Aggregate formation in sooting counterflow diffusion flames

✍ Scribed by C. Pels Leusden; C. Hasse; N. Peters

• Book ID: 104443118
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 140 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1540-7489
• DOI: 10.1016/s1540-7489(02)80290-5

✦ Synopsis

Soot formation is investigated experimentally and numerically in a counterflow diffusion flame which is formed by an acetylene/nitrogen mixture on the fuel side and hot postflame gases of a lean premixed flame on the oxidizer side. The modeling approach uses a detailed chemical mechanism with 453 reactions and 82 species. The soot model is based on the statistical moment approach. It was extended to account for the formation of aggregates, which are clusters of primary particles. Experimental results for temperatureand soot-related quantities are compared to simulations with a special emphasis on the effect of soot aggregation. Aggregate formation is shown to be important for predicting soot particle sizes and optical properties, but it does not significantly influence soot-generating processes and the overall flame structure. We also show that thermal diffusive processes must be considered for the gas-phase modeling, especially for the species (Soret effect) as it has an impact on the pyrolysis zone of the diffusion flame and consequently on the soot concentration.