Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

www.elsevier.com/locate/combustflame

The blowout mechanism of turbulent jet diffusion flames

Chih-Yung Wu a , Yei-Chin Chao a, , Tsarng-Sheng Cheng b , Yueh-Heng Li a ,
Kuo-Yuan Lee a , Tony Yuan a
a Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan, ROC
b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Hua University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan, ROC

Received 10 June 2005; received in revised form 25 November 2005; accepted 9 January 2006
Available online 10 March 2006

Abstract
The complicated flame stabilization mechanisms and flame/flow interactions in the blowout of turbulent nonpremixed jet flames are experimentally studied using phenomenological observation, 2D Rayleigh scattering, 2D
laser-induced predissociative fluorescence (LIPF) images of OH, and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques.
The blowout process may be categorized into four characteristic regions: pulsating, onset of receding, receding,
and extinction. Based on experimental findings, a blowout mechanism is proposed. The maximum waistline
point of the stoichiometric contour, defined as the point where the radial distance between the elliptic stoichiometric contour and the jet axis reaches a maximum value, can be regarded as the dividing point separating the
unstable and stable regions for the lifted flame in the blowout process. If the flame base is pushed beyond the maximum waistline point, the flame will step into the pulsating region and become unstable, triggering the blowout
process. The triple flame structure is identified and found to play an important role in flame stabilization within
the stable liftoff and pulsating regions. In the pulsating region, the stabilization point of the triple flame moves
along the stoichiometric contour, stabilizing the flame where the flame base is bounded by the contours of lean
and rich limits. If the flame is pushed beyond the tip of the stoichiometric contour, the stabilization point and triple
flame structure vanish and the flame becomes lean. The flame then recedes downstream continuously and finally
extinguishes.
2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Blowout; Blowout process; Turbulent diffusion flames; Jet flames; Pulsation region; Receding; Triple flame

1. Introduction
For several decades [1], the blowout phenomenon
was regarded as a special limiting point of the liftoff
stability of laminar or turbulent jet flames. In the
past, interest was mainly focused on predicting the
* Corresponding author. Fax: +886 6 2389940.

E-mail address: ycchao@mail.ncku.edu.tw

(Y.-C. Chao).

blowout limit and revealing the stabilization mechanism of the liftoff flames. Various models and physical mechanisms have been proposed to delineate
the liftoff behavior and blowout limits, including the
early premixed combustion model [1], the flamelet
extinction model [2], the large-scale mixing model
[3,4], the combined premixed flame propagation and
flamelet extinction model [5], and the recent tripleflame model [613]. Theories and models used to
predict the blowout limits are similar to those describing the stabilization mechanism of the liftoff

0010-2180/$ see front matter 2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.combustflame.2006.01.004

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

Nomenclature
d
d
fe
HL

Hs
Hw

hs
hw

jet diameter
effective diameter
acoustic excitation frequencies
theoretically predicted axial distance
from jet exit to lean flammability level
contour
theoretically predicted axial distance
from jet exit to stoichiometric contour
theoretically
predicted
maximum
waistline distance, the axial distance
from jet exit to the location where the
radius of the elliptic stoichiometric contour reaches a maximum value
measured distance from jet exit to stoichiometric contour
measured maximum waistline distance

flames. Therefore, several existing blowout theories

and models stem from the stabilization mechanism of
the lifted flame. The concept of the premixed flame
model [1] was adopted by Kalghatgi [14] to delineate the blowout velocity. Based on the experimental data, Kalghatgi [14] was able to empirically scale
the nondimensionalized blowout velocities with the
Reynolds number based on the mean stoichiometric
envelope and a universal formula was proposed. In the
meantime, Broadwell et al. [3] proposed that flame
stabilization occurs when hot gases, which have been
expelled to the edge of the jet by earlier large-scale
turbulent structures, are re-entrained and ignite noncombusting eddies of the jet. In both theories, the
blowout velocity of mixture gases or diluted fuel also
can be estimated based on the initial conditions of
the fuel at the burner exit. Recently, the theories proposed by Kalghatgi [14] and Broadwell et al. [3] were
examined using an extended database of methane,
propane, and hydrogen jet flames with various inert
dilutions [15]. The results showed that most of the
measured blowout velocities agree with the predictions using a universal formula proposed by Kalghatgi
[14] and with those calculated using the large-scale
model [3] by including a Reynolds number effect.
A more complete database about blowout limits of
a jet flame has been constructed with those inertdiluted fuels. In addition, the analysis of diffusivity
effects on blowout limits shows that diffusive properties in terms of mass and thermal diffusivities are not
the dominant parameters in the blowout of turbulent
jet flames. In other words, the Schmidt number does
not play a major role in the turbulent blowout process.
Moreover, in a recent experiment [16], it is shown

Su
Ub
Ys
z
ex
ph
pl
c
e
s
e

laminar burning velocity

blowout velocity of pure fuel
stoichiometric mass fraction
axial distance from the jet exit
location where the lifted flame extinguishes completely
upper boundary of the flame pulsating
range
lower boundary of the flame pulsating
range
axial profile of mean fuel mass fraction
fuel mass fraction at the jet exit
fuel mass fraction at stoichiometric contour
gas density at jet exit
ambient gas density

that the blowout of a turbulent diffusion jet flame is

a transient process with a series of events occurring
consecutively, though it usually happens rapidly and
unpredictably. It is noticeable that the phenomena of
flame flickering and flame base pulsation can usually
be found before the flame blows out and it is generally
believed that flamefront instabilities play important
roles in the blowout process [17,18]. However, the detailed mechanism of the blowout process is still not
clear.
To delineate the flow/flame interaction characteristics responsible for blowout, proper tools and instruments for observations and measurements are needed.
Flame instabilities in the blowout process are very
sensitive to external disturbance. Hence, nonintrusive
and simultaneously two-dimensional flame/flow measurements, such as particle image velocimetry (PIV)
[19], are desirable to provide required information
for the blowout process. With the advancement of
high-power laser technology, it becomes feasible to
apply nonintrusive laser techniques in hostile combustion environments. Laser-based diagnostic techniques have been successfully developed to provide
nonintrusive spatially and temporally resolved measurements of flow characteristics and chemical properties [20]. In the present study, Rayleigh scattering
imaging and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging are applied to measure local mixture fraction
ahead of the flame base and to identify the flame
base location, respectively. Rayleigh scattering imaging is one of the good methods for binary-mixture
flow visualization of the flow field under suitable assumptions [21,22]. On the other hand, laser-induced
fluorescence (LIF) provides the ability to detect flame

C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

radicals and pollutant species at ppm or even sub-ppm

level and has therefore received considerable attention
in flame measurements [23,24]. To resolve some important issues in combustion processes, simultaneous
Rayleigh imaging combined with LIF imaging [25]
can be utilized to delineate the spatial structure of reaction zones and the existence of either thin flamelet
zones or broad distributed ones is of primary importance in modeling turbulent flames.
In a previous study [16], the blowout of a partially
premixed methane jet flame was delineated and classified. To simplify the initial conditions of the fuel
stream at the jet exit and to verify the effects due to
multiplex parameters when the jet flame blows out,
jet flames with inert-diluted fuel were used for a series of experiments. Blowout limits can be estimated
simply based on initial conditions of fuel at the jet
exit [15], although in the blowout process a receding liftoff flame is strongly affected by the upstream
flow. Local mixture fraction and thermal/flow characteristics ahead of the flame base may vary with liftoff
height due to the turbulent cascade and mixing. To
look further into the intrinsic physical and chemical
properties of the flame base under blowout conditions,
and to probe into the relationship between local prop-

483

erties of flow ahead of the flame base and initial conditions at the jet exit, the present study describes twodimensional laser diagnostics, including qualitative
tracing of the flame base, PIV, and simultaneous LIPF
and Rayleigh imaging of inert-diluted methane and
propane turbulent jet flames in the blowout process
and the results are quantitatively compared with the
theoretical prediction based on a model extended
from the universal formula of blowout velocity proposed by Kalghatgi [14]. Furthermore, a new blowout
mechanism of a turbulent jet diffusion flame is proposed based on the measurement and theoretical results.

2. Experimental setup
The experimental setup is shown schematically
in Fig. 1a. The jet flame burner consists of a wellcontoured circular nozzle 5 mm in diameter, from
which the fuel/diluent mixture emerges. The nozzle wall is contoured with a fifth-order polynomial
profile, and the area contraction ratio is 400. Fuels and diluents are metered by rotameters and electronic flowmeters. The accuracies of the rotameters

Fig. 1. Experimental setup: (a) essentials of the experimental arrangements; (b) arrangements of lasers and optics of PIV device;
(c) schematic diagram of 2D Rayleigh and 2D LIPF.

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

for fuel metering and electric flowmeter for air metering are 0.5% of full scale and 1.5% of full scale
from 10 to 100% of full scale respectively. We have
provided these data in the revision. Readings of rotameters and electronic flowmeters are recorded to
calculate the experimental blowout velocity, defined
as the bulk fuel stream velocity when the flame blows
out. Compressed air from the tank and diluents and
fuel from the cylinders are filtered, metered, and premixed in the mixing chamber. In this study, 30%
nitrogen-diluted and argon-diluted methane and 50%
nitrogen-diluted and argon-diluted propane are investigated, and the flame conditions accompanied by various fundamental parameters tested in this study are
also listed in Table 1. Furthermore, noise reduction
and settling chambers are used to improve the flow
quality. The nozzle exit velocity shows a top-hat profile, and the turbulence intensity at the jet centerline
is about 0.5%. The whole system is placed inside
an anechoic room. Characteristic frequency of the
lifted jet flame in the cold flow region is examined
by a probe microphone (B&K 4182). A non-catalyticcoated R-type (Pt/Pt-13Rh) thermocouple of diameter
50 m is used to measure the temperature and the
characteristic frequency at the flame base. Images of
flame structures and flame-base tracing are obtained
by a high-sensitivity three-chip color CCD camera
(Sony DXC-9000) with external triggering functions.
The frame rate can reach 60 frames per second, and
the serial images are digitized by the frame grabber
for further analysis.
Arrangement of the PIV devices, including two
Nd:YAG lasers and optics, is shown in Fig. 1b. The
laser beams are aligned with optics through two polarizers and a wave plate. The resulting beam is then
expanded by three cylindrical lenses into a laser sheet
approximately 0.7 mm in thickness, which is actually

measured on the projection screen. The time interval

of the PIV system is controlled by a pulse signal/delay
generator. The fuel and air streams are seeded with
sieved fine Al2 O3 particles of sizes less than 10 m.
A high-resolution, high-sensitivity, and low-darkcurrent camera (SharpVision 1300DE) is used for
image recording. This CCD which is equipped with
a progressive scan interline CCD sensor is especially
suitable for PIV. The image array has 1300 1030
pixels, limited to 1280 1024 in practice, and the
pixel size is 6.7 6.7 m. All images are captured,
digitized through a 16-bit digitizer, and recorded on
a hard disk for further analysis.
For identification of the reaction zone, the laserinduced predissociative fluorescence (LIPF) of OH
molecules from v  = 0 to v  = 3 in the A2 X 2
system is employed [26]. The laser beam spreads into
a thin sheet of height 34 mm and thickness 0.2 mm
by a single cylindrical lens (f = 1000 mm) and intersects vertically through the flame axis. Only the 25mm central portion of the laser sheet, where the laser
intensity is high and uniform, is used for imaging. The
OH fluorescence signal is imaged onto an intensified
CCD camera (576 384 pixels) with a UV camera
lens (Nikkor, f = 105 mm, f/4.5). A 10-mm-thick
butyl acetate liquid filter is placed in front of the camera to remove the Rayleigh scattering. The OH fluorescence signal is collected at 297 nm, corresponding
to the fluorescence produced from the 3 2 transition. On the other hand, the 2D Rayleigh scattering system with KrF laser is employed to visualize
the upstream fuelair mixing characteristics and to
obtain qualitative and quantitative concentration profiles. 2D Rayleigh imaging can be performed using an
experimental setup identical to the laser-induced predissociative fluorescence (LIPF) system, except that
a narrow-band filter of 248 nm is used instead of the

Table 1
Measured and theoretical estimated parameters of each condition for blowout process observation
30% N2 -diluted CH4

30% Ar-diluted CH4

50% N2 -diluted C3 H8

50% Ar-diluted C3 H8

Ub (m/s)a
fe (kHz)
Su (cm/s)

42.6
2.2
31.6

34.0
2.0
32.3

52.6
4.7
36.9

47.6
4.5
37.7

Hw (x/d)
hw (x/d)
ph (x/d)

24.0
20.0
21.0

22.0
19.0
18.0

32.0
26.0
28.0

30.0
25.0
23.0

Hs (x/d)
hs (x/d)
pl (x/d)

42.2
35.0
32.0

39.3
37.5
38.0

54.5
51.0
50.0

51.0
49.5
49.0

HL (x/d)
ex (x/d)

63.8
59.0

59.3
61.0

82.4
88.0

76.9
80.0

Note. d = 5 mm.
a Proposed in previous work [15].

C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

485

butyl acetate filter. In the present study, 2D LIPF and

2D Rayleigh imaging devices are applied and triggered simultaneously to identify the mixture level of
fuel and oxidizer in the flame front. A schematic diagram of 2D Rayleigh image and 2D LIPF systems is
shown in Fig. 1c.

flame condition are listed in Table 1. Observation and

measurement of the flame blowout process are conducted with proper acoustic excitation to hold the
lifted jet flame at the blowout limits, which have been
measured in our previous study [16], and the blowout
transient is triggered when acoustic excitation is electronically turned off at a prescribed phase angle.

3. Results and discussion

3.2. Blowout process of a jet flame

3.1. Manipulation of blowout of a jet flame

Observation of the blowout of a jet flame can be

achieved by tracing the flame base images. The continuous blowout images are recorded by a CCD camera with a frame rate of 30 frames per second, and the
images are digitized by the frame grabber for analysis.
The flame base is then identified with digital image
processing, and the flame-base trace can be expressed
as a function of time. According to the dynamic characteristics of jet flames, the transient blowout process
can be divided into four regions: pulsating, onset
of receding, receding, and extinction regions [16].
In this study, to further understand the characteristic blowout processes of different fuel/oxidizer mixtures, flame-base traces of inert diluted methane and
propane flames are made, and typical traces and flame
images in the four regions of the 30% nitrogen-diluted
methane jet flame are shown in Fig. 2. Similarly to
the previous study [16], the initial condition of the
blowout process is controlled by proper acoustic excitation. As soon as the acoustic excitation is turned
off at a prescribed phase, the process engages and
the flame remains, and then the flame base starts to
pulsate in the axial direction at roughly 1 Hz [16].
The whole flame is blue in color and looks similar to a lifted flame. This is the pulsating region, as
seen in photograph in Fig. 2. The flame tip is obviously affected by the buoyancy-induced vortex. When
the flame base reaches the height of x/d = 34, the
flame simply moves downstream continuously, being
unable to come back. Red-hot stripes can be found
on the blue flame. This is the onset of the receding region as shown in photograph 2. When the
flame moves further downstream, the flame tip becomes red, yet the flame base remains blue. This is
the receding region as illustrated in photograph 2 .
Finally, when the height reaches at x/d = 59, the
flame becomes shorter and the base is blue, as noted
in photograph 2. Flame extinction occurs in this region. In the process red stripes and spots are found in
the flames, indicating local low temperature and unburned regions.
The pulsating frequency of the flame is measured using an ion probe placed at a fixed position
close to the flame base before blowout. Fig. 3 shows
the pulsating frequency for the 30% nitrogen-diluted
methane flame. Low pulsating frequencies, around

Controlling the initial conditions of the jet flame

blowout process for repeatability in experiments is
possible with proper acoustic excitation [22]. Conventionally, blowout velocity is measured by slowly
increasing the bulk jet exit velocity until the flame
blows out. However, it is very difficult to precisely
repeat the blowout process due to the inaccuracy of
manually controlled volumetric flow rates of fuel or
mixtures and the inertia associated with the pipeline
when triggering the blowout process. An effective
way to overcome this difficulty is to apply acoustic
excitation on the jet flame. The effects of acoustic
excitation on the jet have been reviewed by Ho and
Huerre [27]. They summarized and discussed effects
of major excitation parameters including forcing frequency, forcing level, and phase angle on flow structures. Chao and his co-workers have conducted a series of jet flow and flame studies using acoustic excitation [16,22,28,29]. They found that the blowout
limits can be extended and the irregular onset of the
blowout process can be controlled and repeated by
tuning the excitation frequency. This strategy of using acoustic excitation is to avoid the difficulty of
convective delays associated with slowly varying the
flow rates to reach blowout and to provide aligned
initial conditions for repeated measurements of the
dynamic blowout process. The function of turning off
the acoustic excitation is triggered by a slope detector,
a counter, and a relay switch. The residual acoustic effects after the acoustic excitation is turned off will not
affect the transition of the blowout process in practice because the sound propagation speed is far higher
than the flow velocity. In other words, it may be assumed that the blowout process is triggered as soon
as the excitation is turned off.
To obtain the proper excitation frequency for this
study, the fundamental frequency of the fuel stream
at the blowout velocity must be determined first.
A microphone probe is applied to conduct the measurements. However, to obtain a well-defined initial
condition, the best excitation frequency and amplitude of each flame condition needs to be tested and
tuned manually. The chosen acoustic excitation frequencies (fe ) and the blowout velocities (Ub ) for each

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

Fig. 2. Typical flame-base trace in blowout process of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame with typical flame image in each
region: pulsating, onset of receding, receding, and extinction.

15 Hz, similar to those previously reported [16] are

observed in the flame base. Similar phenomena are
also found in the 30% argon-diluted methane flame
and the 50% nitrogen- and argon-diluted propane
flames, despite the apparent differences in Lewis
number [15]. The measured pulsating frequency
is also similar to the pulsating frequency of nonpremixed jet flames near extinction proposed by Fri
et al. [17], but less than the characteristic frequency
(1018 Hz) of buoyancy-induced large toroidal vortices, which is a type of KelvinHelmholtz instability [30]. For the current turbulent blowout flames, the
thermal-diffusive instabilities may not be as dominant
in the blowout process [15] as they are in the laminar flames [31] and may be suppressed by increasing
convective velocity of flow [17]. The mechanism for
instability as the flame moves downstream of the
maximum waist of the stoichiometric contour is still
not clear and cannot be given based on current results.
Other instability modes may exist and play a role in
the blowout process. It is unclear now and needs to be
clarified by further experiments.

3.3. Fuel/air mixing and statistics of flame behaviors

It is widely accepted that the universal formula
proposed by Kalghatgi [14] based on the premixed
flame model [1] can provide an accurate estimate of
the blowout velocities for a variety of fuels with different degrees of dilution for various inert species [15].
In the formula, the position of the flame base closely
corresponds to the locations of the stoichiometric contour. Kalghatgis model can be extended to predict
major characteristics of the blowout process. First of
all, to identify the locations of the stoichiometric contour, the theoretical model proposed by Birch et al.
[32] for the concentration distribution issued from
a free jet is adopted. A normalized axial profile, c /e ,
in a free jet can be shown as
c /e = k1 d /(z + a1 ),

d = d(e / )0.5 ,

(1)

where , , z, and d are the mean fuel mass fraction, density, and axial distance from the jet exit and
effective diameter, respectively, and subscripts e and
indicate properties at the jet exit and ambient con-

C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

487

Fig. 3. Pulsating frequency of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame.

ditions. Reported values of the constants k1 and a1

are 4.0 and 5.8d, respectively. Hence, the distance
along the jet axis from the jet exit to the location
where the mean fuel concentration falls to the stoichiometric level, Hs , can be derived from Eq. (1) as




e e 1/2
Hs = 4
(2)
+ 5.8 d,
s
where subscripts s indicate properties at stoichiometric level. Equation (2) can also be used to calculate the
distance of the lean flammability limit, HL , by replacing s by the lean flammability-limit mass fraction.
Distances estimated with Eq. (2) for the stoichiometric level and the lean flammability limits are listed in
Table 1. Furthermore, for the radial profiles of the jet,
the normalized profiles of mean mass fraction concentration are accurately described by the Gaussian-type
function [32,33], and can be shown as
2
c = e{D(r/z) } ,
/

(3)

where D is found to be 73.6. Substituting Eq. (1) into

Eq. (3) and replacing by s , the stoichiometric contour can be expressed as a function of r and z and is
shown as
r2 +

z2
s (z 5.8d)
ln
= 0.
73.6
40 d

(4)

The stoichiometric contour, Eq. (4), can be used to

find the maximum waistline point of the stoichiometric contour by setting dr/dz to zero, and one can

obtain


z
5.8d s
s
.
=
z
2 ln
(5)
z 5.8d
40 d
40 d
Equation (5) is solved numerically for z to find the
maximum waistline distance, Hw , along the axis
from the jet exit to the location where the radius of the
elliptic stoichiometric contour reaches a maximum
value. These two parameters, Hs and Hw , characterize the stoichiometric contour and can be shown to
play important roles in the proposed mechanism of
the blowout process.
The theoretical prediction above can be verified
by experimental measurements. Two-dimensional
Rayleigh scattering imaging is applied to define the
stoichiometric contour for the inert-diluted methane
and propane cold jets. Fig. 4a shows the averaged
Rayleigh imaging of the 30% inert-diluted methane
jet. In this figure, each Rayleigh image is an average of 30 single-pulse measurements and the figure is
composed of 15 images measured at different heights.
Due to the limitations of the translation stage, the
measured flame height can only reach up to x/d = 60.
Being proportional to the Rayleigh scattering cross
section of mixtures, the color level in stoichiometric conditions, as well as the lean and rich flammable
limits, can be estimated from the binary mixing of the
Rayleigh scattering signals and is also shown in the
figure. Fuel concentration decreases axially and radially from the jet exit due to entrainment and turbulent
mixing with ambient air. Furthermore, the two major

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

Fig. 4. (a) Averaged mixing level distribution of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame; (b) probability distribution of transient
flame base location during blowout process; (c) flame-base propagation velocity of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame
based on sequential images.

characteristic parameters of the elliptic stoichiometric

contour, hw and hs , in which lower case is used here
to distinguish the measurement data, can be identified via the quantitative Rayleigh measurements. The
measured hw and hs are listed in Table 1. To further identify the flame pulsating range, the probability
distribution of the transient flame base location during the blowout process using 10 samples of flame
base tracing is shown in Fig. 4b and is marked as the
pulsating region in which the probability is greater
than 2%. The locations of the upper and lower boundaries of the flame pulsating range, ph , and pl , are
also tabulated in Table 1 for further comparison with
other parameters. Moreover, ex , defined as the locations where the lifted flame is extinguished completely, are also determined based on statistical results
with flame base tracing of the blowout process and are
listed in Table 1. To further delineate the flame/flow
interaction during the blowout process, typical flame
base propagation velocities of 30% nitrogen-diluted
methane flames are plotted in Fig. 4c against the flame
base locations calculated from sequential images. The
results show that the flame base propagation velocities scatter randomly between 1 and 1 m/s when the

flames are in the pulsating region and x/d is less than

the onset position of receding flames. The flame base
oscillation may be affected by pulsating instabilities
and flow interactions so that the propagation velocities jitter irregularly. On the other hand, the flame
base propagation velocity increases almost linearly
with x/d from the onset of receding to extinction.
A similar trend was found in the 30% argon-diluted
methane and the 50% nitrogen- and argon-diluted
propane flames.
The measured and predicted results of the characteristic parameters listed in Table 1 are also compared
to verify the model described above. By careful examination of the data in Table 1, one can find that there
are very good correspondences between the measurement maximum waistline point hw and the lower
boundary of the pulsating region pl , as well as the tip
of the stoichiometric contour hs and the upper boundary of the pulsating region ph for all the flame cases
tested. Even the predicted lean flammability limit
data HL have good agreements with the measurement
extinction point data ex for all the cases. Comparisons of the measured and predicted results in Table 1 indicate that the measured maximum waistline

C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

489

Fig. 5. Simultaneous two-dimensional OH image superposed with Rayleigh scattering image of the 30% nitrogen-diluted
methane flame in the pulsating region.

point hw and the onset of receding hs takes place at

the axial position slightly upstream of the theoretical
predictions (Hw and Hs ) for all inert-diluted methane
and propane flames. Though the model slightly overpredicted these parameters, fair agreement between
the predicted and measurement data is achieved.
The propagation and formation of a lifted nonpremixed jet flame was studied by Lyons and Watson [34]. It is believed that the propagation of a lifted
flame and flame shape is related to the stoichiometric mass fraction contour Ys . For the blowout of
a jet flame, based on the premixed model, Vanquickenborne and van Tigglen [1] have shown that the
blowout process can be triggered when the flame base
is pushed downstream where the stoichiometric mass
fraction Ys contour reaches its maximum radial width.
In view of the good correspondence between hw and
pl , it becomes reasonable to consider the location
where the Ys contour reaches its maximum radial
width as a dividing point separating the stable and
unstable regions. Instability in terms of pulsation usually takes place in a flame during the blowout process.
The appearance of the pulsating instability may trigger the blowout process. In addition, the correspondence between hs and ph may imply that the onset of receding in the blowout process has a strong
connection with the diminution of the stoichiometric
concentration and the fuel-lean condition plays an important role in the flame recession and extinction of
the blowout process, as the agreement between HL
and ex may imply.
To verify the level of fuel/air mixing and to identify the reaction zone near the flame base, simultaneous measurements of LIPF-OH superposed with
Rayleigh images of the flame base are performed.
Single-shot images of Rayleigh and OH for the 30%
nitrogen-diluted methane flame in the pulsating region are shown in Fig. 5. With regard to the noise in
Rayleigh images, the Mie scattering from surround-

ing dust cannot be avoided completely. In a Rayleigh

image, the distinct noise dots can be identified with
simple image-processing principles and are removed
in the calculation. In other words, the calculation is
based mainly on regions where noise dots do not exist.
Despite these limitations of the Rayleigh technique,
it is still the best tool to image the distribution of
fuel/air mixing levels in nonreacting areas. In addition, since the flame thickness in the jet flame base
is thin and the intensity is weak, the LIPF-OH image becomes a little bit noisy. Here, we have no intention of using the Rayleigh scattering signals for
temperature measurements [35], as the variation of
the Rayleigh cross section between fuel and air is
very large in the current flames. Simultaneous measurements of Rayleigh and OH images provide useful
information about fuel/air mixing and its associated
reaction zones. Fig. 5 indicates that fuel and air are
well mixed to stoichiometric levels or even lean conditions before approaching the flame base. Similar
results of inert-diluted propane flames are also found,
but the images are less noisy because the Rayleigh
cross-section of methane is much smaller than that
of propane. Large cross-sectional differences between
fuel and air offer better signal-to-noise ratio and reduce measurement errors. For simultaneous measurements of Rayleigh and OH images, the heat release
from the flame base [36,37] may affect the properties of upstream unburned reactants near the flame
base. It is well known that the Rayleigh scattered signal depends on the composition and temperature. If
the composition is fixed, the signal is inversely proportional to the temperature. Namely, the heat release
may cause underprediction of equivalence ratio. However, as compared with the major length scale in the
jet flame blowout process, which is described in terms
of the stoichiometric contour, the length scale of the
heated region is much smaller and the induced error

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due to streamline divergence of the heated region can

be neglected for the present purpose.
3.4. Simultaneous fuel/air characteristics near
flame gbase
To further understand the relationship between
flow velocity and flame base propagation, typical

plots of simultaneous PIV velocity distributions ahead

of the flame zone (marked by dashed lines) for
the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame in the typical pulsating, onset of receding, and receding regions are shown in Figs. 6a6c, respectively. Similarly to the method used by Schefer and Goix [10]
and Muiz and Mungal [7], the decrease in particle
density and scattering cross section in flame can be

Fig. 6. Velocity distribution ahead of flame base of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame: (a) 14 < x/d < 26; (b) 27 <
x/d < 39; (c) 41 < x/d < 53.

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491

Fig. 6. (continued)

used as a marker for the high-temperature zone. In

Fig. 6a the velocity of the unburned gases of the centerline at this height is about 8 m/s and decreases
with x/d. The velocity just ahead of the flame base
decreases approximately to the laminar burning velocity of a few tens of centimeters per second. In
Fig. 6b, the flame base is located at the onset position of recession, and the velocity just ahead of the
flame base is also approximately equal to the laminar
burning velocity of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane
flame. However, in Fig. 6c, the velocity ahead of the
flame base is about 23 m/s higher than the laminar burning velocity. Similar results for the 30%
argon-diluted methane flame and the 50% nitrogenand argon-diluted propane flames are also obtained.
Based on the PIV measurements, the velocity distributions at typical heights of the stabilization point in
the three characteristic blowout regions can be calculated. Typical results for the 30% nitrogen-diluted
methane flames are shown in Fig. 7. Briefly, when
the flame base is located below the onset position of
recession, the flame base always stabilizes at a position where local velocities are around the laminar
burning velocity (0.83 Su ) and the flame may pulsate at a frequency of roughly 1 Hz. However, when
the flame base is pushed downstream beyond the onset position of recession, the stabilization point of
the flame moves toward the center of the jet, where
the flame suffers from much higher flow velocity
and becomes thinner and weaker. In addition, in the
recession region the local velocity at the flame stabilization point increases with the height until the flame

vanishes. These phenomena are also found in other

inert-diluted flames.
The triple flame structure of turbulent lifted flames
is often distorted by vortices [38] so that the three
branches may not always be found. For the purpose
of the present study, we do not intend to involve in
detailed diagnostics of concentration and velocity of
triple flame (edge flame) structure; instead, results
from others, such as Lyons and Watson [34] for concentration and Muiz and Mungal [7] for velocity, are
borrowed to compare with the present results. Due to
the high distortion of the flame base, especially in the
blowout process, and the difficulty of observation via
planar laser diagnostics, the major evidence of existence of a triple flame structure in turbulent flame base
may be found from propagation velocity. We have
found that the velocity just ahead of the flame base
is approximately equal to the laminar burning velocity when the flame base is located within the tip of the
stoichiometric contour, which agrees with results of
Muiz and Mungal [7] and the triple flame model of
Kioni et al. [9] and Ruetsch et al. [36]
3.5. The blowout mechanism
Similar to the results reported in several previous
studies using PIV [710], important evidence that the
fluid velocity just ahead of the lifted flame base is
low, close to the laminar flame speed, and the fact
that the velocity decreases continuously to the laminar
flame velocity along the stream up to the triple point
of the triple flame have been described in this study.

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

Fig. 7. Velocity distribution just ahead of the 30% nitrogen-diluted methane flame at different heights.

Moreover, in our previous study [15] of an identical

flame configuration, we clearly identified the triple
flame structure in the OH images. Hence, in the pulsating region, a triple flame structure is identified with
a propagation velocity very close to the laminar flame
speed near the stabilization point of the triple flame at
the flame base. The flame base in the pulsating region
is found mostly in the axial locations corresponding to
the range from the maximum waistline point to the
tip of the stoichiometric elliptic contour. However,
in the receding region, the flame base is pushed downstream and follows local flow velocity. Furthermore,
the results of simultaneous fuel/air mixing level measurements show that the flame base propagates along
the stoichiometric layer in the pulsating region. These
instantaneous and simultaneous 2D mixing level and
velocity results provide specific and sound evidence
to verify the existence of the triple flame structure and
the stabilization point of the triple flame [7] serves to
provide a suitable flame base stabilization mechanism
in the pulsating region during the blowout of turbulent
jet flames.
The above findings of the flame base behavior
and evolution characteristics in the blowout process
can be used to construct the blowout mechanism of
a turbulent jet diffusion flame. To illustrate the mechanism of stabilization, propagation, and breakdown of

the triple flame structure in a lifted jet flame in the

blowout process, the bold dashed and dotted curves
denoting contours of the stoichiometric level and the
lean flammable limit are compared in Fig. 8, and the
corresponding heights, Hs and HL , as well as the rich
flammable limit contour are also shown in Fig. 8.
In the proposed mechanism, if the lifted flame is
initially stabilized in the range upstream of the maximum waistline point of the stoichiometric contour
while the jet exit velocity (Uo ) is between the liftoff
velocity (Ul ) and the blowout velocity (Ub ) (Fig. 8b),
the lifted flame is stable and remains lifted (Vanquickenborne and van Tigglen [1]). In this region, very
good agreement between experimental and theoretical estimates of the liftoff heights has been reported
in previous work [3942]. In general, the liftoff height
is proportional to jet exit velocity (Uo ) and inversely
proportional to the square of the maximum laminar
flame speed. As shown in Fig. 8c, if the flame base
of the lifted flame is pushed beyond the maximum
waistline point while the jet exit velocity is equal
to the blowout velocity, the flame will step into the
pulsating region of the blowout process and become
unstable. In either the stable or unstable region, as
shown in Figs. 8b and 8c, the jet flame is hollow
in structure. In the pulsating region, the triple flame
structure is found in the flame base and the fast sto-

C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

493

Fig. 8. Schematic of the proposed blowout process mechanism.

ichiometric branch of the triple flame in the flame

base, which moves along the stoichiometric contour,
serves as the stabilization point of the triple flame to
provide the essential element to stabilize the flame.
The flame base is bounded by the boundaries of lean
and rich limits. The pulsating region corresponds to
the axial range from the maximum waistline point
to the tip of the stoichiometric contour. The unstable counterbalance of the local flow velocity and the
flame propagation speed at the stabilization point of
the triple flame result in whole flame pulsation in the
pulsating region. As the flame base is pushed downstream, the flame base moves toward the center along
the contour and suffers from higher flow velocity. As
soon as the flame is pushed by the flow beyond the tip
of the stoichiometric contour (Fig. 8d), the stabilization point and the stoichiometric branch of the triple
flame structure vanish and the flame becomes lean.
In this region, the hollow-cone structure disappears
and the jet flame base becomes disklike. The flame
recedes downstream continuously and finally extinguishes (Fig. 8e).
Triple flame stabilization plays an important role
in flames in stable liftoff in the pulsating regions
of the blowout process. The stabilization and pulsation of the stabilization point of the triple flame
along the stoichiometric contour constitute the ma-

jor dynamic behavior in the pulsating region of the

blowout process. The stoichiometric contour can be
determined by the initial gas properties and the initial
velocity at the jet exit. Therefore, for a turbulent flame
not only the blowout limit [15] but also the blowout
process and the accompanied dynamic behaviors can
be estimated and characterized based on the initial velocity/Reynolds number and gas properties at the jet
exit.

4. Conclusion
Through phenomenological observation and detailed measurements of the mixing and velocity distributions using 2D Rayleigh scattering, 2D LIPF-OH,
and PIV techniques, a blowout mechanism is proposed to delineate the dynamic flame-base behavior
and evolution characteristics in each characteristic region, i.e., the pulsating, onset of receding, receding,
and extinction regions, of the blowout process of a turbulent jet diffusion flame. The mechanism is primary
based on the findings that triple flame structures are
found in the flame base in the pulsating and onset of
receding regions and the correspondence of the flame
base locations in each region with the stoichiometric
and lean limit contours of the premixed model. The
stabilization and pulsation of the stabilization point

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C.-Y. Wu et al. / Combustion and Flame 145 (2006) 481494

of the triple flame along the stoichiometric contour

constitute the major dynamic behavior in the pulsating region and the diminution of the stoichiometric
branch of the triple flame and the fuel-lean condition
lead to the recession and extinction of the flame in the
blowout process. The proposed blowout mechanism
based on triple flame and stoichiometric contour also
provides an explanation for the fact that the blowout
process of a turbulent jet diffusion flame can be estimated and characterized based on the initial velocity/Reynolds number and gas properties at the jet exit
without knowing the local flame/flow conditions of
the liftoff flame near blowout.
Acknowledgment
Financial support by the National Science Council, Republic of China, through Projects NSC902212-E-006-120, NSC91-2212-E-006-039, and NSC92-2212-E-006-058 is gratefully acknowledged.
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