Effects of pressure and heat loss on the unstable motion of cellular-flame fronts caused by intrinsic instability in hydrogen-air lean premixed flames

Kadowaki, Satoshi; Thwe Thwe, A.  ; Furuyama, Taisei*; Kawata, Kazumasa*; Katsumi, Toshiyuki; Kobayashi, Hideaki*

Effects of pressure and heat loss on the unstable motion of cellular-flame fronts in hydrogen-air lean premixed flames were numerically investigated. The reaction mechanism for hydrogen-oxygen combustion was modeled with seventeen reversible reactions of eight reactive species and a diluent. Two-dimensional unsteady reactive flow was treated, and the compressibility, viscosity, heat conduction, molecular diffusion and heat loss were taken into account. As the pressure became higher, the maximum growth rate increased and the unstable range widened. These were due mainly to the decrease of flame thickness. The burning velocity of a cellular flame normalized by that of a planar flame increased as the pressure became higher and the heat loss became larger. This indicated that the pressure and heat loss affected strongly the unstable motion of cellular-flame fronts. In addition, the fractal dimension became larger, which denoted that the flame shape became more complicated.