Flamelet Formation in Hele-Shaw Flow

Abstract A Hele-Shaw flow apparatus constructed at Michigan State University (MSU) produces conditions that reduce influences of buoyancy-driven flows. In addition, in the MSU Hele-Shaw apparatus it is possible to adjust the heat losses from the fuel sample (0.001” thick cellulose) and the flow speed of the approaching oxidizer flow (air) so that the “flamelet regime of flame spread” is entered. In this regime various features of the flame-to-smolder (and vice versa) transition can be studied. For the relatively wide (~ 17.5 cm) and long (~ 20 cm) samples used, approximately ten flamelets existed at all times. The flamelet behavior was studied mechanistically and statistically. A heat transfer analysis of the dominant heat transfer mechanisms was conducted. Results indicate that radiation and conduction processes are important, and that a simple 1-D model using the Broido-Shafizadeh model for cellulose decomposition chemistry can describe aspects of the flamelet spread process. Introduction