DNS for Turbulent Premixed Combustion

Most of practical combustion occurs in turbulent flows which involve strong coupling between turbulence and chemical processes. The heat release from combustion alters the fluid properties such as density and viscosity and in turns affects the turbulence. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) provides a tool for obtaining both temporally and spatially resolved data in three dimension (3D). This chapter presents a brief overview of importance of DNS in turbulent combustion, the role of turbulence and identifies different combustion modes. The mathematical formulation and numerical implementation for DNS are introduced. The second half of this chapter presents DNS results for ignition in both homogeneous and stratified mixtures. It has been found that minimum ignition energy is required to obtain successful ignition in different turbulence regimes. An increase in turbulent velocity fluctuation may leads to a misfire. Additionally the difference between growing flames and those which are quenched by turbulence have been discussed with the help of the reaction–diffusion balance analysis. Furthermore, the turbulence intensity and length scale of the mixture inhomogeneity have important influences on achieving self-sustained combustion following successful ignition events.