Thermodiffusively unstable laminar hydrogen flame in a sufficiently large 3D computational domain – Part I: Characteristic patterns

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Thermodiffusive instabilities can have a leading order effect on flame propagation for lean premixed hydrogen flames. Many simulation studies have been performed to study this effect, but almost exclusively in two-dimensional (2D) or domain sizes too small to support the characteristic large-scale features of the instability. The main purpose of this study is to quantify the differences of 3D and 2D flames using simulations on sufficiently large domains. To this end, direct numerical simulations (DNS) of thermodiffusively unstable laminar premixed hydrogen flames stabilized in 3D domains were performed. The effects of confinement on the flame dynamics are rigorously investigated by varying the domain size. The flame burning velocity shows a strong dependence on the domain size when the lateral domain width is less than 50 laminar flame thicknesses. The characteristic patterns of the thermodiffusively unstable flame are analyzed in detail, including the instantaneous flame structure, global burning velocity, flame surface area, stretch factor, curvature distribution, and the cell size. The effects of the computational setup (2D vs. 3D) on the local flame front curvature and the distributions of the thermo-chemical quantities are quantified through a conditional analysis. The formation and destruction mechanisms of the distinct cellular structures observed in the 3D domain are analyzed focusing on the interactions between the flame dynamics and the flow field, and the contributions of the production of flame surface density, kinematic restoration, and curvature dissipation are quantified. Compared with the corresponding 2D simulation, the flame surface area in the cut plane of the 3D configuration is similar, yet the burning velocity and the stretch factor are increased. The reason for this is the difference in curvature statistics in 2D and 3D. In 3D, larger extreme curvature values are obtained, leading to quantitatively different distributions of the thermo-chemical variables. For example, the peak H radical concentration in the 3D simulation is about twice higher than in the 2D simulation.Novelty and significance statementThe novelty of the present work includes the following aspects:(i) First large-scale 3D DNS of laminar lean premixed hydrogen flame on domain large enough to obtain domain-independent results.(ii) First quantitative assessment of characteristic patterns of 3D thermodiffusively unstable premixed hydrogen flames.(iii) First quantitative assessment of differences between 2D and 3D thermodiffusively unstable premixed hydrogen flames for domain-independent results.