Abstract
The oscillating lifted flame in a laminar nonpremixed nitrogen-diluted fuel jet is known to be a result of buoyancy, though the detailed physical mechanism of the initiation has not yet been properly addressed. We designed a systematic experiment to test the hypothesis that the oscillation is driven by competition between the positive buoyancy of flame and the negative buoyancy of a fuel stream heavier than the ambient air. The positive buoyancy was examined with various flame temperatures by changing fuel mole fraction, and the negative buoyancy was investigated with various fuel densities. The density of the coflow was also varied within a certain range by adding either helium or carbon dioxide to air, to study how it affected the positive and negative buoyancies at the same time. As a result, we found that the range of oscillation was well-correlated with the positive and the negative buoyancies; the former stabilized the oscillation while the latter triggered instability and became a source of the oscillation. Further measurements of the flow fields and OH radicals evidenced the important role of the negative buoyancy on the oscillation, detailing a periodic variation in the unburned flow velocity that affected the displacement of the flame.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1997-2004 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Combustion Institute |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): BAS/1/1384-01-01
Acknowledgements: The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under award number BAS/1/1384-01-01. KHV and JP were supported by the project of Development of the Technology of Energy from KETEP in 2017–2018.