Abstract
The diffusional-thermal instability of diffusion flames in the premixed-flame regime is studied in a constant-density two-dimensional counterflow diffusion-flame configuration, to investigate the instability mechanism by which periodic wrinkling, travelling or pulsating of the reaction sheet can occur. Attention is focused on flames with small departures of the Lewis number from unity and with small values of the stoichiometric mixture fraction, so that the premixed-flame regime can be employed for activation-energy asymptotics. Cellular patterns will occur near quasisteady extinction when the Lewis number of the more completely consumed reactant is less than a critical value( ~ =0.7). Parametric studies for the instability onset conditions show that flames with smaller values of the Lewis number and stoichiometric mixture fraction and with larger values of the Zel'dovich number tend to be more unstable. For Lewis number greater than unity, near-extinction flame are found to exhibit either travelling instability or pulsating instability.
