Ignition of hydrogen-air mixing layer in turbulent flows

H. G. Im*, J. H. Chen, C. K. Law

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

116 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autoignition of a hydrogen-air scalar mixing layer in homogeneous turbulence is studied using direct numerical simulation (DNS). An initial counterflow of unmixed nitrogen-diluted hydrogen and heated air is perturbed by two-dimensional homogeneous turbulence. The temperature of the heated airstream is chosen to be 1100 K, which is substantially higher than the crossover temperature at which the rates of the chain-branching and termination reactions are equal. Three different turbulence intensities are tested in order to assess the effect of the characteristic flow time on the ignition delay. For each condition, a simulation without heat release is also performed. The ignition delay determined with and without heat release is shown to be almost identical up to the point of ignition for all of the turbulence intensities tested, and the predicted ignition delays agree well within a consistent error band. It is also observed that the ignition kernel always occurs where hydrogen is focused, and the peak concentration of HO2 is aligned well with the scalar dissipation rate. The dependence of the ignition delay on turbulence intensity is found to be nonmonotonic. For weak to moderate turbulence, the ignition is facilitated by turbulence via enhanced mixing, while for stronger turbulence, whose timescale is substantially smaller than the ignition delay, the ignition is retarded due to excessive scalar dissipation, and hence diffusive loss, at the ignition location. However, for the wide range of initial turbulence fields studied, the variation in ignition delay due to the corresponding variation in turbulence intensity appears to be quite small.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1047-1056
Number of pages10
JournalSymposium (International) on Combustion
Volume27
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes
Event27th International Symposium on Combustion - Boulder, CO, United States
Duration: Aug 2 1998Aug 7 1998

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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