Modeling of laminar flame propagation through organic dust cloud with thermal radiation effect

In this research, a mathematical model is performed to analyze the structure of flame propagation through a two-phase mixture consisting of organic fuel particles and air. In contrast to previous analytical studies, thermal radiation effect is taken into consideration, which has not been attempted before. In order to simulate of the dust combustion phenomenon, it is assumed that the flame structure consists of four zones: preheat, vaporization, reaction and post flame (burned). Furthermore, radiative heat transfer equation is employed to describe the thermal radiation exchanged between these zones. The obtained results show that the induced thermal radiation from flame interface into the preheat and vaporization zones plays a significant role in the improvement of vaporization process and burning velocity of organic dust mixture, compared with the case in which the thermal radiation factor is neglected. According to present results, flame structure variables such as the burning velocity, mixture temperature, mass fraction of volatile fuel particles and gaseous fuel mass fraction strongly depend on radiative heat transfer. These predictions have reasonable agreement with published experimental data. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.