New laminar flame speed correlation for lean mixtures of hydrogen combustion with water addition under high pressure conditions

Hydrogen may become a substitute for liquid fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions in internal combustion engines. Numerical simulations play a critical role in the advancement of these engines, with laminar flame speed being the main input. Experimental data of hydrogen flame speed at elevated pressures are scarce, due to the instability of the flames. Nonetheless, stable hydrogen flames can be predicted using chemical kinetics models. Moreover, the injection of water into the hydrogen fuelled engine could offer several benefits to engine combustion and emission performance, as it modulates the laminar flame speed within the combustion chamber and this effect has not been completely understood. Currently, no correlation exists to predict the laminar flame speed of hydrogen-air combustion with water addition under lean mixture engine operating conditions. In this study, we have extended the newly developed laminar flame speed correlation of hydrogen-air combustion to account for the effects of water addition under engine relevant conditions by using chemical kinetic laminar flame speed values. The laminar flame speed correlation was derived for pressures from 10 to 70 bar, temperatures from 400 to 800 K, equivalence ratios from 0.35 to 1 and water addition by mole from 0 to 20%. The hydrogen laminar flame speed correlation was expressed using polynomial forms with reduced order and number of terms with optimized values of coefficients. Additionally, a new exponential term was proposed to the power term α of the laminar flame speed correlation to capture the coupled effects of pressure and temperature on laminar flame speeds under engine-relevant lean burn water-diluted operating conditions.