High-pressure combustion phenomena

Two high-pressure combustion phenomena recently observed by the author's group are reviewed. The first one is the flame spread of a droplet array in the supercritical pressure range of the fuel in microgravity. Microgravity experiments are essential for research on droplet combustion, especially at high pressure, because of the large Grashof number in normal gravity. The flame spread rate for an n-decane droplet array was measured at high pressure, and a fuel-vapor jet was found to be generated due to an imbalance of surface tension of the droplet surface, leading to a higher flame spread rate. The second phenomenon is turbulent premixed combustion at high pressure and high temperature, environmental conditions of which are very close to those in SI engines and premixed-type gas turbine combustors. Information on the flame characteristics in such conditions has been very limited. A high-pressure combustion test facility with a large high-pressure combustion chamber enabled us to stabilize turbulent premixed flames with a high turbulence Reynolds number and to perform flame observations and measurements for extended period using lasers. Turbulent burning velocity was successfully measured and significant effects of intrinsic flame instability on flame structure and turbulent burning velocity at high pressure were revealed. Effects of CO, dilution on high-pressure and high-temperature premixed flames were also investigated to evaluate the fundamental effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in practical high-load high-pressure combustors.