Experimental study on the quenching process of methane/air deflagration flame with porous media

This article reports experimental investigation of deflagration flame quenching behavior by porous media. In this study, a semi-vented deflagration chamber with a porous media plate was constructed, taking account of effects of obstacles and porous media materials on the flame quenching process. A high speed video camera was used to image the process and behavior of flame propagation, meanwhile, the gas-phase temperatures and ion currents, upstream, within, and downstream of the porous media, were measured using micro-thermocouples and ion probes, respectively. Results show that methane/air deflagration flame can be quenched by the Al2O3 porous media with thickness of 20 mm and pore density of 10 ppi. However, the presence of obstacles along the flame path may lead to significant increase of flame speed, thereby both the decreases of gas-phase temperature and ion current when the flame passes through the porous medium in the case with continuous obstacles are less, eventually the unburnt gases downstream the porous media may be reignited. Compared to Al2O3, Al porous media shows superior flame quenching performance because this metallic material has higher thermal conductivity, which makes combusting flame release more heat to the pore walls and adjoining structures of the porous media.