An experimental investigation of the effect of a plasma jet on a freely expanding methane-air flame

✍ Scribed by J.X. Zhang; R.M. Clements; P.R. Smy

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 711 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(83)90052-4

✦ Synopsis

Pulsed plasma jet igniters have been shown to be effective in enhancing the flame speed of combustible mixtures of gases. The mechanism by which this enhancement is achieved is somewhat unclear, although the consensus of recent investigations is that the possible mechanism involves the inherent generation by the jet of uv radiation, radicals turbulance, or some combination of the above. This paper describes a series of measurements of flame speed in which ignition and velocity enhancement processes are separate and independent. With such a configuration it is possible to demonstrate that an enhancement in flame speed is achieved in the vicinity of the jet and that this enhancement is not necessarily related to some jet-related perturbation of the ignition process. For the strengths of mixtures investigated (approximately stoichiometric to ~ = 0.67) turbulence generated by the plasma jet igniter is shown to dominate both ignition and flame propagation.