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Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation of a turbulent lifted hydrogen jet flame in heated coflow: flame stabilization and structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

C. S. YOO ,
R. SANKARAN  and
J. H. CHEN
C. S. YOO
Affiliation:
Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94550-0969, USA
R. SANKARAN
Affiliation:
National centre for Computational Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-06008, USA
J. H. CHEN*
Affiliation:
Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94550-0969, USA
*
‡Email address for correspondence: jhchen@sandia.gov
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Abstract

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the near field of a three-dimensional spatially developing turbulent lifted hydrogen jet flame in heated coflow is performed with a detailed mechanism to determine the stabilization mechanism and the flame structure. The DNS was performed at a jet Reynolds number of 11,000 with over 940 million grid points. The results show that auto-ignition in a fuel-lean mixture at the flame base is the main source of stabilization of the lifted jet flame. A chemical flux analysis shows the occurrence of near-isothermal chemical chain branching preceding thermal runaway upstream of the stabilization point, indicative of hydrogen auto-ignition in the second limit. The Damköhler number and key intermediate-species behaviour near the leading edge of the lifted flame also verify that auto-ignition occurs at the flame base. At the lifted-flame base, it is found that heat release occurs predominantly through ignition in which the gradients of reactants are opposed. Downstream of the flame base, both rich-premixed and non-premixed flames develop and coexist with auto-ignition. In addition to auto-ignition, Lagrangian tracking of the flame base reveals the passage of large-scale flow structures and their correlation with the fluctuations of the flame base. In particular, the relative position of the flame base and the coherent flow structure induces a cyclic motion of the flame base in the transverse and axial directions about a mean lift-off height. This is confirmed by Lagrangian tracking of key scalars, heat release rate and velocity at the stabilization point.

JFM classification

Reacting Flows: Flames Reacting Flows: Turbulent reacting flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 640 , 10 December 2009 , pp. 453 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Footnotes

†

Present address: School of Mechanical and Advanced Materials Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 689-798, Republic of Korea. Email: csyoo@unist.ac.kr

References

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Yoo et al. supplementary movie

Movie 1. Logarithm of scalar dissipation rate. Red and yellow iso-surfaces represent χ values centered at 185 and 740 s-1, and white values greater than 2600 s-1. The maximum value in the movie is approximately 33,000 s-1.

Download Yoo et al. supplementary movie(Video)
Video 12.8 MB

Yoo et al. supplementary movie

Movie 2. Mass fractions of HO2 and OH. Red and yellow iso-surfaces represent YHO2 values centered at 3.4 × 10-6 and 1.8 × 10-4 respectively, and blue and purple YOH = 2.0 × 10-4 and 0.018 respectively. Maximum values of HO2 and OH mass fractions are 3.4 × 10-4 and 0.02, respectively.

Download Yoo et al. supplementary movie(Video)
Video 14.1 MB