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This work investigates the UV and visible chemiluminescence signatures of laminar ammonia-hydrogen-air flames. A counterflow burner was used to stabilize flat and steady premixed ammonia-hydrogen-air twin-flames for wide ranges of ammonia fuel fractions (0.55 ≤ X NH 3 ≤ 0.90), equivalence ratios (0.35 ≤ ϕ ≤ 1.70), and strain rates (50 ≤ a ≤ 300 / s). The chemiluminescence spectra in the UV and visible regions were measured. The important contributors to the chemiluminescence of ammonia-hydrogen-air flames were first identified and their sensitivities to equivalence ratio and ammonia fuel fraction were then quantified. Promising ratios of chemiluminescence intensities for the non-intrusive optical sensing of equivalence ratio and ammonia fuel fraction in premixed ammonia-hydrogen-air flames were also identified. Among the 36 ratios that could be formed with the 9 contributors to chemiluminescence that were defined, 3 are particularly promising, namely, OH*/NO*, OH*/ violet (violet refers to the 350 to 400 nm range), and red/blue (blue and red refer to the 450 to 500 nm and 650 to 750 nm ranges, respectively). Ratios OH*/NO* and OH*/ violet were found to provide suitable measures of equivalence ratio for lean and rich ammonia-hydrogen-air flames, respectively, because these ratios are very sensitive to equivalence ratio, are insensitive to ammonia fuel fraction, and are marginally sensitive to strain rate. Once equivalence ratio is known, the ammonia fuel fraction can then be measured with ratio red/blue because it is sensitive to the ammonia fuel fraction and it is globally insensitive to strain rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main concerns regarding ammonia combustion is its tendency to yield high nitric oxide (NO) emissions. Burning ammonia under slightly rich conditions reduces the NO mole fraction to a low level, but the penalties are poor combustion efficiency and unburnt ammonia. As an alternative solution, this paper reports the experimental investigation of premixed swirl flames fueled with ammonia-hydrogen mixtures under very-lean to stoichiometric conditions. A gas analyzer was used to measure the NO mole fraction in the flame and post flame regions, and it was found that low NO emissions (as low as 100 ppm) in the exhaust were achieved under very lean conditions (ϕ ≈ 0.40). Low NO emission was also possible at higher equivalence ratios, e.g. ϕ = 0.65, for very large ammonia fuel fractions (X NH3 > 0.90). 1-D flame simulations were performed to elaborate on experimental findings and clarify the observations of the chemical kinetics. In addition, images of OH* chemiluminescence intensity were captured to identify the flame structure. It was found that, for some conditions, the OH* chemiluminescence intensity can be used as a proxy for the NO mole fraction. A monotonic relationship was discovered between OH* chemiluminescence intensities and NO mole fraction for a wide range of ammonia-hydrogen blends (0.40 < ϕ < 0.90 and 0.25 < X NH3 < 0.90), making it possible to use the low-cost OH* chemiluminescence technique to qualify NO emission of flames fueled with hydrogen-enriched ammonia blends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental and numerical studies were performed to examine the stability of inverse diffusion flames (IDFs) with the focus on the boundary wall effects. A regime diagram for flame stability was obtained based on the visual characteristics of flames and verified by the simulated flow fields. The boundary wall effects were identified and investigated by simulating the IDFs with different outer burner diameters. It was found that the wall-bounded induced shear flows either reduce the flow instability by vorticity diffusion or enhance it by vorticity convection. Based on the experimental and numerical observations, the mechanism of the boundary wall effects on the stability of buoyant IDFs was explained and further extended to general diffusion flames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]