NERSC Initiative for Scientific Exploration (NISE) 2009 Awards

Structure and Dynamics of Premixed Spherical Flames

John Bell, Berkeley Lab

Sponsoring NERSC Project: Interaction of Turbulence and Chemistry in Lean Premixed Laboratory Flames (incite16), Principal Investigator: John Bell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Spherical flames at high pressure exhibit a wide range of surface morphologies including pulsating instabilities, spiral waves and target patterns on the flame surface. The goal of this proposal is to simulate high-pressure hydrogen/air flames at both lean and rich conditions using detailed kinetics and transport to capture this type of phenomena computationally. In addition, we want to capture numerically the self-similar acceleration of these types of flames. These simulations are particularly demanding because the flames at high pressure are extremely thin, which places stringent requirements on resolution. This study is a collaboration with Prof. Ed Law from Princeton University, head of the EFRC for Combustion Science.