Direct numerical simulation of the effect of an electric field on flame stability

Validation of a novel numerical model for the electric currents in burner-stabilized methane–air flames

“…Quasi-neutrality can also be enforced by using ambipolar diffusion, where diffusion by the internal electric field is taken into account [17,18]. This is usually done by employing an electric drift velocity, either based on an assumed electric mobility [4,21], or the Einstein relation [4,17]. Cancian et al [17] computed the plasma parameter and concluded that this approach is possibly not applicable.…”

“…The chemiionization reaction is widely regarded as the source of charged species in the flow [1][2][3][4]. These charged species have been studied extensively during the past few decades for several reasons.…”

“…Strong applied electric fields influence the flame stand-off distance to the burner deck [5,19]. This behavior has also been studied numerically to investigate its effect on flame stabilization [4]. A comprehensive overview of the conducted research on ionized flames has been given by Fialkov [5].…”

“…These charged species have been studied extensively during the past few decades for several reasons. They can be used in conjunction with (strong) external electric fields to enhance flame stability [4,5], or ignite combustible mixtures with a spark plug [6][7][8][9][10]. Starikovskaia [11] presents a comprehensive review on plasma assisted ignition and combustion, which can be used to lower the ignition temperature significantly [12].…”

“…A quasi-neutrality assumption is usually used to compute the concentrations of charged species, to significantly reduce the computational time [4,16]. This assumes the concentration of electrons to balance the charge carried by the ions.…”