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Reaction zone visualisation in swirling spray n-heptane flames


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Yuan, R 
Kariuki, J 
Dowlut, A 
Balachandran, R 
Mastorakos, E 

Abstract

Joint PLIF measurements of CH2O and OH were performed in a swirl-stabilized n-heptane spray flame at conditions close to extinction. Simulations of laminar counterflow heptane flames at different strain rates showed that the heat release could be approximately represented by the product CH2OxOH, but also that this product cannot visualise the heat release at the lean side of stoichiometry. The simulations suggest that the outline of CH2O regions in PLIF images could be an approximate indicator of the stoichiometric mixture fraction iso-line. Due to the intense turbulence and local extinction, individual PLIF images show a very variable behaviour. They indicate rich zones, reaction sheet breaks, lift-off, and they suggest that this flame is mostly of non-premixed character. The mean heat release rate as represented here is consistent with inverse Abel-transformed OH* chemiluminescence imaging. The usefulness of this technique for spray flames is discussed.

Description

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1540748914001709.

Keywords

Extinction, Swirl, Formaldehyde fluorescence, Heptane spray

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1540-7489
1873-2704

Volume Title

35

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J021644/1)
R. Yuan has been funded by an EPSRC Dorothy Hodgkin Studentship. Dr Balachandran and Mr Dowlut gratefully acknowledge support from EPSRC for research grant EP/G063788/1 and UCL/EPSRC Doctoral Training Account respectively that enabled the measurement methods presented here.