Large Eddy Simulation and Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition of Flow-Flame Interaction in a Lean Premixed Low Swirl Stabilized Flame

Abstract

In this paper, numerical studies are reported on the effect of flow-flame interaction at large and medium scales and its impact on flame stabilization in a lean premixed low swirl stabilized methane/air flame. The numerical simulations are based on a large eddy simulation (LES) approach with a three-scalar flamelet model with equations for mixture fraction and fuel mass fraction and the level-set G-equation to account respectively for stratification of the mixture, fuel leakage at the trailing edge of the flame, and tracking of the flame front. Distinct frequencies, associated with the flame stabilization process, are identified from point data of LES in the outer and inner shear layers of the burner induced flow field. To understand the effect of the spatial structures related to the observed flow frequencies, a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) is performed. Based on the analysis of LES data, frequency specific coherent flow structures are extracted along with associated flame structures through an extended version of DMD. The inner shear layer generated vortices are associated with recurring frequency specific coherent structures of both flow and flame and contribute to the flame stabilization in the outer regions of the flow.