Turbulent flame-wall interactions for flames diluted by hot combustion products

Flames diluted by combustion products can reduce emissions such as Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) in industrial applications. In gas turbines, these flames are confined in a combustor and can interact with relatively cold walls. This interaction can quench the flame, producing incomplete combustion products. In this study, Flame-Wall Interaction (FWI) for methane/air flames diluted by hot combustion products is investigated using direct numerical simulation. A three-Dimensional (3D) turbulent V-flame in a channel with isothermal hot and cold walls is simulated. It is shown that a main reaction zone in the central region between two walls supported by periodic bulk ignition events changes the position of volumetric reaction zones where CO is formed. The cold wall leads to a longer flame, thereby having disproportionately large contribution to the exhaust CO. Near-wall turbulence-flame interaction creates wrinkled and streaky flame surfaces, and localises the near-wall CO distribution. High mean CO mass fraction develops in the free-stream while a high magnitude of the peak RMS CO mass fraction is present closer to the wall. It is also shown that one-dimensional flame solutions can reasonably describe the changes of CO mass fraction as a function of temperature in the free-stream region and some parts of the near-wall region but not close to the wall. Turbulent mixing and diffusion effects contribute to this deviation. The results highlight the complexities involved in CO modelling for diluted flames and set a benchmark for future work. (C) 2021 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.