Experimental investigation of flame morphology and instabilities in turbulent wind-driven flames

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This paper investigates the effect of freestream turbulence on flame profile parameters and streak behavior for boundary layer flames stabilized over a liquid fuel-soaked wick. In contrast to conventional gaseous burners, the study utilized a condensed fuel surface to better emulate realistic burning scenarios, thereby increasing the reliability of the obtained results. This study explores the impact of crossflow velocity (ranging from 1 m/s to 2 m/s) and turbulent intensity (varying between 1.8 % and 16 %) on the dynamic evolution of flame geometry and streak profile. For a given flow velocity, the results indicate a reduction in flame length and flame attachment length with turbulence intensity; in contrast, an increase in tilt angle was observed with increasing turbulence intensity. However, the rate of their increase or decrease was found to vary across different ranges of freestream turbulence intensity. Also, the flame exhibits a curling action in higher turbulence intensity scenarios that influence the global flame structure. The average mass burning rate was also found to be positively related to the flow turbulence in all considered cases. Freestream turbulence induces significant disturbances that amplify and destabilize coherent structures, accelerating the transition to turbulence in the overall flow and resulting in a shorter flame attachment length. Streak spacing experiences accelerated growth with higher turbulence levels, with a sharp surge in the initial region due to the blowing effect caused by the condensed fuel surface. The influence of flow turbulence was also observed by plotting lognormal distribution curves representing streak spacing data. The impact of elevated freestream turbulence on the dispersion of the distribution curve was found to be more pronounced than that of the flow velocity, emphasizing its crucial role in governing the streak dynamics.