Numerical and experimental investigation of swirl-stabilized flames using natural gas-hydrogen-air mixtures

Date

2023-8

Author

Böncü, Emre

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Across the world, the interest in hydrogen as a sustainable fuel and an energy carrier is on the rise. This is because hydrogen does not emit CO2 when converted into energy. Since global regulations on carbon and other harmful gas emissions are becoming more and more strict as time goes on, the necessity of combustor designs capable of burning hydrogen is becoming more relevant. Since other harmful emissions like NOx are subject to regulations as well, hydrogen burner designs that minimize such emissions too are also becoming equally necessary. In this thesis, an investigation was conducted using natural gas and hydrogen mixtures as fuel with a partially premixed swirl-stabilized burner using a combination of experimental and numerical methods. Throughout the study, fuel mixture composition variations were explored. Experiments involved gradually adding hydrogen to the fuel mixture initially consisting solely of natural gas. Chemiluminescence imaging was employed to analyze the impact of hydrogen addition on the global flame structure and stability. The total volumetric fuel flow rate remained constant throughout the experiments. Investigations continued until a certain volumetric hydrogen ratio in the fuel (H2VOL%) was reached, causing the transition of the flame stabilization mode. The changes in the dimensions of the lifted flame and the stabilization mode were also examined using numerical simulations. Simulations employed StarCCM+ 22.06 software, incorporating the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model, Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) combustion model, and the Thickened Flame Model (TFM) for turbulence-chemistry interactions. Both experimental and numerical results show that increasing the H2VOL% causes the flame to lower towards the burner and get more compact. Additionally, the stabilization mode change was observed in both experimental and numerical results.

Subject Keywords

Partially premixed turbulent flames, Hydrogen, Swirl-stabilized flames, CFD, Chemiluminescence imaging

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/104896

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis