Laminar flame speed studies of lean premixed H2/CO/air flames

Laminar flame speeds of lean premixed H2/CO/air mixtures were measured in the counterflow configuration over a wide range of H2 content at lean conditions. The values were determined by extrapolating the referenced flame speed to zero stretch rate using the non-linear extrapolation method to reduce the systematic error. Detailed calculation of laminar flame speed was also conducted using PREMIX code coupled with three different kinetic models. In general, simulation results agreed well with the experimental data. Both the experimental and calculation results revealed that the laminar flame speeds of lean premixed H2/CO/air mixtures increased with H2 content significantly when H2 content was small (⩽15%) and gradually when H2 content was large (>15%).