Response dynamics of bluff-body stabilized conical premixed turbulent flames with spatial mixture gradients

Response of bluff-body stabilized conical turbulent premixed flames was experimentally studied for a range of excitation frequencies (10-400 Hz), mean flow velocities (5, 10 and 15 m/s) and three different spatial mixture distributions (uniform, inner and outer enrichment). Upstream excitation was provided by a loudspeaker producing velocity oscillation amplitudes of about 8% of the mean flow velocity. Flame response was detected by a photomultiplier observing the CH* emission from the flame. The studied turbulent flames exhibited transfer function characteristics of a low-pass filter with a cutoff Strouhal number between 0.08 and 0.12. The amplification factors at low frequencies ranged from 2 to 20 and generally increased for mean flow velocities from 5 to 15 m/s. The highest levels of amplification were found for the outer mixture enrichment followed in decreasing order by uniform and inner mixture gradient cases. The high levels of flame response for the outer enrichment case were attributed to the enhanced flame-vortex interaction in outer jet shear layer. At high excitation levels (u'/U-m approximate to 0.3) for U-m = 5 m/s where non-linear flame response is expected, the flame exhibited a reduced amplitude response in the frequency range between 40 and 100 Hz for the uniform and outer equivalence ratio gradient cases and no discernible effect for the inner equivalence ratio gradient. In all cases, transfer function phase was found to vary linearly with excitation frequency. Finally, a relationship between the amplitude characteristics of the bluff-body wake transfer function and flame blowoff equivalence ratio was presented. (C) 2008 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.