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Effect of Gravity Orientation on Flickering Characteristics of Premixed Conical Flame

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Abstract

Experimental and numerical simulation methods were employed to investigate the effect of gravity orientation on the dynamics of premixed conical flames. The study focused on a typical propane-air flame established on a Bunsen burner, under normal gravity (+ g), reverse gravity (-g), and transverse gravity (⊥g). In the initial phase of the research, flame shapes were examined using flame chemiluminescence imaging. Result shows that gravity orientation has a slight impact on the flame height, and buoyancy caused flame asymmetry in ⊥g case is first discovered. In addition, flame flickering frequencies were collected through heat release signal experiments, and a wide range of data is acquired. Though being affected by the same pattern by equivalence ratio and Reynolds number, the frequencies in ⊥g case are generally lower than those in + g case. Based on this, the research also obtained the new empirical correlation for ⊥g case. For clearer explanations of the flame behavior under different gravity orientations, velocity fields were visualization using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments and Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). Results indicated that the gravity orientation mainly influences the flame through effects on shear layer between ambient air and burnt gas, which cause different forms of K-H instability and vortex shedding motions.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

PIV :

Particle image velocimetry

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

PMT:

Photomultiplier

DMD:

Dynamic mode Decomposition

BSL:

Burnt gas and the surrounding gas shear layer

β:

Half angle of the conical flame tip

Qair :

Photomultiplier

Q C3H8 :

Flow rate of propane

U:

Mean inlet velocity

φ:

Equivalence ratio

τ:

Thermal expansion rate

Re:

Reynold number

St :

Strouhal number

Ri :

Richardson number

Gr :

Grashoff number

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Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China, 2021YFA0716202.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Chenghao Qian, Yao Yang, Gaofeng Wang & Keqi Hu

  2. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow, Moscow Region, Russia

    Anastasia Krikunova

  3. Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JIHT RAS), Izhorskaya st. 13 Bd. 2, Moscow, 125412, Russia

    Anastasia Krikunova

Authors
  1. Chenghao Qian
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  2. Yao Yang
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  3. Gaofeng Wang
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  4. Anastasia Krikunova
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  5. Keqi Hu
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Contributions

Chenghao Qian: Investigation (lead); Formal analysis (lead); Writing – original draft (lead). Yao Yang: Investigation (equal); Methodology (equal); Writing – review & editing (lead). Gaofeng Wang*: Funding acquisition (lead); Methodology (equal); Formal analysis (equal); Validation (equal). Anastasia Krikunova: Methodology (equal); Validation (equal). Keqi Hu: Investigation (supporting); Methodology (supporting).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gaofeng Wang.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table PMT experimental conditions

U

(m/s)

φ

Re

QC3H8 (L/min)

Qair

(L/min)

0.90

0.80

609

0.124

3.703

0.90

0.90

609

0.139

3.688

0.90

1.00

609

0.154

3.673

0.90

1.20

609

0.184

3.644

0.90

1.40

609

0.213

3.615

1.10

0.80

745

0.152

4.526

1.10

0.90

745

0.170

4.508

1.10

1.00

745

0.189

4.489

1.10

1.20

745

0.225

4.454

1.10

1.40

745

0.260

4.418

1.25

0.80

846

0.173

5.143

1.25

0.90

846

0.194

5.122

1.25

0.95

846

0.204

5.112

1.25

1.00

846

0.214

5.102

1.25

1.20

846

0.255

5.061

1.25

1.40

846

0.295

5.021

1.40

0.80

948

0.194

5.760

1.40

0.90

948

0.217

5.737

1.40

1.00

948

0.240

5.714

1.40

1.20

948

0.286

5.668

1.40

1.40

948

0.331

5.623

1.60

0.80

1083

0.221

6.583

1.60

0.90

1083

0.248

6.557

1.60

1.00

1083

0.274

6.530

1.60

1.20

1083

0.327

6.478

1.60

1.40

1083

0.378

6.426

1.80

0.80

1219

0.249

7.406

1.80

0.90

1219

0.279

7.376

1.80

1.00

1219

0.309

7.346

1.80

1.20

1219

0.367

7.288

1.80

1.40

1219

0.425

7.230

2.00

0.80

1354

0.277

8.229

2.00

0.90

1354

0.310

8.196

2.00

1.00

1354

0.343

8.163

2.00

1.20

1354

0.408

8.097

2.00

1.40

1354

0.473

8.033

2.20

0.80

1490

0.304

9.052

2.20

0.90

1490

0.341

9.015

2.20

1.00

1490

0.377

8.979

2.20

1.20

1490

0.449

8.907

2.20

1.40

1490

0.520

8.836

2.40

0.80

1625

0.332

9.875

2.40

0.90

1625

0.372

9.835

2.40

1.00

1625

0.412

9.795

2.40

1.20

1625

0.490

9.717

2.40

1.40

1625

0.567

9.640

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Qian, C., Yang, Y., Wang, G. et al. Effect of Gravity Orientation on Flickering Characteristics of Premixed Conical Flame. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 36, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-023-10088-3

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