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The effects of Lewis number Le on both vorticity and enstrophy transport within the flame brush have been analysed using direct numerical simulation data of freely propagating statistically planar turbulent premixed flames, representing the thin reaction zone regime of premixed turbulent combustion. In the simulations, Le was ranged from 0.34 to 1.2 by keeping the laminar flame speed, thermal thickness, Damköhler, Karlovitz, and Reynolds numbers unchanged. The enstrophy has been shown to decay significantly from the unburned to the burned gas side of the flame brush in the Le ≈ 1.0 flames. However, a considerable amount of enstrophy generation within the flame brush has been observed for the Le = 0.34 case and a similar qualitative behaviour has been observed in a much smaller extent for the Le = 0.6 case. The vorticity components have been shown to exhibit anisotropic behaviour within the flame brush, and the extent of anisotropy increases with decreasing Le. The baroclinic torque term has been shown to be principally responsible for this anisotropic behaviour. The vortex stretching and viscous dissipation terms have been found to be the leading order contributors to the enstrophy transport for all cases, but the baroclinic torque and the sink term due to dilatation play increasingly important role for flames with decreasing Le. Furthermore, the correlation between the fluctuations of enstrophy and dilatation rate has been shown to play an important role in determining the material derivative of enstrophy based on the mean flow in the case of a low Le.

A 3D direct numerical simulation (DNS) study of the evolution of a self-propagating interface in forced constant-density statistically stationary homogeneous isotropic turbulence was performed by solving Navier–Stokes and level-set equations under a wide range of conditions that cover various (from 0.1 to 2.0) ratios of the interface speed $S_{L}$ to the r.m.s. turbulent velocity  $U^{\prime }$ and various (50, 100 and 200) turbulent Reynolds numbers $\mathit{Re}$. By analysing computed data, the following issues were addressed: (i) dependence of the speed and thickness of the fully developed statistically planar mean front that envelops the interface on $U^{\prime }/S_{L}$ and $\mathit{Re}$, (ii) dependence of the fully developed mean turbulent flux of a scalar $c$ that characterizes the state of the fluid ($c=0$ and 1 ahead and behind the interface respectively) on $U^{\prime }/S_{L}$ and $\mathit{Re}$, (iii) evolution of the mean front speed, its thickness, and the mean scalar flux during the front development after embedding a planar interface into the forced turbulence and (iv) relation between canonical and conditioned moments of the velocity, velocity gradient and pressure gradient fields.

Database obtained earlier in 3D Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of statistically stationary, 1D, planar turbulent flames characterized by three different density ratios σ is processed in order to investigate vorticity transformation in premixed combustion under conditions of moderately weak turbulence (rms turbulent velocity and laminar flame speed are roughly equal to one another). In cases H and M characterized by σ = 7.53 and 5.0, respectively, anisotropic generation of vorticity within the flame brush is reported. In order to study physical mechanisms that control this phenomenon, various terms in vorticity and enstrophy balance equations are analyzed, with both mean terms and terms conditioned on a particular value c of the combustion progress variable being addressed. Results indicate an important role played by baroclinic torque and dilatation in transformation of average vorticity and enstrophy within both flamelets and flame brush. Besides these widely recognized physical mechanisms, two other effects are documented. First, viscous stresses redistribute enstrophy within flamelets, but play a minor role in the balance of the mean enstrophy within turbulent flame brush. Second, negative correlation u · ∇ between fluctuations in velocity u and enstrophy gradient contributes substantially to an increase in the mean within turbulent flame brush. This negative correlation is mainly controlled by the positive correlation between fluctuations in the enstrophy and dilatation and, therefore, dilatation fluctuations substantially reduce the damping effect of the mean dilatation on the vorticity and enstrophy fields. In case L characterized by σ = 2.5, these effects are weakly pronounced and is reduced mainly due to viscosity. Under conditions of the present DNS, vortex stretching plays a minor role in the balance of vorticity and enstrophy within turbulent flame brush in all three cases. C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx

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.

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