A parametric numerical analysis of laminar hydrogen diffusion flames

Abstract

Atmospheric, laminar, diffusion flames of hydrogen and air are numerically investigated. A detailed hydrogen combustion reaction scheme, in combination with the extended Zeldovich mechanism for the thermal nitrogen oxide formation are used. For comparison purposes, a global mechanism is also applied. The numerical procedure is first validated by comparisons with results of other authors. Subsequently, parametric studies are performed to find optimal solutions with respect to the related to the operation parameters of such flames to achieve minimum low nitrogen oxide emission levels. The question that are addressed include the Reynolds number effect on nitrogen emissions, and the interaction of neighbouring flames, when they are applied in an array. For ensuring an adequately fine resolution of the flame fronts, local adaptive grid refinement techniques are applied to track the flame front. For preliminary results the radiative heat loses has assumed to be insignificant however it should be taken into the account for the further analyses. The maximum temperature is predicted to be ~2040 K which is higher than the reported adiabatic stoichiometric flame temperature, 2023K for the exit velocity of 0.5 m/s. The radial mole fractions of N2 and H2 at the centerline are observed to be 0.66 and 0.41 respectively at the axial distance of 10 mm. Furthermore, the width of the high temperature region of the flame is observed to be ~6.5 mm. © 2022 Proceedings of WHEC 2022 - 23rd World Hydrogen Energy Conference: Bridging Continents by H2. All rights reserved.