A comparison between experimental measurements and numerical calculations of the structure of premixed rotating counterflow methane-air flames

Abstract

In this paper we investigate computationally the structure and extinction of rotating counterflow premixed methane-air flames. By seeking a similarity solution of the governing two-dimensional conservation equations, we reduce the problem to the solution of a two-point boundary value problem along the axial spatial coordinate. We apply arclength continuation methods to investigate the equivalence ratio at extinction versus the rotation rate for four flames with ejection velocities equivalent to the experimental conditions considered by Chen et al. The results of our study indicate that by counterrotating the gases from the burners the lean extinction limit can be lowered. This is due to the lowering of the value of the local strain rate in the neighborhood of the stagnation plane.