Prediction of sound emission from open turbulent premixed flames

The sound emission from open turbulent flames is dictated by the two-point spatial correlation of rate of change of fluctuating heat release rate and this correlation has not been investigated directly in the past studies. Turbulent premixed flame data from DNS and laser diagnostics are analyzed to study this correlation function and the two-point spatial correlation of the fluctuating heat release rate. This shows that the correlation functions have simple Gaussian forms whose integral length scale is related to the laminar flame thickness and amplitude depends on the spatial distribution of the time-mean rate of heat release. These results and RANS-CFD solution of open turbulent premixed flames are post-processed to obtain the far field SPL, which agrees well with measured values. © 2010 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

Spray visualisation and acoustic analysis in a gas-turbine type burner

This paper presents the characterisation of self-excited oscillations in a kerosene burner. The combustion instability exhibits two different modes and frequencies depending on the air flow rate. Experimental results reveal the influence of the spray to shift between these two modes. Pressure and heat release fluctuations have been measured simultaneously and the flame transfer function has been calculated from these measurements. The Mie scattering technique has been used to record spray fluctuations in reacting conditions with a high speed camera. Innovative image processing has enabled us to obtain fluctuations of the Mie scattered light from the spray as a temporal signal acquired simultaneously with pressure fluctuations. This has been used to determine a transfer function relating the image intensity and hence the spray fluctuations to changes in air velocity. This function has identified the different role the spray plays in the two modes of instability. At low air flow rates, the spray responds to an unsteady air flow rate and the time varying spray characteristics lead to unsteady combustion. At higher air flow rates, effective evaporation means that the spray dynamics are less important, leading to a different flame transfer function and frequency of self-excited oscillation. In conclusion, the combustion instabilities observed are closely related with the fluctuations of the spray motion and evaporation.

Model-based control of a Rijke tube combustion instability

A Rijke tube is used to demonstrate model-based control of a combustion instability, where controller design is based on measurement of the unstable system. The Rijke tube used was of length 0.75m and had a grid-stabilised laminar flame in its lower half. A microphone was used as a sensor and a loudspeaker as an actuator for active control. The open loop transfer function (OLTF) required for controller design was that from the actuator to the sensor. This was measured experimentally by sending a signal with two components to the actuator. The first was a control component from an empirically designed controller, which was used to stabilise the system, thus eliminating the non-linear limit cycle. The second was a high bandwidth signal for identification of the OLTF. This approach to measuring the OLTF is generic and can be applied to large-scale combustors. The measured OLTF showed that only the fundamental mode of the tube was unstable; this was consistent with the OLTF predicted by a mathematical model of the tube, involving 1-D linear acoustic waves and a time delay heat release model. Based on the measured OLTF, a controller to stabilise the instability was designed using Nyquist techniques. This was implemented and was seen to result in an 80dB reduction in the microphone pressure spectrum. A robustness study was performed by adding an additional length to the top of the Rijke tobe. The controller was found to achieve control up to an increase in tube length of 19%. This compared favourably with the empirical controller, which lost control for an increase in tube length of less than 3%.

Singing flames - The coupling of acoustics and combustion

An overview of the physics of the interaction between sound and flames is presented. The flame dynamics are investigated through experiment and computer modelling. The complementary rôles of wave analysis, low-order models for unsteady combustion, Computational Fluid Dynamics and experiment are illustrated by examples of oscillations in gas turbine combustors and in generic premixed ducted flames. The potential for 'antisound' and passive acoustic absorbers to eliminate the instability is also discussed.

An assessment of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediments and bivalves of the U.S. coastal zone

NOAA’s Mussel Watch Program was designed to monitor the status and trends of chemical contamination of U.S. coastal waters, including the Great Lakes. The Program began in 1986 and is one of the longest running, continuous coastal monitoring programs that is national in scope. NOAA established Mussel Watch in response to a legislative mandate under Section 202 of Title II of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) (33 USC 1442). In addition to monitoring contaminants throughout the Nation’s coastal shores, Mussel Watch stores samples in a specimen bank so that trends can be determined retrospectively for new and emerging contaminants of concern. In recent years, flame retardant chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), have generated international concern over their widespread distribution in the environment, their potential to bioaccumulate in humans and wildlife, and concern for suspected adverse human health effects. The Mussel Watch Program, with additional funding provided by NOAA’s Oceans and Human Health Initiative, conducted a study of PBDEs in bivalve tissues and sediments. This report, which represents the first national assessment of PBDEs in the U.S. coastal zone, shows that they are widely distributed. PBDE concentrations in both sediment and bivalve tissue correlate with human population density along the U.S. coastline. The national and watershed perspectives given in this report are intended to support research, local monitoring, resource management, and policy decisions concerning these contaminants.

EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES IN COMBUSTION USE OF IN-CYLINDER IONISATION FOR THE INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL OF SPARK IGNITION ENGINES.

Ions generated during combustion have been used in three ways to give qualitative combustion information. Langmuir type probes have been inserted into the combustion chamber opposite the spark plug location. The centre electrode of the sparking plug itself has been used to produce an ionisation signal from the slightly ionised gases remaining after the flame front has departed. The spark discharge at ignition time has been used as an anemometer.

Comment and reply on the 'assessment of combustion and submodels for turbulent nonpremixed hydrocarbon flames'

In deriving the flamelet model for nonpremixed combustion certain terms, but not the unsteady term, are assumed to be negligible. This results in a relation between all reacting scalars and the mixture fraction as independent variable. An ideal test of the flamelet assumption can be based on direct numerical simulation (DNS) data, if all reacting scalars are conditioned on mixture fraction and conditional moments are evaluated. The fundamental assumption of the flamelet model are unwillingly justified. The unsteady and steady formulations of the same equations are compared and found that unsteadiness is important in an unsteady simulation.

Application of a laminar flamelet model to confined explosion hazards

The majority of computational studies of confined explosion hazards apply simple and inaccurate combustion models, requiring ad hoc corrections to obtain realistic flame shapes and often predicting an order of magnitude error in the overpressures. This work describes the application of a laminar flamelet model to a series of two-dimensional test cases. The model is computationally efficient applying an algebraic expression to calculate the flame surface area, an empirical correlation for the laminar flame speed and a novel unstructured, solution adaptive numerical grid system which allows important features of the solution to be resolved close to the flame. Accurate flame shapes are predicted, the correct burning rate is predicted near the walls, and an improvement in the predicted overpressures is obtained. However, in these fully turbulent calculations the overpressures are still too high and the flame arrival times too low, indicating the need for a model for the early laminar burning phase. Due to the computational expense, it is unrealistic to model a laminar flame in the complex geometries involved and therefore a pragmatic approach is employed which constrains the flame to propagate at the laminar flame speed. Transition to turbulent burning occurs at a specified turbulent Reynolds number. With the laminar phase model included, the predicted flame arrival times increase significantly, but are still too low. However, this has no significant effect on the overpressures, which are predicted accurately for a baffled channel test case where rapid transition occurs once the flame reaches the first pair of baffles. In a channel with obstacles on the centreline, transition is more gradual and the accuracy of the predicted overpressures is reduced. However, although the accuracy is still less than desirable in some cases, it is much better than the order of magnitude error previously expected.

An improved technique to measure axial variation in wall flow along the channels of a diesel particulate filter

A technique to measure wall flow variation in Diesel Particle Filters (DPFs) is described. In a recent paper, it was shown how the flow distribution in DPFs could be measured in a non-destructive manner. This involved measuring the progressive dilution of a tracer gas introduced at the "outlet" channel upstream end. In the present paper, a significant further improvement to this technique is described, in which only a single probe is required, rather than the two of the previous technique. The single, traversable, probe consists of a controllable flow sink, and slightly downstream, a tracer gas supply. By controlling the sink flow rate such that a very small concentration of tracer gas is aspirated into it, the total flow up to that location in the channel is determined. Typical results showing the axial variation in the wall flow for known wall blockage cases are presented. It is suggested that this technique could be used to interpret the soot loading in the filter channels in a non-intrusive way.