Accelerative propagation and explosion triggering by expanding turbulent premixed flames

Abstract

The dynamics and morphology of outwardly propagating, accelerating turbulent premixed flames and the effect of flame acceleration on explosion triggering are analyzed. Guided by recent theoretical results and substantiated by experiments, we find that an expanding flame front in an externally forced, near-isotropic turbulent environment exhibits accelerative propagation given by a well-defined power law based on the average global flame radius. In this context the limits of the power-law exponent and the effective turbulence intensity experienced by the flame are derived. The power-law exponent is found to be substantially larger than that for the hydrodynamically unstable cellular laminar flames, hence facilitating the possibility of detonation triggering in turbulent environments. For large length scales, hydrodynamic instability is expected to provide additional acceleration, thus further favoring the attainment of detonation triggering.