MODELING STUDIES OF SPIRAL WAVES AND TARGET PATTERNS IN PREMIXED FLAMES

Spiral waves and target patterns have recently been observed experimen tally in freely propagating and burner-stabilised flames, typically in systems close to the lean flammability limit and for which the Lewis number (Le, the ratio of thermal to mass diffusivity) exceeds unity. A n interpretation of these observations based on a simple two-reaction model (the Sal'nikov model) is developed here in terms of the excitabi lity of the system rather than by ascribing any special role to the Le wis number. The conditions for excitability are derived in terms of th e various experimental parameters (reaction rate coefficients, exother micity, initial concentrations, heat transfer coefficient, etc.) and t his information is then used to direct a numerical search for wave beh aviour in the reaction-diffusion equations. The conditions for wave pr opagation are then established in terms of the experimental parameters and examples of target and spiral waves computed. Waves are shown to exist for a wide range of Lewis number, including Le < 1, but it is al so observed that high values of Le appear to increase the range of the conditions over which waves can be supported.