The structure of premixed turbulent flames and governing physical mechanisms of the influence of turbulence on premixed burning are often discussed by invoking combustion regime diagrams. In the ...majority of such diagrams, boundaries of three combustion regimes associated with (i) flame preheat zones broadened locally by turbulent eddies, (ii) reaction zones broadened locally by turbulent eddies, and (iii) local extinction are based on a Karlovitz number Ka, with differently defined Ka being used to demarcate different combustion regimes. The present paper aims to overview different definitions of Ka, comparing them, and suggesting the most appropriate choice of Ka for each combustion regime boundary. Moreover, since certain Karlovitz numbers involve a laminar flame thickness, the influence of complex combustion chemistry on the thickness and, hence, on various Ka and relations between them is explored based on results of complex-chemistry simulations of unperturbed (stationary, planar, and one-dimensional) laminar premixed flames, obtained for various fuels, equivalence ratios, pressures, and unburned gas temperatures.
The influence of statistically stationary, homogeneous isotropic turbulence (i) on the mean area of a passive front propagating in a constant-density fluid and, hence, (ii) on the mean fluid ...consumption velocity u¯T is explored, particularly in the case of an asymptotically high turbulent Reynolds number, and an asymptotically high ratio of the Kolmogorov velocity to a constant speed u0 of the front. First, a short early transient stage is analyzed by assuming that the front remains close to a material surface that coincides with the front at the initial instant. Therefore, similarly to a material surface, the front area grows exponentially with time. This stage, whose duration is much less than an integral time scale of the turbulent flow, is argued to come to an end once the volume of fluid consumed by the front is equal to the volume embraced due to the turbulent dispersion of the front. The mean fluid consumption velocity averaged over this stage is shown to be proportional to the rms turbulent velocity u′. Second, a late statistically stationary regime of the front evolution is studied. A new length scale characterizing the smallest wrinkles of the front surface is introduced. Since this length scale is smaller than the Kolmogorov length scale ηK under conditions of the present study, the front is hypothesized to be a bifractal with two different fractal dimensions for wrinkles larger and smaller than ηK. Finally, a simple scaling of u¯T∝u′ is obtained for this late stage as well.
By analyzing the statistically stationary stage of propagation of a Huygens front in homogeneous, isotropic, constant-density turbulence, a length scale l0 is introduced to characterize the smallest ...wrinkles on the front surface in the case of a low constant speed u0 of the front when compared to the Kolmogorov velocity uK. The length scale is derived following a hypothesis of dynamical similarity that highlights a balance between (i) creation of a front area due to advection and (ii) destruction of the front area due to propagation. Consequently, the front speed is compared with the magnitude of the fluid velocity difference in two points separated by a distance smaller than the Kolmogorov length scale. Appropriateness of the smallest wrinkle scale is demonstrated by applying a fractal approach to evaluating the mean area of the instantaneous front surface. Since the scales of the smallest and larger wrinkles belong to different subranges (dissipation and inertial, respectively) of the Kolmogorov turbulence spectrum, the front is hypothesized to be a bifractal characterized by two different fractal dimensions in the two subranges. Both fractal dimensions are evaluated adapting the aforementioned hypothesis of dynamical similarity. Such a bifractal model yields a linear relation between the mean fluid consumption velocity, which is equal to the front speed u0 multiplied with a ratio of the mean area of the instantaneous front surface to the transverse projected area, and the rms turbulent velocity u′ even if a ratio of u0/u′ tends to zero.
We observed, for the first time, solar neutrinos in the 1.0-1.5 MeV energy range. We determined the rate of pep solar neutrino interactions in Borexino to be 3.1±0.6{stat}±0.3{syst} counts/(day·100 ...ton). Assuming the pep neutrino flux predicted by the standard solar model, we obtained a constraint on the CNO solar neutrino interaction rate of <7.9 counts/(day·100 ton) (95% C.L.). The absence of the solar neutrino signal is disfavored at 99.97% C.L., while the absence of the pep signal is disfavored at 98% C.L. The necessary sensitivity was achieved by adopting data analysis techniques for the rejection of cosmogenic {11}C, the dominant background in the 1-2 MeV region. Assuming the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein large mixing angle solution to solar neutrino oscillations, these values correspond to solar neutrino fluxes of (1.6±0.3)×10{8} cm{-2} s^{-1} and <7.7×10{8} cm{-2} s{-1} (95% C.L.), respectively, in agreement with both the high and low metallicity standard solar models. These results represent the first direct evidence of the pep neutrino signal and the strongest constraint of the CNO solar neutrino flux to date.
The first cycle of measurements of the ratio of cumulative spectra of beta particles originating from the isotopes
U and
Pu undergoing thermal-neutron-induced fission was performed. It is found that ...the curve obtained from our present measurement of the
U
Pu ratio of beta-particle spectra lies 5
lower than the analogous curve following from the measurement of a group from Institute Laue–Langevin (ILL). The present analysis reveals that this is due to an erroneous 5
overestimation of the
U beta-particle spectrum measured by the ILL group. As a consequence, the results obtained for the
U
spectrum at the production instant via a reconstruction from the cumulative spectrum of beta particles from
U also turned out to be overestimated by 5
. These data explain the effect of the reactor antineutrino anomaly.
This final article about the CHOOZ experiment presents a complete description of the \(\bar{\nu}_e\) source and detector, the calibration methods and stability checks, the event reconstruction ...procedures and the Monte Carlo simulation. The data analysis, systematic effects and the methods used to reach our conclusions are fully discussed. Some new remarks are presented on the deduction of the confidence limits and on the correct treatment of systematic errors.
When a premixed flame propagates in a turbulent flow, not only does turbulence affect the burning rate (e.g., by wrinkling the flame and increasing its surface area), but also the heat release in the ...flame perturbs the pressure field, and these pressure perturbations affect the turbulent flow and scalar transport. For instance, the latter effects manifest themselves in the so-called countergradient turbulent scalar flux, which has been documented in various flames and has challenged the combustion community for approximately 35 years. Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in investigating (
a
) the influence of thermal expansion in a premixed flame on the turbulent flow and turbulent scalar transport within the flame brush, as well as (
b
) the feedback influence of countergradient scalar transport on the turbulent burning rate. The present article reviews recent developments in this field and outlines issues to be solved in future research.
Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data obtained by Dave and Chaudhuri (2020) from a lean, complex-chemistry, hydrogen-air flame associated with the thin-reaction-zone regime of premixed turbulent ...burning are analyzed to perform a priori assessment of predictive capabilities of the flamelet approach for evaluating mean species concentrations. For this purpose, dependencies of mole fractions and rates of production of various species on a combustion progress variable c, obtained from the laminar flame, are averaged adopting either the actual Probability Density Function (PDF) P(c) extracted from the DNS data or a common presumed β-function PDF. On the one hand, the results quantitatively validate the flamelet approach for the mean mole fractions of all species, including radicals, but only if the actual PDF P(c) is adopted. The use of the β-function PDF yields substantially worse results for the radicals’ concentrations. These findings put modeling the PDF P(c) on the forefront of the research agenda. On the other hand, the mean rate of product creation and turbulent burning velocity are poorly predicted even adopting the actual PDF. These results imply that, in order to evaluate the mean species concentrations, the flamelet approach could be coupled with another model that predicts the mean rate and turbulent burning velocity better. Accordingly, the flamelet approach could be implemented as post-processing of numerical data yielded by that model. Based on the aforementioned findings and implications, a new approach to building a presumed PDF is developed. The key features of the approach consist in (i) adopting a re-normalized flamelet PDF for intermediate values of c and (ii) directly using the mean rate of product creation to calibrate the presumed PDF. Capabilities of the newly developed PDF for predicting mean species concentrations are quantitively validated for all species, including radicals.
•A new flamelet-based presumed Probability Density Function approach is developed.•The flamelet approach quantitatively predicts mean concentrations of radicals.•The flamelet approach is useful at Karlovitz number larger than 10.