Numerical simulation of flame dynamics associated with negative velocity induced by deformed flame shape

In this study, the influence of the negative velocity field formed ahead of an abruptly deformed flame tip on the propagation behaviour of a laminar premixed flame is numerically investigated. A strong deformation in the flame front is induced by imposing a very narrow, in-line pre-heating zone in the unburned region. The simulation is performed under low Mach number approximation by using a multi-scale multi-physics Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver FrontFlow/Red with one-step finite rate chemistry in order to track the time-dependent flame dynamics. The computed results unveil that the flame front is deformed significantly within a short time due to the narrow in-line pre-heating effect. The flame deformation induces a strong negative velocity field ahead of the deformed flame tip, acting in the direction of propagation, which gives rise to a strong pair vortex. This strong pair vortex interacts with the flame tip and then slides down along the flame surface in the upstream direction during propagation. This flame-vortex interaction causes further deformation in the flame surface in the upstream direction, and consequently, the flame exhibits a wave-like surface, which enhances the flame propagation speed. The auto-generation of a strong pair vortex ahead of the flame front due to the localised thermal input could be applied as one of the methods to control the combustion externally. It is also expected that the results obtained in this study could have a significant impact on the detailed understanding of the local thermo-fluid dynamical interaction process of turbulent combustion in practical combustors.