Fernando Biagioli

Gradient, counter-gradient transport and their transition in turbulent premixed flames

We theoretically and numerically analyse the phenomenon of counter-gradient transport in turbulent premixed flames with pressure distribution across the flame brush mainly controlled by heat release. The focus is on the transition from counter-gradient to gradient transport obtained when increasing the turbulence intensity/laminar flame speed ratio, a phenomenon recently found in open laboratory flame experiments by Frank et al (1999 Combust. Flame 116 220). The analysis is based on the turbulent flame closure combustion model for the simulation of turbulent premixed flames at strong turbulence (u′≫s L). In this case, earlier work suggests that turbulent premixed flames have non-equilibrium increasing flame brush width controlled in the model only by turbulence and independent from the counter-gradient transport phenomenon which has gasdynamic nature, and equilibrium turbulent flame speed which quickly adapts to the local turbulence. Flames of this type have been called intermediate steady propagation flames. According to the present analysis, transport in turbulent premixed flames is composed of two contributions: real physical gradient turbulent diffusion, which is responsible for the growth of flame brush thickness, and counter-gradient pressure-driven convective transport related to the different acceleration of burnt and unburnt gases subject to the average pressure variation across the turbulent flame. The original gasdynamics model for the pressure-driven transport which is developed here shows that the overall transport may be of gradient or counter-gradient nature according to which of these two contributions is dominant, and that along the flame a transformation from gradient to counter-gradient transport takes place. Reasonable agreement with the mentioned laboratory experimental data strongly support the validity of the present modelling ideas. Finally, we explain why this phenomenon is also highly probable in large-scale industrial burners at much larger turbulent Reynolds numbers.

Gasdynamics modeling of countergradient transport in open and impinging turbulent premixed flames

A model for countergradient transport recently developed by us for one-dimensional freely propagatingturbulent premixed flames is extended here to the case of flames impinging on a wall. According to this approach the progress variable flux ρ u ″ c ″ ¯ is split into a gasdynamics (pressure-driven, countergradient) component and a turbulent (diffusive, gradient) one. The first component, which does not depend directly on turbulence, is estimated using a gasdynamics model based on the key assumption of constant reactant total pressure which, together with mass and momentum conservation, permits determination of the conditional velocities in reactant and product streams. The second component is estimated instead with the standard positive turbulent diffusion coefficient given by the k — ∈ model (independently of overall transport being of gradient or countergradient nature). The approach makes it possible to resolve the problem of countergradient transport without using empirical constants and for one-dimensional freely propagating flames to express the solution in analytical form. The model shows reasonable agreement with the experimental results when applied to a Bunsen-type open flame in the direction orthogonal to the flame front and to three impinging flames (for which the turbulent component of transport can be neglected). Impinging flames are the most critical for validation of the model as the wall counteracts the reduction of pressure across the flame connected with heat release. We show, in fact, here that the effect of the local difference between conditional pressures in the reactants and products streams due to the moving flamelets is not very significant in the open flame but becomes decisive in the impinging one. We demonstrate also that, in agreement with experimental data, countergradient, transport in our model strongly depends on the location of the flame relative to the wall (the closer the flame to thewall, the weaker the phenomenon).

Position, thickness and transport properties of turbulent premixed flames in stagnating flows

The stabilization mechanism of turbulent premixed flames in stagnation flows is analysed in the framework of a turbulent burning rate closure. It is shown that the mean flame brush thickness depends in this kind of flame on the balance between turbulent dispersion of the flame brush and the adverse gradient of the mean axial mass flux at the combustor axis. The flame position is determined in terms of the characteristic turbulent burning rate, the axial velocity distribution and the radial curvature of the flame at the combustor axis, the last pushing a flame curved toward the stream of reactants closer to the stagnation point. The flame curvature at the axis is related by simple mass conservation considerations to the radial curvature of the axial velocity which in turn is related to the shape of the stagnation body. The transport properties of turbulent premixed flames in stagnation flows are also analysed. In particular, a model developed by Zimont and Biagioli (2002 Combust. Theory Modelling 6 79) to account for the pressure-driven, typically counter-gradient, component of in one-dimensional freely propagating flames and extended by Biagioli and Zimont (2003 29th Int. Symp. Combustion p 2087) to the case of stagnation-type flames is further reconsidered here to account for the effect of pressure-driven transport in radial direction and for buoyancy. This model, whose key element is the conservation of reactants total pressure, gives the pressure-driven part of in algebraic closed form. The model is successfully applied to recent experimental data for stagnation-type flames showing that scalar transport can have a gradient or counter-gradient nature depending on the intensity of turbulent velocity fluctuations. The idea of flame thickness is also successfully validated with these experiments.

PHASE RESOLVED ANALYSIS OF FLAME STRUCTURE IN LEAN PREMIXED SWIRL FLAMES OF A FUEL STAGED GAS TURBINE MODEL COMBUSTOR

A scaled model of a gas turbine (GT) burner with coaxially mounted swirlers has been used to study the effects of fuel staging on the behavior of lean premixed methane air flames. Lean flames are known to be susceptible to instabilities that can lead to unsteady operation, flame extinction, and thermo-acoustic oscillations. High speed (10 kHz) laser and optical diagnostic techniques have been used to investigate the fuel staging effect on the mechanisms involved in such instabilities. Methane air flames at atmospheric pressure have been investigated at a constant thermal power of 58 kW. The global equivalence ratio was kept constant, while the fuel staging was varied. The bulk flow velocity at the exit plane was kept constant at 20 m/s. Simultaneous high speed OH PLIF, OH* CL, and acoustic measurements were performed at kHz repetition rate to characterize the flames and determine the operability limits of the combustor. The characterization measurements reveal significant changes in flame shape for various staging ratios as well as onset of self-excited thermo-acoustics in flames with more than 55% fuel injection in the outer swirler. The phase resolved analysis of the OH* CL revealed pulsation in the heat release due to acoustics in flames with higher percentage of fuel in the outer swirler. Comparison of the pressure oscillation in the combustion chamber with the heat release yielded a clear picture regarding the feedback mechanism that sustains the self-excited thermo-acoustic pulsations. The variation of local equivalence ratio of the mixture seems to be the driving force that initiates the onset of acoustics pulsations.

Large Eddy Simulation of ALSTOM’s Reheat Combustor Using Tabulated Chemistry and Stochastic Fields-Combustion Model

Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of natural gas ignition and combustion in turbulent flows are performed using a novel combustion model based on a composite progress variable, a tabulated chemistry ansatz and the stochastic-fields turbulence-chemistry interaction model. It is a significant advantage of this approach that it can be applied to industrial configurations with multi-stream mixing at relatively low computational cost and modeling complexity. The computational cost is independent of the chemical mechanism or the type of fuel, but increases linearly with the number of streams. The model is validated successfully against the Cabra methane flame and Delft Jet in Hot Coflow (DJFC) flame. Both cases constitute fuel jets in a vitiated coflow. The DJFC flame coflow has a non-uniform mixture of air and hot gases. The model considers this non-uniformity by an additional mixture fraction dimension, emulating a ternary mixing case. The model not only predicts flame location, but also the temperature distribution quantitatively. The LES combustion model is further extended to consider four stream mixing. It has been successfully validated for ALSTOM’s reheat combustor at atmospheric conditions. Compared to the past steady-state RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) simulations [1], the LES simulations provide an even better understanding of the turbulent flame characteristics, which helps in the burner optimization.Copyright

Effect of fuel mixture fraction and velocity perturbations on the flame transfer function of swirl stabilized flames

A novel methodology is developed to decompose the classic Flame Transfer Function (FTF) used in the thermo-acoustic stability analysis of lean premix combustors into contributions of different types. The approach is applied, in the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES), to partially-premixed and fully-premixed flames, which are stabilized via a central recirculation zone as a result of the vortex breakdown phenomenon. The first type of decomposition is into contributions driven by fuel mixture fraction and dynamic velocity fluctuations. Each of these two contributions is further split into the components of turbulent flame speed and flame surface area. The flame surface area component, driven by the pure dynamic velocity fluctuation, which is shown to be a dominant contribution to the overall FTF, is also additionally decomposed over the coherent flow structures using proper orthogonal decomposition. Using a simplified model for the dynamic response of premixed flames, it is shown that the distribution of the FTF, as obtained from LES, is closely related to the characteristics of the velocity field frequency response to the inlet perturbation. Initially, the proposed method is tested and validated with a well characterized laboratory burner geometry. Subsequently, the method is applied to an industrial gas turbine burner.