Measurement of laminar burning velocities and Markstein lengths near rich propane/air flammability limits under microgravity conditions

A small cubic closed vessel with schlieren measurement technique combined with high-speed video camera were used to study limit flame properties under microgravity conditions at atmospheric pressure and room temperature.The rich flammability limit of C3H8/air was determined to be 9.2% C3H8.Stretched flame propagation speeds,stretched laminar burning velocities and unstretched laminar burning velocities near rich C3H8/air flammability limits were measured at different equivalence ratios.Outwardly propagating spherical flames were used to study the sensitivities of the flame propagation speeds and laminar burning velocities to flame stretch using Markstein lengths.Unstretched laminar burning velocity at rich flammability limit was determined to be 1.09cm/s.Lewis numbers were less than unity in rich C3H8/air and negative Markstein lengths were concluded.Absolute values of Markstein lengths were found to decrease linearly with equivalence ratios increase.

A lower flammability limit prediction model of alkane-CO2 mixtures based on flame phenomenon simulation

In the present study, a novel model is proposed to evaluate the lower flammability limit(LFL) of alkane diluted with CO2. The LFL model is based on flame phenomenon simulation(FS-LFL). The model consists of combustion, turbulence, and igniter models, which are used to characterise the combustion based on the chemical kinetics and CFD, which is not feasible with traditional methods. The flame simulation phenomenon was validated by contrast with experiment and same criterion of flammability limit in the experiment was adopted. The FS-LFL model was used to predict the LFLs of a propane-CO2 mixture and propane at various temperatures. The model performance was analysed by comparing the results with experimental data and predictions obtained from existing methods. The AARDs between the predicted and experimentally determined LFLs of the propane-CO2 mixture are 0.34%, 1.19%, and 1.35% at 30℃, 50℃, and 70℃, respectively. The model also has a good predictive power with respect to the LFLs of propane at initial temperatures ranging from 30℃–300℃, with an AARD of 2.10%. When the dilution of CO2 is 90%, the model yields a better result due to the utilisation of the chemical kinetics mechanism. This result is instructive for the use of this method in the prediction of upper flammability limits.

Group Contribution based Flammability Limit Estimation of Hydrocarbon-Inert Gas Mixture

As group contribution method is easy to apply and has a wide application range,current study has developed this model to predict flammability limit of hydrocarbons mixed with inert gas using the Marrero/Gani group contribution method,which is significative to the safe application of hydrocarbons in the ORC system.The whole modeling process is divided into two parts:pure compound prediction and mixture prediction.The contribution factors of inert gases and dilute concentration were first introduced in the group contribution method.Moreover,the respective 95%-confidence interval of the mixture based on linear superposition method has been proposed in the developed group contribution model to improve the safety coefficient.For CO2 as inert gas,the average relative error and correlation coefficient are 5.34%and 0.88 for lower flammability limit while 6.99%and 0.95 for upper flammability limit.For N2 as inert gas,the average relative error and correlation coefficient are 7.47%and 0.84 for lower flammability limit while 6.68%and 0.97 for upper flammability limit.Most importantly,this group contribution method has extended the application range to make up the shortcomings of other flammability limit prediction methods aiming at hydrocarbon and inert gas mixtures and proposed the uncertainty analysis to provide reliable prediction range.

Design and simulation of gas burner ejectors

Ignition within gas burner ejectors can lead to off design conditions and has significant influence on the burner behavior.Thus ignition in the ejector should be prevented.In the present study the influence of combustion reactions on the performance of gas burner injectors is investigated.To investigate if ignition is possible,simulated ignition delay times,using a detailed reaction mechanism,are compared to predicted mean residence times of the gas in the ejector.Gas burner ejectors are designed using one dimensional analytic equations,based on energy and momentum conservation equations and conventional isentropic equations.1D results are compared to 2D computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations,to take into account non-ideal mixing effects along the ejector.Results are validated with experiments with air at room temperature.1D results show very good agreement not only with CFD simulations for the case of non-reactive flows,but also with performed experiments.It is shown that the assumption of ideal mixing along the ejector and thus the comparison of the ignition delay time to the gas mean residence time,to predict ignition in the ejector,is not valid.Ignition in the ejector is possible,even if the ignition delay time is more than thirty times higher than the mean residence time.In addition to that,it is shown,that ignition and the choice of reaction mechanism have significant influence on the predicted gas burner ejector performance.Thus,the accurate prediction of ignition delay time and the use of a detailed reaction kinetic are mandatory to correctly predict the burner ejector behavior.