can be stabilized near the mesh inside the tube
even for d = 2.5 mm. Such a ame is shown in
Fig. 3, i.e., the ame image for / = 0.99,
U = 24.8 cm/s and d = 2.5 mm. Although ashback does not occur for d = 2.5 mm, the ame
can be sustained inside the tube even without

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the mesh within a specic range by heating a part

of tube using a small burner. As the external heater is gradually shifted from the tube end to the
mesh, the ame inside the tube also shifts to the
mesh. Within the ame stabilization range shown
in Fig. 4(c), the ame can continue to burn near
the mesh even if the external heater is taken away
from the tube.
The burning conditions in U/ plane are classied into six regions, depending on burning
modes including the transient behavior inside
and outside the tube, as listed in Table 1. In
Region (4), the ame propagates in the tube and
then is stabilized near the mesh. Flames in Region
(4) are shown in Fig. 2(b) and (c). Region (2) is
outside the ashback limit, but the ame stabilization near the mesh can be attained if the condition
is gradually shifted from Region (4). The existence
of Region (2) is caused by amewall interaction,
i.e., heat recirculation from the burned gas to the
unburned gas through heat conduction in the wall
and mesh. As can be seen in Fig. 4(a), the maximum ow velocity at the ame stabilization limit
inside the tube for d = 5.4 mm is higher than the
maximum burning velocity of C3H8/air mixture.
This suggests that excess-enthalpy combustion
[18] is attained in Region (2). The heat recirculation eect in Region (2) is more remarkable for
d = 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm as compared Fig. 4(b)
and (c) with Fig. 4(a). Some stabilized ames near
the mesh in Region (2) are shown in Fig. 3. There
is a region in which the ame stabilization is possible even outside the blowo limit, i.e., Region
(3). Region (3) is clearly recognized for
d = 2.5 mm and possibly exists for the other
tubes. The mesh enhances heat transfer from the
heated wall to the unburned gas by increasing
the contact area and local velocity due to the ow

Table 1
Burning modes at the tube end and near the mesh inside
the tube for dierent regions in U/ plane.

blockage. Since the blockage ratio of this wire

mesh is 55%, the local velocity passing through
the mesh becomes about twice as high as ow
velocity U even under non-burning condition.
Since the wire Reynolds number is about two
for U = 20 cm/s, the ow separation, which assists
ame attachment, is not expected to occur behind
each wire of the mesh.
As mentioned above, the ame propagates in
the tube and then is stabilized near the mesh in
Region (4). In Regions (5) and (6), however, the
ame propagates in the tube and extinction occurs
near the mesh. The mesh seems to act as a heat
sink in these regions. Although FREI (ames with
repetitive extinction and re-ignition) [11] was
expected to occur in Regions (5) or (6), it was
not observed in this research. The boundary
between Regions (4) and (5) is expressed using
the cross symbol in Fig. 4. In Region (5), the ame
stabilization near the mesh can be attained if the
condition is gradually shifted from Region (4).
A stabilized ame in Region (5) is also shown in
Fig. 3, i.e., the ame image for / = 1.00,
U = 17.1 cm/s and d = 3.5 mm. In this burning
mode, the mesh acts as a heat recirculation enhancer. In Region (5), therefore, the mesh can act as a
combustion inhibitor or an enhancer.
Ju and Xu [16] theoretically showed that there
exist two steady-state solutions in ame propagation in a meso-scale channel with amewall thermal interaction; a normal ame regime and a
weak ame regime. In some conditions with relatively low ow velocity, the increase in heat loss
leads to extinction of normal ame but there is a
new branch of weak ame sustained by heat recirculation from the burned gas to the unburned gas
through heat conduction in the wall. The two
types of burning behavior in Region (5) conceivably correspond to the normal ame extinction
and weak ame. This interpretation suggests that
the transition from the propagating ame to the
stabilized ame near the mesh in Region (4) might
correspond to the continuous transition from normal ame to weak ame, which is predicted by Ju
and Xu [16] to occur at higher ow velocity than a
specic value. The transient behavior will be discussed in the next section.

Region

At tube end

Near mesh
inside tube

(1)

Flame stabilization

No ame
stabilization

(2)

Flame stabilization

Flame
stabilizationa

2.3. Transient behavior and ame speed

(3)

Blowo

Flame
stabilizationa

(4)

Flashback ! ame
stabilization near mesh

Flame
stabilization

(5)

Flashback ! extinction
near mesh

Flame
stabilizationa

(6)

Flashback ! extinction
near mesh

No ame
stabilization

Transient ame characteristics in Regions (4)

and (5) are examined. The burning behavior was
recorded by a monochrome high-speed video
camera (Phantom Ver. 9.0, Vision Research,
Inc.) with a frame rate of 120 fps. Successive ame
images and ame front positions relative to the
tube end are shown in Fig. 5. The mesh position
is 10 mm upstream from the tube end. The ame
speed relative to the tube, i.e., ame propagation
speed, was calculated from temporal variation of
the ame front position using central dierence

a
Flame stabilization near the mesh is attained if the
condition is gradually shifted from Region (4).

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Stabilization

Mesh

Tube end

0.367 s 0.358 s 0.350s 0.275s 0.200s 0.125s

(a) U=21.5 cm/s
Extinction

Mesh

Tube end

Flame front position [mm]

0.117s 0.108s 0.100s 0.075s 0.050s 0.025s

(b) U=17.1 cm/s
10
8

Flame stabilization
near mesh

Extinction
near mesh

6
4

U=17.1 cm/s

U=21.5 cm/s

2
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Time [s]
Fig. 5. Flame propagation, stabilization and extinction
behavior inside a tube with wire mesh for dierent ow
velocities U for d = 3.5 mm and / = 1.00.

approximation. The ame speed relative to the

unburned gas was also obtained by adding the
cross-sectional-area averaged ow velocity U to
the ame speed relative to the tube. These ame
speeds are shown in Fig. 6.
For U = 21.5 cm/s, in Region (4), the ame
rst propagates at very low speed, gradually accelerates as the ame approaches to the mesh, accelerates greatly after 0.3 s. The ame stays near the
mesh after 0.358 s. The luminosity of ame is rst
low and increases near the mesh. The increase in
ame luminosity suggests that the heat recirculation is enhanced by the mesh. The ame luminosity at 0.367 s is slightly lower than that at 0.358 s.

Flame speed [cm/s]

30

U=17.1 cm/s

Flame speed relative to unburned gas

(closed symbols)

The luminosity did not vary with time after

0.367 s. This fact suggests that the preheat zone
of the ame started to interact with the mesh
around 0.358 s, but the transition to the steady
state was smoothly made because the mesh was
well preheated by heat conduction in the wall
due to the very slow ame propagation. According to the prediction of ame propagation in a
tube with amewall thermal interaction [16],
there exist two steady-state ames; normal ame
and weak ame, and the weak ame speed relative
to the unburned gas is very close to the ow velocity. The stabilized-ame speed relative to the
unburned gas is the same as the ow velocity.
With these in mind, we can interpret that in
Region (4), the normal ame is enhanced as
approaching to the mesh and transits to the weak
ame stabilized near the mesh.
For U = 17.1 cm/s, in Region (5), the ame
propagates at higher speed than for U =
21.5 cm/s and extinction occurs at 0.117 s. The
luminosity of ame is rst low, increases near
the mesh and then decreases just before extinction. The increase in ame luminosity suggests
that the heat recirculation enhancement by mesh
occurred until 0.100 s even for U = 17.1 cm/s.
The preheat zone of the ame probably started
to interact with the mesh around 0.100 s. Since
the ow velocity is lower, the preheat zone interacts more with the mesh, resulting in more heat
loss to the mesh. In Region (5), therefore, the
mesh acts as a combustion enhancer as long as
the preheat zone of the ame does not reach the
mesh but as a combustion inhibitor once it
reaches the mesh through ame propagation. As
mentioned in Section 2.2, the ame stabilization
near the mesh can be attained in Region (5) if
the condition is gradually shifted from Region
(4). We can interpret that in Region (5), the normal ame is enhanced as approaching to the mesh
but cannot transit to the weak ame due to
abrupt increase in heat loss at the mesh. However, the weak ame can be stabilized near the
mesh if the condition is gradually shifted from
Region (4).

U=21.5 cm/s

20

Extinction
near mesh

Flame stabilization
near mesh

3.1. Experimental setup

U=17.1 cm/s

10

Flame speed relative to tube

(open symbols)
U=21.5 cm/s

0
0

0.1

3. Combustion of liquid fuel in a meso-scale tube

with wire mesh

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Time [s]
Fig. 6. Temporal variations of ame speeds relative to
the tube and unburned gas inside a tube with wire mesh
for dierent ow velocities U for d = 3.5 mm and
/ = 1.00.

Figure 7 shows schematics of three types of

meso-scale tube combustors for liquid fuel. The
main dierences from the gas fuel combustor
shown in Fig. 1 are on the fuel supply system.
The liquid fuel was atomized into ne droplets
by electrospray systems in the air ow inside
quartz glass tube of 3.5 mm in inner diameter.
The electrospray system consists of a fuel-supply
capillary electrode, a ring extractor electrode and

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Heat resistant adhesive
Air

Liquid
fuel

Ring collector, ground

Spray

Flame

VC
VE

Methane flame heater

Type A (without mesh and with external heating)

Liquid
fuel

Air

Spray

Flame

5 mm

10 mm

VC
VE

Mesh collector, ground

Type B (with a single mesh and without external heating)

Droplet transportation
region
Cone jet forming region
Liquid
fuel

Air

Spray

Droplet evaporation
and mixing region
Combustion region

Flame

ID
3.5 mm

10 mm
5 mm 3 mm
Capillary, VC
Mesh Glass tube
Ring extractor, VE
Mesh collector, ground

Type C (with double meshes and without external heating)

Fig. 7. Schematics of liquid-fuel meso-scale tube

combustors.

a collector electrode. A stainless steel capillary

with an inner diameter of 0.4 mm and an outer
diameter of 0.6 mm was set at the center of the
tube. The ring extractor was made of stainless
steel with an inner diameter of 2.5 mm. The axial
distance between the exit of the capillary and the
left surface of the extractor was 1 mm. High voltages were applied to the capillary, VC, and ring
extractor, VE, by a high voltage power supply
device (HV-RACK 4-250-00111, UltraVolt,
Inc.), while the collector electrode was set as a
ground. VCVE mainly controls the cone jet formation from the capillary with liquid fuel and
VE mainly controls charged droplet transportation and capture to the collector. VE was set at
1 kV, while VC was slightly varied within the
range of 2.62.8 kV to establish cone-jet-mode
electrospray. Type A combustor employs a stainless steel ring collector, while Types B and C
employ a stainless steel wire mesh as the collector.
Yuliati et al. [17] used Type B combustor and
reported that even if charged droplets once pass
through the mesh with high speed, about 10 m/s,
charged droplets y back to the mesh collector,
resulting in the increase in residence time of
droplets to complete vaporization. Type C combustor has another mesh as a ame holder which

enhances heat recirculation eect as with the case

for gaseous fuel combustor with a wire mesh in
Section 2. The ame holder mesh was not electrically connected to the electrodes. In Type B combustor, the mesh has both functions as droplet
collector and ame holder. A mixture of 30% volume ethanol and 70% volume n-heptane was used
as a liquid fuel [17,19]. The addition of ethanol
controls the mixture electrical conductivity [19].
Any anti-static additives to enhance the electrical
conductivity of the liquid were not used. The
liquid fuel was supplied to the capillary with constant ow rate QF by using a syringe pump
(Model 11 Plus, Harvard Apparatus Inc.).
3.2. Flame stabilization limit
Figure 8 displays typical ame images for different types of combustors. In Type A combustor,
which does not employ a mesh collector but a ring
collector, the ame was able to establish only with
external heating by a small methane burner. Without the external heating, wall wetting by droplet
impingement on the inner wall occurred and led
to liquid lm formation on the inner wall of the
tube and eventually to shutdown of the system.
In Types B and C, stable ames were able to
establish inside the tube without external heating.
The ame existed behind the mesh collector in
Type B combustor and behind the ame holder
mesh in Type C with a blue luminosity, implying
no soot formation. At the initial stage, the tube
was preheated by an external heater around the
mesh collector. Once the ame was established
near the mesh, combustion was self-sustained
without external heating. Wall wetting occurred
at fuel ow rates higher than 1.5 mL/h in Types
B and C. This was caused by electrospray with
oscillatory or rotating jet producing relatively
large droplets which impinge on the wall surface

(a) Type A (without mesh

and with external heating),
=1.0, QF=2.0 mL/h

(c) =0.75

(b) Type B (with a single mesh

and without external heating),
=1.0, QF=1.0 mL/h

(d) = 0.85

(e) = 1.0
(f) = 1.5
Type C (with double meshes and without external heating),
QF=1.0 mL/h

Fig. 8. Stabilized ames near the mesh inside the tube

(d = 3.5 mm) for ethanol/n-heptane spray in air.

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even if VC was adjusted to establish a cone-jetmode electrospray.

Figure 9 shows ame stabilization limit inside
the tube for Types B and C combustors. The
cross-sectional-area averaged air ow velocity
without burning is used as the ow velocity U.
The result for C3H8/air mixture with d = 3.5 mm
is also shown. For liquid fuel combustors, the heat
required to heat up droplets and latent heat of
vaporization are additional heat losses. The wall
wetting also narrows the ame stabilization limit.
The ame stabilization region in Type B combustor is much smaller than that for gaseous fuel.
Since Type B combustor employs a single mesh
which plays roles as both droplet collector and
ame holder. As discussed in Section 2, the mesh
enhances heat recirculation to the unburned gas
from the burned gas. However, droplets passing
through the mesh directly interact with the ame,
resulting in heat loss and asymmetric ame shape
for relatively high fuel ow rate.
The ame stabilization region in Type C combustor is larger than that in Type B and comparable to that for the gaseous fuel combustor except
for the wall wetting region. The roles as droplet
collector and ame holder are separated using
double meshes in Type C combustor. The mesh
spacing was not optimized but arbitrary chosen.
As shown in Fig. 7, since there is a space for droplet evaporation and mixing between two meshes,
the direct interaction between droplets and ame
is avoided. Since the wall wetting was not
observed within the ame stabilization limit, further heat conduction in the wall to the mesh collector contributes to complete vaporization of
droplets captured on the mesh collector. Although
any heat insulation methods were not employed in
Type C combustor, CO/CO2 ratio in the exhaust

Flow velocity U [cm/s]

60
50
Liquid fuel,
double meshes

Gaseous fuel

40
Wall
wetting
limit

30
20
10
0
0.4

Liquid fuel,
single mesh

0.8

1.2

1.6

Equivalence ratio
Fig. 9. Flame stabilization limit inside a meso-scale tube
(d = 3.5 mm) with wire mesh for ethanol/n-heptane
spray in air. The result for C3H8/air mixture is also
shown.

gas for / = 0.90 was measured by a gas chromatography system (GC2014AF/SPL, Shimazu),
for a reference. CO/CO2 ratios were 0.71% for
QF = 1.2 mL/h and 1.0%1.1% for QF = 0.8, 1.0
and 1.4 mL/h. CO/CO2 ratio had a larger value
of 3.3% for QF = 0.75 mL/h, which is near the
ame stabilization limit inside the tube.
4. Conclusions
Combustion of gaseous and liquid fuel in
meso-scale tubes with wire mesh was studied
experimentally. For C3H8/air mixtures, the ame
can be stabilized near the mesh inside the tube
without external heating even for d = 2.5 mm,
which is less than the classical quenching diameter. For d = 3.5 mm and 5.4 mm, which are close
to and larger than the classical quenching diameter, respectively, the ame can be stabilized inside
the tube even outside the ashback limit. These
types of ame stabilization are caused by ame
wall interaction, i.e., heat recirculation from the
burned gas to the unburned gas through heat conduction in the wall and mesh. The mesh enhances
heat transfer from the heated wall to the unburned
gas. The heat recirculation eect is more remarkable for d = 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm. Within the ashback limit, at relatively high ow velocity, the
ame rst propagates at very low speed, gradually
accelerates as the ame approaches to the mesh
and nally is stabilized near the mesh. Within a
specic range of ow velocity, the ame propagates at relatively high speed and extinction
occurs near the mesh, but the ame can be stabilized near the mesh if the condition is gradually
shifted from another condition with a stabilized
ame. Therefore, the mesh can act as a combustion inhibitor or an enhancer. The two types of
burning behavior are discussed based on two
steady-state ames; normal ame and weak ame,
predicted for propagating ame in a tube with
amewall interaction [16].
Next, combustion of electro-sprayed ethanol/
n-heptane mixtures in air inside a meso-scale tube
with d = 3.5 mm with a single mesh and double
meshes was studied experimentally. The ame
can be stabilized near the mesh without external
heating. Since a single mesh plays roles as droplet
collector and ame holder, the mesh enhances
heat recirculation to the unburned gas from the
burned gas, but droplets passing through the mesh
directly interact with the ame, resulting in heat
loss and asymmetric ame shape. The ame stabilization region with double meshes is larger than
that with a single mesh and comparable to that for
gaseous fuel combustor except for the wall wetting
region. The direct interaction between droplets
and ame is avoided by using double meshes
because the mesh roles as droplet collector and
ame holder are separated.

Please cite this article in press as: M. Mikami et al., Proc. Combust. Inst. (2012), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.proci.2012.05.064

M. Mikami et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute xxx (2012) xxxxxx

Acknowledgement
This research was subsidized by Grant-in-Aid
for Scientic Research (C) (21560217).
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Please cite this article in press as: M. Mikami et al., Proc. Combust. Inst. (2012), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.proci.2012.05.064