This thesis presents pioneering experimental and numerical studies on three aspects of the combustion characteristics of lean premixed syngas/air flames, namely the laminar flame speed, extinction limit and flammability limit. It illustrates a new extinction exponent concept, which enriches the combustion theory. Above all, the book provides the following: a) a series of carefully measured data and theoretical analyses to reveal the intrinsic mechanisms of the fuel composition effect on the propagation and extinction of lean syngas/air flames; b) a mixing model and correlation to predict the laminar flame speed of multi-component syngas fuels, intended for engineering computations; c) a new “extinction exponent” concept to describe the critical effects of chemical kinetics on the extinction of lean premixed syngas/air flames; and d) the effects and mechanism of the dilution of incombustible components on lean premixed syngas/air flames and the preferential importance among the thermal, chemical and diffusion effects.

The properties of turbulent premixed flames were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Attention was limited to hydrogen/air mixtures burning as either turbulent jet flames or a freely propagating flames in isotropic turbulence. The research has application to a variety to premixed turbulent combustion processes: underwater metal cutting at great depth, primary combustors for high-speed airbreathing propulsion systems, afterburners, fuel/ air explosions, and spark-ignition internal combustion engines. Major findings of this phase of the investigation are as follows: (1) effects of preferential diffusion are relevent for flames at high Reynolds number, retarding and enhancing the distortion of the flame surface by turbulence for stable and unstable conditions, respectively; (2) local turbulent burning velocity, flame brush thickness and the fractal dimension of the flame surface all increase with distance from the flameholder, with larger rates of increases at larger turbulence intensities; (3) estimates of flame properties using contemporary turbulence models were only fair because these methods cannot account for effects of preferential diffusion, distance from the flameholder and finite laminar flame speeds; and (4) the stochastic simulation duplicated measured trends of flame surface properties for neutral preferential diffusion conditions (the only case considered) but underestimated effects of turbulence (particularly near the flame tip) due to the limitations of a two-dimensional simulation.

A work on turbulent premixed combustion is important because of increased concern about the environmental impact of combustion and the search for new combustion concepts and technologies. An improved understanding of lean fuel turbulent premixed flames must play a central role in the fundamental science of these new concepts. Lean premixed flames have the potential to offer ultra-low emission levels, but they are notoriously susceptible to combustion oscillations. Thus, sophisticated control measures are inevitably required. The editors' intent is to set out the modeling aspects in the field of turbulent premixed combustion. Good progress has been made on this topic, and this cohesive volume contains contributions from international experts on various subtopics of the lean premixed flame problem.