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Flame Curvature Distribution in High Pressure Turbulent Bunsen Premixed Flames

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Abstract

The flame curvature statistics of turbulent premixed Bunsen flames have been analysed in this paper using a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) database of turbulent Bunsen flames at ambient and elevated pressures. In order to be able to perform a large parametric study in terms of pressure, heat release parameter, turbulence conditions and nozzle diameter, a single step Arrhenius type irreversible chemistry has been used for the purpose of computational economy, where thermo-chemical parameters are adjusted to match the behavior of stoichiometric methane-air flames. This analysis focuses on the characterization of the local flame geometry in response to turbulence and hydro-dynamic instability. The shape of the flame front is found to be consistent with existing experimental data. Although the Darrieus Landau instability promotes cusp formation, a qualitatively similar flame morphology can be observed for hydro-dynamically stable flames. A criterion has been suggested for the curvature PDF to become negatively skewed.

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Acknowledgements

Computer resources for this project have been provided by the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing / Leibniz Supercomputing Centre under grants: pr74ra, pn69ga. NC is grateful to ARCHER for computational support. Support by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant numbers EP/K025163/1 and EP/P022286/1 is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, 85577, Germany

    M. Klein, H. Nachtigal, M. Hansinger & M. Pfitzner

  2. School of Mechanical & Systems Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    N. Chakraborty

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  1. M. Klein
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  2. H. Nachtigal
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Correspondence to M. Klein.

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Klein, M., Nachtigal, H., Hansinger, M. et al. Flame Curvature Distribution in High Pressure Turbulent Bunsen Premixed Flames. Flow Turbulence Combust 101, 1173–1187 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-018-9951-1

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