The effect of pressure is being studied on the flashback dynamics of turbulent swirl flames. This work is relevant to gas-turbine combustors that will operate with high-hydrogen-content syngas fuels derived from coal gasification. Sponsored by DOE UTSR.
Flashback in gas turbine combustors is a major impediment in achieving safe, stable and efficient operation. It has been studied extensively with different kind of burners and diagnostic methods, but limited literature exists for flashback at elevated pressures, i.e. gas turbine relevant conditions. Others have shown that pressure affects the turbulent structures, and preferred chemical kinetic pathways in premixed flames. Flames at higher pressure experience more wrinkling which leads to increase in total flame surface area. In addition, quenching distance, one of the critical factors in flashback decreases as the pressure is elevated. Hence it becomes imperative to understand combustion physics behind flashback at higher pressures. A new high pressure combustion facility with optical accessibility has been constructed to facilitate such experiments with various burner geometries.