On the Liftoff of Diffusion Flame: An Experimental and Analytical Study

The effect of lip thickness of fuel nozzle on the liftoff of an attached diffusion methane flame with and without a coflow was experimentally and analytically investigated. Three fuel nozzles made of a long pipe with the same internal diameter but different nozzle lip thickness were tested. The co-airflow was also varied to assess its impact on the liftoff of jet diffusion flame. The results showed that the effect of fuel nozzle lip thickness on the liftoff of a free jet flame (i.e., no coflow) is marginal. However, the presence of a weak to moderate coflow (0.05 m/s < U_co < 0.3 m/s) reduced the liftoff velocity of an attached flame. The reduction rate of the liftoff velocity with co-airflow was found to be more significant for the fuel nozzle with the smaller lip thickness. At a relatively higher coflow (U_co > ∼0.3 m/s), a more pronounced drop in the liftoff velocity with coflow was observed. Flow field characteristics obtained using PIV measurements showed that the coflow stream experienced a transition to the turbulent regime for U_co > ∼0.3 m/s range which is believed to cause the inception of the flame liftoff to occur. A model for predicting the liftoff velocity of an attached flame in the presence of a coflow was developed based on the stoichiometric mixture velocity equation. This model showed good agreement with the present experimental data. However, although it can predict successfully the observed trends in the literature, further experiments are required to generalize it.