Flame Generation of Vorticity: Vortex Dipoles from Monopoles

Abstract

Numerical simulation of premixed flame propagation through a two-dimensional vorticity distribution exhibits the coupling between combustion heat release and fluid dynamics. Effects of both thermal expansion and vorticity generation via baroclinic torques are considered. The rotational part of the velocity field is described by discrete vorticity. The irrotational velocity. given by a velocity potential. is determined by a Poisson equation where the chemical reaction determines the spatial distribution of volume expansion. The transport of a single reacting scalar is computed on an Eulerian mesh with a small-Mach-number flow assumption so that the density gradient is nonzero only within the reaction zone. The vector cross product of density gradient and pressure gradient defines the baroclinic generation of vorticity. With a single initial vortical region-the monopole interacting with a premixed flame-the baroclinic effect produces opposite circulation, and thus. creates a dipole configuration. We use the dipole description in a loose sense. because in some solutions the two signs of vorticity are spatially intermingled. However. in comparison to the monopole. the "dipole" solution has stronger local velocity fluctuations but weaker long-range velocities. Thus, the turbulence in the burnt gas is more intense with smaller length scales than the configuration before the flame-vortex interaction.