Unsteady heat transfer during side wall quenching of a laminar flame

Abstract

The unsteady heat transfer during laminar flame quenching on a side wall was determined in a constant volume chamber. The interaction of the flame with the wall was essentially two dimensional. Experiments were conducted for three fuels; propane, methane and ethylene, over a range of equivalence ratios at nearly atmospheric pressure. The unsteady variations of the surface temperature were measured with a resistance type thin film thermometer and with a thin film coaxial T type thermocouple. The unsteady wall heat fluxes were successfully correlated using the rate of heat release in the flame prior to quenching, qc, and a characteristic time for the passage of the flame, tc. The maximum heat flux during side wall quenching, qmax, is the same as that occurring during stagnation quenching. This result is true for the present apparatus for three fuels over a broad range of test conditions. The experimental data satisfy the relation qmax/qc=0.3–0.4.