Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Development of a fan-stirred constant volume combustion chamber and turbulence measurement with PIV

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers in Energy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A fan-stirred combustion chamber is developed for spherically expanding flames, with P and T up to 10 bar and 473 K, respectively. Turbulence characteristics are estimated using particle image velocimetry (PIV) at different initial pressures (P = 0.5–5 bar), fan frequencies (ω = 0–2000 r/min), and impeller diameters (D = 100 and 114 mm). The flame propagation of methanol/air is investigated at different turbulence intensities (u′ =0–1.77 m/s) and equivalence ratios (ϕ = 0.7–1.5). The results show that u′ is independent of P and proportional to ω, which can be up to 3.5 m/s at 2000 r/min. LT is independent of P and performs a power regression with ω approximately. The turbulent field is homogeneous and isotropic in the central region of the chamber while the inertial subrange of spatial energy spectrum is more collapsed to −5/3 law at a high ReT. Compared to laminar expanding flames, the morphology of turbulent expanding flames is wrinkled and the wrinkles will be finer with the growth of turbulence intensity, consistent with the decline of the Taylor scale and the Kolmogorov scale. The determined SL in the present study is in good agreement with that of previous literature. The SL and ST of methanol/air have a non-monotonic trend with ϕ while peak ST is shifted to the richer side compared to SL. This indicates that the newly built turbulent combustion chamber is reliable for further experimental study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kobayashi H, Kawabata Y, Maruta K. Experimental study on general correlation of turbulent burning velocity at high pressure. Symposium (International) on Combustion, 1998, 27: 941–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang J, Matsuno F, Okuyama M, et al. Flame front characteristics of turbulent premixed flames diluted with CO2 and H2O at high pressure and high temperature. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2013, 34(1): 1429–1436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nie Y, Wang J, Zhang W, et al. Flame brush thickness of lean turbulent premixed Bunsen flame and the memory effect on its development. Fuel, 2019, 242: 607–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kejin M, Yue W, Yu L, et al. Observation of premixed flame fronts by laser tomography. Frontiers of Energy and Power Engineering in China, 2008 2: 427–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yan R, Chen Z, Guan S, et al. Influence of mass air flow ratio on gas-particle flow characteristics of a swirl burner in a 29 MW pulverized coal boiler. Frontiers in Energy, 2021, 15(1): 68–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sokolik A S, Karpov V P, Semenov E S. Turbulent combustion of gases. Combustion, Explosion, and Shock Waves, 1967, 3: 36–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Karpov V P, Severin E S. Effects of molecular-transport coefficients on the rate of turbulent combustion. Combustion, Explosion, and Shock Waves, 1980, 16(1): 41–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bradley D, Haq M Z, Hicks R A, et al. Turbulent burning velocity, burned gas distribution, and associated flame surface definition. Combustion and Flame, 2003, 133(4): 415–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Huang Z, Wang J, Hu E J, et al. Progress in hydrogen enriched hydrocarbons combustion and engine applications. Frontiers in Energy, 2014, 8(1): 73–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ge H, Norconk M, Lee S, et al. PIV measurement and numerical simulation of fan-driven flow in a constant volume combustion vessel. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2014, 64(1–2): 19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mannaa O A, Mansour M S, Chung S H, et al. Characterization of turbulence in an optically accessible fan-stirred spherical combustion chamber. Combustion Science and Technology, 2021, 193(7): 1231–1257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Sick V, Hartman M R, Arpaci V S, et al. Turbulent scales in a fan-stirred combustion bomb. Combustion and Flame, 2001, 127(3): 2119–2123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Weiß M, Zarzalis N, Suntz R. Experimental study of Markstein number effects on laminar flamelet velocity in turbulent premixed flames. Combustion and Flame, 2008, 154(4): 671–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Galmiche B, Mazellier N, Halter F, et al. Turbulence characterization of a high-pressure high-temperature fan-stirred combustion vessel using LDV, PIV and TR-PIV measurements. Experiments in Fluids, 2014, 55(1): 1636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Xu S, Huang S, Huang R, et al. Estimation of turbulence characteristics from PIV in a high-pressure fan-stirred constant volume combustion chamber. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017, 110: 346–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Ravi S, Peltier S J L, Petersen E. Analysis of the impact of impeller geometry on the turbulent statistics inside a fan-stirred, cylindrical flame speed vessel using PIV. Experiments in Fluids, 2013, 54(1): 1424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chaudhuri S, Saha A, Law C K. On flame-turbulence interaction in constant-pressure expanding flames. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2015, 35(2): 1331–1339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Abdel-Gayed R G, Alkhishali K J, Bradley D. Turbulent burning velocities and flame straining in explosions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1984, 391: 393–414

    Google Scholar 

  19. Fansler T D, Groff E G. Turbulence characteristics of a fan-stirred combustion vessel. Combustion and Flame, 1990, 80(3–4): 350–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Shy S S, i W K, Lin M L. A new cruciform burner and its turbulence measurements for premixed turbulent combustion study. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2000, 20(3–4): 105–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kitagawa T, Nakahara T, Maruyama K, et al. Turbulent burning velocity of hydrogen-air premixed propagating flames at elevated pressures. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2008, 33(20): 5842–5849

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Goulier J, Chaumeix N, Halter F, et al. Experimental study of laminar and turbulent flame speed of a spherical flame in a fan-stirred closed vessel for hydrogen safety application. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2017, 312: 214–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Sun Z Y, Li G X. Turbulence influence on explosion characteristics of stoichiometric and rich hydrogen/air mixtures in a spherical closed vessel. Energy Conversion and Management, 2017, 149: 526–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kim W K, Mogi T, Dobashi R. Effect of propagation behaviour of expanding spherical flames on the blast wave generated during unconfined gas explosions. Fuel, 2014, 128: 396–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Liu C C, Shy S S, Peng M W, et al. High-pressure burning velocities measurements for centrally-ignited premixed methane/air flames interacting with intense near-isotropic turbulence at constant Reynolds numbers. Combustion and Flame, 2012, 159(8): 2608–2619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Jiang L J, Shy S S, Li W Y, et al. High-temperature, high-pressure burning velocities of expanding turbulent premixed flames and their comparison with Bunsen-type flames. Combustion and Flame, 2016, 172: 173–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Chiu C W, Dong Y C, Shy S S. High-pressure hydrogen/carbon monoxide syngas turbulent burning velocities measured at constant turbulent Reynolds numbers. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37(14): 10935–10946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Sun Z Y. Explosion pressure measurement of 50%H2–50%CO synthesis gas-air mixtures in various turbulent ambience. Combustion Science and Technology, 2018, 190(6): 1007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Ichimura R, Hadi K, Hashimoto N, et al. Extinction limits of an ammonia/air flame propagating in a turbulent field. Fuel, 2019, 246: 178–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Xia Y, Hashimoto G, Hadi K, et al. Turbulent burning velocity of ammonia/oxygen/nitrogen premixed flame in O2-enriched air condition. Fuel, 2020, 268: 117383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Vancoillie J, Sharpe G, Lawes M, et al. The turbulent burning velocity of methanol-air mixtures. Fuel, 2014, 130: 76–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Lawes M, Ormsby M P, Sheppard C G W, et al. Variation of turbulent burning rate of methane, methanol, and iso-octane air mixtures with equivalence ratio at elevated pressure. Combustion Science and Technology, 2005, 177(7): 1273–1289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Bradley D, Lawes M, Mansour M S. Correlation of turbulent burning velocities of ethanol-air, measured in a fan-stirred bomb up to 1.2 MPa. Combustion and Flame, 2011, 158(1): 123–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Mandilas C, Ormsby M P, Sheppard C G W, et al. Effects of hydrogen addition on laminar and turbulent premixed methane and iso-octane-air flames. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2007, 31(1): 1443–1450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Lawes M, Ormsby M P, Sheppard C G W, et al. The turbulent burning velocity of iso-octane/air mixtures. Combustion and Flame, 2012, 159(5): 1949–1959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Brequigny P, Halter F, Mounaïm-Rousselle C. Lewis number and Markstein length effects on turbulent expanding flames in a spherical vessel. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2016, 73: 33–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Liu F, Akram M Z, Wu H. Hydrogen effect on lean flammability limits and burning characteristics of an iso-octane-air mixture. Fuel, 2020, 266: 117144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wu F, Saha A, Chaudhuri S, et al. Propagation speeds of expanding turbulent flames of C4 to C8n-alkanes at elevated pressures: experimental determination, fuel similarity, and stretch-affected local extinction. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2015, 35(2): 1501–1508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Hwang W, Eaton J K. Creating homogeneous and isotropic turbulence without a mean flow. Experiments in Fluids, 2004, 36(3): 444–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Yang T S, Shy S S. Two-way interaction between solid particles and homogeneous air turbulence: particle settling rate and turbulence modification measurements. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2005, 526: 171–216

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  41. Pope S B. Turbulent Flows. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  42. Tennekes H, Lumley J L. A First Course in Turbulence. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1972

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  43. Doron P, Bertuccioli L, Katz J, et al. Turbulence characteristics and dissipation estimates in the coastal ocean bottom boundary layer from PIV data. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2001, 31(8): 2108–2134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Kelley A P, Law C K. Nonlinear effects in the extraction of laminar flame speeds from expanding spherical flames. Combustion and Flame, 2009, 156(9): 1844–1851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Veloo P S, Wang Y L, Egolfopoulos F N, et al. A comparative experimental and computational study of methanol, ethanol, and n-butanol flames. Combustion and Flame, 2010, 157(10): 1989–2004

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52076171).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Haoran Zhao, Jinhua Wang, Xiao Cai, Zhijian Bian, Hongchao Dai & Zuohua Huang

Authors
  1. Haoran Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jinhua Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiao Cai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhijian Bian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hongchao Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zuohua Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jinhua Wang or Zuohua Huang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhao, H., Wang, J., Cai, X. et al. Development of a fan-stirred constant volume combustion chamber and turbulence measurement with PIV. Front. Energy 16, 973–987 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0762-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0762-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation