Calculation of the upper flammability limit of methane/hydrogen/air mixtures at elevated pressures and temperatures

The results of three different numerical methods to calculate flammability limits—namely (1) the calculation of planar flames with the inclusion of a (radiation) heat loss term in the energy conservation equation, and the application of (2) a limiting burning velocity and of (3) a limiting flame temperature—are compared with experimental data on the upper flammability limit (UFL) of methane/hydrogen/air mixtures with hydrogen fuel molar fractions of 20% and 40%, at initial pressures up to 10 bar and initial temperatures up to 200 °C. The application of a limiting burning velocity is found to predict the pressure dependence of the UFL well, while the application of a limiting flame temperature generally is found to slightly underestimate the temperature dependence of the UFL.