Flame Velocity and Combustion Behaviour of Ammonia–Hydrogen Blends: A Combined Experimental and Numerical Study

Ammonia is emerging as a promising energy vector for decarbonising the maritime sector. However, its low flame speed can lead to incomplete combustion, reduced engine efficiency, and increased emissions of unburned ammonia (NH₃). Blending hydrogen with ammonia helps to address these issues, but the fundamental combustion characteristics of such mixtures remain insufficiently understood. This study examines the combustion dynamics of an NH₃–H₂ blend containing 30% hydrogen at 3 bar initial pressure. Experiments were performed in a 1.2 L optically accessible constant-volume combustion chamber fitted with a wall-mounted surface spark plug. High-speed shadowgraph imaging with 6,000 fps captured the flame evolution throughout the combustion process. The pressure and temperature values were monitored using piezoresistive pressure transducers and K-type thermocouples. Combustion times and flame extensions were extracted via post-processing of flame images using custom MATLAB algorithms. The combustion process was examined from the initial start to a diameter of 60mm. Complementary CFD simulations were carried out in CONVERGE using the C3MechV3.5 chemical mechanism. To match the experimental conditions, the numerical studies were conducted at an ambient pressure of 0.3 MPa and an equivalence ratio of 1.0. The model predicted flame propagation times accurately, achieving an average relative error of 2.95% and an R² value of 0.991. A third-order polynomial correlation was derived to predict instantaneous flame diameter as a function of time, enabling interpolation for intermediate combustion stages for both simulation and experimental results. Error analysis indicated that the model achieved its best performance for medium-sized flames (30–45 mm) but exhibited larger discrepancies at the smallest and largest diameters. Nevertheless, within the 20–60 mm range, deviations remained between −9.5% and +3.4%.