SCALING IN BUOYANCY-DRIVEN TURBULENT PREMIXED FLAMES

A scaling law is proposed that gives the steady-state turbulent flame velocity in the regime where the flame is thin compared with the large st scale of the turbulence, diffusion effects are small compared to th e fluid dynamics effects, and the turbulence is driven by the Rayleigh -Taylor instability in a gravitational field. This is the regime where the fluid dynamic effects dominate diffusion. These conditions exist in premixed hydrocarbon flames approaching the flammability limits and astrophysical objects, such as supernovae. It is proposed that labora tory combustion experiments could be used to calibrate the turbulence model for supernova explosions.