A Study of Flame Inhibition Effects of High-Concentration Water Mist on CH₄/air Premixed Flames

Abstract

The flame inhibition effect by high-concentration water mist was investigated experimentally. Measurements of burning velocities for water-mist-loaded CH₄/air premixed flames were conducted by the angle method for various equivalence ratios and the water-mist mass fractions. The characteristics of water mist, i.e., the particle size distribution, the mean droplet diameters, and the water mist mass fraction, were obtained basing on the Stokes' law. The vaporization Damkőler numbers were also evaluated in all conditions and were confirmed to be high enough leading to the complete vaporization in the preheat zone. The experimental results of burning velocities were compared to the numerical results and other experimental data. It was found that the higher water mist mass fractions were attained than those in the previous studies, and the experimental data of burning velocities became much smaller than those obtained by the numerical simulation.