Hn. Najm et al., ON THE ADEQUACY OF CERTAIN EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVABLES AS MEASUREMENTS OF FLAME BURNING RATE, Combustion and flame, 113(3), 1998, pp. 312-332
Citations number
57
Categorie Soggetti
Thermodynamics,"Energy & Fuels","Engineering, Chemical
This work presents detailed chemical kinetic computations and experime
ntal measurements of a premixed stoichiometric N-2-diluted methane-air
flame in two-dimensional unsteady vortical Bow, which are used to inv
estigate the utility of several experimental observables as measuremen
ts of local burning and heat release rates. The computed mole fraction
of HCO is found to have excellent correlation with flame heat release
rate over the whale range of unsteady curvature and strain-rate inves
tigated, for the flame under consideration. HCO planar laser induced f
luorescence (PLIF) imaging is discussed and demonstrated in a V-flame
experiment. On the other hand, we find the utility of peak dilatation
rate as an indicator of heat release rate to he dependent on the unste
ady strain-rate and flame curvature environment, and the associated mo
dification in diffusional thermal fluxes within the flame. The integra
ted dilatation rate is found to be more robust under unsteady strain-r
ate, but still questionable in regions of high flame curvature. We als
o study the utility of a particular formulation for CO2 chemiluminesc
ence, OH, and CH PLIF imaging, as well as OH, C-2*, and CH* chemilumi
nescence, as measurements of flame burning and heat release rates. We
generally find these measures to be inferior to HCO. Experimental resu
lts suggest that CH, OH, C-2*, and CH* are not adequate indicators of
local extinction; rather they provide signals of subtle shifts of hyd
rocarbon consumption among different chemical pathways. Moreover, nume
rical results suggest that both OH mole fraction and an existing CO2
chemiluminescence model do not correlate with burning or heat release
rate variations in regions of high unsteady flame curvature. The prese
nt numerical investigation uses a single flame/vortex condition and a
specific 46-step C-(1) chemical mechanism. The conclusions reached her
ein may be generalized with further studies using more detailed mechan
isms over ranges of stoichiometry, dilution, and flow time and spatial
scales. (C) 1998 by The Combustion Institute.