Numerical modeling of gaseous partially premixed low-swirl lifted flame at elevated pressure

Lifted flames have been investigated in the past years for their benefits in terms of NOx emissions reduction for gas turbine applications. In a lifted flame, the flame front stabilized on a position that is significantly detached from the nozzle exit, improving the premixing process before the reaction zone. The distance between the flame front and the nozzle exit is called liftoff height and it represents the main parameter that characterize this type of flame. In the present work, a partially premixed lifted flame employing air-methane mixture is investigated through numerical simulation. Indeed, even if lifted jet flames have been widely studied in the literature, there are only a few examples of lifted partially premixed flames. Nevertheless, this kind of flames assumes an important role considering the current gas turbine applications, since their benefits in terms of stability and low pollutant emissions. This study has been performed with LES calculations using a commercial software suite and the numerical results are compared with experimental data coming from a dedicated campaign held at Karlsruher Institute für Technologie (KIT) on a novel low-swirl injector nozzle. Quenching effects due to strain, curvature and heat loss have been introduced into the combustion model thanks to a correction of the source term in the progress variable equation within the FGM model. The comparison between numerical results and experimental data have been performed in terms of lift-off height and OH* chemiluminescence maps, showing the capability to properly predict the overall flow and to catch flame lift-off even if with an underpredicted height. This points out promising capability of the numerical model in the representation of lifted flames, allowing further investigations of the flame structure otherwise not available from experimental techniques.