A numerical method to predict flame fractal dimension during gas explosion

Accurate prediction of the flame propagation velocity during a gas explosion is essential to assess its consequences and to evaluate the risk level. The propagating premixed flame is self-turbulized due to the hydrodynamic instability, resulting in a fractal flame structure. It is therefore important for accurate prediction of flame speed to understand the flame’s fractal structure in detail and to predict its fractal dimension in particular. Numerical simulations of spherically-propagating flames have been previously attempted for such purposes. There are, however, difficulties to accurately predict the fractal dimension from the result of the numerical simulation of a spherically-propagating flame. In this study, we propose a method to easily predict the fractal dimension based on the numerical simulation of a planar flame. Planar flame propagation is simulated for different sizes of computational domain. The fractal dimension can be determined from the dependence of flame speed on computational domain size. The determined fractal dimension is favorably compared with previous experimental results.

► Damage of a gas explosion can be estimated using the fractal dimension of flame.
► A CFD method to predict flame fractal dimension is proposed.
► Planar flame propagation is simulated for different sizes computational domain.
► Fractal dimension is calculated from the dependence of flame speed on domain size.
► The predicted fractal dimension is close to the experimentally known value.