The quenching of deflagration waves

✍ Scribed by J. Buckmaster

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 660 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(76)90068-7

✦ Synopsis

A simple model of a low Mach number deflagration wave is studied, with emphasis on the effects of a phenomenological heat loss term. It is shown by explicit construction that two quite different solutions, a fast wave and a slow wave, are possible in the adiabatic limit. In both cases the chemical reaction goes to completion and all the fuel is consumed, but for the fast wave the temperature increases from the ambient value to the usual adiabatic flame temperature, whereas the slow wave is isothermal. An analysis for finite heat loss is carried out in the realistic limit of infinite activation energy. In general this leads to a much simplified numerical problem, but for values of the flame speed of greatest physical interest an analytical description is possible. This predicts quenching when the heat loss is too great or the reaction rate too small, and yields simple explicit quenching criteria.