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Experimental Study on Hydrodynamic Instability Characteristics of N2-Diluted n-C4H10/Air Flat Flames

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Abstract

The hydrodynamic instability characteristics of non-adiabatic N2-diluted n-butane/air flames generated on McKenna burner were investigated experimentally under atmosphere pressure. In order to capture the quantitative structure of cellular flames, planar laser induced fluorescence technology (OH-PLIF and CH2O-PLIF) was employed, as well as the chemiluminescence imaging was used to record flame morphology directly. The results show that the hydrodynamic instability of stoichiometric (Φ = 1.0) n-butane/air flames can be significantly enhanced by N2 dilution. In addition, the increased mixture flow velocity and the reduced equivalence ratio of lean mixtures will enhance hydrodynamic instability. Moreover, the observed flame morphologies are connected wrinkles instead of independent-cells with lean and stoichiometric mixtures. It is probable that the wrinkled flames mainly caused by hydrodynamic instability cannot induce the extinction of high-temperature oxidant reaction in concave regions solely due to the weakened effect of preferential diffusion. The instability mechanism analysis shows that, the remarkably reduced local flame speed and the much deformed local flow field ahead of n-butane/air/N2 dilution flames by increasing N2 dilution ratio play an important role in enhancing hydrodynamic instability. It also indicates that the heat loss reduced more in concave regions than in convex regions toward unburnt mixtures is helpful to enhance the suppression effect of hydrodynamic instability.

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Abbreviations

CVCC:

Constant volume combustion chamber

DC:

Digital camera

ICCD:

Intensified charge coupled device

PLIF:

Planar laser induced fluorescence

α :

Thermal diffusivity

β :

Zel’dovich number

δ f :

Flame thickness

λ :

Thermal conductivity

λ max :

Maxmium wavelength of wrinkled flamefront

ρ :

Density

ρ b :

Density of burnt gas

ρ u :

Density of unburnt gas

σ :

Expansion ratio

ω :

Growth rate of perturbation

ω max :

Maximum growth rate of perturbation

ω 0 :

Factor correspond to growth rate

Φ :

Equivalence ratio

c :

Specific heat capacity

k n :

Wavenumber of perturbed flamefront

r N 2 -dilution :

N2 dilution ratio in volume

A :

Flame amplitude

A 0 :

Initial amplitude of perturbation.

B 1 :

Factor correspond to thermal diffusion

B 2 :

Factor correspond to mass diffusion

B 3 :

Factor correspond to viscous diffusion

D :

Diameter of burner exit

E :

Overall activation energy of chemical reaction

L :

Stand-off distance

Le eff :

Effective Lewis number

Le F :

Fuel Lewis number

Le O :

Oxygen Lewis number

Pr :

Prandtl number

R 0 :

Universal gas constant

S L 0 :

Laminar burning velocity of mixture

T a :

Adiabatic flame temperature

T u :

Initial unburnt mixture temperature

U mix :

Mixture flow velocity

A :

Adiabatic

B :

Burnt gas

U :

Unburnt gas

F :

Fuel

O :

Oxygen

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Funding

The authors are grateful to National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB239600) and Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China (No. 2016A040403095) for the financial supports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China

    Liqiao Jiang, Guangzhao Zhou, Jiepeng Huo, Chen Gu & Xiaoli Chen

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China

    Liqiao Jiang

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  1. Liqiao Jiang
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Correspondence to Liqiao Jiang.

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Jiang, L., Zhou, G., Huo, J. et al. Experimental Study on Hydrodynamic Instability Characteristics of N2-Diluted n-C4H10/Air Flat Flames. Flow Turbulence Combust 108, 1115–1137 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-021-00303-9

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