Experimental Investigation on Low Swirl Premixed Combustion and Effects of Geometrical Parameters on Its Performance

Authors

Abstract

Low swirl burner provides an effective and low cost solution for stable lean premixed combustion. Several studies have been conducted on the performance of these burners in different pressures, temperatures, capacities, mixture velocities and equivalence ratios. The main design parameters of low swirl burners are the swirl number and the recess length. The objective of this paper is the investigation of recess length effects on the burner performance. A rig test has been established and utilized to study the effects of different equivalence ratios and recess lengths on the temperature distribution and flame regime of low swirl burners. Results revealed that increasing the recess length causes the increase in axial bulk velocity and hence the lifted flame would be stable in wider range of equivalence ratios. Observations also show the significant effect of the specific divergent flame regime of low swirl burners on result in uniform temperature distribution inside the combustion chamber and lower NOx production

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1] Warnatz J, Mass U, and Dibble RW (1999) Combustion, physical and chemical fundamentals, modeling and simulation, experiments, pollutant formation. 2ed edn. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, New York.
[2] Bluestein J (1992) NOx controls for gas fired industrial boilers and combustion equipment: a survey of current practices. Technical Report GRI-92/0374, Gas Research Institute.
[3] Rokke NA (2015) Experimental and theoretical studies of environmental aspects of natural gas combustion. PhD thesis, Norwegian Institue of Technolgy, Trondheim, ISBN: 82-7119-702-9.
[4] Wunning JA, Wunning JG, (1997) Flameless oxidation to reduce thermal NO formation. Progress in Energy Combustion Science 23: 81–94.
[5] Cheng RK, Yegian DT, Miyasato MM, Samuelen GS, Benson CE, Pellizzari R, Loftus P (2000) Scaling and development of low swirl burners for low emission furnaces and boilers. P Combust Inst 28: 1305–1313.
[6] Syred N, Beer JM (1974) Combustion in swirling flows: a review. Combust Flame 23:143–201.
[7] Yegian DT, Cheng RK (1998) Development of a lean premixed low-swirl burner for low NOx practical applications. Combust Sci Technol 139: 207-227.
[8] Johnson MR, Littlejohn D, Nazeer WA, Smith KO, Cheng RK (2005) A comparison of the flowfields and emissions of High-Swirl Injectors and Low-Swirl Injectors for lean premixed gas turbines. P Combust Inst 30: 2867–2874.
[9] Cheng RK, Littlejohn D, Noble D, Lieuwen T, (2010) Laboratory Investigations of Low-Swirl Injectors Operating with Syngases. J Eng Gas Turb Power 132(1): 011502—011508.
[10] Cheng RK (1999) Lean premixed combustion stabilized by low swirl, A promising concept  for practical applications. Combust Flame 101: 1-18.
[11] Cheng RK (1995) Velocity and scalar characteristics of premixed turbulent flames stabilized by weak swirl. Combust Flame 101:1-14.
[12] Cheng RK, Littlejohn D (2008) Effects of combustor geometry on the flowfields and flame properties of a low-awirl injector. Proceedings of Gas Turbine, ASME Turbo Expo, Berlin, Germany.
[13] Cheng RK, Littlejohn D, Nazeer WA, Smith KO (2006) Laboratory studies of the flow field characteristics of low swirl injectors for adaptation to fuel flexible turbines. Proceedings of Gas Turbine, ASME Turbo Expo, Barcelona, Spain.
[14] Sequera D, Agrawal A (2007) Emissions and acoustics measurements in a Low-Swirl Burner. 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, Nevada.
[15] Legrand M, Nogueira J, Lecuona A, Nauri S, Rodriguez P (2010) Atmospheric Low Swirl Burner Flow Characterization with Stereo PIV.  Exp Fluids 48: 901-913. 
[16] Emadi M, Karkow D, Salameh T, Gohil A, Ratner A (2012) Flame structure changes resulting from hydrogen-enrichment and pressurization for low-swirl premixed methane air flames. Int J Hydrogen Energ 37: 10397-10404.
[17] Beerer D,  McDonell V, Therkelsen P, Cheng RK, (2013) Flashback and turbulent flame speed measurements in a Hydrogen and Methane fired Low-Swirl Injector at elevated pressures and temperatures. 8thU.S. National Combustion Meeting, hosted by the Univ of Utah, May 19-22.
[18] Ballachey GE, Johnson MR (2013) Prediction of blowoff in a fully controllable low-swirl burner burning alternative fuels: Effects of burner geometry, swirl, and fuel composition. P Combust Inst 34: 3193–3201.
[19] Cheng RK (2004) Low-swirl flame stabilization method for lean premixed turbulent flames and its adaptation to heating and power equipment. Presentation at ABMA Mid-Winter Conference.
Journal of Solid and Fluid Mechanics
Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
July and August 2015
Pages 191-204

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics