Effects of inclined jets on turbulent oxy-flame characteristics in a triple jet burner

The reactants are generally injected into the industrial furnaces by jets. An effective method to act on combustion in such systems is to control the way injection jets. The present study concerns the control of turbulent flames by the jets deflection in a natural gas–oxygen burner with separated jets. The burner of 25 kW power is constituted with three aligned jets, one central natural gas jet surrounded by two oxygen jets. The principal idea is to confine the fuel jet by oxygen jets to favour the mixing in order to improve the flame stability and consequently to reduce the pollutant emissions like NOx. The flame stability and its structural properties are analyzed by the OH chemiluminescence. The Particle Image Velocimetry technique has been used to characterize the dynamic field. Results show that the control by inclined jets has a considerable effect on the dynamic behaviour and flame topology. Indeed, the control by incline of oxygen jets towards fuel jet showed a double interest: a better stabilization of flame and a significant reduction of nitrogen oxides. Measurements showed that the deflection favours the mixing and accelerates the fusion of jets allowing the flame stabilization.