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A Review on Autoignition in Laminar and Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames

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Combustion for Power Generation and Transportation

Abstract

This chapter presents a condensed review on the autoignition in laminar and turbulent nonpremixed flames. Both experimental and numerical aspects are discussed. Fundamental studies on autoignition in turbulent flows revealed that random ignition spots are initially observed in the lean mixtures where the scalar dissipation rate is low. The mixture fraction corresponding to this lean mixture is usually referred as the “most reactive mixture fraction”. The increase in initial turbulent intensity and mixing delays autoignition. For most of the fuels, autoignition is observed as a two-stage process with a negative temperature coefficient. Besides, the physical and chemical properties of the fuels, the complex chemical kinetics also affect auto-ignition as well as combustion characteristics. Autoignition is also a dominant flame stabilization mechanism at the base of the lifted flames. Fundamental experimental investigations on autoignition in turbulent flows are very much limited, and most of the previous work is specifically focused on the Berkley vitiated coflow burner and the Cambridge burner. The combustion models developed so far can capture the trends observed in the experiments and the direct numerical simulation (DNS) studies. However, none of the combustion models developed so far can capture the trends quantitatively.

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Abbreviations

DNS:

Direct numerical simulation

HCCI:

Homogeneous charge compression ignition

LPP:

Lean premixed pre-vaporized

DME:

Dimethyl ether

CI:

Compression ignition

PM:

Particulate matter

RCM:

Rapid compression machine

NTC:

Negative temperature coefficient

MILD:

Moderate and intense low oxygen dilution

RANS:

Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes simulation

LES:

Large eddy simulation

CMC:

Conditional moment closure

PDF:

Probability density function

IEM:

Interaction by exchange with the mean

EMST:

Euclidean minimum spanning tree

HRR:

Heat release rate

Y I :

Mass fraction of species I

N :

Scalar dissipation

Z :

Mixture fraction

\( \eta \) :

Sample space of mixture fraction

\( \xi \) :

Conditional variable

\( Q(\eta ,{\mathbf{x}},t) \) :

Conditional expectation

\( \dot{\omega } \) :

Reaction rate

\( \widetilde{P}(\xi ,\chi ,{\mathbf{x}},t) \) :

Joint scalar PDF

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208016, UP, India

    Sanjeev Kumar Ghai & Santanu De

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  1. Sanjeev Kumar Ghai
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  2. Santanu De
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Correspondence to Sanjeev Kumar Ghai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur , Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Avinash Kumar Agarwal

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur , Kanpur, Jharkhand, India

    Santanu De

  3. Eminent Scientist, Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, Punjab, India

    Ashok Pandey

  4. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur , Kanpur, Jharkhand, India

    Akhilendra Pratap Singh

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Ghai, S.K., De, S. (2017). A Review on Autoignition in Laminar and Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames. In: Agarwal, A., De, S., Pandey, A., Singh, A. (eds) Combustion for Power Generation and Transportation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3785-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3785-6_2

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