Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Combustion in wavy micro-channels for thermo-photovoltaic applications – T

Part I: Effects of wavy wall geometry, wall temperature profile and reaction
mechanism
Zakaria Mansouri
Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, DRT/LITEN/DTBH, 17 Avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The output power of a Micro-Thermo-Photovoltaic (MTPV) system strongly depends on the micro-combustor
CFD geometry and the micro-flame stability. In this context, numerous numerical and experimental works have been
Wavy micro-channel conducted and focused on geometries limited to circular and planar micro-channels (MCs) with and without
Thermo-photovoltaic sudden expansion. Therefore, the present work proposes a novel MC configuration with wavy walls. The use of
Micro-flame stability
wavy walls increases the MC surface and consequently the heat transfer characteristics of this system could be
Reaction mechanisms
improved. In this study, two-dimensional numerical simulations on CH4–air premixed flames in the novel
configuration have been carried out. The wavy MCs are heated with a wall temperature gradient in the
streamwise direction. The investigations have been carried out with a MC height H = 600 μm, a mixture velocity
U = 1 m/s and the equivalence ratio Φ = 1. Moreover, the effects of various parameters on the flame behavior
are reported: the wavy wall geometries, the maximum values of the temperature profile and the kinetic me-
chanisms of CH4 combustion. The results are original, since the effect of the wavy wall geometries are not
available in the literature. In addition, the effects of the other parameters are not well documented in the
literature, especially the CH4 combustion mechanisms. It is found that the flame location is sensible to the wavy
wall geometry. As the number of waves increases, the flame moves towards the MC exit. The maximum value of
the temperature gradient has an opposite effect. As the maximum temperature increases, the flame moves to-
wards the MC inlet. The results show also that the flame location, shape and temperature are strongly affected by
the different reaction mechanisms.

1. Introduction
Micro-Thermo-Photovoltaic (MTPV) systems have received sub-
stantial attention over the recent years due to the advances in the
micro-fabrication capability. They are efficient and economically viable
power systems for commercial and space applications. For commercial
applications, they can be used to replace batteries of laptops and ta-
blets. They can also provide a continuous supply of power in off-grid
homes. For space applications, they are proposed to supply power to
orbital micro-satellites by replacing a fraction of the PV solar cells.
MTPV system transforms the chemical energy to thermal energy and
then to electricity. The chemical and thermal energies are supplied by
combustion of a gaseous fuel, hydrocarbons or hydrogen (H2), in a
micro-combustor. The use of hydrocarbon fuels is beneficial due to their
energy densities (an average of 40 MJ/kg), which is much higher than
the actual best batteries (an average of 1 MJ/kg). MTPV system is
generally composed of the main parts shown in Fig. 1, which are: the
micro-channels (MCs), the absorber, the emitter, the photovoltaic (PV)
cell and the heat sink. Within this system, the MC serves as a combustor
which increases the temperature of the emitter forming an optical he-
ated source (an average temperature of 1100 °C). Some of the thermal
emission (emission of photons) is then absorbed by the PV cell. This
later converts the radiated photons into electricity.
The MC is the key component of the MTPV system, which sig-
nificantly affects the output power and energy conversion efficiency,
Zuo et al. [1]. The MC faces generally the flammability and flame
quenching issues, Durisch et al. [2]. This makes the flame stability the
most important issue and the key parameter to improve the thermal
performance of the MC. Recently, several classic and advanced methods
are used to address the flame stability, such as: sudden expansion,
Akhtar et al. [3]; bluff-body, Yan et al. [4]; catalytic surface, Li et al.
[5]; porous media, Pan et al. [6] and external heating, Maruta et al. [7].
The last method is the focus of the current study.
MC with an external heating is found also in the literature as MC

E-mail addresses: zakaria.mansouri@cea.fr, mansouri.zakaria@outlook.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.12.105
Received 5 October 2018; Accepted 22 December 2018
Available online 17 January 2019
0196-8904/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of a Micro-Thermo-Photovoltaic system.
with a controlled temperature profile or gradient, Di Stazio et al. [8]
and Kamada et al. [9]. The majority of the reported MCs are focused on
cylindrical tubes (circular micro-reactors) and parallel plates (planar
micro-reactors). These geometries make the MC a simple system, which
is a great advantage to investigate complex combustion chemistry.
Moreover, the inner diameter/height of the MC is smaller than the
ordinary quenching diameter/height of the flame. The MC is heated by
an external heat source and a stationary temperature profile along the
inner surface of the MC is developed in the streamwise direction. The
external heat source can be an electric heater, Nakamura et al. [10], or
a hydrogen burner, Kikui et al. [11]. The MC operates under premixed
condition and the mixture temperature strongly depends on the tem-
perature profile of the wall. In addition, the flow mixture within the MC
is laminar and at a constant pressure. In the previous studies using
circular MC reactor, Maruta et al. [7]; Di Stazio et al. [8] and Kamada
et al. [9], three types of flames are observed: stable flames, flames with
repetitive extinction and ignition (FREI) and weak flames, depending
on the mixture velocity at the inlet. The stable flame is an ordinary
steady flame and observed at a high flow velocity (around 0.5–1.2 m/s).
The FREI occurs at an intermediate flow velocity (around 0.3–0.45 m/
s). The weak flame is stable with quite weak chemiluminescence and
observed at a low flow velocity (around 0.05–0.25 m/s).
The micro-flame dynamics and behavior strongly depend on other
parameters than the mixture velocity, such as: the dimension of the MC,
the fuel type and the external temperature profile. In the MC dimension
studies, Norton and Vlachos [12] studied numerically the effects of the
MC diameters and thickness of walls on combustion characteristics and
flame stability. They found that the wall thickness is very important as
it determines the upstream heat transfer, which is necessary for flame
ignition and stability. For large diameters, such as 4 mm, the reaction
rate is low and the flame spreads out over approximately the half of the
burner length. For smaller diameters, such as the 600 μm, reaction is
more localized, with greater intensity, causing steeper temperature and
composition gradients. Li et al. [13] conducted a 2D numerical study on
CH4–air premixed combustion in both cylindrical MC and planar MC.
Their results showed that the planar channel with H = 1 mm represents
higher flame temperature than a cylindrical tube with D = 2 mm, over
a velocity range varying from 0.3 to 1 m/s. In the fuel type studies, Tang
et al. [14] fabricated and experimentally investigated a planar MC
operating with C3H8/H2–air mixture. They built also a 3D calculation
model to characterize the combustion process of the studied blended
flue. It is reported that the H2 addition can overcome the shortcomings
of propane flame instability. When a small amount of hydrogen is
added, the flame location could be fixed. The H2 enriched fuel can
further reduce the minimum quenching diameter of the MC. Kang et al.
[15] investigated numerically the suppression of the flame instability in
a premixed CH4–air planar MC using H2/CO addition. By adding small
amounts of H2 or CO, flame instabilities present for the methane air
mixture in the form of FREI could be effectively suppressed. The
2
Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155
suppression can be due to a few important elementary reactions, which
play a dominant role in contributing to the heat release rate. In the
external temperature profile works, Wang et al. [16] conducted tran-
sient numerical simulations of premixed CH4–air combustion in a
narrow channel. They imposed a fixed hyperbolic tangent temperature
profile along the MC wall, starting from 300 K and ending with 1300 K
or 1400 K. Depending on the wall temperature profile, two instable
flames were observed: the oscillating flame and the FREI. The oscil-
lating flame corresponds to the high wall temperature profile, whereas
the FREI corresponds to the low wall temperature profile. Kang et al.
[17] conducted transient numerical simulations of premixed CH4–air
combustion in a planar MC. They investigated the effect of different
wall temperature profiles on the flame dynamics for different inflow
velocity conditions. For low velocity, such as 0.2 m/s, the flame shows
spatial oscillations and even flame extinction. For high velocity, such as
1 m/s, the flame is stabilized for all the wall temperature profiles ex-
amined.
In the light of the above review, none of the aforementioned studies
characterized the combustion and micro-flame stability in a wavy MC.
The majority of these works adopted circular or planar MC. In addition,
there is insufficient knowledge on the effect of kinetic mechanisms on
the characteristics and stability of the micro-flames. A greater number
of simulated premixed CH4–air MC, such as Kang et al. [15], Wang et al.
[16], Kang et al. [17] and Kang et al. [18], used the DRM-19 reaction
mechanism of Kazakove and Frenklach [19]. Only few studies used or
compared other reaction mechanisms to characterize the combustion of
CH4–air in MC. Thus, the need of the present study is to further increase
the knowledge on CH4 combustion in MTPV systems, using various
reaction mechanisms. Also, to propose innovative MC configurations
with the aim to improve the efficiency of MTPV systems by enhancing
the heat transfer characteristics. This goal could be achieved by in-
creasing the heat exchange surface within the MC by using wavy walls.
Moreover, different wavy walls are proposed to assess the complexity of
the combustion within the MC. Furthermore, this paper uses CFD
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) to fulfill the above points. Three main
parameters are investigated, which are: the wavy wall geometry, the
wall temperature profile and the reaction mechanisms of CH4.
2. Numerical procedure
2.1. Geometric model and grid
In this study, four planar MC configurations are modeled in two-
dimensions (2D). The first configuration consists of two parallel flat
plates, as shown in Fig. 2. This configuration is chosen to perform va-
lidation of the CFD calculations with the results in the literature. The
MC length (L) and height (H) are 6 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively.
Premixed CH4–air is fed to the MC. A fixed temperature profile is im-
posed along the MC walls to initiate and maintain the combustion. The
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 2. Computational domain of the flat MC along with the temperature profile
used.
Fig. 3. Schematics of computational domains of the wavy MCs.
wall temperature ramps from 300 K to a higher value at 1400 K over the
initial 1 mm of the MC length according to a hyperbolic tangent func-
tion.
The other configurations consist of an upper flat wall and a lower
wavy wall, as shown in Fig. 3. The wavy wall is used to increase the
contact surface between the reactor (MC) and the absorber. Then, more
energy will be absorbed and emitted to the PV cell due to the en-
hancement of the heat transfer. Consequently, the MTPV system de-
livers more electric output compared to the basic system with flat wall.
The wavy MC length (L) is 6 mm and its minimum and maximum
heights are Hmin = 0.55 mm and Hmax = 0.65 mm, respectively. The
difference between these configurations is the number of waves at the
lower wall, which are: 2-waves, 4-waves and 8-waves. Note that the
previous hyperbolic temperature profile (Fig. 2) is imposed also along
the wavy MC walls.
For all MC configurations, structured grids of 273 × 27 are em-
ployed. The grids are uniform and not refined in order to keep the same
spatial distribution over the MC, where the flame can be stabilized at
any location through the MC. The cell size within these grids is 22 μm.
This value ensures sufficient grid points within the flame thickness of
around δf = 0.25 mm for the present case. Note that available studies of
similar flat micro-channels employed grid sizes of 50 μm, Kang et al.
[15], and 25 μm, Nair et al. [20] and Kishore et al. [21]. Moreover, no
need to perform grid-independent simulations since the employed cell
size is lower than those used in the literature.
2.2. Mathematical model
Before applying the mathematical governing equations, the fol-
lowing assumptions are made: neglected wall thickness, laminar flow,
steady state, compressible flow, reactive flow, no surface reaction, no
radiation and no Dufour effects. The conservation equations for mass,
momentum, energy, and species are summarized as follows:
Mass conservation equation
·( u ) = 0
where is the mixture density and u is the velocity vector.
Momentum conservation equation
2
(u · u ) = p+ · µ( u + ( u ) ) ·u I
3 (2)
where p is the absolute pressure, µ is the dynamic viscosity and I is the
Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155
unit tensor.
Energy conservation equation
2
· u ( E + p) = · T hi Di + µ ( u + ( u ) ) ·u I ·
i 3
u + Sh
(3)
where E is the total energy, is the mixture conductivity, T is the
temperature, hi is the enthalpy of the species i , Di is the diffusion flux of
species i and Sh is the source term of the mixture enthalpy.
Species conservation equation
( u Yi ) = Di + Ri (4)
where Yi is the mass fraction of species i and Ri is the net production
rate of species i by chemical reaction.
The details of these equations term by term can be found in Poinsot
and Veynane [22] and Alipoor and Mazaheri [23].
2.3. Numerical method
The simulations are done using the CFD code ANSYS-Fluent R19.0.
It is reliable CFD software, which involves broad physical modeling
abilities including chemical reactions in complex geometries, ANSYS
[24] and Mansouri et al. [25–28]. It uses the finite-volume method to
solve the flow governing equations. In the present study, two solvers are
used and compared to solve the governing equations. The first is den-
sity-based solver for compressible flows. It is chosen to perform code
validation with a similar compressible code of Kang et al. [18], using
the MC configuration in Fig. 1. Note that the standard density-based
solver may have stability problems due to the considerable change in
the mixture density. This causes the formation of unwanted acoustic
wave speeds and small-magnitude flow velocities. To overcome these
problems, the low Mach number approach should be used. This can be
done by decomposing the pressure into two terms: thermodynamic
pressure and hydrodynamic pressure, Alipoor and Mazaheri [23] and
Tomboulides et al. [29]. ANSYS-Fluent uses an alternative method, the
co-called Advection Upstream Splitting Method (AUSM), Liou [30,31]
to solve the compressible flow without modifying the governing equa-
tions. It is proved to be reliable and effective for low Mach number
reactive flows. This method is adopted in the present study similarly to
Kang et al. [18]. The second solver is pressure-based solver for in-
compressible flows. It is widely used in the literature, Zuo et al. [1]; Li
et al. [12] and Wang et al. [16] and used for the present study due to its
low computational time compared to the previous solver. Pressure
Implicit Split Operator (PISO) algorithm is employed to solve the
pressure-velocity coupling. It is originally developed for non-iterative
computation of unsteady compressible flows, but it has been adapted
successfully to steady-state problems. A second-order upwind scheme is
used to discretize the governing equations. The convergence criteria for
all equations are set to 10−5, except for the energy equation; it is set to
10−6. The stiff chemistry solver is used to remedy the stability and
convergence problems of the reacting flow.
2.4. Boundary conditions
At the inlet of the domain, a mass flux (m = 1.122 kg/m2/s)
boundary condition is applied, which corresponds to an inflow velocity
(1)
of 1 m/s. The mixture temperature T = 300 K is used with mass frac-
tions of incoming species (N2, O2 and CH4), that corresponds to the
stoichiometry (Φ = 1). At the outlet, atmospheric pressure boundary
condition is imposed. At the MC walls, no-slip boundary condition and
zero-flux diffusion for all species are used. In addition, a hyperbolic
tangent temperature profile is imposed along the upper and lower
walls.
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Z. Mansouri Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155

The wall temperature ramps from 300 K to a higher value at 1400 K

over the initial 1 mm of the MC length to respect the distance needed
for a fully developed flow, as done by Kang et al. [18].

2.5. Combustion mechanisms

In this study, five kinetic mechanisms of CH4–air combustion are

employed and compared. The mechanisms (schemes) include: one
global reaction mechanism, on detailed full chemistry mechanism and
three reduced mechanisms. The global reaction mechanism is that of
Westbrook and Dryer [32]; it consists of two reactions (2-step), where
the reaction of CO2 and CO is reversible. This reaction mechanism is
used in a major part of this work including the code validation, effect of
wavy channel models and effect of temperature profile. The detailed
reaction mechanism is the so-called GRI 3.0 of Gregory et al. [33]. The
mechanism consists of 325 reactions that involve 53 species and de-
scribes the full chemistry of CH4–air combustion. The three reduced
mechanisms are those of Kazakove and Frenklach [19] (DRM-19 me-
chanism), Smooke et al. [34] (Smooke mechanism) and Yand and Pope
[35] (Skeletal mechanism). The DRM-19 mechanism consists of 84 re-
actions that involve 20 species. The Smooke mechanism consists of 46
reactions that involve 17 species. The Skeletal mechanism consists of 41
reactions that involve 16 species. All these mechanisms are truncated
from the detailed GRI 3.0 mechanism. Fig. 4. Simulations versus numerical data: centerline profiles of (a)
Temperature and (b) CH4 mole fraction.
3. Code validation

algorithms of each solver. It is interesting to mention that the density-

As far as the authors’ knowledge, there are no existing experimental
based solver used is explicit and present a strong interdependence,
works dealing with the detailed characteristic of micro-flames, such as:
(coupling) between density, energy, momentum and species. Whereas
flame temperature, heat release, flow velocity and species concentra-
the pressure-based solver is implicit and it takes momentum and pres-
tions within a MC. This is due to lack of accessibility to these char-
sure as the primary variables, then passes to the energy and species. It is
acteristics using actual instrumentations of measurements and optical
well known that the pressure-based solver requires less memory (sto-
diagnostic within such micro systems (MC diameter < 1 mm).
rage) compared to the density-based solver. Consequently, the calcu-
Meanwhile, micro-flame behavior could be investigated experimentally
lations using the pressure-based solver for the present study are 20
to study the flame shape, ignition, extinction and instabilities, Maruta
times faster than those of density-based solver. Regarding the tem-
et al. [7]; Di stazio et al. [8] and Kamada et al. [9]. Moreover, few
perature difference it should note that the adiabatic flame temperature
numerical works have based their code validation on experimental re-
of CH4–air at atmospheric pressure, initial temperature of 298 K and
sults from meso-scale reactors (reactor diameter > 10 mm), Kang et al.
stoichiometry condition is around 2263 K, Haynes [36]. The differences
[15] and Wang et al. [16]. Their results were compared with only a
between the adiabatic flame temperature and the compressible and
temperature profile at the centerline of the reactor. In the authors’ point
incompressible temperatures are 525 K and 385 K, respectively. These
of view, it is inappropriate to perform the validation as the same as the
large differences are due to the 2-step reaction mechanism which de-
pervious works cited above. This is due to the scale difference between
scribes a global chemistry inducing high combustion temperatures.
the targeted MC and the meso-scale reactors (10 times larger) and the
Thus, the incompressible temperature is more close to the adiabatic
insufficient data for validation. Therefore, the numerical study of Kang
flame temperature. As a conclusion, the pressure-based solver will be
et al. [18] is adopted to perform the code validation using the MC
used for the rest of the study due to its fast computational time and
model presented in Fig. 1.
acceptable temperature prediction.
Fig. 4 shows comparisons of centerline temperature (Fig. 4a) and
Fig. 5 illustrates contours of temperature (Fig. 5a), heat of reaction
centerline CH4 mole fraction (Fig. 4b) along the MC. Note that the re-
(Fig. 5b) and axial velocity (Fig. 5c) for both compressible and in-
sults from both solvers (density-based and pressure-based) are com-
compressible calculations. The figure gives a clear idea about the,
pared with those of Kang et al. [18]. Generally, the mixture is pre-he-
temperature distribution along the MC, flame structure and location
ated in the region x < 0.002 m (zone 1) due to the hyperbolic
and velocity acceleration across the flame zone. The incompressible
temperature profile of the walls. Then, the combustion take place at
gradients are shifted slightly in the streamwise direction compared to
around x = 0.0026 (zone 2) accompanied with a sudden rise of tem-
the compressible gradients. It was referred to the difference between
perature and a perfect consumption of the fuel. Downstream this lo-
the calculation algorithms of each solver. The three zones mentioned
cation (zone 3) the temperature decreases considerably till the MC exit
previously (Fig. 4) can be clearly distinguished now. In the pre-heating
without traces of methane. Particularly, a good agreement between the
zone 1, the walls temperature is significantly higher than the mixture
present compressible results and the numerical data from Kang et al.
temperature, so the heat transfers from the walls to the mixture. This
[18]. This is referred to the use of the same numerical method (low
leads to decrease the mixture density and then accelerating the fluid
Mach number approach) to model the MC. However, the in-
from 1 m/s to around 6 m/s. Since the mixture is heated from the walls
compressible results show slight differences compared to the com-
towards the MC center, ignition occurs near the walls and the flame
pressible calculations. Within the pre-heating zone a good agreement is
stabilizes at the MC center (zone 2), consistent with the experimental
found, but within the flame zone the incompressible profiles are shifted.
studies of Maruta et al. [7] and Di Stazio et al [8]. The ignition tem-
For example, the temperature peaks take the values 2761 K and 2621 K
perature of the CH4–air is approximately 873–923 K according to Ro-
at the locations x = 0.0026 m and x = 0.0027 m for the compressible
binson and Smith [37]. After the ignition, mixture combusts quickly
and incompressible profiles, respectively. The difference of temperature
releasing the heat of reactions, reaching 15–19 W at the MC center. The
value and location could be due to the difference of the calculation

4
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 5. Comparison between the compressible and incompressible simulations:
(a) temperature distribution (b) flame location and (c) velocity field.
released heat causes a sharp rise in the mixture temperature taking a
cone shape and exceeding the adiabatic flame temperature, consistent
with the numerical study of Norton and Vlachos [12]. It causes also a
fast acceleration of the mixture velocity reaching 12 m/s in the MC
center. Note that the micro-flame generated is not flat and it is slightly
curved due to the walls effect. The flame thickness at the MC center is
approximately 0.2 mm and near the walls is thicker, approximately
0.25 mm. In the downstream zone 3, after the methane has been con-
sumed, the combustion stops and the mixture cools down to approxi-
mately the wall temperature (1425 K). There is no significant radial or
axial gradient within this zone.
4. Results and discussions
4.1. Effect of the wavy wall model
This sub-section compares three different wavy MC, namely, 2-
waves, 4-waves and 8-waves and shows their effects on the flame lo-
cation. The comparison is made while keeping the entire boundary and
operating conditions used in the code validation, such as mass flux,
equivalence ratio and temperature profile. The effect of wavy wall
geometry on the temperature and species mole fractions at the cen-
terline of the MC is shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that all the plotted
profiles of each quantity exhibit the same tends and take the same
values, except they are slightly shifted from each other. This indicates
that the number of waves within the walls affects only the flame lo-
cation and not the flame properties (i.e. temperature and species mole
fractions). As the number of waves increases, the flame moves following
the streamwise direction (towards the MC outlet). If we consider that
the flame location corresponds to the temperature peak, then the flame
is positioned at x = 0.0025 m, x = 0.00274 m and x = 0.00288 m for
the configurations of 2-waves, 4-waves and 8-waves, respectively.
These locations show that the flame tends always to stabilize between
two waves (Fig. 3) close to the MC center for each configuration.
Moreover, the shift of the flame location is about 8% from 2-waves to 4-
waves and about 4.8% from 4-waves to 8-waves. This shift is directly
related to the slopes of the waves. Thus, the increase of the number of
the waves leads to the increase of the slope (in absolute value) of the
waves, which pushes the flame towards the MC outlet. Based on these
results, the proposed models give satisfactory flame locations, since
they are near the middle of the MC and far of the exit. Note that the
flame location of 4-waves model is very close to the flame location of
the flat model (x = 0.0027 m) employed in the code validation. Hence,
the geometry is an important factor for MC design.
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Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155
4.2. Effect of asymmetric temperature profiles
In a real MTPV system, the heating source (temperature profile) of
the MC is applied only at a single wall (the upper wall for the present
study). The lower wall of the MC is in contact with the absorber and its
temperature should be less than that of the upper wall. For this reason,
this sub-section aims to explore the effect of asymmetric temperature
profiles on the flame behavior. Thus, the boundary condition at the
lower wavy wall for all models is changed and a constant temperature
of 1200 K is imposed instead of the hyperbolic temperature profile.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of asymmetric temperature profiles on the
flame location presented by centerline temperature (Fig. 7a) and cen-
terline CO mole fraction (Fig. 7b) for all wavy MC. Note that the CO
species could be used to identify the flame location, as used by Man-
souri et al. [38]. For the present asymmetric condition, the flame is
located at x = 0.00278 m, x = 0.00298 m and x = 0.00369 m for the
configurations of 2-waves, 4-waves and 8-waves, respectively. These
new flame locations are offset from the precedent locations. For ex-
ample, the 2-waves flame is shifted by 0.28 mm compared to it old
location using a symmetric profiles. The 4-waves and 8-waves flame
locations are shifted by 0.24 mm and 0.81 mm, respectively. Thus, the
8-waves flame is strongly affected by the asymmetric condition com-
pared to the other models. The noticed shift is due to the enlargement of
the pre-heating zone caused by the low temperature of the lower wavy
wall. In other words, the temperature gradient within the pre-heating
zone is not symmetric and lower than the previous symmetric gradient.
In this case, the mixture needs more distance to be pre-heated before
the ignition. Consequently, the combustion takes place far of the old
locations (at symmetric condition) and the micro-flame stabilizes in
new locations.
Temperature and heat release contours are of interest to examine
the flame shape, since the temperature and CO profiles give information
only about the flame location. The effect of asymmetric temperature
profiles on the flame behavior (shape and location) illustrated by
temperature contours (Fig. 8) and heat of reaction contours (Fig. 9) for
all wavy MC. In Fig. 8, the temperature gradient (yellow to red colors)
within the flame zone takes a cone shape and its location varies from
one model to another. This behavior is due to the difference in the pre-
heating zone from one model to another, which is strongly affected by
the asymmetric condition and the wall geometry. Regarding Fig. 9, the
flame shape is clearly shown. The flame in all models is curved similar
to the previous flame of the flat MC. It can be noticed also that the flame
shape is affected by the asymmetric distribution of temperature pro-
files. The flames are inclined consistent with the experimental results of
Di Stazio et al [8]. They reported that the detection of the position of
this kind of flames could be difficult experimentally due to the un-
certainty cause by the distortion. Moreover, since the present study is
numerical, the detection of the position of this kind of flames is easy
due to the availability to all physical quantities.
4.3. Effect of temperature profile values
The temperature profile values are a key parameter affecting the
flame location and behavior as reported by Wang et al. [16]. Two high
temperatures (1500 K and 1600 K) are tested along with the old one of
1400 K. Figs. 10–12 show the overview of the flame location and shape
in the 8-waves MC with the different prescribed wall temperature
profiles. From Fig. 10 it can be noticed that the increase of the wall
temperature leads to drag the flame towards the MC inlet. The flame
locates at x = 0.00249 m, x = 0.00294 m and x = 0.00369 m for the
profiles of 1600 K, 1500 K and 1400 K, respectively. It can be said that
the higher temperature of the wall the earlier flame ignition. In addi-
tion, the maximum temperature and the CO production within the
flame are decreased. To explain this behavior, temperature distribution
and heat release contours are visualized in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively.
From Fig. 11 it can be seen that the pre-heating zone is shortened and
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 6. Centerline profiles of temperature and species mole fractions for different wavy channels configurations.
Fig. 7. Centerline profiles of (a) temperature and (b) CO mole fractions for
different wavy MCs using asymmetric temperature profiles.
more warmed for the high temperature profiles. Along with the early
ignition and when the flame confronts the high pre-heating zone, it will
stabilize at an earlier position near the center of the MC. Moreover, the
increase of the wall temperature affects the flame shape, as shown in
Fig. 12. The flame becomes more and more inclined from one high
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Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155
Fig. 8. Temperature distribution for different wavy MC models using asym-
metric temperature profiles.
temperature profile to another. Also, the heat release reduces within the
flame core and takes the values of 14.61 w, 13 w and 10.67 w for the
profiles of 1400 K, 1500 K and 1600 K, respectively. This explains the
reduction of the flame temperature with high wall temperature profile.
Furthermore, the high wall temperature provokes combustion near the
wall and not only near the center of the MC, which is clearly shown for
the 1600 K case. This leads to reduce the heat release within the flame
core since there is a small heat release that forms near the wall. The
profiles of heat of reaction at the upper wall in Fig. 13 justify well the
reduction of the flame temperature. The heat of reaction of the 1600 K
profile is almost tow times higher than the heat of reaction of the other
profiles.
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 9. Heat of reaction (flame) contours for different wavy MC models using
asymmetric temperature profiles.
Fig. 10. Centerline profiles of (a) temperature and (b) CO mole fractions within
the 8-waves MC for the different prescribed wall temperature profiles.
Fig. 11. Temperature distribution within the 8-waves MC using the different
prescribed wall temperature profiles.
4.4. Effect of combustion mechanisms
Only few studies compared various reaction mechanisms of CH4–air
to characterize the micro-combustion in MC, such as Kang et al. [18].
This sub-section deals with four additional reaction mechanisms
7
Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155
Fig. 12. Heat of reaction (flame) contours within the 8-waves MC using the
different prescribed wall temperature profiles.
Fig. 13. Heat release profiles at the upper wall of the 8-waves MC using the
different prescribed wall temperature profiles.
including three reduced mechanisms and a full detailed one (previously
mentioned in Section 2.5). Note that the 8-waves model and the 1500 K
temperature profile are used to perform this investigation. The effect of
combustion mechanisms on the temperature and species mole fractions
at the centerline of the MC is shown in Fig. 14. The tested kinetic
mechanisms alter aggressively the flame temperature and location and
the species consumption/production. All profiles exhibit quite different
tends and take different values. To perform an easy comparison, Table 1
regroups some amounts of the quantities of Fig. 14 within the flame
zone and at the wavy MC outlet. It is clearly seen that the global 2-step
mechanism shows large deviations of all quantities from the more de-
tailed schemes. Its maximum temperature differs from the reduced
mechanisms by around 500 K and its CO mole fraction at the MC exit is
almost neglected. However, the results of the other detailed schemes
are competitive. For example, the flame temperature difference reaches
around 57 K between the GRI 3.0 and Smooke mechanism and it takes
higher values for the other mechanisms. The CO mole fraction within
the flame zone turns between 0.06 and 0.065 and at the MC outlet it is
around 0.01. For the O2 mole fraction, the only mechanism capable of
consuming the entire amount is the GRI 3.0. Thus, the reduced schemes
show small amounts of O2 at the MC outlet. These differences in tem-
perature and species values could be attributed to the absence of some
intermediate reactions within the reduced schemes, unlike the full de-
tailed mechanism. Apart from the previous discussed differences, the
Smooke reaction mechanism has the closest tends and values to the full
GRI 3.0 mechanism among the Skeletal and DRM-19 mechanisms.
These later two mechanisms show close distributions to each other but
a considerable deviation from the GRI 3.0 mechanism.
Temperature (Fig. 15) and heat of reaction (Fig. 16) distributions
are of interest to examine the flame behavior for each reaction scheme.
From Fig. 15, it can be seen that the pre-heating zone differs from one
mechanism to another. The global 2-step mechanism shows larger pre-
heating zone and larger temperature gradient (yellow to red colors)
within the flame zone compared to the other schemes. The more
Z. Mansouri Energy Conversion and Management 198 (2019) 111155

Fig. 14. Centerline profiles of temperature and species mole fractions within the 8-waves MC using different kinetic mechanisms.

Table 1
Temperature and species values for the different combustion mechanisms.
2-Step Skeletal Smooke DRM-19 GRI 3.0

Flame location (m) 0.00294 0.00239 0.00201 0.00229 0.00196

Flame T (K) 2571 1970.09 1994.23 2114.53 2051.54
Outlet T (K) 1387.8 1362.08 1410.97 1392.31 1348.81
Flame CO (–) 0.02685 0.06496 0.06506 0.06007 0.06357
Outlet CO (–) 0.00062 0.01164 0.01002 0.01091 0.01009
Outlet O2 (–) 0.00958 0.00604 0.00963 0.00172 0.00004
Outlet CO2 (–) 0.09414 0.07689 0.08632 0.09141 0.08357

detailed schemes exhibit smaller pre-heating zones and smaller tem-

perature gradients within the flame zone. This is governed by the po-
sition of stability of the flame, as shown in Fig. 16. The GRI 3.0 and
Smooke flames are stabilized at the top of the third wave at around
0.002 m. Whereas the Skeletal and DRM-19 flames are stabilized be-
tween the third and the fourth waves at around 0.0023 m. This dis-
crepancy could be attributed to the fact that the Skeletal and DRM-19
predicts a lower burning velocity compared to the GRI 3.0 and thereby
Fig. 15. Temperature distribution within the 8-waves MC using different ki-
leads to a more downstream flame stabilization location. Moreover, the
netic mechanisms.
flames of the detailed mechanisms are curved but in the opposite di-
rection compared to the global 2-step flame. Also, they occupy the
whole cross section within the MC, unlike the global 2-step flame which most adaptable to simulate steady micro-flames since its prediction is
is not in contact with the walls. This of course is due to the simple very close to that of the GRI 3.0 and it needs less computational time.
chemistry of the global mechanism compared to the other detailed
schemes. Furthermore, it should note that the computational time of the 5. Conclusions
detailed schemes is several times higher than that of the global me-
chanism, especially the GRI 3.0 scheme. The reduced mechanisms In this work, an innovative MC configuration with wavy walls for
(Skeletal, Smooke, and DRM-19) take less than the half of GRI 3.0 thermo-photovoltaic applications is proposed. The innovative wavy
computational time. It can be concluded that the Smooke mechanism is walls could contain 2-waves, 4-waves or 8-waves. The wavy walls

8
Z. Mansouri
Fig. 16. Heat of reaction (flame) contours within the 8-waves MC using dif-
ferent kinetic mechanisms.
ensure an enhanced heat transfer between the reactor and the absorber
of the MTPV system. Within the proposed MC configuration the micro-
combustion characteristics of 2D laminar premixed CH4–air flames
(Φ = 1) have been studied numerically. The main contributions of this
investigation could be concluded as follows:
(1) The micro-flame was found slightly curved due to the walls effect.
The flame location is sensible to the wavy wall geometry. As the
number of waves increases, the flame moves towards the MC outlet.
(2) The results of the non-symmetric temperature profiles revealed that
the flame takes new locations compared with symmetric tempera-
ture profiles cases. This difference is due to the enlargement of the
pre-heating zone of the non-symmetric cases.
(3) The increase of the wall temperature moves the flames towards the
MC inlet and reduces the flame temperature. The high wall tem-
perature provokes combustion near the wall where small heat re-
lease was found at this location. This reduces the heat release
within the flame core and explains the reduction of the flame
temperature.
(4) The 8-waves model and the 1500 K temperature profile were used
to investigate the flame temperature and location and the species
mole fractions for each the CH4 reaction mechanism. The 2-step
mechanism showed large deviations of all quantities. The results of
the other detailed schemes were competitive. The GRI 3.0 and
Smooke flames are stabilized at the top of the third wave. Whereas
the Skeletal and DRM-19 flames are stabilized between the third
and the fourth waves.
(5) The Smooke mechanism was found the most adaptable scheme to
simulate steady micro-flames since its prediction is very close to
that of the full chemistry scheme (GRI 3.0).
Declaration of interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
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