An Influence of a Fluidic Oscillator Insertion in a Swirl-Stabilized Burner on Turbulent Premixed Flame

Abstract

A series of experiments were performed on a vertical EV burner with a constant coflow air of 873 L/min to generate turbulent lean premixed flow in order to study the impact of the addition of acetylene/argon mixture to the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on the temperature field and flame structure. The fluidics mechanism was inserted at a fixed position inside the entry section of the EV burner assembly. The flow rates of fuel (LPG/C2H2/Ar) and air were measured using calibrated rotameters. The different volume ratios of the fuel constituents were admitted via three solenoid valves and monitored using a labview program. The axial temperature profiles at different operating conditions were measured using (type S) thermocouple. Flame images were obtained—before and after fluidics insertion—using a high-resolution digital camera. The experimental program aims at identifying and analyzing the changes in flame characteristics resulting from the insertion of fluidics while considering different proportions of the fuel constituents) (including pure LPG, as a reference case). The results obtained indicate the following: it was noticed that in most cases of pure LPG only and other mixtures, the images show increase in the length of the flame and decrease of its luminosity as a result of higher degrees of swirl due to the fluidics insertion while the temperature profiles of the different flames were changed. It was indicated that NOx trend was decreased by 52% while the combustion efficiency was improved by 2.5%.