Study of particle motion in flows characteristic to low-NOx pulverised fuel burners

• Main Author: Masanja, Enock
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1995
• Subjects: 662
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.657398

There is no dispute that combustion by-products like sulphur dioxide, SO<SUB>2</SUB> and nitrogen oxides, NO<SUB>x</SUB>, can cause environmental damage. New, tougher legislation on gas emission has started to push fundamental research work (like this project) on understanding particle/fluid dynamics in combustion and related systems to the fore front. The knowledge gained will not only offer immediate help in the control and abatement of gas emission, but also the data obtained will complement the available empirical (industrial) knowledge of roping behaviour which will be valuable in developing new numerical models and/or verifying existing ones. A test facility delivering up to 40 m/s in a 4 inch glass test section was designed, fabricated, assembled and tested. This includes swirl generators for generating swirl of 0.2 to 1.35 theoretical swirl numbers. The facility also includes a particle feed section, cyclone separator for recovering the particles and a dual pulsed Nd:YaG laser, related optics and other equipment for use in future Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) research. LDA and Pitot-static measurements verified that the test section was capable of delivering the planned/design velocity measurement range of 0-40 m/s. PIV experiments were done for particle jet density of 95 kg/m<SUB>-3</SUB> to 198 kg/m<SUB>-3</SUB> and the results obtained on particle jet dispersion were in good agreement with previous work showing that the centre line velocity showed less fluctuation and that jets that are less dense disperse more than the denser ones.