Acoustic Effects of Porous Inert Media on Lean Premixed Combustion at Elevated Pressures

Author(s):  
L. Williams ◽  
Ajay Agrawal
Author(s):  
S. K. Alavandi ◽  
A. K. Agrawal

Lean premixed combustion of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and methane (CH4) fuel mixtures with air was investigated experimentally. Combustion at atmospheric pressure was stabilized within porous inert medium made of silicon-carbide coated carbon foam with 4 pores per centimeter. CH4 in the fuel was varied from 100% to 0% (by volume), with the remaining fuel containing equal amounts of CO and H2. Experiments at a fixed air flow rate were conducted by varying the adiabatic flame temperature and fuel composition. Profile of CO and NOx emissions in the axial and transverse directions were taken to identify the post-combustion zone and uniformity of combustion. At a given flame temperature, fuels with CO/H2 produced lower CO and NOx emissions compared to those for CH4. The temperature at the lean blow off limit was significantly lower (compared to CH4) if the fuel contained CO and H2, each greater than 35% by volume.


Author(s):  
S. K. Alavandi ◽  
A. K. Agrawal

This paper presents an experimental investigation on lean premixed combustion of methane and hydrogen-enriched methane. The combustion was stabilized on the surface of a porous inert media made of silicon-carbide coated carbon core with 4 pores per centimeter. Experiments were conducted using commercial grade methane (99% purity) and a mixture of 70% methane and 30% hydrogen, by volume. Measurements of NOx and CO emissions were taken for a range of airflow rates and adiabatic flame temperatures. The combustor turndown ratio was varied by a factor of 6. Emission characteristics were compared for a given adiabatic flame temperature, representing energy input to the combustor. Results show lower CO emissions and extended lean blow off limit when hydrogen was added to the methane fuel.


Author(s):  
David G. Nicol ◽  
Philip C. Malte ◽  
Robert C. Steele

Simplified models for predicting the rate of production of NOx in lean-premixed combustion are presented. These models are based on chemical reactor modeling, and are influenced strongly by the nitrous oxide mechanism, which is an important source of NOx in lean-premixed combustion. They include 1) the minimum set of reactions required for predicting the NOx production, and 2) empirical correlations of the NOx production rate as a function of the CO concentration. The later have been developed for use in an NOx post-processor for CFD codes. Also presented are recent laboratory data, which support the chemical rates used in this study.


Author(s):  
Rajiv Mongia ◽  
Robert Dibble ◽  
Jeff Lovett

Lean premixed combustion has emerged as a method of achieving low pollutant emissions from gas turbines. A common problem of lean premixed combustion is combustion instability. As conditions inside lean premixed combustors approach the lean flammability limit, large pressure variations are encountered. As a consequence, certain desirable gas turbine operating regimes are not approachable. In minimizing these regimes, combustor designers must rely upon trial and error because combustion instabilities are not well understood (and thus difficult to model). When they occur, pressure oscillations in the combustor can induce fluctuations in fuel mole fraction that can augment the pressure oscillations (undesirable) or dampen the pressure oscillations (desirable). In this paper, we demonstrate a method for measuring the fuel mole fraction oscillations which occur in the premixing section during combustion instabilities produced in the combustor that is downstream of the premixer. The fuel mole fraction in the premixer is measured with kHz resolution by the absorption of light from a 3.39 μm He-Ne laser. A sudden expansion combustor is constructed to demonstrate this fuel mole fraction measurement technique. Under several operating conditions, we measure significant fuel mole fraction fluctuations that are caused by pressure oscillations in the combustion chamber. Since the fuel mole fraction is sampled continuously, a power spectrum is easily generated. The fuel mole fraction power spectrum clearly indicates fuel mole fraction fluctuation frequencies are the same as the pressure fluctuation frequencies under some operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Igor V. Novosselov ◽  
Philip C. Malte

In this paper, the development of an eight-step global chemical kinetic mechanism for methane oxidation with nitric oxide formation in lean-premixed combustion at elevated pressures is described and applied. In particular, the mechanism has been developed for use in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and chemical reactor network (CRN) simulations of combustion in lean-premixed gas turbine engines. Special attention is focused on the ability of the mechanism to predict NOx and CO exhaust emissions. Applications of the eight-step mechanism are reported in the paper, all for high-pressure, lean-premixed, methane-air (or natural gas-air) combustion. The eight steps of the mechanism are as follows: 1. Oxidation of the methane fuel to CO and H2O. 2. Oxidation of the CO to CO2. 3. Dissociation of the CO2 to CO. 4. Flame NO formation by the Zeldovich and nitrous oxide mechanisms. 5. Flame NO formation by the prompt and NNH mechanisms. 6. Post-flame NO formation by equilibrium H-atom attack on equilibrium N2O. 7. Post-flame NO formation by equilibrium O-atom attack on equilibrium N2O. 8. Post-flame Zeldovich NO formation by equilibrium O-atom attack on N2.


Author(s):  
Keita Yunoki ◽  
Tomoya Murota ◽  
Keisuke Miura ◽  
Teruyuki Okazaki

We have developed a burner for the gas turbine combustor, which was high efficiency and low environmental load. This burner is named the “coaxial jet cluster burner” and, as the name indicates, it has multiple fuel nozzles and holes in a coaxial arrangement. To form lean premixed combustion, this burner mixes fuel and air in the multiple holes rapidly. The burner can change the combustion form between premixed and non-premixed combustion by controlling the mixing. However, the combustion field coexisting with premixed and non-premixed combustion is complicated. The phenomena that occur in the combustion field should be understood in detail. Therefore, we have developed the hybrid turbulent combustion (HTC) model to calculate the form in which non-premixed flame coexists with premixed flame. Turbulent flow has been simulated using a large eddy simulation (LES) with a dynamic sub grid scale (SGS) model coupled with the HTC model. These models were programmed to a simulation tool based on the OpenFOAM library. However, there were unclear points about their applicability to an actual machine evaluation and the predictive precision of CO concentration which affects burner performance. In this study, we validate the HTC model by comparing its results with measured gas temperature and gas concentration distributions obtained with a coaxial jet cluster burner test rig under atmospheric pressure. In addition, we analyze the CO generation mechanism for the lean premixed combustion in the burner.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Xu ◽  
Muhsin Ameen ◽  
Pinaki Pal ◽  
Sibendu Som

Abstract Partial fuel stratification (PFS) is a promising fuel injection strategy to stabilize lean premixed combustion in spark-ignition (SI) engines. PFS creates a locally stratified mixture by injecting a fraction of the fuel, just before spark timing, into the engine cylinder containing homogeneous lean fuel/air mixture. This locally stratified mixture, when ignited, results in complex flame structure and propagation modes similar to partially premixed flames, and allows for faster and more stable flame propagation than a homogeneous lean mixture. This study focuses on understanding the detailed flame structures associated with PFS-assisted lean premixed combustion. First, a two-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) is performed using detailed fuel chemistry, experimental pressure trace, and realistic initial conditions mapped from a prior engine large-eddy simulation (LES), replicating practical lean SI operating conditions. DNS results suggest that conventional triple flame structures are prevalent during the initial stage of flame kernel growth. Both premixed and non-premixed combustion modes are present with the premixed mode contributing dominantly to the total heat release. Detailed analysis reveals the effects of flame stretch and fuel pyrolysis on the flame displacement speed. Based on the DNS findings, the accuracy of a hybrid G-equation/well-stirred reactor (WSR) combustion model is assessed for PFS-assisted lean operation in the LES context. The G-equation model qualitatively captures the premixed branches of the triple flame, while the WSR model predicts the non-premixed branch of the triple flame. Finally, potential needs for improvements to the hybrid G-equation/WSR modeling approach are discussed.


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