Rayleigh–Bénard instability generated by a diffusion flame

Abstract

AbstractWe investigate the Rayleigh–Bénard convection problem within the context of a diffusion flame formed in a horizontal channel where the fuel and oxidizer concentrations are prescribed at the porous walls. This problem seems to have received no attention in the literature. When formulated in the low-Mach-number approximation the model depends on two main non-dimensional parameters, the Rayleigh number and the Damköhler number, which govern gravitational strength and reaction speed respectively. In the steady state the system admits a planar diffusion flame solution; the aim is to find the critical Rayleigh number at which this solution becomes unstable to infinitesimal perturbations. In the Boussinesq approximation, a linear stability analysis reduces the system to a matrix equation with a solution comparable to that of the well-studied non-reactive case of Rayleigh–Bénard convection with a hot lower boundary. The planar Burke–Schumann diffusion flame, which has been previously considered unconditionally stable in studies disregarding gravity, is shown to become unstable when the Rayleigh number exceeds a critical value. A numerical treatment is performed to test the effects of compressibility and finite chemistry on the stability of the system. For weak values of the thermal expansion coefficient $\alpha $, the numerical results show strong agreement with those of the linear stability analysis. It is found that as $\alpha $ increases to a more realistic value the system becomes considerably more stable, and also exhibits hysteresis at the onset of instability. Finally, a reduction in the Damköhler number is found to decrease the stability of the system.