Impact of local flame quenching on the flame acceleration in H2-CO-air mixtures in obstructed channels

In accident scenarios originating from weak ignition, flame acceleration preconditions the fresh gas ahead of the flame front and provides the necessary conditions for deflagration-to-detonation transition to occur. Strong shear layers, which form at the rear edge of obstacles in the accelerated flow of fast flames, isolate fresh gas pockets. Vortices in the intense shear layer have the potential to locally quench the flame, limiting the integral heat release and delaying the onset of detonation.This study investigates the potential of local turbulent quenching in H${}_2$-CO-air mixtures. First, the presence of locally reduced heat release is visualized in highly resolved simulations for H${}_2$-air and H${}_2$-CO-air flames. Efficient simulation methods are of great importance for risk analysis studies. In connection with the results from highly resolved simulations this justifies a more detailed look at RANS-based combustion models for said flames. Thus, three different treatments of turbulent quenching are investigated, in which the geometrical configuration (blockage ratio and obstacle spacing) and the geometry size is varied.The results indicate that quenching does not need to be considered in RANS-based combustion models for H${}_2$-CO-air flames in explosion scenarios. But since quenching does eventually occur at very high turbulence intensities, the authors suggest limiting the flame turbulence interaction to flame stretch values obtained from 1D counter-flow flame simulations with detailed chemistry.     

Investigation of spark ignition processes of laminar strained premixed stoichiometric NH3-H2-air flames

A knowledge of the ignition properties of ammonia (NH${}_3$)/hydrogen (H${}_2$) mixtures is important because of their abundance in chemical engineering processes, and also because of their prospective role as fuels in future energy systems. In particular, the question arises if and how important characteristics like ignition limits and minimum ignition energies in NH${}_3$/H${}_2$ mixtures are related to the physical conditions. To address this question, this work studies ignition process in ammonia/hydrogen mixtures by numerical simulations. These track the evolution of ammonia/hydrogen mixtures during and after the deposition of a certain ignition energy, using a detailed treatment of chemical reactions and molecular transport. Studies on the influence of different system parameters on the minimally required ignition energy are performed. These are the strain rate, hydrogen content, pressure and initial (pre-ignition) temperature. Significant findings include a quasi-linear correlation between the transition strain rate, defined as the strain rate below which no external energy is required to initiate successful ignition (auto-ignition) and a characteristic reaction rate, defined as the inverse of ignition delay time in homogeneous, quiescent mixtures. Also, the relative decay of minimum ignition energy with increasing hydrogen content is less pronounced for higher pressures. Analysis of the results supports a knowledge-based approach towards fail-proof ignition devices and reliable prevention of hazards. The simulations are used for assessing the ignitability of ammonia and its mixtures with hydrogen.     

A comparative study between two ignition sources: Electric igniter versus pyrotechnic igniter

The risk assessment of combustible explosive dust is based on the determination of the probability of dust dispersion, the identification of potential ignition sources and the evaluation of explosion severity. It is achieved in most of cases with the two main experimental normalized devices such as the Hartmann tube (spark ignition) and the 20 L spherical bomb (with two 5 kJ pyrotechnic ignitors).Ignition energy of the 5 kJ ignitor is well calibrated and generates a reproducible ignition. But, on the other hand, this ignition is not punctual and the over pressure produced is nearly 2 bar. Moreover, the pyrotechnic igniter accelerates the combustion with multi ignition points in a large volume and that disturbs the flame propagation. In this way, this ignition source does not allow to analyze the combustion products because the composition of the pyrotechnic igniter was found in the combustion products.This paper deals with the comparison of two ignition sources in the 20 L spherical bomb. Different explosive dusts of great industrial interest are studied with electrical and pyrotechnic ignitors, in order to understand, first, the influence of each type of igniter on the explosion behaviour and then to evaluate the possibility of establishing a correspondence between parameters obtained with these two ignition sources.Severity parameters of nicotinic acid, aluminium powder and titanium alloy were measured by using the two types of ignition system in our 20 L spherical bomb equipped with the Kühner dihedral injector. The explosion overpressure $\mathrm{P}$ and the rate of pressure rise $\left(\raisebox{1ex}{$dP$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$dt$}\right.\right)$ were measured in a large range of concentration allowing to propose correlations between electrical and pyrotechnic ignition for each parameter and each type of powder. These correlations aim to link the tests used with two different collections of experimental parameters for the same dust. The relevance of these correlations will be discussed.