UNS: Investigations on Hydrodynamic and Diffusional-thermal Flamefront Instabilities

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

1510142 (Law) The project aims to better understand how burning of fuel-air mixture takes place under high-pressure and very turbulent conditions, similar to those in an engine. The Principal Investigator has recently developed an experimental method that enables obtaining data with very high resolutions that was not previously available. The data can help explain the behavior of combustion and potentially help design energy-efficient combustion devices. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in the proposed research and the knowledge gained will be published and taught in the classroom. The proposed study is aim to differentiating the effects due to hydrodynamic and diffusive-thermal instabilities, especially under high pressures (60-80 atmospheres). Because of the reduced flame thickness with increasing pressure, hydrodynamic instability is relevant to high-pressure reciprocating and gas turbine combustion engines. The interest to increase the compression ratio and thereby combustion efficiency of these engines further accentuates the preponderance of the hydrodynamics instability. The PI designs the laminar flame conditions for investigation, but these conditions will impact, with possible revisions to, the classical turbulent premixed regime diagram. Newly developed diagnostic tools with high temporal and spatial resolutions will help to obtain high-quality data that allows validations of the proposed hypothesis.