Experimental study on the laminar flame speed of hydrogen/natural gas/air mixtures

Abstract

Laminar flame speeds of hydrogen/natural gas/air mixtures have been measured over a full range of fuel compositions (0–100% volumetric fraction of H₂) and a wide range of equivalence ratio using Bunsen burner. High sensitivity scientific CCD camera is use to capture the image of laminar flame. The reaction zone area is employed to calculate the laminar flame speed. The initial temperature and pressure of fuel air mixtures are 293 K and 1 atm. The laminar flame speeds of hydrogen/air mixture and natural gas/air mixture reach their maximum values 2.933 and 0.374 m/s when equivalence ratios equal to 1.7 and 1.1, respectively. The laminar flame speeds of hydrogen/natural gas/air mixtures rise with the increase of volumetric fraction of hydrogen. Moreover, the increase in laminar flame speed as the volumetric fraction of hydrogen increases presents an exponential increasing trend versus volumetric fraction of hydrogen. Empirical formulas to calculate the laminar flame speeds of hydrogen, natural gas, and hydrogen/natural gas mixtures are also given. Using these formulas, the laminar flame speed at different hydrogen fractions and equivalence ratios can be calculated.

Keywords

laminar flame speed / experimental study / Bunsen flame

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2005CB221206).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg