This thesis describes the coincident prediction and observation of thermo-acoustic instabilities in a turbulent, swirl-stabilized research combustor using a stability model constructed from validated reduced-order component models. The component models included the acoustic response to flame heat release rate at various locations in the combustor, the turbulent diffusion of uneven fuel-air mixing, and the flame's response to perturbations in both inlet velocity and equivalence ratio. These elements are closed in a system-level model to reflect their natural dynamic coupling and assessed with linear stability criteria. The results include the empirical validation of each of the component models and limited validation of the total closed-loop model with a lean premixed gaseous fuel combustor not dissimilar to an industrial burner. The degree of agreement between the predictions and the measurements encourages the conclusion that the reduced-order technique described herein not only includes the relevant physics, but has characterized them with sufficient acuracy to be the basis for design techniques for the passive avoidance of thermo-acoustic instabilities. / Master of Science

The velocities which are associated with the phenomenon of flame propagation can be studied by diverse experimental techniques. From the information gained through an extensive survey of literature a versatile apparatus which enables the measurement of uniform name and detonation velocities has been constructed. This was achieved by constructing a name tube made up of three sections of 1 ½” extra-heavy piping. Velocity measurements were made by sensing the name front at two locations along the axis or the flame tube through the use of ionization probes operated in conjunction with two amplification circuits. An oscilloscope and an electronic counter, operated in parallel with the amplifiers, provided the measurement of the time of flame travel. A series of tests were run in order to justify the capability of the apparatus to measure uniform name and detonation velocities. Stoichiometric mixtures of acetylene and air were used throughout the investigation. Uniform name velocities were determined to be between 339 and 469 cm/sec. Detonation velocities were observed to be around 1800 m/sec. / M.S.

The "zonal grid method" is widely used to alleviate the difficulties for flow field calculations with complex geometry. In the present study, a patched grid method is employed in the computation of flow fields behind a two-ring flameholder which forms a multiple-connected region. A standard K - ε model is used to close the system. The calculation is performed by using a SIMPLE type algorithm in two subdomains in a body-fitted coordinate system With nonstaggered grid arrangements. The concept of conservative interpolation technique is applied to treat the flux conservation across the interface. The effect of the distance between these two rings on the flow pattern is studied. It is found the distance of the rings either in the axial direction or in the radial direction does not change the strength of the recirculation zone, but alters the flow pattern. The predicted streamlines, the turbulence kinetic energy K, and the reverse mass flow rate are presented. / Master of Science

A laser Doppler anemometer was used to measure the axial and radial velocity components of hydrogen-air counterflow diffusion flames (CFDF). An axisymmetric opposed jet burner (OJB) used seeded air in one cylindrical tube, and a hydrogen-nitrogen mixture in the opposing cylindrical tube. Velocity measurements were made at four different operating flow rates, and were used to compute the associated strain rate fields. The results were used to qualitatively assess current CFDF modeling schemes, and to expand the knowledge of the fluid velocity field behavior within these flames. The data show behavior qualitatively consistent with most models and experimental studies: the radial velocity is essentially linear with radial position, and the velocity data collapse to functions of axial position only for regions away from the stagnation plane. However, the data also show a variable strain rate field and a relatively thick reaction zone, which are both inconsistent with CFDF models. The axial velocity fields also behaved unexpectedly as the operating flow rates were increased, transitioning from the characteristic N -shaped profile to an asymptotically-approaching profile. / Master of Science

As the world faces global conflict and energy crises, major efforts are underway to find sustainable engineering solutions to reduce industrial dependence on fossil fuels and minimize climate impacts from carbon emissions. Research in the combustible fuel sector is crucial to address economic reliance on cheap carbon-based fuels for increased energy capacity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Ammonia (NH₃) offers high energy potential and zero carbon emissions (CO and CO₂) while serving as an effective hydrogen (H₂) carrier in power and transportation applications. Turbine-combustion research on NH₃ and H₂ fuels has been conducted to identify combustion performance parameters for high-pressure, sustainable turbomachinery. Studies on NH₃ and H₂ performance capabilities have revealed sources of thermodynamic instabilities, such as uncontrolled flames or flashback, by assessing fuel laminar burning speed (LBS) with optical data. LBS is a key combustion parameter that informs turbine design engineers about combustion physiochemistry, flashback, and efficiency. State of the art literature shows that H₂ enhances the LBS of NH₃ (φ = 1.0, SL = 5.0 – 21 cm/s) for all equivalence ratios at 1 atm and 298 K. However, H₂ dilution to NH₃ results in excess N₂O and NOx emissions, which are toxic to biological systems. Thus, further efforts are needed to reduce toxic gas emissions and identify thermodynamic engineering controls to maintain stable NH₃-H₂ flames. In this work, NH₃ and H₂ mixtures were ignited at an initial temperature and pressure of 293 – 323 K and 5 – 10 atm to understand their performance properties. The LBS was calculated using a multizone, constant volume combustion model. Experimental results showed that H₂ dilution enhances the LBS of NH₃, and chemical-kinetic sensitivity analyses identified reactions facilitating this effect. Additional flame stabilization studies investigating the Lewis number of experimental mixtures revealed that helium (He) effectively mitigates thermal-diffusion, as shown by Schlieren optical measurements.

"In warehouse storage applications, it is important to classify the burning behavior of commodities and rank them according to material flammability for early fire detection and suppression operations. In this study, the large-scale effects of warehouse fires are decoupled into separate processes of heat and mass transfer. As a first step, two nondimensional parameters are shown to govern the physical phenomena at the large-scale, a mass transfer number, and the soot yield of the fuel which controls the radiation observed in the large-scale. In this study, a methodology is developed to obtain a mass-transfer parameter using mass-loss (burning rate) measurements from bench-scale tests. Two fuels are considered, corrugated cardboard and polystyrene. Corrugated cardboard provides a source of flaming combustion in a warehouse and is usually the first item to ignite and sustain flame spread. Polystyrene is typically used as the most hazardous product in large-scale fire testing. A mixed fuel sample (corrugated cardboard backed by polystyrene) was also tested to assess the feasibility of ranking mixed commodities using the bench-scale test method. The nondimensional mass transfer number was then used to model upward flame propagation on 20-30 foot stacks of Class III commodity consisting of paper cups packed in corrugated cardboard boxes on rack-storage. Good agreement was observed between the model and large-scale experiments during the initial stages of fire growth."

Combustion has been used for a long time as a means of energy extraction. However, in the recent years there has been further increase in air pollution, through pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, acid rain etc. To solve this problem, there is a need to reduce carbon and nitrogen oxides through lean burning, fuel dilution and usage of bi-product fuel gases. A numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate the effectiveness of several reduced mechanisms, in terms of computational time and accuracy. The cases were tested for the combustion of hydrocarbons diluted with hydrogen, syngas, and bi-product fuel in a cylindrical combustor. The simulations were carried out using the ANSYS Fluent 19.1. By solving the conservations equations, several global reduced mechanisms (2-5-10 steps) were obtained. The reduced mechanisms were used in the simulations for a 2D cylindrical tube with dimensions of 40 cm in length and 2.0 cm diameter. The mesh of the model included a proper fine quad mesh, within the first 7 cm of the tube and around the walls. By developing a proper boundary layer, several simulations were performed on hydrocarbon/air and syngas blends to visualize the flame characteristics. To validate the results “PREMIX and CHEMKIN” codes were used to calculate 1D premixed flame based on the temperature, composition of burned and unburned gas mixtures. Numerical calculations were carried for several hydrocarbons by changing the equivalence ratios (lean to rich) and adding small amounts of hydrogen into the fuel blends. The changes in temperature, radical formation, burning velocities and the reduction in NOx and CO2 emissions were observed. The results compared to experimental data to study the changes. Once the results were within acceptable range, different fuels compositions were used for the premixed combustion through adding H2/CO/CO2 by volume and changing the equivalence ratios and preheat temperatures, in the fuel blends. The results on flame temperature, shape, burning velocity and concentrations of radicals and emissions were observed. The flame speed was calculated by finding the surface area of the flame, through the mass fractions of fuel components and products conversions that were simulated through the tube. The area method was applied to determine the flame speed. It was determined that the reduced mechanisms provided results within an acceptable range. The variation of the inlet velocity had neglectable effects on the burning velocity. The highest temperatures were obtained in lean conditions (0.5-0.9) equivalence ratio and highest flame speed was obtained for Blast Furnace Gas (BFG) at elevated preheat temperature and methane-hydrogen fuels blends in the combustor. The results included; reduction in CO2 and NOx emissions, expansion of the flammable limit, under the condition of having the same laminar flow. The usage of diluted natural gases, syngas and bi-product gases provides a step in solving environmental problems and providing efficient energy.

Research with heterogeneous mixtures involving solid particulate in closed, constant-volume bombs is typically limited by the powder dispersion technique. This work details the development of an experimental apparatus that promotes ideal conditions, namely a quiescent atmosphere and uniform particle distribution, for measuring laminar, heterogeneous flame propagation. In this thesis, two methods of dispersing particles are investigated. In the first, heterogeneous mixtures are made in a secondary vessel that is connected to the main experiment. Particles are dispersed into the secondary vessel by adapting a piston-driven particle injector, which has been shown to produce uniform particle distributions. The heterogeneous mixture is then transferred to the main bomb facility and ignited after laminar conditions are achieved. In the second method of dispersion, particles are directly injected into the main experimental facility using a strong blast of compressed air. As with the first approach, enough time is given (~4 minutes) for the mixture to become quiescent before ignition occurs. An extinction diagnostic is also applied to the secondary mixing vessel as well as the primary experimental facility (for both dispersion methods) to provide a qualitative understanding of the dispersion technique. To perform this diagnostic a 632.8-nm, 5-mW Helium-Neon (HeNe) laser was employed. Aluminum nano-particles with an average diameter of 100 nm were used in this study. It was found that for typical dust loadings produced with both dispersion techniques, a pure dust-air system would not ignite due to the current spark ignition system. Thus, a hybrid mixture of Al/CH4/O2/N2 was employed to achieve the project goal of demonstrating a system for controlled laminar flame speed measurements in aerosol mixtures. With the hybrid mixture, the combustion characteristics were studied both with and without the presence of nano-Al particles. Based on the experimental results, the simplicity of the "direct-injection" methodology compared to that of the "side-vessel" is desirable and will be further investigated as a viable alternative, or improvement, to the side-vessel technology.

No description available.

Increasingly stringent emission requirements and dwindling petroleum reserves have generated interest in expanding the role of synthesis gas (syngas) fuels in power generation applications. Syngas fuels are the product of gasifying organic-based feedstock such as coal and biomass and are composed of mainly H₂ and CO. However, the use of syngas fuels in lean premixed gas turbine systems has been limited in part because the behavior of turbulent flames in these mixtures at practical gas turbine operating conditions are not well understood. This thesis presents an investigation of the influence of fuel composition and pressure on the turbulent consumption speed, ST,GC, and the turbulent flame brush thickness, FBT, for these mixtures. ST,GC and FBT are global parameters which represent the average rate of conversion of reactants to products and the average heat release distribution of the turbulent flame respectively. A comprehensive database of turbulent consumption speed measurements obtained at pressures up to 20 atm and H₂/CO ratios of 30/70 to 90/10 by volume is presented. There are two key findings from this database. First, mixtures of different H₂/CO ratios but with the same un-stretched laminar flame speeds, SL,0, exposed to the same turbulence intensities, u'rms , have different turbulent consumption speeds. Second, higher pressures augment the turbulent consumption speed when SL,0 is held constant across pressures and H₂/CO ratios. These observations are attributed to the mixture stretch sensitivities, which are incorporated into a physics-based model for the turbulent consumption speed using quasi-steady leading points concepts. The derived scaling law closely resembles Damkhler's classical turbulent flame speed scaling, except that the maximum stretched laminar flame speed, SL,max, arises as the normalizing parameter. Scaling the ST,GC data by SL,max shows good collapse of the data at fixed pressures, but systematic differences between data taken at different pressures are observed. These differences are attributed to non-quasi-steady chemistry effects, which are quantified with a Damkhler number defined as the ratio of the chemical time scale associated with SL,max and a fluid mechanic time scale. The observed scatter in the normalized turbulent consumption speed data correlates very well with this Damkhler number, suggesting that ST,GC can be parameterized by u'rms/SL,max and the leading point Damkhler number. Finally, a systematic investigation of the influence of pressure and fuel composition on the flame brush thickness is presented. The flame brush thickness is shown to be independent of the H₂/CO ratio if SL,0 is held constant across the mixtures. However, increasing the equivalence ratio for lean mixtures at a constant H₂/CO ratio, results in a thicker flame brush. Increasing the pressure is shown to augment the flame brush thickness, a result which has not been previously reported in the literature. Classical correlations based on turbulent diffusion concepts collapse the flame brush thickness data obtained at fixed u'rms/U₀ and pressure reasonably well, but systematic differences exist between the data at different u'rms/U₀ and pressures.