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SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION
Due to the density gradient between the hot burned and the cold unburned gas an
expansion flow in front of the flame is created. By the interaction with obstacles in the path of
the flame, like grids, tubes, or walls with openings, this expansion flow can become highly
turbulent, even at low hydrogen concentrations. Since Damköhler [1] it is known, that large
scale eddies tend to bend the flame and, thereby, increase the effective flame surface, which
results in an acceleration of the flame. On the other hand, small scale eddies increase the heat
and mass transfer within the preheating zone of the flame, which results in a thickening of the
reaction zone and a higher reaction rate [2]. Nevertheless, at a very high level of turbulence,
the gas fluctuations in the preheating zone cool the flame, which can lead to local flame
quenching effects or even to a total extinction of the flame.
One aim of the two projects, namely the "Improved Modelling of Turbulent Hydrogen
Combustion and Catalytical Recombination" and the "Validation of a Simulation
Methodology for Hydrogen Mixing, Catalytic Recombination and Deliberate Combustion",
was the experimental and numerical investigation of combustion phenomena at lean hydrogen-
air mixtures.
In the first stage a comparison of two existing combustion models, which are
implemented into the system codes MELCOR and COCOSYS was performed at two real
scaled PWR containments. Furthermore, the combustion model of the COCOSYS code was
improved, by taking advantage of experiments on turbulent combustion, which were
performed at three facilities of different scales. For the detailed investigation of the chemical
and physical processed, advanced laser-optical measurement techniques were applied.
Within this paper, not the entire experimental and numerical program of the two
projects, mentioned above, can be introduced, due to the limitation in space. Therefore,
emphasis is put on two phenomena, namely the acceleration and quenching of hydrogen-air
flames at high turbulence intensities. Those high turbulence intensities usually occur already at
very lean mixtures at the connection between two rooms by, e.g., a door or a window opening
and is usually referred to as jet-ignition.
2. EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES
The experiments were performed at two different scaled facilities, namely the larger
scaled L.VIEW-facility at the University of Pisa (6 77 x 6 77 x 3200mm) and the smaller
scaled PuFlaG- facility (d = 72 mm, l = 8m) at the Technical University of Munich. Both
facilities consist of two chambers, which are divided by a wall with a central orifice,
simulating an opening between two rooms. Using different insets, the diameter of the orifice
can be varied. Before ignition, both chambers are filled with the same hydrogen-air mixture. A
more detailed description of the facilities can be found in [3] or [4].
High-speed video-records
A digital high-speed video-camera was used for the recording of the flame
propagation. For the present investigations a maximum repetition rate of 9.000 images/s was
used. As the light of the combustion process is to weak to be detected by the camera, a two
stage image intensifier consisting of a Multiple-Channel-Plate and an Inverter-Diode was
adapted to the system.
Schlieren-technique
With the Schlieren-technique, the integral density gradient through the depth of the test
section was visualised. In combination with the high-speed video-camera mentioned above,
the flame propagation and the global structure of the flame was determined at the small scale
experiments.
Laser-Doppler-Velocimetry
The measurement of the flow velocity and the turbulence in front of the flame was
performed by means of the Laser-Doppler-Velocimetry. With this technique, the velocity of
tracer particles, which have to be added to the flow, can be determined in a measurement
volume with a repetition-rate of several Kiloherz in two dimensions simultaneously. As tracer
particles, aerosols of a NaCl-solution with a mean diameter of 2.2 µm were used, which
ensure a high tracking ability.
Laser-induced Predissociation-Fluorescence:
By this technique, selected radicals (e.g. OH) are excited by a high energy excimer-
laser, within a two-dimensional light-sheet with a thickness of 0.3 mm, with an exposure time
of 20 ns. The answering signal of the radicals can be detected by means of an intensified
CCD-camera perpendicular to the excitation. As the Laser-induced Predissociation-
Fluorescence is species specific and the intensity of the scattered light is many orders of
magnitudes stronger than those achieved by other light-scattering techniques (e.g. Raman-
spectroscopy), it is a very important tool for flame diagnostics.
3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
LDV
0.38 s
flame
0.902 s 0.906 s
0.910 s 0.922 s
DISCUSSION
Flame quenching
In the literature, the flame quenching at high blocking ratios is discussed by a number
of authors (e.g. [2], [5], [6]). Regarding to Abdel-Gayed et al. [6] flame quenching takes place,
when the product of the Karlovitz flame stretch factor Ka times the Lewis-number Le exceeds
a value of 1.5. The Lewis-number, which is defined as the ratio between the thermal and the
molecular diffusivity, of lean hydrogen-air flames can be regarded to have a constant value of
approximately 0.35 [2]. The Karlovitz flame stretch factor is not easy to determine, therefore
the critera of Abdel-Gayed has to be transformed, taking advantage of the correlations listed in
[3]:
0 .5
u 'rms1.5 æ ν ö
0.157 ç Le > 1.5 critera 1
sl 2 è L
é æ u ' rms ö ù
2
st L æç u ' rms ö
= 1+ b ê + 1 − 1÷ − 0.026 Le ç ÷
eq. 2
sl ê δl ç sl ÷ ç s ÷
êë è ø è l ø
In this equation the scale of the combustion chamber is taken into account by the dependency
of the integral Length scale L. Due to the high turbulence intensities, which were measured in
front of the flame in the middle of the second chamber at the L.VIEW-facility, local
quenching effects have to be expected, as it is described by Griffiths and Barnard [2]. In the
correlation of Beauvais, those quenching effects are taken into consideration in a quenching
term as a function of (u’rms² ).
The turbulence intensity directly in front of the flame in the middle of the second
chamber could be measured by means of the applied LDV-system, simultaneously with the
measurement of the flame velocity by means of the intensified high-speed video-camera.
Nevertheless, due to the irregular structure of flame, the integral length scale L could not be
determined. Therefore, data out of the literature was used. Lindstedt et al. [10] determined the
integral length scale behind a plate having a blockage ratio of 50% during the combustion
process of a stoichiometric methane-air flame, which has a very regular structure. Out of the
ensemble average of a large amount of experiments, they determined the integral length scale
to have a value of 0.125 times the hydraulic chamber diameter.
In Fig. 6 the comparison
between the measured
turbulent burning velocity in
the middle of the second
chamber in the case of a direct
ignition without delay and the
correlation of Beauvais is
shown. Therefore, the turbu-
lent burning velocity of the
experiments was determined
by subtracting the velocity of
the expansion flow, measured
by the LDV-system, from the
Fig. 6: Comparison between the measured turbulent integral flame propagation ve-
burning velocity at the L.VIEW-facility at direct ignition locity, measured by means of
in the second chamber and correlation of Beauvais [12]. the high-speed video-camera.
The good agreement between the measured and calculated could be achieved by
adapting the correlation factor b to the value of b = 0.53. With the same value of b, also a
good agreement could be found with the data of other authors (e.g. [6], [11]).
In the case of an ignition delay, as shown in the example in Fig. 1, the resulting high
flame velocity cannot only be explained by the high turbulence intensity. During the ignition
delay, burned gas is blown through the orifice, where it is mixed with the unburned gas.
Together with the burned gas, also free radicals and atoms, which are not totally recombined
behind the flame, are mixed with the unburned gas. After the ignition in the second chamber,
this leads to a decrease of the chemical induction time and therefore an increasing burning
velocity. This flame accelerating mechanism by radicals in a burned jet has been investigated
in detail by Oppenheim et al. [14], [15]. In the present case, the rupture disk, which closes the
facility at the right hand side before ignition, is usually broken, when the flame reaches the
orifice. Therefore, unburned gas is blown out of the combustion chamber before ignition,
which leads to a leaner mixture containing less energy. Although the flame velocity reaches
high values (e.g. 50 m/s for a 10 Vol.% hydrogen-air mixture after an ignition delay of 0.38s),
the resulting pressure loads are lower than those at the direct ignition of the second chamber,
as it is shown in Fig. 2.
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is gratefully acknowledged, that the work presented in this paper has been supported
by the European Commission.
REFERENCES