Observations on Jet-Flame Blowout

Abstract

The mechanisms that cause jet-flame blowout, particularly in the presence of air coflow, are not completely understood. This work examines the role of fuel velocity and air coflow in the blowout phenomenon by examining the transient behavior of the reaction zone at blowout . The results of video imaging of a lifted methane-air diffusion flame at near blowout conditions are presented. Two types of experiments are described. In the first investigation, a flame is established and stabilized at a known, predetermined downstream location with a constant coflow velocity, and then the fuel velocity is subsequently increased to cause blowout. In the other, an ignition source is used to maintain flame burning near blowout and the subsequent transient behavior to blowout upon removal of the ignition source is characterized. Data from both types of experiments are collected at various coflow and jet velocities. Images are used to ascertain the changes in the leading edge of the reaction zone prior to flame extinction that help to develop a physically-based model to describe jet-flame blowout. The data report that a consistent predictor of blowout is the prior disappearance of the axially oriented flame branch. This is witnessed despite a turbulent flames' inherent variable behavior. Interpretations are also made in the light of analytical mixture fraction expressions from the literature that support the notion that flame blowout occurs when the leading edge reaches the vicinity of the lean-limit contour, which coincides approximately with the conditions for loss of the axially oriented flame structure.