The focus of this work was to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of flame stabilization and extinction for shear layer stabilized, premixed flames. Planar experimental studies were performed in the attachment point region of an inner shear layer stabilized flame in an annular, swirl combustor. Through high resolution, simultaneous PIV & CH-PLIF measurements, the instantaneous flow field and flame position was captured enabling the characterization of 2D flame stretch and velocity conditions in the attachment point region. In addition, measurements performed at various equivalence ratios and premixer velocities provided insight into the physics governing blowoff. Most notably, these studies showed that as lean blowoff conditions are approached by decreasing equivalence ratio, the mean stretch rates near the attachment point decrease but remain positive throughout the measurement domain. In fact, compared to numerically calculated extinction stretch rates, the flame becomes less critically stretched as equivalence ratio is decreased. Also, investigation of the flame structure at the leading edge of the flame showed strong evidence that the flame is edge flame stabilized. This was supported by inspection of the CH-PLIF images, which showed the CH-layer oriented tangent to the flow field and terminating abruptly at the leading edge. Lastly, the flame anchoring location was observed to be highly robust as the mean flame edge flow conditions and mean location of leading edge of the flame were insensitive to changes in equivalence ratio, remaining nearly constant for values ranging from 0.9 to 1.1. However, at the leanest equivalence ratio of 0.8, the flame leading edge was located farther downstream and subject to much higher flow velocities. These results thus suggest that blowoff is the result of a kinematic balance and not directly from stretch induced flame extinction.

Biomass is among the primary alternative energy sources that supplements the fossil fuels to meet today’s energy demand. Gasification is an efficient and environmental friendly technology for converting the energy content in the biomass into a combustible gas mixture, which can be used in various applications. The composition of this gas mixture varies greatly depending on the gasification agent, gasifier design and its operation parameters and can be classified as low and medium LHV gasified biomass. The wide range of possible gas composition between each of these classes and even within each class itself can be a challenge in the combustion for heat and/or power production. The difficulty is primarily associated with the range in the combustion properties that may affect the stability and the emission levels. Therefore, this thesis is intended to provide data of combustion properties for improving the operation or design of atmospheric combustion devices operated with such gas mixtures. The first part of this thesis presents a series of experimental work on combustion of low LHV gasified biomass (a simulated gas mixture of CO/H2/CH4/CO2/N2) with variation in the content of H2O and tar compound (simulated by C6H6). The laminar flame speed, lean blowoff limit and emission levels of low LHV gasified biomass based on the premixed combustion concept are reported in paper I and III. The results show that the presence of H2O and C6H6 in gasified biomass can give positive effects on these combustion parameters (laminar flame speed, lean blowoff limit and emission levels), but also that there are limits for these effects. Addition of a low percentage of H2O in the gasified biomass resulted in almost constant laminar flame speed and combustion temperature of the gas mixture, while its NOx emission and blowoff temperature were decreased. The opposite condition was found when H2O content was further increased. The blowoff limit was shifted to richer fuel equivalence ratio as H2O increased. A temperature limit was observed where CO emission could be maintained at low concentration. With C6H6 addition, the laminar flame speed first decreased, achieved a minimum value, and then increased with further addition of C6H6. The combustion temperature and NOx emission were increased, CO emission was reduced, and blowoff occurs at slightly higher equivalence ratio and temperature when C6H6 content is increased. The comparison with natural gas (simulated by CH4) is also made as can be found in paper I and II. Lower laminar flame speed, combustion temperature, slightly higher CO emission, lower NOx emission and leaner blowoff limit were obtained for low LHV gas mixture in comparison to natural gas. In the second part of the thesis, the focus is put on the combustion of a wide range of gasified biomass types, ranging from low to medium LHV gas mixture (paper IV). The correlation between laminar flame speed or lean blowoff limit and the composition of various gas mixtures was investigated (paper IV). It was found that H2 and content of diluents have higher influence on the laminar flame speed of the gas mixture compared to its CO and hydrocarbon contents. For lean blowoff limit, the diluents have the greatest impact followed by H2 and CO. The mathematical correlations derived from the study can be used to for models of these two combustion parameters for a wide range of gasified biomass fuel compositions. / <p>QC 20130411</p>

Bluff body stabilization of flames is a commonly employed technique for combustion applications, such as thrust augmentors. These combustors are usually required to operate at lean conditions governed by a lower stability limit on combustion denoted by lean blow off. Lean blow off is believed to be a dynamically unstable phenomenon that leads to flame extinction or convection from a stable, usually desired, point in space. Current theories predict lean blow off based on models that were developed over specific domain of inflow parameters. This thesis sought to compile, re-evaulate, and analyze past blowoff data presented in literature using time scale correlations, Damkohler numbers, by employing modern chemical kinetic solvers to approximate characteristic chemical times. The research has conclusively shown that it is possible to express blowoff data for multiple flow conditions using a power law relationship between Damkohler number and Reynolds numbers. From the analysis of this power law relations, trends are validated using past empirical observations, and some new information regarding flame stability is also conveyed.

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Lean combustion is increasingly employed in both ground-based gas turbines and aircraft engines for minimizing NOx emissions. Operating under lean conditions increases the risk of Lean Blowout (LBO). Thus LBO proximity sensors, combined with appropriate blowout prevention systems, have the potential to improve the performance of engines. In previous studies, atmospheric pressure, swirl flames near LBO have been observed to exhibit partial extinction and re-ignition events called LBO precursors. Detecting these precursor events in optical and acoustic signals with simple non-intrusive sensors provided a measure of LBO proximity. This thesis examines robust LBO margin sensing approaches, by exploring LBO precursors in the presence of combustion dynamics and for combustor operating conditions that are more representative of practical combustors, i.e., elevated pressure and preheat temperature operation. To this end, two combustors were used: a gas-fueled, atmospheric pressure combustor that exhibits pronounced combustion dynamics under a wide range of lean conditions, and a low NOx emission liquid-fueled lean direct injection (LDI) combustor, operating at elevated pressure and preheat temperature. In the gas-fueled combustor, flame extinction and re-ignition LBO precursor events were observed in the presence of strong combustion dynamics, and were similar to those observed in dynamically stable conditions. However, the signature of the events in the raw optical signals have different characteristics under various operating conditions. Low-pass filtering and a single threshold-based event detection algorithm provided robust precursor sensing, regardless of the type or level of dynamic instability. The same algorithm provides robust event detection in the LDI combustor, which also exhibits low level dynamic oscillations. Compared to the gas-fueled combustor, the LDI events have weaker signatures, much shorter durations, but considerably higher occurrence rates. The disparity in precursor durations is due to a flame mode switch that occurs during precursors in the gas-fueled combustor, which is absent in the LDI combustor. Acoustic sensing was also investigated in both the combustors. Low-pass filtering is required to reveal a precursor signature under dynamically unstable conditions in the gas-fueled combustor. On the other hand in the LDI combustor, neither the raw signals nor the low-pass filtered signals reveal precursor events. The failure of acoustic sensing is attributed in part to the lower heat release variations, and the similarity in time scales for the precursors and dynamic oscillations in the LDI combustor. In addition, the impact of acoustic reflections from combustor boundaries and transducer placement was addressed by modeling reflections in a one-dimensional combustor geometry with an impedance jump caused by the flame. Implementing LBO margin sensors in gas turbine engines can potentially improve time response during deceleration transients by allowing lower operating margins. Occurrence of precursor events under transient operating conditions was examined with a statistical approach. For example, the rate at which the fuel-air ratio can be safely reduced might be limited by the requirement that at least one precursor occurs before blowout. The statistics governing the probability of a precursor event occurring during some time interval was shown to be reasonably modeled by Poisson statistics. A method has been developed to select a lower operating margin when LBO proximity sensors are employed, such that the lowered margin case provides a similar reliability in preventing LBO as the standard approach utilizing a more restrictive operating margin. Illustrative improvements in transient response and reliabilities in preventing LBO are presented for a model turbofan engine. In addition, an event-based, active LBO control approach for deceleration transients is also demonstrated in the engine simulation.