Flame flow field interaction in non-premixed CH4/H2 swirling flames

Alternative fuels and stocks like biomass or chemical and refinery waste, may potentially be used in gas turbines and industrial applications after gasification. Thus, understanding the role of hydrogen in these fuels is critical to the broader aim of utilising alternative fuels for power generation. In this work, the interaction between the flame and the flow field was studied in a quarl-stabilised swirl non-premixed flame burning CH4 and H2–enriched CH4. Simultaneous high-speed OH-PLIF/PIV imaging at 5 kHz was carried out on these flames to explore the flame-flow interaction. The instantaneous flow fields in the CH4 or CH4+H2 flames showed a small scale vortical structure near the shear layers, which were not apparent in the time-averaged flow fields. Increasing H2% in the fuel jet was observed to dampen the velocity fluctuations. The fuel composition affected the spatial location of the reaction zone; in the CH4 flames, the axial position of the reaction zone is seen to track the relatively large-magnitude axial velocity fluctuations while remaining in locally low-speed regions of the flow. In contrast, in H2-enriched flames, where the flame is more robust, the reaction zone was able to survive longer, in terms of axial distance, in the vicinity of high swirling jet velocity, with less sensitivity to velocity fluctuations. With increasing the H2%, the reaction zone steadily leaves the IRZ towards the swirling jet flow and localised between its outer and inner vortices. This acts as a stabilisation factor where the internal vortices convect hot product towards the fresh mixture. Moreover, the flame curvatures, the vorticity and compressive strain fields interactions with the reaction zone are presented and discussed. This article outlines results that yield more in-depth insight into hydrogen-enriched hydrocarbon non-premixed swirling flames' combustion, which is essential to accelerate the fuel switching from hydrocarbons to hydrogen.