Effect of dilution and Lewis number of the fuel in the fuel-air mixture on the heat flux during flame wall interaction (FWI)

Most combustion systems where flame is bounded by walls encounter Flame-wall interactions (FWI). Heat losses during FWI are in the magnitude of MW/m 2 leading to concern about inefficiency, and thermal stresses. Hence, FWI is a topic of significant interest. With the goals of climate change pushing us toward renewable fuels with least carbon emissions, it is imperative to understand the FWI of renewable fuels like hydrogen-air mixture. In this study, FWI in a head-on-quenching configuration is carried out in a constant volume chamber. High-speed surface temperature measurement is carried out to compute instantaneous wall heat flux. Adding inert diluents to methane-air mixtures, the effect of dilution on the peak of heat flux during FWI is studied. Dilution affects the peak of heat flux predominantly by changing the adiabatic flame power of the fuel-air mixture. Furthermore, a large variation in flame power is carried out by changing the dilution fraction in the methane-air mixture to quantify its effect. It is found that the peak of heat flux and non-dimensional heat flux follows a nonlinear decrease with an increase in flame power. Knowing this effect, FWI of three different fuels, that is, methane, hydrogen, and a mixture of acetylene and hydrogen, having different Lewis numbers ( Le ) of fuel in a fuel-oxidizer mixture are studied at equivalent flame power. This comparison shows that FWI of hydrogen-air mixtures in HOQ configuration have a lower peak of heat flux compared to other fuels which may be due to the preferential diffusion of hydrogen-air mixture.