Numerical simulation of methane flame propagation in a gap between parallel plates

Numerical simulations are performed for premixed methane-air combustion in a narrow gap between parallel horizontal plates. Simulations are based on the solution of Navier–Stokes equations for multicomponent gas in the small Mach number approximation, chemical reactions are described by a detailed kinetic scheme. Numerical integration is performed by an explicit scheme on hierarchical adaptively refined meshes (AMR). Instability development resulting in the formation of cells on the flame front diverging from the ignition point is demonstrated. Dependence of the visible flame speed and cell size on the gap width between the plates is shown.