Impact of co- and counter-swirl on flow recirculation and liftoff of non-premixed oxy-flames above coaxial injectors

International audienceControlling the flame shape and its liftoff height is one of the main issues for oxy-flames to limit heat transfer to the solid components of the injector. An extensive experimental study is carried out to analyze the effects of co- and counter-swirl on the flow and flame patterns of non-premixed oxy-flames stabilized above a coaxial injector when both the inner fuel and the annular oxidizer streams are swirled. A swirl level greater than 0.6 in the annular oxidizer stream is shown to yield compact oxy-flames with a strong central recirculation zone that are attached to the rim of central fuel tube in absence of inner swirl. It is shown that counter-swirl in the fuel tube weakens this recirculation zone leading to more elongated flames, while co-swirl enhances it with more compact flames. These results obtained for high annular swirl levels contrast with previous observations made on gas turbine injectors operated at lower annular swirl levels in which central recirculation of the flow is mainly achieved with counter-rotating swirlers. Imparting a high inner swirl to the central fuel stream leads to lifted flames due to the partial blockage of the flow at the injector outlet by the central recirculation zone that causes high strain rates in the wake of the injector rim. This partial flow blockage is more influenced by the level of the inner swirl than its rotation direction. A global swirl number is then introduced to analyze the structure of the flow far from the burner outlet where swirl dissipation takes place when the jets mix. A model is derived for the global swirl number which well reproduces the evolution of the mass flow rate of recirculating gases measured in non-reacting conditions and the flame liftoff height when the inner and outer swirl levels and the momentum flux ratio between the two streams are varied