Stabilization of a Premixed Methane-Air Flame Using Nanosecond Repetitively Pulsed Discharges

Quang Lam L. Pham (1, 2) , Deanna A. Lacoste (1, 3) , C. Laux (1, 3)

1 Ecole Centrale Paris
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering [Stanford]
3 EM2C - Laboratoire d'Énergétique Moléculaire et Macroscopique, Combustion

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) discharges have been used for a broad range of applications, such as plasma-assisted combustion. In this paper, we use an NRP plasma discharge produced by electric pulses of about 10 kV during 10 ns at a frequency of 30 kHz to stabilize a lean premixed methane/air flame at atmospheric pressure. We show here that the plasma created in the recirculation zone allows the stabilization of the lean flame and a reduction of the lean extinction limit by about 10%-15%, using only a small amount of energy (the plasma power represents less than 1% of the power of the flame).

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Quang Lam L. Pham, Deanna A. Lacoste, C. Laux. Stabilization of a Premixed Methane-Air Flame Using Nanosecond Repetitively Pulsed Discharges. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2011, 39 (11), pp.2264-2265. ⟨10.1109/TPS.2011.2163806⟩. ⟨hal-00669374⟩