NO_x formation in premixed, highly-strained, pure hydrogen-air flamelets is investigated at lean conditions. Detailed-chemistry, one-dimensional and two-dimensional simulations are performed on a reactants-to-products configuration with varying applied strain rate. The results highlight for the first time for lean pure-hydrogen flamelets that NO_x emissions are suppressed as strain rate is increased. The most substantial decrease is observed across the thermal NO_x formation pathway. Here the suppression of NO_x is triggered by a redistribution across the flamelet of the radicals involved in the pathway reactions. A comparison with methane flamelets is further performed to understand to what extent the observed trends with strain can be specifically linked to hydrogen burning features. Similar NO_x suppression trends with strain are also observed for increased pressure and different equivalence ratios, although with different rates of decrease. A correlation is proposed based on the observed results and further theoretical considerations, to predict NO_x emissions according to applied strain rate and equivalence ratio.

A lean premixed ethylene-air flame in a backstep configuration is simulated on multiple grids using both direct numerical simulations (DNS) with reduced order kinetic mechanism and large eddy simulations (LES) with flamelet-based thermochemistry. The configuration includes preheated reactants and a recirculation zone that provides radicals and high temperature gases to stabilize the flame. Heat losses are present due to the proximity of cooled walls. The reacting flow obtained from DNS at different resolutions is first analyzed to investigate the property of heat transfer within the recirculation region. LES based on adiabatic flamelets with a correction of the heat capacity is then tested, and its ability to account for heat losses is compared to results obtained using a three-dimensional non-adiabatic flamelet approach. Mean fields and subgrid properties are compared to those obtained from DNS to assess the capability of the LES models. The results show that the non-adiabatic flamelet approach can predict recirculation region and temperature fields with good accuracy. The model with heat capacity correction is able to effectively correct the heat capacity behavior as observed by a priori comparisons. However, in the a posteriori context, it is observed to overestimate the temperature field, although the correct size of the recirculation region is predicted. The combined a priori and a posteriori analyses on the same configuration and at different mesh resolutions allow for a precise separation of modeling effects due to heat transfer at the wall and combustion closure, thus providing indications on the LES performance in the context of flamelets.

In this study, the effects of water injection are analysed in a simplified geometry of a reheat combustor, which is based on a state of the art sequential reheat combustor from Ansaldo Energia. The inlet temperature of this burner and the chemical properties of hydrogen in terms of flame speed and autoignition imply that combustion occurs in an autoignition-assisted propagation regime. Large eddy simulations with an Artificial Thickened Flame modelling have been employed to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the hydrogen flame in lean premixed combustion mode. Results show that this approach can accurately predict the position of the flame front and the autoignition process as compared to a pre-existing DNS dataset. The flame front behaviour is further investigated, and observed to quickly move upstream and downstream, driven by the effect of pressure waves on the autoignition process. The study conducted here shows how the injection of water droplets can prevent the autoignition upstream and thus effectively help in achieving flame stability. Some light is also shed on the influence of the spray design parameters on the stability of the H₂ flame and the NOx emissions.