Prediction of burning velocity and quenching distance of hydrogen flames

Abstract

Atmospheric, laminar, stoichiometric, premixed hydrogen-air flames in a diverging channel are investigated by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics. This configuration has been recently used in a series of experimental investigations to determine the burning velocities and quenching distances for premixed flames of different fuels. The purpose of the present investigation is the validation of the prediction procedures for the burning speeds and quenching distances for hydrogen flames by comparing them with these measurements. Global and detailed reaction mechanisms are applied to describe the combustion process. For assuring an adequately fine resolution of the flame fronts, adaptive grid refinement techniques are applied. A reasonable agreement is observed with the experiments, where the detailed and global mechanisms are slightly overpredicting and underpredicting the quenching distance, respectively.