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Experimental study on the effect of cone-shaped bluff body on lean premixed flames in a swirl burner

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Abstract

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of conical bluff bodies on the flame dynamics and emissions from a natural gas/air swirl burner. Three bluff bodies (a disc, a 130° cone, and an 80° cone) were positioned above burner’s outlet to influence the flame dynamics and optimize emissions. The swirl burner performance in lean premixed combustion condition was evaluated at a constant swirl number of 0.87 at 0.65–0.90 equivalence ratios. The flame height and width were increased in the experiments with conical bluff bodies compared to the disc shape. Also, 130° and 80° bluff bodies enhanced the chemiluminescence of all species, as well as the uniformity of the thermal field by distributing the reaction zone. In particular, the bluff bodies impacted the flame dynamics and resulted in decreased \({\text{NO}}_\text{x}\) formation by a minimum of 12.79% and 19.13% and increased \({\text{CO}}\) emissions by 22.71% and 14.18% for 130° and 80° cone bluff bodies, respectively. The equivalence ratios of blow-off and lift-off reduced and increased with conical bluff bodies compared to the disc shape, respectively. The results suggest that the conical shapes diminish the central recirculation zone (CRZ) that is responsible for a concentrated reaction zone above the burner outlet. A weaker CRZ reduces the temperature of the burner bluff body and resolves the concentrated reaction zone to reduce \({\text{NO}}_\text{x}\) formation. The cone angle of the bluff body can be utilized as an optimization tool to adjust emissions and increase operational lifetime of swirl burners in industrial combustion systems.

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Abbreviations

Q :

Flow rate (air, gas) (\({\text{m}}^{3}\) h−1)

P :

Pressure (mbar)

T :

Temperature (℃)

G :

Momentum (\({\text{kg }}\;{\text{m}}^{2}\) s−2)

H :

Height (mm)

W :

Width (mm)

R :

Radius (mm)

d :

Diameter (mm)

L :

Pixel length

N :

Number of pixels

Φ :

Equivalence ratio

\(\alpha\) :

Swirler vane angle (deg)

\(\Delta y\) :

Actual size of the unit pixel

ang:

Angular

x :

Linear

b:

Bluff body radius

c:

Working fluid

r:

Standard reference condition

f:

Flame

i:

Unit vector in the direction of the x-axis

j:

Unit vector in the direction of the x-axis

S :

Swirl number

CRZ:

Central recirculation zone

LPC:

Lean premixed combustion

LPG:

Liquefied petroleum gas

SFLF:

Soot-free length fraction

sp.G:

Specific gravity

LHV:

Low heating value (kJ m−3)

NA:

Numerical aperture

CCD:

Charged-coupled device

HRR:

Heat release rate

\(\overline{X}\) :

Data average

n :

Numbers of the measurement

SD:

Standard deviation

U :

Uncertainty

ppm:

Parts per million

\({*}\) :

Excited radical

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Author notes

  1. Hamed Farmahini Farahani

    Present address: FM Global Research Division, Norwood, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 14115-111, Iran

    Mohammad Amiri, Ramtin Elkaei Behjati & Kiumars Mazaheri

  2. Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Hamed Farmahini Farahani

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  1. Mohammad Amiri
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Contributions

MA conducted experiments, wrote the paper, and analysed the data. REB conducted literature review, wrote the paper, and analysed the data. HFF developed conceptual framework and revised the manuscript. KM supervised the experiments and provided supervision and guidance.

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Correspondence to Hamed Farmahini Farahani.

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Amiri, M., Elkaei Behjati, R., Farmahini Farahani, H. et al. Experimental study on the effect of cone-shaped bluff body on lean premixed flames in a swirl burner. J Therm Anal Calorim 149, 699–710 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12667-3

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