Effects of Electric Fields on the Combustion Characteristics of Lean Burn Methane-Air Mixtures

In this work, the effects of the electric fields on the flame propagation and combustion characteristics of lean premixed methane–air mixtures were experimentally investigated in a constant volume chamber. Results show that the flame front is remarkably stretched by the applied electric field, the stretched flame propagation velocity and the average flame propagation velocity are all accelerated significantly as the input voltage increases. This indicates that the applied electric field can augment the stretch in flame, and the result is more obvious for leaner mixture. According to the analyses of the combustion pressure variation and the heat release rate, the peak combustion pressure Pmax increases and its appearance time tp is advanced with the increase of the input voltage. For the mixture of λ = 1.6 at the input voltage of −12 kV, Pmax increases by almost 12.3%, and tp is advanced by almost 31.4%, compared to the case of without electric fields. In addition, the normalized mass burning rate and the accumulated mass fraction burned are all enhanced substantially, and the flame development duration and the rapid burning duration are remarkably reduced with the increase of the input voltage, and again, the influence of electric field is more profound for leaner mixtures. The results can be explained by the electric field-induced stretch effects on lean burn methane-air mixture. OPEN ACCESS Energies 2015, 8 2588