Basic research on radiant burners. Final report, February 1987-February 1992

A computer model was modified and used to predict the operating characteristics of natural gas fired porous surface radiant burners. Performance parameters studied during this contract included radiant flux from the burner surface, burner surface temperature, NOx emissions, and flame attachment and flashback stability limits. Each year, computational work was performed to predict radiant burner performance. Concurrently, experimental work was performed to compare to these computational results. Validation of the code against experimental data allows the code to be used as a design tool in the further development of radiant burner combustion systems. Thermal performance, limits of stable operation, and NOx emissions have been correlated to experimental data in the report. In addition, catalytic radiant burners were fabricated and tested during the first and fourth years of the contract.