Optical investigations on lean combustion improvement of natural gas engines via turbulence enhancement

In the global background of“Carbon Peak”and“Carbon Neutral”,natural gas engines show great advantages in energy-saving and pollution reduction.However,natural gas engines suffer from the issues of combustion instabilities when operating under lean burning conditions.In this paper,the role of turbulence enhancement in improving the lean combustion of natural gas was investigated in an optical SI engine with high compression ratios.Variable swirl control valves(SCV)were designed and intake tumble and swirl were combined to regulate turbulent motion and turbulent intensity.Particle image velocimetry was employed to measure in-cylinder turbulence,and transient pressure acquisition and high-speed photography were synchronously performed to quantify combustion evolutions.The results show that incylinder turbulent intensity is enhanced significantly through reducing SCV closing angles.Such that flame propagation speed and thermal efficiency are significantly improved with an increment of turbulent intensity,which indicated that mean effective pressures are not sensitive to spark timing.The analysis of flame images shows that the combined turbulence increases in the radial orientation from the spark plug to the cylinder wall,leading to an earlier flame kernel formation and a faster burning rate.Therefore,the combined turbulence has the potential in reducing the cyclic variations of lean combustion in natural gas engines.

Disasters of gas-coal spontaneous combustion in goaf of steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams

In light of the escalating global energy imperatives,mining of challenging-to-access resources,such as steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams(SIEC),has emerged as one of the future trends within the domain of energy advancement.However,there is a risk of gas and coal spontaneous combustion coupling disasters(GCC)within the goaf of SIEC due to the complex goaf structure engendered by the unique mining methodologies of SIEC.To ensure that SIEC is mined safely and efficiently,this study conducts research on the GCC within the goaf of SIEC using field observation,theoretical analysis,and numerical modeling.The results demonstrate that the dip angle,the structural dimensions in terms of width-to-length ratio,and compressive strength of the overlying rock are the key factors contributing to the goaf instability of SIEC.The gangue was asymmetrically filled,primarily accumulating within the central and lower portions of the goaf,and the filling height increased proportionally with the advancing caving height,the expansion coefficient,and the thickness of the surrounding rock formation.The GCC occurs in the goaf of SIEC,with an air-return side range of 41 m and an air-intake side range of 14 m,at the intersection area of the“<”-shaped oxygen concentration distribution(coal spontaneous combustion)and the“>”-shaped gas concentration distribution(gas explosion).The optimal nitrogen flow rate is 1000 m3/h with an injection port situated 25 m away from the working face for the highest nitrogen diffusion efficacy and lowest risk of gas explosion,coal spontaneous combustion,and GCC.It has significant engineering applications for ensuring the safe mining of SIEC threatened by the GCC.

Numerical Analysis of Explosion Characteristics of Vent Gas From 18650 LiFePO_(4) Batteries With Different States of Charge

The combustion and explosion characteristics of lithium-ion battery vent gas is a key factor in determining the fire hazard of lithium-ion batteries.Investigating the combustion and explosion hazards of lithium-ion batteries vent gas can provide guidance for rescue and protection in explosion accidents in energy storage stations and new energy vehicles,thereby promoting the application and development of lithium-ion batteries.Based on this understanding and combined with previous research on gas production from lithium-ion batteries,this article conducted a study on the combustion and explosion risks of vent gas from thermal runaway of 18650 LFP batteries with different states of charge(SOCs).The explosion limit of mixed gases affected by carbon dioxide inert gas is calculated through the“elimination”method,and the Chemkin-Pro software is used to numerically simulate the laminar flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature of the battery vent gas.And the concentration of free radicals and sensitivity coefficients of major elementary reactions in the system are analyzed to comprehensively evaluate the combustion explosion hazard of battery vent gas.The study found that the 100%SOC battery has the lowest explosion limit of the vent gas.The inhibitory elementary reaction sensitivity coefficient in the reaction system is lower and the concentration of free radicals is higher.Therefore,it has the maximum laminar flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature.The combustion and explosion hazard of battery vent gas increases with the increase of SOC,and the risk of explosion is the greatest and most harmful when SOC reaches 100%.However,the related hazards decrease to varying degrees with overcharging of the battery.This article provides a feasible method for analyzing the combustion mechanism of vent gas from lithium-ion batteries,revealing the impact of SOC on the hazardousness of battery vent gas.It provides references for the safety of storage and transportation of lithium-ion batteries,safety protection of energy storage stations,and the selection of related fire extinguishing agents.

Simulation Analysis of Indoor Gas Explosion Damage

The influence factors and process of indoor gas explosion are studied with AutoReaGas explosion simulator. The result shows that venting pressure has great influence on the indoor gas explosion damage. The higher the venting pressure is, the more serious the hazard consequence will be. The ignition location has also evident effect on the gas explosion damage. The explosion static overpressure would not cause major injury to person and serious damage to structure in the case of low venting pressure (lower than 2 kPa). The high temperature combustion after the explosion is the major factor to person injury in indoor gas explosion accidents.

A CombustionModel for Explosive Charge Affected by a Bottom Gap in the Launch Environment

Launch safety of explosive charges has become an urgent problem to be solved by all countries in the world aslaunch situation of ammunition becomes consistentlyworse.However, the existing numericalmodels have differentdefects. This paper formulates an efficient computational model of the combustion of an explosive charge affectedby a bottom gap in the launch environment in the context of the material point method. The current temperatureis computed accurately from the heat balance equation, and different physical states of the explosive charges areconsidered through various equations of state. Microcracks in the explosive charges are described with respectto the viscoelastic statistical crackmechanics (Visco–SCRAM) model. Themethod for calculating the temperatureat the bottomof the explosive charge with respect to the bottomgap is described. Based on this combustionmodel,the temperature history of a Composition B (COMB) explosive charge in the presence of a bottom gap is obtainedduring the launch process of a 155-mm artillery. The simulation results show that the bottom gap thickness shouldbe no greater than 0.039 cm to ensure the safety of the COM B explosive charge in the launch environment. Thisconclusion is consistent with previous results and verifies the correctness of the proposed model. Ultimately, thispaper derives amathematical expression for themaximumtemperature of the COMB explosive chargewith respectto the bottomgap thickness (over the range of 0.00–0.039 cm), and establishes a quantitative evaluationmethod forthe launch safety of explosive charges.The research results provide some guidance for the assessment and detectionof explosive charge safety in complex launch environments.

Experimental study of flame microstructure and propagation behavior of mine-gas explosion

The high speed cameral and schlieren images methods were used to record the photograph of flame propagation process.Meanwhile,the ionization current probes were set up to detect the reaction intensity of the reaction zone.The characteristics of methane/air flame propagation and microstructure were analyzed in detail by the experi- mental results coupled with chemical reaction thermodynamics.The high speed schlieren image showed the transition from laminar flame to turbulence combustion.The ion current curves disclosed the reaction intensity and combustion characteristic of flame front.In the test,the particular tulip flame was formed clearly,which was induced to some extent by turbulent combustion.Based on the schlieren images and iron current result,it can be drawn that the small scale turbulence combustion also appears in laminar flame,which thickens the flame front,but makes little influence on the flame front shape.During the laminar-turbulent transition,the explosion pressure plays an important role on the flame structure change.

Hazard evaluation of ignition sensitivity and explosion severity for three typical MH_(2) (M=Mg,Ti,Zr)of energetic materials

MgH_(2),TiH_(2),and ZrH_(2) are three typical metal hydrides that have been gradually applied to composite explosives and propellants as additives in recent years.To evaluate ignition sensitivity and explosion severity,the Hartmann device and spherical pressure vessel were used to test ignition energy and explosion pressure,respectively.The results showed that the ignition sensitivity of ZrH_(2),TiH_(2) and MgH_(2) gradually increased.When the concentration of MgH_(2) is 83.0 g/m^(3) in Hartmann device,the ignition energy attained a minimum of 10.0 mJ.The explosion pressure of MgH_(2) were 1.44 times and 1.76 times that of TiH_(2) and ZrH_(2),respectively,and the explosion pressure rising rate were 3.97 times and 9.96 times that of TiH_(2) and ZrH_(2),respectively,through the spherical pressure vessel.It indicated that the reaction reactivity and reaction rate of MgH_(2) were higher than that of TiH_(2) and ZrH_(2).In addition,to conduct in edepth theoretical analysis of ignition sensitivity and explosion severity,gas production and combustion heat per unit mass of ZrH_(2),TiH_(2) and MgH_(2) were tested by mercury manometer and oxygen bomb calorimetry.The experimental results revealed that MgH_(2) had a relatively high gas production per unit mass(5.15 mL/g),while TiH_(2) and ZrH_(2) both had a gas production of less than 2.0 mL/g.Their thermal stability gradually increased,leading to a gradual increase in ignition energy.Furthermore,compared with theoretical combustion heat,the combustion ratio of MgH_(2),TiH_(2) and ZrH_(2) was more than 96.0%,with combustion heat value of 29.96,20.94 and 12.22 MJ/kg,respectively,which was consistent with the explosion pressure and explosion severity test results.

Mechanical Model of Domestic Gas Explosion Load

With the increase of domestic gas consumption in cities and towns in China,gas explo-sion accidents happened rather frequently,and many structures were damaged greatly.Rational physical design could protect structures from being destroyed,but the character of explosion load must be learned firstly by establishing a correct mechanical model to simulate vented gas explo-sions.The explosion process has been studied for many years towards the safety of chemical in-dustry equipments.The key problem of these studies was the equations usually involved some ad-justable parameters that must be evaluated by experimental data,and the procedure of calculation was extremely complicated,so the reliability of these studies was seriously limited.Based on these studies,a simple mathematical model was established in this paper by using energy conservation,mass conservation,gas state equation,adiabatic compression equation and gas venting equation.Explosion load must be estimated by considering the room layout; the rate of pressure rise was then corrected by using a turbulence factor,so the pressure-time curve could be obtained.By using this method,complicated calculation was avoided,while experimental and calculated results fitted fairly well.Some pressure-time curves in a typical rectangular room were calculated to inves-tigate the influences of different ignition locations,gas thickness,concentration,room size and venting area on the explosion pressure.The results indicated that: it was the most dangerous con-dition when being ignited in the geometry centre of the room; the greater the burning velocity,the worse the venting effect; the larger the venting pressure,the higher the peak pressure; the larger the venting area,the lower the peak pressure.

CFD modeling to study the effect of particle size on dispersion in 20l explosion chamber: An overview

Mine disasters occur predominantly due to methane or coal dust explosion or a combination of both.Among the top ten worst coal mine disasters in India, nine are due to coal dust explosion. The current paper describes a general overview of the parameters causing dispersion leading to coal dust explosion,and computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation study to observe the effects of particle size on dispersion in Indian coal mines. Turbulent kinetic energy(TKE) and velocity vector path of dust-air mixture and dust-free air were simulated to understand their effects on coal dust dispersion. The TKE contours and velocity vector paths for dust-free air were uniform and symmetrical due to resistance-free path available. The TKE contours and velocity vector paths for dust-air mixture shows the asymmetrical distribution of contours, due to entrainment of air with dust particles. Vortices were observed in velocity vector paths which gradually diminish on increment of time sequence. These vortices are dead centres where velocity and coal dust particles concentration are both zero.

Effect of turbulence on NO formation in swirling combustion

Turbulence affects both combustion and NO formation. Fluctuation correlations are ideally used for quantitative analysis. From the instantaneous chemical reaction rate expression,ignoring the third-order correlation terms, the averaged reaction rate will have four terms, including the term of averaged-variable product, a concentration fluctuation correlation term, and temperature-concentration fluctuation correlation term. If the reaction-rate coefficient is denoted as K, the temperature fluctuation would be included in the K fluctuation. In order to quantitatively study the effect of turbulence on NO formation in methane-air swirling combustion, various turbulencechemistry models are tested. The magnitudes of various correlations and their effects on the time-averaged reaction rate are calculated and analyzed, and the simulation results are compared with the experimental measurement data. The results show that among various correlation moments, the correlation between the reaction-rate coefficient K fluctuation with the concentration fluctuation is most important and is a strong nonlinear term.

Simulation of turbulent combustion in DLR Scramjet

Turbulent combustion in a DLR (German Aerospace Center) Scramjet engine was simulated using the newly-proposed Partially Resolved Numerical Simulation (PRNS) procedure. The PRNS procedure uses temporal filtering to define large-scale turbulence, and the model developed to account for unresolved scales is grid independent. No problem about inner commutation error and inconsistencies will arise from the PRNS, while such issues are of concern in traditional Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methods. The mean results have good agreement with the experiment data and the flow structures with small scales are well resolved.

Numerical simulation for explosion wave propagation of combustible mixture gas

A two-dimensional multi-material code was indigenously developed to investigate the effects of duct boundary conditions and ignition positions on the propagation law of explosion wave for hydrogen and methane-based combustible mixture gas. In the code,Young's technique was employed to track the interface between the explosion products and air,and combustible function model was adopted to simulate ignition process. The code was employed to study explosion flow field inside and outside the duct and to obtain peak pressures in different boundary conditions and ignition positions. Numerical results suggest that during the propagation in a duct,for point initiation,the curvature of spherical wave front gradually decreases and evolves into plane wave. Due to the multiple reflections on the duct wall,multi-peak values appear on pressure-time curve,and peak pressure strongly relies on the duct boundary conditions and ignition position. When explosive wave reaches the exit of the duct,explosion products expand outward and forms shock wave in air. Multiple rarefaction waves also occur and propagate upstream along the duct to decrease the pressure in the duct. The results are in agreement with one-dimensional isentropic gas flow theory of the explosion products,and indicate that the ignition model and multi-material interface treatment method are feasible.

Numerical Investigations on the Impact of Turbulent Prandtl Number and Schmidt Number on Supersonic Combustion

The flow field inside the combustor of a scramjet is highly complicated and the related turbulent Prandtl and Schmidt numbers have a significant impact on the effective numerical prediction of such dynamics.As in many cases researchers set these parameters on the basis of purely empirical laws,assessing their impact(via parametric numerical simulations)is a subject of great importance.In the present work,in particular,two test cases with different characteristics are selected for further evaluation of the role played by these non-dimensional numbers:Burrows-Kurkov case and DLR case.The numerical results indicate that these parameters influence ignition location.Moreover,the temperature distribution is more sensitive to them than to H2O mass fraction and velocity distributions.

Development of a fan-stirred constant volume combustion chamber and turbulence measurement with PIV

A fan-stirred combustion chamber is developed for spherically expanding flames,with P and T up to 10 bar and 473 K,respectively.Turbulence characteristics are estimated using particle image velocimetry(PIV)at different initial pressures(P=0.5-5 bar),fan frequencies(ω=0-2000 r/min),and impeller diameters(D=100 and 114 mm).The flame propagation of methanol/air is investigated at different turbulence intensities(u′=0-1.77 m/s)and equivalence ratios(f=0.7-1.5).The results show that u′is independent of P and proportional toω,which can be up to 3.5 m/s at 2000 r/min.L_(T)is independent of P and performs a power regression withωapproximately.The turbulent field is homogeneous and isotropic in the central region of the chamber while the inertial subrange of spatial energy spectrum is more collapsed to-5/3 law at a high Re_(T).Compared to laminar expanding flames,the morphology of turbulent expanding flames is wrinkled and the wrinkles will be finer with the growth of turbulence intensity,consistent with the decline of the Taylor scale and the Kolmogorov scale.The determined S_(L)in the present study is in good agreement with that of previous literature.The S_(L)and S_(T)of methanol/air have a non-monotonic trend with f while peak S_(T)is shifted to the richer side compared to S_(L).This indicates that the newly built turbulent combustion chamber is reliable for further experimental study.

Experimental study on explosive mechanism of spontaneous combustion gangue dump

In order to explore the reason for the frequency explosion of spontaneous combustion coal gangue dump and get to know their explosion mechanism, established the experiment platform about spontaneous combustion coal gangue dump interoperable water. The gangue dump was heated using the external heat source, and rainy weather through water mist was simulated. Simulated experiment about explosion of spontaneous combustion coal gangue dump was carried out on the different conditions of the rainfall or not. The unusual gases produced in the course of gangue combustion and the changes in temperature were observed, and their impacts on the explosion of gangue dump were analyzed. The experimental results show that overall warming phenomenon of the gangue dump after watering occurred, the amount of H2 is three times than that before watering, and the amount of CO is far greater than that on the conditions of no-watering, at the same time combining with local observation and tests. It is found that the content of the oxygen reduce with the temperature increasing; however, gangue dump internal hydrogen content increase unusually on the rainfall conditions at 90 ℃, but the local measuring points reach the explosion limit. The existence of the CO and H2 is the main reason for inducing the explosion of spontaneous combustion coal gangue dump.

CFD study of non-premixed swirling burners: Effect of turbulence models

This research investigates a numerical simulation of swirling turbulent non-premixed combustion.The effects on the combustion characteristics are examined with three turbulence models:namely as the Reynolds stress model,spectral turbulence analysis and Re-Normalization Group.In addition,the P-1 and discrete ordinate(DO)models are used to simulate the radiative heat transfer in this model.The governing equations associated with the required boundary conditions are solved using the numerical model.The accuracy of this model is validated with the published experimental data and the comparison elucidates that there is a reasonable agreement between the obtained values from this model and the corresponding experimental quantities.Among different models proposed in this research,the Reynolds stress model with the Probability Density Function(PDF)approach is more accurate(nearly up to 50%)than other turbulent models for a swirling flow field.Regarding the effect of radiative heat transfer model,it is observed that the discrete ordinate model is more precise than the P-1 model in anticipating the experimental behavior.This model is able to simulate the subcritical nature of the isothermal flow as well as the size and shape of the internal recirculation induced by the swirl due to combustion.

Study on the influences of interaction behaviors between multiple combustion-gas jets on expansion characteristics of Taylor cavities

The purpose of this study is to investigate means of controlling the interior ballistic stability of a bulk-loaded propellant gun（BLPG）.Experiments on the interaction of twin combustion gas jets and liquid medium in a cylindrical stepped-wall combustion chamber are conducted in detail to obtain time series processes of jet expansion,and a numerical simulation under the same working conditions is also conducted to verify the reliability of the numerical method by comparing numerical results and experimental results.From this,numerical simulations on mutual interference and expansion characteristics of multiple combustion gas jets（four,six,and eight jets） in liquid medium are carried out,and the distribution characteristic of pressure,velocity,temperature,and evolutionary processes of Taylor cavities and streamlines of jet flow Held are obtained in detail.The results of numerical simulations show that when different numbers of combustion gas jets expand in liquid medium,there are two different types of vortices in the jet flow field,including corner vortices of liquid phase near the step and backflow vortices of gas phase within Taylor cavities.Because of these two types of vortices,the radial expansion characteristic of the jets is increased,while changing numbers of combustion gas jets can restrain Kelvin-Helmholtz instability to a certain degree in jet expansion processes,which can at last realize the goal of controlling the interior ballistic stability of a BLPG.The optimum method for both suppressing Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and promoting radial expansion of Taylor cavities can be determined by analyzing the change of characteristic parameters in a jet flow field.

Simple Program for Step-by-Step Time Integration in Chemical Kinetics, Applied to Simple Model for Hydrogen Combustion

A simple algorithm is proposed for step-by-step time integration of stiff ODEs in Chemical Kinetics. No predictor-corrector technique is used within each step of the algorithm. It is assumed that species concentrations less than 10-6 mol·L-1 do not activate any chemical reaction. So, within each step, the time steplength Δt of the algorithm is determined from the fastest reaction rate maxR by the formula Δt = 10-6mol·L-1/max R. All the reversible elementary reactions occur simultaneously;however, by a simple book-keeping technique, the updating of species concentrations, within each step of the algorithm, is performed within each elementary reaction separately. The above proposed simple algorithm for Chemical Kinetics is applied to a simple model for hydrogen combustion with only five reversible elementary reactions (Initiation, Propagation, First and Second Branching, Termination by wall destruction) with six species (H2, O2, H, O, HO, H2O). These five reversible reactions are recommended in the literature as the most significant elementary reactions of hydrogen combustion [1] [2]. Based on the proposed here simple algorithm for Chemical Kinetics, applied to the global mechanism of proposed five reversible elementary reactions for hydrogen combustion, a simple and short computer program has been developed with only about 120 Fortran instructions. By this proposed program, the following are obtained: 1) The total species concentration of hydrogen combustion, starting from the sum of initial reactants concentrations [H2] + [O2], gradually diminishes, due to termination reaction by wall destruction, and tends to the final concentration of the product [H2O], that is to the 2/3 of its initial value, in accordance to the established overall stoichiometric reaction of hydrogen combustion 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O. 2) Time-histories for concentrations of main species H2, O2, H, H2O of hydrogen combustion, in explosion and equilibrium regions, obtained by the proposed program, are compared to corresponding ones obtained by accurate computational studies of [3]. 3) In the first step of the algorithm, the only nonzero species concentrations are those of reactants [H2], [O2]. So, the maximum reaction rate is that of the forward initiation reaction max R = Rif = kif[H2] [O2], where the rate constant kif is very slow. Thus, the first time steplength Δt1 = 10-6mol·L-1/max R results long in sec. After the first step, the sequences of all the following Δt’s are very short, in μsec. So, the first time steplength Δt1 can be considered as ignition delay time. 4) It is assumed that explosion corresponds to ignition delay time Δt1 t1 = 10 sec., can be considered as explosion limit curve. This curve is compared to the corresponding one obtained by the accurate computational studies of [2].

Large-scale Experimental System for Multiphase Fuel/Air Explosions

A large-scale experimental for multiphase combustion and explosion study was developed and manufactured. The explosion tank consists of a 2 m diameter, 3.5 m long tube and ellipsoidai dames on both ends. The volume of the experimental tank is 10 ma. Pressure histories of the explosion pressure can be measured at different locations in the tank. High pressure glass windows of 200～300 mm were used to have access to the visualization of the explosion process. The explosion process of methane/air mixture and methane/coal dust/air mixture initiated by a 40 J electric spark at the center of the tank was studied in the large^scale experimental system. Five pressure sonsars were arranged in the tank with different distances from the ignition point. Ton dust dispersion traits were equipped to eject dust into the tank. A high-speed camera system was used to visualize the flame propagation during the explosion process. The characteristics of the pressure wave and flame propagated in methane/air mixtures and methane/coal dust/air mixtures have been

Turbulent combustion modeling using a flamelet generated manifold approach——a validation study in Open FOAM

An OpenFOAM based turbulence combustion solver with flamelet generated manifolds (FGMs) is presented in this paper. A series of flamelets, representative for turbulent flames, are calculated first by a one-dimensional (1D) detailed chemistry solver with the consideration of both transport and stretch/curvature contributions. The flame structure is then parameterized as a function of multiple reaction control variables. A manifold, which collects the 1D flame properties, is built from the 1D flame solutions. The control variables of the mixture fraction and the progress variable are solved from the corresponding transport equations. During the calculation, the scalar variables, e.g., temperature and species concentration, are retrieved from the manifolds by interpolation. A transport equation for NO is solved to improve its prediction accuracy. To verify the ability to deal with the enthalpy loss effect, the temperature retrieved directly from the manifolds is compared with the temperature solved from a transport equation of absolute enthalpy. The resulting FGM-computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled code has three significant features, i.e., accurate NO prediction, the ability to treat the heat loss effect and the adoption at the turbulence level, and high quality prediction within practical industrial configurations. The proposed method is validated against the Sandia flame D, and good agreement with the experimental data is obtained.