A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR EFFECTS IN PRESSURE WAVE-PREMIXED FLAME INTERACTIONS

On an acoustic time scale, a rippled flame propagating in the presence of a pressure gradient is modelled by treating the flame as a density discontinuity. The equations governing the pressure wave-flame front interaction then reduce to the equations of gasdynamics, which are solved numerically by employing a fully lagrangian algorithm in two dimensions. This preliminary study is concerned with demonstrating the relevance of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the early stages of the pressure wave-flame interaction and the subsequent evolution of the rippled flame, so details of flame structure are not included. Nevertheless, even with this simple gasdynamic model, the enhancement or suppression of the flame ripples are demonstrated by our numerical results, clearly illustrating changes in the flame shape due to the passage of the pressure wave.