The combustion of fossil fuels remains a key technology for the foreseeable future. It is therefore important that we understand the mechanisms of combustion and, in particular, the role of turbulence within this process. Combustion always takes place within a turbulent flow field for two reasons: turbulence increases the mixing process and enhances combustion, but at the same time combustion releases heat which generates flow instability through buoyancy, thus enhancing the transition to turbulence. The four chapters of this book present a thorough introduction to the field of turbulent combustion. After an overview of modeling approaches, the three remaining chapters consider the three distinct cases of premixed, non-premixed, and partially premixed combustion, respectively. This book will be of value to researchers and students of engineering and applied mathematics by demonstrating the current theories of turbulent combustion within a unified presentation of the field.

Keywords: dilution, co-flow, non-premixed flame, diffusion flame, combustion, flame stability.

Developing clean, sustainable energy systems is a pre-eminent issue of our time. Most projections indicate that combustion-based energy conversion systems will continue to be the predominant approach for the majority of our energy usage. Unsteady combustor issues present the key challenge associated with the development of clean, high-efficiency combustion systems such as those used for power generation, heating or propulsion applications. This comprehensive study is unique, treating the subject in a systematic manner. Although this book focuses on unsteady combusting flows, it places particular emphasis on the system dynamics that occur at the intersection of the combustion, fluid mechanics and acoustic disciplines. Individuals with a background in fluid mechanics and combustion will find this book to be an incomparable study that synthesises these fields into a coherent understanding of the intrinsically unsteady processes in combustors.

This research documents experiments and analysis of turbulent, lifted, non-premixed diffusion flames in co-flow and with dilution with implications for the development and operation of biogas-fueled combustors. Fuels used in this study were methane and ethylene. The diluent used was nitrogen. General trends were observed in the liftoff and reattachment behavior as affected by dilution of the fuel stream. Initial liftoff velocity was observed to decrease linearly with dilution, while initial lift height behavior was bimodal. Reattachment conditions were similar in overall behavior to liftoff conditions. Co-flow effects were not included in liftoff and reattachment studies. Combined effects of dilution and co-flow were also studied. Stabilization height compared to radial stabilization was found to be bimodal, with behavior differing in the potential core region compared with the far-field region. Dilution was found to decrease the radial stabilization distance, and co-flow tended to increase the radial stabilization distance. However, both effects were minor. The major results involve heat release effects. For given stabilization heights, stabilization velocity was found to decrease with dilution faster than laminar burning velocity with dilution. Stabilization height was also found to increase rapidly with dilution beyond a certain diluent concentration. Flames were also found to taper inward and become more cylindrical in shape as dilution increases. Implications for several flame stabilization theories are discussed. Future work for confirming the results of this research are also discussed.