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On roll, square and hexagonal cellular flames

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

R. Kuske
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
B.J. Matkowsky
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

Abstract

We consider the behaviour of a premixed flame anchored on a flat burner. For Lewis numbers L < L* < 1, stationary spatially periodic solutions corresponding to stationary cellular flames bifurcate from the basic solution which corresponds to a steady planar flame. We study the existence and stability of two-dimensional patterns which correspond to certain imposed symmetries by considering the evolution of N pairs of wave vectors, each of which is separated from the next by angle π/N. In the neighbourhood of the critical Lewis number L*, we derive evolution equations for the amplitudes corresponding to N = 2, which corresponds to square patterns, and N = 3, which corresponds to triangular or hexagonal patterns. We determine existence and stability results in terms of m∈(0, 1), the flow rate of the fuel, and K > 2/e, the scaled heat loss to the burner. Square patterns exist for L < L* and are stable for values of m and K above a stability boundary in the mK plane, which has a maximum at K = K* ∼ 4.77, so that for K > K* square patterns are stable for all m. The stability of the square patterns does not vary with L. Hexagonal patterns exist for L < LH, where 1 > LH > L*. The size of the stability region increases with decreasing L < L*. For a range of values of L there is bistability, that is, for given parameter values rolls and hexagons are simultaneously stable, each with its own domain of attraction.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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