Abstract
Active control has many potential applications in the domain of combustion. Active instability control has been successfully demonstrated in a variety of laboratory combustors and its practical use is currently being explored. Active control methods also appear to be suited to the optimization of combustion system operation. The external controller may be used for example to extend the stability margin of the system, reduce the pollutant emission levels, augment the combustion and thermal efficiency, or modify the temperature distribution in the exhaust gases. This article describes applications of active control towards improving combustion, with specific attention paid to pollutant emissions reduction. Some background material on active combustion control is given, along with a discussion of strategies for NOx reduction, and a review of experiments on flame interactions with external perturbations. The possibilities for active management of the reactive region are described. Applications of active control are illustrated by typical results obtained in recent experiments.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allen, M. G., Butler, C. T., Johnson, S. A., Lo, E. Y., & Russo, F. (1993): An imaging neural network combustion control system for utility boiler applications. Comb. Flame, 94, 205–214.
Baillot, F., Bourehla, A. & Durox, D. (1996): The characteristics method and cusped flame fronts. Combust Sci. and Tech., 112, 327–350.
Baillot, F., Durox, D., & Prud’homme, R. (1992): Experimental and theoretical study of a premixed vibrating flame. Comb. Flame, 88, 149–168.
Barrère, M. & Williams, F. A. (1968): Comparison of combustion instabilities found in various types of combustion chambers. Eleventh Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Beer, J. M. (1994): Minimizing NOx emissions from stationary combustion: reaction engineering methodology. Chem. Eng. Sci., 49, 4067–4083.
Billoud, G., Galland, M. A., Huu, C. H., & Candel, S. (1992): Adaptive active control of combustion instabilities. Combust. Sci. and Tech., 81, 257–283.
Bloxsidge, G., Dowling, A., Hooper, N., & Langhorne, P. (1987): Active control of reheat buzz. In 25th Aerospace Sciences Meeting. AIAA.
Boyer, L. & Quinard, J. (1990): On the dynamics of anchored flames. Comb. Flame, 82, 51–65.
Brouwer, J., Ault, B., Bobrow, J. E., & Samuelsen, G. S. (1990): Active control for gas turbine combustors. In Twenty-Third Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1087–1092). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Brown, G. L. & Roshko, A. (1974): On density effects and large structures in turbulent mixing layers. J. Fluid Mech., 64, 775–816.
Burkhardt, H. (1996): Image analysis and control of combustion processes. In Active Combustion Control for Propulsion Systems, AGARD Workshop. Athens, Greece.
Burkhardt, H., Oest, L., & Tao, W. (1995): Vision-guided flame control. In SENSOR 95, Nürnberg, Germany.
Cambray, P. & Joulin, G. (1994): Length-scales of wrinkling of weakly-forced, unstable premixed flames. Combust. Sci. and Tech., 97, 405–428.
Candel, S. (1992): Combustion instabilities coupled by pressure waves and their active control. In Twenty-Fourth Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1277–1296). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Chao, Y.-C. & Jeng, M.-S. (1992): Behavior of the lifted jet flame under acoustic excitation. In Twenty-Fourth Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 333–340). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Charon, O., Jouvaud, D., & Genies, B. (1993): Pulsated 02/fuel flame as a new technique for low NOx emission. Combust. Sci. and Tech., 93, 211–222.
Clavin, P., Kim, J. S., & Williams, F. A. (1994): Turbulence-induced noise effects on high-frequency combustion instabilities. Combust. Sci. and Tech., 96, 61–84.
Crocco, L. & Cheng, S. L. (1956): Theory of combustion instability in liquid propellent rocket motors. In AGARDOGRAPH 8. NATO, Buttersworth Science Publication.
Crow, S. C. & Champagne, F. H. (1971): Orderly structure in jet turbulence. J. Fluid Mech., 48, 547–591.
Culick, F. E. C. (1988): Combustion instabilities in liquid-fueled propulsion systems. An overview. In AGARD Conference. NATO.
Davis, M. R. & Lin, L. H. (1995): Structures induced by periodic acoustic excitation of a diffusion flame. Comb. Flame, 100, 101–110.
Davis, M. R. &, Jumppanen, P. C. (1993): Optical detection of the response of a diffusion flame to excitation. Comb. Flame, 93, 349–374.
De Sœte, G. (1964): Etude des flammes vibrantes: Application à la combustion turbulente. Revue de l’Institut Français du Pétrole & Annale des combustibles liquides. 19(6), June.
Delabroy, O., Haile, E., Candel, S., Pollard, A., Sobiesiak, A, & Becker, H. A. (1997): Passive and active control of NOx in industrial burners. To appear in Exp. Thermal & Fluid Sci, special volume reporting on Workshop on Flow Control, Cargèse, Corsica.
Delabroy, O., Haile, E., Veynante, D., Lacas, F., & Candel, S. (1996): Réduction de la production des oxydes d’azote (NO X) dans une flamme de diffusion à fioul par excitation acoustique. Rev. Gén. Therm. Fr., 35, 475–489.
Delabroy, O., Lacas, F., Poinsot, T., Candel, S., Hoffmann, T., Hermann, J., Gleis, S., & Vbrtmeyer, D. (1995): A study of NOx reduction by acoustic excitation in a liquid fueled burner. Comb. Sci. and Tech., 119, 397–417.
Drake, M. C. & Blint, R. J. (1989): Thermal NOx in stretched laminar opposed flow diffusion flames with CO/H2/N2 fuel. Comb. Flame, 76, 151–167.
Durox, D., Baillot, F., Searby, G., & Boyer, L. (1996): On the shape of flames under strong acceleration: a mean flow controlled by the unsteady flow. Submitted to J. Fluid Mech.
Durox, D., Schulz, B. & Rudent, P. (1995): Sensitivity of premixed flames submitted to sinusoidal excitation. In Joint Meeting of the French and German Sections of the Combustion Institute. Mulhouse, France.
Ffowcs Williams, J. E. (1984): Anti-sound. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Series A, 395, 63–88.
Gad-el-Hak, M. (1994): Interactive control of turbulent boundary layers: a futuristic overview. AIAA J., 32(9), 1753–1765.
Gulati, A. & Mani, R. (1992): Active control of unsteady combustion-induced oscillations. J. Prop, and Power, 8(5), 1109–1115.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Hanson-Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1989): Azimuthal structure of an annular diffusion flame. Comb. Flame, 75, 229–240.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Hanson-Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1989): On the role of large and small-scale structures in combustion, control. Comb. Sci. and Tech., 66, 107–126.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Hanson-Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1990): Use of chemiluminescence and neural networks in active combustion control. In Twenty-Third Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1101–1106). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Hanson-Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1991): Closed-loop amplitude modulation control of reacting premised turbulent jet. AIAA J., 29(12), 2155–2162.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1994): Control of sooty high energy fuel combustion. In 1994 Spring Meeting of the Western States Section. The Combustion Institute.
Gutmark, E., Parr, T. P., Parr, D. M., & Schadow, K. C. (1989): Stabilization of combustion by controlling the turbulent shear now structure. In 7 th Syrrvp. on Turbulent Shear Flows. Stanford Univ., CA.
Haile, E., Delabroy, O., Lacas, F., & Candel, S. (1996): Structure of an acoustically forced turbulent spray fiame. In Twenty-Sixth Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pitts-
Haile, E., Lacas, F., & Candel, S. (1997): Active combustion control through pulsed liquid fuel injection. Submitted to C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris.
Hantschk, C, Hermann, J., & Vortmeyer, D. (1996): Active instability control with direct drive servo-valves in liquid-fueled combustion systems. In Twenty-Sixth Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Harrje, D. T. & Reardon, F. H. (1972): Liquid propellant rocket instability. Technical Report SP-194, NASA.
Hayhurst, A. & Vince, I. M. (1983): The origin and nature of prompt nitric oxide in names. Comb. Flame, 50, 41–57.
Heckl, M. A. (1985): Active control of the noise from a Rijke tube. In Comte-Bellot, G. & Ffowcs-Williams, J. E. (Eds.), Aero-and Hydro-acoustics, (pp. 211–216). IUTAM, Springer.
Hermann, J., Gleis, S., & Vortmeyer, D. (1996): Active instability control (AIC) of spray combustors by modulation of the liquid fuel flow rate. Comb. Sci. and Tech., 118, 1–25.
Ho, C. M. & Huang, L. S. (1982): Subharmonics and vortex merging in mixing layers. J. Fluid Mech., 119, 443–473.
Keller, J. O., Bramlette, T. T., Barr, P. K., & Alvarez, J. R. (1994): NOx and CO emissions from a pulse combustor operating in a lean premixed mode. Comb. Flame, 99, 460–466.
Keller, J. O., Bramlette, T. T., Westbrook, C. K., & Dec, J. E. (1988): Pulse combustion: the quantification of characteristic times. Sandia Report SAND87-8832, Sandia National Laboratories.
Keller, J. O., Dec, J. E., Westbrook, C. K., & Bramlette, T. T. (1987): Pulse combustion: the importance of characteristic times. Technical Report SAND87-8783, Sandia National Laboratories.
Keller, J. O. & Hongo, I. (1988): Pulse combustion: the mechanisms of NOx production. Technical Report SAND88-8602, Sandia National Laboratories.
Kolb, T., Jansohn, P., & Leuckel, W. (1988): Reduction of NOx emission in turbulent combustion by fuel-staging: effects of mixing and stoichiometry in the reduction zone. In Twenty-Second Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1193–1203). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Lang, W. (1991): Harmonic frequency generation by oscillating flames. Comb. Flame, 83, 253–262.
Lang, W., Poinsot, T., & Candel, S. (1987): Active control of combustion instability. Comb. Flame, 70, 281–289.
Law, C. K. (1988): Dynamics of stretched flames. In Twenty-Second Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1381–1402). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Le Helley (1995): Etude théorique et expérimentale des instabilités de combustion et de leur controle dans un bruleur laminaire prémélangé. Ph.D. Thesis. Ecole Centrale Paris.
Leconte, J. (1858): On the influence of musical sounds on the flame of a jet of coal-gas. Phil. Mag., 15, 235.
Lee, J. G., Lee, T. W., Nye, D. A. & Santavicca, D. A. (1995): Lewis number effects on premixed flames interacting with turbulent Karman vortex streets. Comb. Flame, 100, 161–168.
Lee, T. W., North, G. L. & Santavicca, D. A. (1993): Surface properties of turbulent premixed propane/air flames at various Lewis numbers. Comb. Flame, 93, 445–456.
Longmire, E. K. & Eaton, J. K. (1994): Active open-loop control of particle dispersion in round jets. AIAA J., 32, 555–563.
Lord Rayleigh, J. W. S. (1896): Theory of Sound. MacMillan, London, reproduced by Dover (1945).
Lovett, J. A. & Turns, S. R. (1990): Experiments on axisymmetrically pulsed turbulent jet flames. AIAA J., 28(1), 38–46.
Lovett, J. A. & Turns, S. R. (1993): The structure of pulsed turbulent nonpremixed jet flames. Combust. Sei and Tech., 94, 193–217.
Lyons, V. J. (1980): Fuel/air nonuniformity-effect on axisymmetrically pulsed turbulent jet flames. AIAA J., 20, 660.
Marble, F. E. (1953): Servo-stabilization of low-frequency oscillations in liquid propellant rocket motors. ZAMP, 6(1), 1–35.
Marble, F. E. & Cox, D. W. (1955): Servo-stabilization of low-frequency oscillations in a liquid bipropellant rocket motor. Am. Rocket Soc. J., 63–81.
Markstein, G. H. (1965): Nonsteady flame propagation. In AGARDOGRAPH 75. NATO.
McManus, K. R. & Bowman, C. T. (1990): Effects of controlling vortex dynamics on the performance of a dump combustor. In Twenty-Third Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
McManus, K. R., Poinsot, T. & Candel, S. (1993): A review of active control of combustion instabilities. Prog, in Energy and Comb. Sci., 19, 1–29.
McManus, K. R., Vandsberger, U., & Bowman, C. (1990): Combustor performance enhancement through direct shear layer excitation. Comb. Flame, 82, 75–92.
Menon, S. & Jou, W.-H. (1990): Large-eddy simulations of combustion instability in an axisymmetric ramjet combustor. In 28th Aerospace Sciences Meeting. AIAA Paper 90-0267.
Miller, J. A. & Bowman, C. T. (1989): Mechanism and modeling of nitrogen chemistry in combustion. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 15, 287–338.
Oster, D. & Wygnanski, I. (1982): The forced mixing layer between parallel streams. J. Fluid Mech., 123, 91–130.
Padmanabhan, K. T., Bowman, C. T., & Powell, J. D. (1995): An adaptive optimal combustion control strategy. Comb. Flame, 100, 101–110.
Parekh, D. B., Kibens, V., Glezer, A., Wiltse, J. M., & Smith, D. M. (1996): Innovative jet flow control: mixing enhancement experiments. In 34th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno. AIAA. Paper 96-0308.
Peters, N. & Donnerhack, S. (1981): Structure and similarity of nitric oxide production in turbulent diffusion flames. In Eighteenth Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 33–41). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Poinsot, T., Bourienne, F., Candel, S., Esposito, E., & Lang, W. (1989): Suppression of combustion instabilities by active control. J. Propulsion, 5(1), 14–20.
Poinsot, T., Trouvé, A., Veynante, D., Candel, S., & Esposito, E. (1987): Vortex driven acoustically coupled combustion instabilities. J. Fluid Mech., 177, 265–292.
Poinsot, T., Veynante, D., & Candel, S. (1990): Diagrams of premised turbulent combustion based on direct simulation. In Twenty-Third Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 613–619). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Pompei, F. & Heywood, J. B. (1972): The role of mixing in burner-generated carbon monoxide and nitric oxide. Comb. Flame, 19, 407.
Pont, C, Willis, J. W., Karagozian, A. R., & Smith, O. I. (1996): Effects of external acoustic excitation on enhanced transport in a resonant incinerator. In Twenty-Sixth Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Procter, D. (1994): In Workshop on Pulsating Combustion and Its Application. Technical report.
Putnam, A. A. (1971): Combustion driven oscillations in industry. American Elsevier, New York.
Reynolds, O. (1894): Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A, 186, 123.
Roberts, W. L., Driscoll, J. F., Drake, M. C. & Goss, L. P. (1993): Images of the quenching of a flame by a vortex-to quantify regimes of turbulent combustion. Comb. Flame, 94, 58–69.
Schadow, K. C. & Gutmark, E. (1992): Combustion instability related to vortex shedding in dump combustors and their passive control. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 18, 117–132.
Schadow, K. C, Gutmark, E., & Wilson, K. J. (1992): Active combustion control in a coaxial dump combustor. Comb. Sci. and Tech., 81, 285–300.
Searby, G. & Rochwerger, D. (1991): A parametric acoustic instability in premised flames. J. Fluid Mech., 231, 529–543.
Smith, D. A. & Zukoski, E. E. (1985): Combustion instability sustained by unsteady vortex combustion. In 21st Joint Propulsion Conference. AIAA/SAE/ASME/ASEE.
Stansel, D., Laurendeau, N., & Senser, D. (1995): CO and NOx emission from. a controlled-air burner: experimental measurements and exhaust correlations. Comb. Sci. and Tech., 104, 207–234.
Stirneman, A., Graf, H. R., & Ziada, S. (1995): Sound reduction potential with different controllers on industrial noise sources. In Applications of active control to the reduction of noise and vibrations. CETIM, Senlis, France.
StJohn, D. & Samuelsen, G. S. (1994): Active, optimal control of a model industrial, natural gas-fired burner. In Twenty-Fifth Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 307–316). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Tang, Y. M., Waldherr, G., Jagoda, J. L, & Zinn, B. T. (1995): Heat release timing; in a nonpremixed Helmholtz pulse combustor. Comb. Flame, 100, 251–261.
Thévenin, D. & Candel, S. (1995): Ignition dynamics of a diffusion flame rolled up in a vortex. Phys. Fluids A., 7(2), 434–445.
Tœpler, A. (1866): Vibroskopische Beobachtungen über die Schwingungensphasen singender Flammen (der chemischen Harmonica) mit Benutzung des Schliere-napparates. Pogg. Ann. Phys. Ghem., 128, 126–139.
Trouvé, A., Candel, S., & Daily, J. W. (1988): Linear stability of the inlet jet in a ramjet dump combustor. In 26th Aerospace Science Meeting, Reno. AIAA.
Tsien, H. S. (1952): Servo-stabilization of combustion in rocket motors. Am. Rocket Soc. J., 22, 256–263.
Tyndall, J. (1867): Sound. LonGhians, London.
Vermeulen, P. J., Odgers, J., & Ramesh, V. (1982): Acoustic control of dilution-air mixing in a gas-turbine combustor. Trans. ASME, 104-, 844–852.
Vranos, A. & Hall, R. J. (1993): Influence of radiative loss on nitric oxide formation in counterflow diffusion flames at high pressure. Comb. Flame, 93, 230–238.
Widrow, B. (1970): Adaptive filters. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Willis, J. W., Cadou, C, Mitchell, M., & Karagozian, A. R. (1994): Destruction of liquid and gaseous waste surrogates in an acoustically excited dump combustor. Comb. Flame, 99, 280–287.
Wiltse, J. M. & Glezer, A. (1996): Direct high-frequency excitation of turbulence in free shear flows. In 34th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno. AIAA. Paper 96-0309.
Yu, K. H., Parr, T. P., Wilson, K. J., Schadow, K. C, & Gutmark, E. J. (1996): Active control of liquid-fueled combustion using periodic vortex-droplet interaction. In Twenty-Sixth Symposium (International) on Combustion. The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Yu, K. H., Trouvé, A., & Candel, S. (1991): Combustion enhancement of a pre-mixed flame by acoustic forcing with emphasis on the role of large-scale vortical structures. In 29th Aerospace Sciences Meeting. AIAA Paper 91-0367.
Yu, K. H., Trouvé, A., & Daily, J. W. (1987): Low frequency pressure oscillations in a model ramjet combustor. In 24th Combustion Meeting. JANNAF.
Zinn, B. T. (1992): Pulse combustion: recent applications and research issues. In Twenty-Fourth Symposium (International) on Combustion, (pp. 1297–1305). The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Haile, E., Delabroy, O., Durox, D., Lacas, F., Candel, S. (1998). Combustion Enhancement by Active Control. In: Gad-el-Hak, M., Pollard, A. (eds) Flow Control. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 53. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69672-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69672-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63936-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69672-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive