Development of high intensity low emission combustor for achieving flameless combustion ofliquid fuels

This paper presents the experimental and numerical results for a two stagecombustor capable of achieving flameless combustion with liquid fuels for different thermalheat inputs of 20,30,40 and 60 kW and heat release density of 5-15 MW/m^(3).Combustioncharacteristics and pollutant emissions are studied for three different fuels,kerosene,diesel andgasoline.The influence of droplet diameter on pollutant emissions at all conditions is studied.The fuel and oxidizer are supplied at ambient conditions.The concept of high swirl flows hasbeen adopted to achieve high intemal recirculation rates,residence time and increased dilutionof the fresh reactants in the primary combustion zone,resulting in flameless combustion mode.Air is injected through four tangential injection ports located near the bottom of the combustorand liquid fuel is injected through a centrally mounted pressure swirl injector.Computationalanalysis of the flow features shows that decrease in the exit port diameter of the primarychamber increases the recirculation rate of combustion products and helps in achieving theflameless combustion mode.Based on preliminary computational studies,a 30 mm primarychamber exit pont diameter is chosen for experimental studies.Detailed experimentalinvestigations show that flameless combustion mode was achieved with evenly distributedcombustion reaction zone and unifom temperature distribution in the combustor.Pollutant emissions of CO, NO_(x),C_(x)H_(y) are measured and compared for all operating conditions ofdifferent fuels and different thermal inputs. The acoustic emission levels are reduced by6-8 dB as combustion mode shifts from conventional mode to flameless combustion mode.

Numerical investigation to evaluate the effects of gravity and pressure on flame structure and soot formation of turbulent non-premixed methaneair flame

In this study,a turbulent non-premixed(diffusion)methane-air flame has been investigated computationally to analyze the influences of pressure and gravity on flame structure and sooting characteristics between 1 and 10 atm.The simulation has been conducted in a 2-D axisymmetric computational domain using the finite volume-based computational fluid dynamics(CFD)code.The interaction of turbulence and chemistry is modeled by considering the steady laminar flamelet model(SLFM)and the GRI Mech 3.0 chemical mechanism.The radiative heat transfer calculation is carried out by considering the discrete ordinate(DO)method and the weighted sum grey gas model(WSGGM).The semi-empirical Moss-Brookes model is considered to calculate soot.The impact of gravity on flame and sooting characteristics are evaluated by comparing the normal-gravity flames with the zero-gravity flames.The effect of soot and radiation on flame temperature is also examined.The results show a close agreement with the measurement when both soot and radiation are included in the numerical modeling.The rates of soot formation,surface growth,and oxidation increase with increased operating pressure,regardless of gravity.Zero-gravity flames have a higher soot volume fraction,a wider soot-containing zone,a higher CO mass fraction,and a lower flame temperature than normal-gravity flames while maintaining constant pressure.In normal-gravity flames,the CO mass fraction decreases with pressure,whereas it increases with pressure rise in flames of zero gravity.Flames of zero gravity appear taller and broader compared to the flames of normalgravity for a fixed pressure.An increase in pressure significantly reduces the flame length and width in normal-gravity flames.However,the pressure elevation has little effect on the shape of a zero-gravity flame.The outcomes of the present study will assist in fully understanding the combustion and sooting characteristics of turbulent diffusion flames that will help design and develop high-efficiency,pollutant-free combustion devices and fire suppression systems for space application.