Combustion Stability and the Properties of Methane/Air Mixture Subjected to Unsteady Flow Fluctuations

Flame extinction and the chemistry of stoichiometric methane/air mixture were investigated numerically in the PSR(perfectly stirred reactor). For the study, PSR code was modified to be possible to unsteady calculation, and the sinusoidal fluctuation was subjected to the residence time. In the region of residence time far from the extinction limit, combustion mode was strongly dependent on the frequency. The low frequency excitation provided the quasi-steady behavior on the temperature and the concentrations of related species, but small variation of temperature was observed under high frequency. In the region of residence time near the extinction limit, the mixture subjected above 1 KHz was still reacting even though extinction had to be occurred under quasi-steady concept. The attenuation of extinction limit resulted from that chemical time was comparable to the flow time. The mean mole fractions of both NO and CO were almost same regardless of imposed frequency. However, the average mole fraction of $C_2H_2$ was decreased as increasing frequency, which implies that soot yield might be reduced at the higher frequency of flow excitation. The result provides the basic concept for flame stabilization, and it will be used to design a mild combustor.

비정상 유동의 메탄/공기 혼합기 반응안정성 효과 연구