Dynamics of flames in tubes with no-slip walls and the mechanism of tulip flame formation1

A hydrogen/air flame propagation and the development of tulip-shaped flame in 2D tubes of different aspect ratios with both closed ends and in a half-open rectangular channel were studied using high resolution direct numerical simulations of the fully compressible Navier–Stokes equations coupled with a detailed chemistry. Flame propagation in a 3D rectangular channel was studied using large eddy simulations and compared with the results of direct numerical simulations of flame propagation in a 2D rectangular channel with the same aspect ratio. It is shown that the interaction of the rarefaction wave generated by the flame at the deceleration stage with the “positive” flow of unburned gas generated by the flame at the previous accelerating stage leads to a significant decrease of the velocity of the unburned gas flow in the near field zone ahead of the flame front. As a result, the thickness of the boundary layer in the near-field zone ahead of the flame increases significantly, and the profile of the axial velocity of the unburned gas in the near-field zone ahead of the flame front takes the form of a tulip or an inverted tulip, which leads to corresponding changes in the velocities of different parts of the flame front, the flame front inversion, and the formation of a tulip-shaped flame.