Experimental and numerical study of stabilized flame in inverse coflow turbulent jet using nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges

Abstract

Methane has become increasingly popular in rocket propulsion, but low stability and limited flammability range have always been a concern about methane-powered systems. Many stabilization methods have been developed to change the geometrical or flow characteristics of the burner. However, most of these efforts have yet to be practically successful due to cost and compatibility issues. Alternatively, other methods such as microwave, dielectric barrier, and nanosecond repetitive pulse (NRP) discharges have been proven to be efficient by modifying the kinetic and transport pathways. NRP discharges have shown promising results as one of the most effective low-temperature plasma (LTP) methods. In this paper, chemiluminescence imaging is used to study the effect of NRP discharge on liftoff and blowout, as the important stabilization parameters, by recording the liftoff height and liftoff/blowout velocities under a wide range of discharge ($f$=0–10 kHz and $V$=11–19 kV) and jet velocity ($\nu$=2–60 m/s). Depending on these parameters, four different discharge regimes of corona, diffuse, filamentary, and arc were observed. The results have shown that high-intensity plasma in a filamentary discharge regime can provide a significant advantage in delaying the liftoff conditions, but no improvements in the blowout were observed. It was also found that NRP discharge can reduce the liftoff height. To explore the cause of the increased stability, a parametric numerical study is conducted using detailed plasma-assisted methane kinetic modeling coupled to a 1D opposed diffusion flame simulation. Results show that the extinction limits of diffusion flames can be dramatically enhanced by LTP due to the local formation of high radical and excited species concentrations, with subsequent recombination leading to increased temperature and higher reactivity in the flame zone. In addition, a 1D laminar flame speed evaluation shows that the plasma-generated active species can dramatically increase the flame speed, which, in turn, reduces the lifted flame height above the burner surface.