Effects of Various Densities and Velocities to Gaseous Hydrocarbon Fuel on Near Nozzle Flow Field in Laminar Coflow Diffusion Flames

The experimental study on flow characteristic in various laminar coflow diffusion flame has been conducted with a particular focus on the buoyancy force exerted from gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. Methane ($CH_4$), Ethylene ($C_2H_4$) and n-Butane ($C_4H_{10}$) were used as fuels. Coflow burner and Schlieren technique were used to observe the fuel flow field near nozzle exit and flow characteristics in flames. The result showed that the vortices in n-Butane with density heavier than air were appeared near the nozzle exit with the strong negative buoyancy on the fuel stream. As Reynolds number increases by the control of velocity, the vortices were greater and the vortices tips were moved up from the nozzle exit. In addition, it can be found that the heated nozzle can affect to the flow fields of fuel stream near the nozzle exit.