Premixed Flame Response to a Counterflowing Non-thermal Plasma Jet

The response of the laminar premixed flame to a counterflowing non-thermal plasma jet has been studied experimentally and numerically. The plasma is driven by alternating current and sustained in a co-axial dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) generator. Particle tracking methods and optical diagnostics of flame emission provide spatio-temporal resolutions of the flow field and subsequent flame response. The deflection of the streamline and flame sheet due to hydrodynamic disturbances results in oscillation of the total heat release rate. Numerical analysis is performed by specifying the flow fluctuation using inflow boundary conditions, as well as solving the flow field and flame structure in the small cylindrical domain sandwiched between the opposed nozzle outlets. The contour plots of temperature and velocity vectors in the simulation solution verify that the flow fluctuation causes deflection, displacement, creases and localized quenching of the flame front.