Examination of the Combustion of a Fuel Jet in a Homogeneously Premixed Lean Fuel-Air Stream

There are numerous situations in a wide range of engineering applications involving combustion devices where the combustion of a fuel jet takes place in flowing streams containing varying proportions of a fuel homogeneously premixed with the surrounding air. Such applications can be found, for example, in dual fuel engines and in some gas turbine combustors.

The paper describes some of the findings of an experimental investigation, supported by some analytical modeling, of the combustion of a circular gaseous fuel jet within lean homogeneous mixtures of various gaseous fuels and air. The nature of the combustion process of the pilot fuel jet, flame spread characteristics and limits within the surrounding moving atmosphere were considered in terms of the fuels used for the jet and the surrounding atmosphere and in terms of the jet discharge and surrounding stream flow characteristics.