Stabilization of a swirled propane-air flame using a nanosecond repetitively pulsed plasma

Stabilization of lean premixed flames is a very promising way to reduce pollutant emissions in industrial burners such as gas turbines or aircraft engines. By applying an ultrashort repetitively pulsed discharge (6.8 kV, 15-ns duration, 30 kHz), stable flames can be obtained under the equivalence ratio limit without plasma. In this paper, this technique is used to stabilize a confined propane-air flame created by a swirled injector. The discharge is generated using a ring high-voltage electrode placed 5 mm downstream of the exit of the injector.