Title:
Lean blowout sensitivities of complex liquid fuels

dc.contributor.advisor Lieuwen, Timothy C.
dc.contributor.author Rock, Nicholas
dc.contributor.committeeMember Seitzman, Jerry
dc.contributor.committeeMember Menon, Suresh
dc.contributor.committeeMember Oefelein, Joseph
dc.contributor.committeeMember Colket, Meredith (Med) B.
dc.contributor.department Aerospace Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2019-08-21T13:52:04Z
dc.date.available 2019-08-21T13:52:04Z
dc.date.created 2019-08
dc.date.issued 2019-05-20
dc.date.submitted August 2019
dc.date.updated 2019-08-21T13:52:04Z
dc.description.abstract Lean blowout is a process whereby a previously stable flame is either extinguished or convected out of its combustor. In aviation applications, blowout is a direct threat to passenger safety and it therefore sets operational limits on a combustor. Understanding the blowout problem is a key prerequisite to the deployment of alternative aviation fuels, as these fuels are expected to have comparable flame stability characteristics as traditional jet fuels. The objective of this work is to identify the fuel properties that govern lean blowout and to characterize their effect on the physics involved in the blowout process. The blowout performance of 18 different liquid fuels were experimentally compared in an aircraft relevant combustor. These experiments were repeated at 3 different air inlet temperatures, 300 K, 450 K, and 550 K, in order to vary the effect of fuel physical properties. Custom fuels were introduced that were specifically designed to decouple interrelated fuel properties and to accentuate the significance of preferential vaporization on lean blowout. The methodology that was used clearly demonstrated differences in the equivalence ratio at blowout between fuels, and a multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the relative contributions of each of the fuel properties. This work also characterizes the effect of fuel composition on the processes that precede blowout of the flame, thereby providing an explanation for why certain fuel properties govern lean blowout boundaries. By quantifying the time variation of flame luminosity and extinction “events” as a function of blowout proximity, it was demonstrated that local extinction processes are operative in and lead to blowout in spray flames. In addition, high speed imaging was used to analyze the space-time evolution of the most upstream point of the flame near blowout. Fast motion of these points upstream relative to the flow velocity was interpreted as flame re-ignition. These re-ignition processes become manifest when the stability of the flame is severely threatened by local extinction and often allow for recoveries that extend flame burning. Fuel composition was shown to have a clear effect on a flame’s propensity for extinction and re-ignition.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/61726
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Lean blowout
dc.subject Alternative jet fuels
dc.subject Extinction and re-ignition
dc.title Lean blowout sensitivities of complex liquid fuels
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Lieuwen, Timothy C.
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
local.relation.ispartofseries Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Aerospace Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication b612098b-d0e6-4ea2-a8d5-92d6d02fe6c4
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication a348b767-ea7e-4789-af1f-1f1d5925fb65
relation.isSeriesOfPublication f6a932db-1cde-43b5-bcab-bf573da55ed6
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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