This study investigates flame stabilization and flashback in a trapped vortex combustor operating on a lean premixed hydrogen–air mixture at an equivalence ratio of ϕ=0.35. The combustor geometry features a U-bend in conjuction with a liner plate that aerodynamically stabilizes the flame. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to study the (reacting) flow in detail at two Reynolds numbers: Re=9.68×10³ (case R-1, marginally stable flame) and Re=13.55×10³ (case R-2, highly stable flame). Within the U-bend, the flame front shows steady laminar-like behaviour where the velocity is primarily tangential to the flame front. Downstream of the U-bend, the shear layer weakens and the flame front becomes more intermittent. This intermittency may cause flame bulges to reach low-velocity zones near the U-bend wall, increasing the possibility of flame flashback through the boundary layer that wall. An analysis of the strain rate tensor shows that within the U-bend, the angle between the flame front normal and the most extensive strain rate direction remains close to 45°, indicating the dominance of shear straining in this region. Further downstream, alignment with the most extensive strain rate increases, indicating that combustion-induced expansion becomes more dominant.

This study focuses on flame-induced pressure gradients in turbulent premixed jet flames and its potential role in the occurrence of flame flashback. A new procedure is proposed to determine these pressure gradients experimentally from the Favre-averaged momentum equations. The procedure involves a novel experimental method to determine Favre-averaged quantities from particle image velocimetry data. The resulting pressure distributions are compared for two fuel-air mixtures with identical unstretched laminar flame speed (a stoichiometric natural gas-air mixture and a lean (ϕ=0.49) hydrogen-air mixture) for stable and near-flashback conditions. In all four cases the flame-induced pressure gradients are closely related to the intermittent behavior of the flame. Furthermore, the pressure gradients for the stable and near-flashback flames show only small differences indicating that the mean pressure distribution is not a suitable indicator for the occurrence of flame flashback. Detailed analysis shows a mild, but systematic shift in the orientation of the instantaneous flame fronts, which tend to align more perpendicular to the flow for the flames closer to flashback. This change in orientation results in local deceleration of the flow, thus increasing the probability of flashback. Novelty and significance This work presents original results of experiments in premixed hydrogen-air and natural gas-air turbulent jet flames. A new methodology is introduced to calculate Favre-averaged quantities and the pressure field in a flame from a combination of PIV and Mie scattering measurements. The focus of the experiments and follow up analyses is on the flame characteristics near flashback, since flame flashback is one of the phenomena that hampers the transition from the use of natural gas to hydrogen in, for example, gas turbines.

We report on boundary layer flashback of a turbulent premixed, pure hydrogen flame using well-resolved LES. This numerical work is based on flashback experiments of the TU Delft (TUD) jet flame at a jet Reynolds number of Re=11000. Flashback is a highly sensitive process, which is why (i) the turbulent inflow conditions, (ii) chemistry modeling and (iii) the wall temperatures of the mixing tube are crucial parameters to predict accurately this transient process. The presence of thermo-diffusive flame instabilities is the main contributor for flashback in this setup. We identify quasi-coherent turbulent structures in the mixing tube, namely an ejection event, which transports slow, preheated and hydrogen-enriched fluid away from the wall and triggers the flashback event. As a result, the flame forms a convex cusp upstream of the tube exit pointing towards the unburnt gas mixture. During the transition from unconfined (no walls around the flame) to confined (flame surrounded by walls) boundary-layer flashback, this cusp further bends and propagates towards the jet exit center, while, at the same time, its curvature and the reaction rate of hydrogen significantly increase by a factor of two. We repeated the flashback simulations several times and also for various flow conditions: all cases feature the same FB characteristics and, hence, confirms the generality of the conclusions. Moreover, the numerical flashback mechanism confirms the process hypothesized by the experiments. Based on the identified governing key parameters that affect flame flashback, we performed parametric variations of the Lewis number and wall temperature. By varying the Lewis number, we can clearly state that the flashback is driven by thermo-diffusive instabilities, while a hotter wall significantly deteriorates the flashback behavior of this setup. Novelty and significance statement Hydrogen combustion plays a crucial role in various energy applications due to no CO₂ emissions. However, lean premixed hydrogen/air combustion can lead to safety challenges, particularly in the form of flame flashback, potentially causing catastrophic failures in combustion chambers. Understanding and controlling flashback is essential to ensure the safe and efficient use of hydrogen for instance in gas turbines. With this study, we address a number of open questions: (i) root cause of boundary layer flashback in turbulent premixed lean 100% hydrogen jet flames. (ii) transition from unconfined to confined boundary layer flashback. (iii) investigate key parameters that govern flame flashback: Lewis number and wall temperature. This study demonstrates for the first time that flashback in turbulent premixed lean hydrogen combustion is driven by the characteristic behavior of thermo-diffusive instabilities.

Hydrogen is presently emerging as a convenient, chemically simple and carbon-free chemical for large-scale energy transport and storage with good balancing potential in future energy systems dominated by unsteady, non-dispatchable renewable power generation from solar and wind resources. Therefore, the capability to operate with hydrogen-enriched fuels reliably, cleanly and efficiently is an increasingly important requirement for gas turbines combustion systems. In this context, the innovative FlameSheet™ combustion system platform, developed by PSM with continued technology refinements by Thomassen Energy, both sister Hanwha companies, represents a competitive Dry Low Emission (DLE) device that has already proven able to handle gaseous fuel blends with high hydrogen fractions at 1350 C gas turbine firing conditions and above. This is mainly due, among a number of crucially important characteristics, to a carefully designed fuel-injection system and to an aerodynamic flame-stabilization strategy characterized by a unique flow pattern (U-bend) of the premixed reactants, ultimately resulting in increased resistance to premixed flame flashback. In the present work, we report a joint research effort consisting of a comprehensive numerical modelling study and of a experimental measurements campaign conducted on a geometrically simplified “FlameSheet^TM-like” burner fired with hydrogen-air mixtures at varying equivalence ratios. A two-dimensional, planar version of FlameSheet^TM (originally a cylindrical burner) is developed at TU Delft in collaboration with Thomassen Energy to enable better optical access and improved diagnostics of the turbulent reactive flow. Massively parallel Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of several geometrically simplified FlameSheet^TM configurations are performed at SINTEF in conjunction with detailed chemical kinetics and a Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) model for the turbulence-chemistry interaction. The LES results are validated against the experimental measurements and used, jointly with the latter, to provide new insights about the physical mechanisms that lead to stable flames or, alternatively, to the occurrence of flashback. It is found that, depending on the shape of the tip of the inner combustor-liner wall, flashback takes place along an inner route, around the blunt-shaped tip, or follows an outer route along the outer wall of the U-bend, for a sharp-shaped tip. Furthermore, as the critical equivalence ratio is approached, the amplitude of acoustic pressure fluctuations, excited by the interaction of the flame with the vortex-shedding immediately downstream of the U-bend, significantly increases ultimately leading to abrupt upstream flame displacement and to the occurrence of flashback. Finally, the LES model predictions confirm that the ratio of the channel thickness confining the flow upstream and downstream of the U-bend represents one of the main tuning parameters in flashback control.