Simulation of a premixed turbulent flame with the discrete vortex method

Abstract

The behaviour of a premixed turbulent flame is numerically studied in this paper. The numerical model is based on solving turbulent flow field by the discrete vortex method. The flame is considered to be of zero thickness boundary which separates burnt and unburnt regions with different constant density and propagates into the fresh mixture at a local curvature-dependent flame speed. The flame front is located by means of level-set algorithm. The flow turbulence is simulated through the unsteady vortex-shedding mechanism. The computed velocity fields, turbulence scalar statistics as well as flame brush thickness for the turbulent V-flame are well comparable to experimental results. The computed Reynolds stresses in the flame brush region based on unconditioned velocities are substantial, but the two conditioned Reynolds stresses are negligible. These results show that the intermittency effect is a major influence on turbulent statistics in premixed flame and should require careful consideration in numerical models. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.