Premixed CH4-Air Flame Structure Characteristic and Flow Behavior Induced by Obstacle in an Open Duct

To study the fuel gas combustion hazards, the methane/air flame structure and flow characteristic in an open duct influenced by a rectangular obstacle were explored by experiment and realizable kappa-epsilon model (RKE). In the test, the high-speed schlieren photography technology and dynamic detection technology were applied to record the flame propagation behavior. Meanwhile, the interaction between flame front and flame flow field induced by the obstacle was disclosed. In addition, the laminar-turbulence transition was also taken into consideration. The RKE and eddy dissipation concept (EDC) premixed combustion model were applied to obtain an insight into the phenomenon of flow change and wrinkle appearing, which potently explained the experimental observations. As a result, the obstacle blocked the laminar flame propagation velocity and increased pressure a little in an open duct. Some small-scale vortices began to appear near the obstacle, mainly due to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI), and gradually grew into large-scale vortices, which led to laminar-turbulent transition directly. The vortices thickened the reaction area and hastened the reaction rate; reversely, the higher reaction rate induced larger vortices. The RKE model result fitted the test data well and explained the wrinkle forming mechanism of two special vortices in the case.