Dynamics of Blast Wave and Cellular H2-Air Flame Interaction in a Hele-Shaw Cell

Abstract

The present thesis investigates the interaction of a shock wave with a cellular flame and the ensuing mechanisms on the dynamics of the subsequent flame deformation. The inter- action is known to disrupt the flame surface through the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, hence potentially enhancing the local combustion rates. This study aims to clarify the evolution of a flame when perturbed head-on by a shock wave. Two novel series of experiments were conducted in a vertically-oriented Hele-Shaw cell, which could successfully isolate a quasi-bidimensional cellular flame structure at ambient conditions. In the first configuration, the passage of the shock wave arising in the burned products of a deflagration wave was investigated, while both waves propagated in the same outward direction. In the other configuration, the shock wave centrally emerged in the unburned gases and collided with a cellular flame front traveling in the opposite direction. The event was captured using a Z-type Schlieren imaging system to visualize the growth of the flame cells. Shock characterization was determined in the Hele-Shaw apparatus to estimate the strength of the blast wave generated by energy deposition using a high-voltage igniter or by decoupled detonation from a detonation tube. A combustion study was also performed to determine the laminar flame speed in a mixture of hydrogen-air according to different equivalence ratios in the apparatus. The experiments revealed that inherent cellular flame instabilities are well developed in the observation scale of the Hele-Shaw geometry. The shock-flame complex was therefore analyzed experimentally for selected mixtures. As the shock wave traversed the interface separating the burned and unburned gases, the flame became more corrugated. Following the interaction, the flame cusps were stretched and/or flattened. At later times, the wrinkled interface was reversed and developed finer scales. A time scale analysis was performed to identify the contribution of the competing effects of Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities on the flame interface deformation. For the case of a shock wave traversing the flame interface from the unburned to the burned side, the early perturbations were mainly governed by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. Finally, Rayleigh-Taylor instability resulted from the decaying pressure profile of the blast wave and tended to stabilize the perturbed interface to eventually reverse the cellular structure. Experimental and inert numerical results on the flame cell’s amplitude growth were found to be in good agreement.