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Study of the effect of bluff body size on stability limits of a premixed natural gas swirl burner

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Abstract

Flame stabilization is highly important in lean premixed combustion which is considered a desirable technology for low-emission gas turbines. Swirl stabilization is one of the most common methods used for this purpose. Simple generation of swirl, however, is not enough to reach an acceptable operating range. A method of improving stability is using a bluff body in order to resist flame flashback caused by combustion-induced vortex breakdown at moderate to high swirl numbers. The present study aims to investigate the effect of bluff body size on the stability boundaries of flashback and blowout and also on flame shape. A premixed swirl burner is designed and built to operate with natural gas at atmospheric condition. In addition to gas and air flow rates at stability limits, normal and chemiluminescence flame images are documented. The non-reacting flow is also simulated to investigate the flow pattern out of the burner nozzle. It is found that bluff body size has a significant influence on flashback prevention and to a lesser extent on lean blowout limit while having minor effect on the shape of the flame. Just before blowout, low-frequency fluctuations are observed in the chemiluminescence radiations that are associated with the periodic changes in flame zone. Nonetheless, no warning signs are observed before flashback. Looking into the velocity profiles at the nozzle exit also shows an increase in axial velocity near the center of the nozzle with larger bluff bodies, revealing the mechanism of improvement of burner resistance to flame flashback.

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Abbreviations

c b :

Ratio of flow to flame velocity

d 1 :

Bluff body rod diameter (mm)

d 2 :

Bluff body head diameter (mm)

FAs :

Stoichiometric fuel-to-air ratio

g 1 :

Flashback correlation constant (W)

g 2 , g 3 :

Flashback correlation constant

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s2)

\(\dot{m}_{\text{a}}\) :

Air mass flow rate (kg s−1)

\(\dot{m}_{\text{f}}\) :

Fuel mass flow rate (kg s−1)

p :

Static pressure (Pa)

Q :

Thermal power (W)

r cn :

Ratio of bluff body to nozzle diameter

Re:

Reynolds number

S L :

Laminar flame speed (m s−1)

S L0 :

Laminar flame speed at stoichiometry (m s−1)

SN:

Swirl number

t :

Time (s)

u i :

Velocity vector (m s−1)

U :

Average axial nozzle velocity (m s−1)

x i :

Position vector (m)

α :

Flame speed dependence on φ (m s−1)

β :

Coefficient in dissipation equation

δ ij :

Kronecker function

Ε ij :

Mean strain rate tensor (s−1)

ε :

Dissipation rate (m2 s3)

λ :

Excess air ratio

μ :

Kinematic viscosity (Pa s)

ρ :

Density (kg m3)

σ d :

Coefficient in dissipation equation

τ ij :

Specific Reynolds stress tensor (m−2 s−2)

φ :

Equivalence ratio

χ ω :

Dimensionless vortex stretching

ω :

Specific dissipation rate (s−1)

Ωij :

Mean rotation tensor (s−1)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Milad Behzadi & Fathollah Ommi

  2. K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Seyed Hamzeh Siyadat

  3. A&S Institute, Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Zoheir Saboohi

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  1. Milad Behzadi
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Behzadi, M., Siyadat, S.H., Ommi, F. et al. Study of the effect of bluff body size on stability limits of a premixed natural gas swirl burner. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 1583–1596 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-10520-5

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