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5
The Rate of Expansion of Spherical Flames
V. Karlin

and G. Sivashinsky

Abstract
In this paper we investigate the acceleration of the expansion of pre-
mixed spherical ames and evolution of the cellular patterns on their sur-
faces. An asymptotic model is used for the simulations and a spectral numer-
ical algorithm is employed to study ames over large time intervals. Numer-
ous numerical experiments indicate that for large enough time intervals the
acceleration of two-dimensional expanding ame ceases and the expansion
rate stabilizes to a value signicantly exceeding the burning rate. The impor-
tance of the effect of forcing was also conrmed and the validity of sectorial
simulations of closed ames was studied in order to justify prospective use
of the Fourier spectral model for the three-dimensional spherical ames.
1 Introduction
In [1] extensive experimental data on premixed expanding spherical ames have
been analysed and it was concluded that starting from a certain moment the av-
eraged ame radius <r > grows as <r > t
3/2
rather than <r > t. The
phenomenon was linked to the cellularization of ames, which was well known
from experiments too. Indeed, the appearance of cellular patterns increases the
ame surface area, hence the fuel consumption, and hence the averaged ame
expansion rate.
The cellularization of ame fronts was, in its turn, associated with intrinsic
combustion instabilities. The effect of the hydrodynamic combustion instability
on expanding spherical ames was studied in [2] using the linear perturbation
theory combined with phenomenological assumptions. Later, the approach was
further improved and freed from the phenomenological assumptions [3]. These
linearized solutions conrmed the onset of the instability of the ame front but
could not quantify its cellularization and acceleration because the latter phenom-
ena are essentially nonlinear.

University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK

Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

A simple, yet physically reasonable, nonlinear model of hydrodynamically
unstable planar ames was suggested in [4]. In [5] it was extended to expanding
spherical ames and studied numerically conrming that there is a time instance
t

, such that the ame expansion rate behaves like <r> t

3/2
for t > t

. The
same model was also suggested in [6], where similar to the planar ames [7],
analytical pole solutions were obtained and studied as well.
Because of their physical origins simple nonlinear models of expanding ames
[5, 6] are expected to be valid only locally. Apparently, the results obtained when
applying them to the whole ame are instructive indeed, but still inconclusive and
cannot be accepted as the adequate theoretical model of cellularization and accel-
eration. A physically consistent global model of ames of any smooth enough
geometry was developed in [8]. Mathematically, the approach projects the gov-
erning equations to the ame surface reducing the mathematical dimension of the
problem by one. However, the resulting equation is still extremely costly from
the computational point of view and only two-dimensional simulations have been
carried out so far.
A compromise between universality and computability was suggested in [9],
where consideration was limited to a narrow but still very practical case of ames
which do not deviate from the spherical ones signicantly. On the technical side
the model combines the operator of the linearized problem obtained in [2] for
the expanding spherical ame in terms of spherical harmonics expansions and a
Huygens type nonlinearity specic to the local nonlinear model [5, 6]. Physically,
model [9] is consistent with [8] and is robust and plausible enough to simulate
the cellularization of expanding spherical ames in three spatial dimensions. At
the time of writing of this paper, the ame sizes we were able to reach in our
computations do not signicantly exceed those reported in [9] and are not large
enough to match our two-dimensional calculations. However, our investigations
show that numerical studies of the expanding three-dimensional ames on the
time scales required for comparison with the two-dimensional calculations are
possible.
In the following sections we specify the mathematical models and numerical
algorithms to solve them. In Section 4 we report our results on ame front be-
haviour on long time intervals and on the effect of external forcing. Also, we
present our attempts to simulate the three-dimensional ames and assess the pos-
sibility of simulation of closed ames via their nite segments.
2 Mathematical Models
Let us consider an expanding ame front and assume that its surface is close
enough to a sphere and that every point on the ame surface is uniquely dened
2
by its distance r = r(, , t) from the origin for 0 , 0 2, and
t > 0. It is convenient to represent such a ame as a perturbation (, , t) of a
spherical surface of a reference radius r
0
(t), i.e. r(, , t) = r
0
(t) + (, , t).
Then, the Fourier image of the governing equation of the ame front evolution in
the nondimensional notations suggested in [5, 6] can be written as
d

k
dt
=
_

[r
0
(t)]
2
|k|
2
+

2r
0
(t)
|k|
_

2[r
0
(t)]
2

l=
l(k l)

kl
+

f
k
(t). (1)
Here |k| < , t > 0,

f
k
(t) are the Fourier components of the properly scaled
upstream perturbations of the unburnt gas velocity eld f(, t), and initial values
of

k
(0) =

(0)
k
are given. By construction, equation (1) holds in the sector
0 2/

with a large enough integer

.
Models of [5] and [6] differ by an additive term proportional to
0,k
/r
0
(t).
This term adds just O(ln t) to

k
for k = 0 only. This is not essential and the term
is not included in our conception.
Equation (1) was obtained as a local model of a curved expanding ame. How-
ever, we will use it globally, on the whole ame surface, with

= 1. In order
to justify such an action, let us rst note that if transformed back to the physical
space, the equation takes the form
(, t)
t
=
1
[r
0
(t)]
2

2
(, t)

2
+

2r
0
(t)

2/
_
0
(, t) cot

2
d
+
1
2[r
0
(t)]
2
_
(, t)

_
2
+ f(, t), (2)
which is rotation-invariant for f(, t) 0 and

= 1.
On the other hand, we may rewrite the geometrically invariant equation ob-
tained in [8] in the coordinate form as follows:
r
t
=
_
1 +
_
r

r
_
2
_
1
r
2
+ 2(r

)
2
rr

[r
2
+ (r

)
2
]
3/2

2
_
_
1 +
1

2
_
0
p(, )d
_
_
_
_
_
, (3)
3
where
p(, ) =
_

_
[r() r()] n()
|r() r()|
2
_
[r()]
2
+ (r

)
2
| | > 0,

[r()]
2
+ 2(r

)
2
r()r

2{[r()]
2
+ (r

)
2
}
| | = 0,
(4)
n() =
[(r

sin + r cos ), (r

cos r sin )]
_
r
2
+ (r

)
2
, (5)
and
r() = [r() cos , r() sin]. (6)
Assuming again that r(, t) = r
0
(t) +(, t) and linearizing all but the Huygens
terms, one arrives to the equation
(, t)
t
=

[r
0
(t)]
2

2
(, t)

2
+

2r
0
(t)

2
_
0
(, t) cot

2
d
+
1
2[r
0
(t)]
2
_
(, t)

_
2
+ 1
dr
0
(t)
dt


r
0
(t)
+
_

[r
0
(t)]
2


r
0
(t)
_
(, t) +

2r
0
(t)
2
_
0
()d. (7)
which differs from (2), for

= 1, by a few non-essential terms only.

Comparison of (2) and (7) reveals the detailed relationship between the sim-
plied model [5, 6] and the comprehensive one [8]. In particular, it validates use
of (2) as a global model of the whole spherical ame as long as the perturbations
remain small enough.
Equations of the three-dimensional model [9] can be written in terms of the
spherical harmonics expansion coefcients

n,m
(t) =
2
_
0

_
0
(, , t)Y
n,m
(, ) sin dd, |n| < , |m| |n|
of (, , t) as
d

n,m
(t)
dt
= (n, t)

n,m
(t) +
1
2[r
0
(t)]
2

N
n,m
(t) +

f
n,m
(t). (8)
4
Here |n|, |m| < , t > 0,

f
n,m
(t) are the spherical harmonics coefcients of
the properly scaled upstream perturbations of the unburnt gas velocity eld, and
initial values of

n,m
(0) =

(0)
n,m
are given. The expression for the linear response
(n, t) =
2n(n 1)
(2n + 1)r
0
(t)

(n 1)(n + 2)
r
2
0
(t)
, (9)
emerges from the analysis of [2] and

N
n,m
(t) are the spherical harmonics coef-
cients of the nonlinear Huygens term
N() =
S

2
=
_

_
2
+
1
(sin )
2
_

_
2
. (10)
Choice of r
0
(t) in the models introduced in this Section may be based on a
variety of principles. In equation (7), which governs small perturbations of (3)-
(6), choice of r
0
(t) is more or less arbitrary. However
r
0
(t) =
1
2
2
_
0
r(, t)d (11)
is probably the most appropriate one because it minimizes the perturbations r(t)
r
0
(t) = (, t). On the other hand, equation (1), or (2), was obtained as that one,
which governs perturbations of a uniform and steadily expanding spherical ame
r(t) t. Therefore, choice of
r
0
(t) t (12)
is more reasonable in this case, as this is the solution around which the lineariza-
tion is performed. Equation (1) was already considered with (11) in [5]. Here we
complement the analysis of (1) by considering it with (12).
3 Computational Algorithms
System (1) is solved numerically by neglecting the harmonics of orders higher
than a nite integer number K > 0. Then, the nonlinearity can be represented
as a circular convolution and evaluated effectively with the FFT. Also, we found
that the stability of the numerical integration scheme suggested in [5] can be im-
proved signicantly by calculating the contribution from the linear terms in (1)
analytically. Thus, the linear terms, i.e. the source of physical instability, are
tackled exactly and only the nonlinear ones, with the dumping effect, are approx-
imated. This improvement allowed us to continue the calculations for up to ten
times further in time than in [5].
5
Using the notation
g
k
[

] =

2
K

l=K
l(k l)

kl
V
k,0
+ f
k
(t), (13)
equation (1) can be written as
d

k
dt
=
_

r
2
0
(t)
|k|
2
+

2r
0
(t)
|k|
_

k
+
1
r
2
0
(t)
g
k
, |k| K. (14)
and we will search for its solutions in the form

k
(t) = C
k
(t)Y
k
(t), (15)
where Y (t) is the solution of the uniform equation.
Straightforward evaluations yield
Y
k
(t) = e

k
(t)
,
k
(t) =
2

|k|
2
t
_
t
0
dt
r
2
0
(t)
+
1
2

|k|
t
_
t
0
dt
r
0
(t)
. (16)
Then, the equation for C
k
(t) is
dC
k
dt
= r
2
0
(t)e

|k|
2
t
_
t
0
dt
r
2
0
(t)

1
2
|k|
t
_
t
0
dt
r
0
(t)
g
k
, (17)
where t
0
is an arbitrary real of which the nal result (15) does not depend.
In order to integrate the ODEs (17) over the interval [t
n
, t
n
+ t] or [t
n

t, t
n
+ t], we interpolate values of g
k
(t) g
k
[

] polynomially:
g
k
(t) =
mp

=0
G
k,n,
t

, t [t
n
t, t
n
+ t]. (18)
For example, the rst order extrapolation gives
g
k
(t) G
k,n,0
= g
k
(t
n
), (19)
and the second one results in
g
k
(t) = g
k
(t
n
)
t t
n
+ t
t
g
k
(t
n1
)
t t
n
t
= G
k,n,0
+ G
k,n,1
t, (20)
where
G
k,n,0
=
g
k
(t
n
)(t
n
t) + g
k
(t
n1
)t
n
t
, G
k,n,1
=
g
k
(t
n
) g
k
(t
n1
)
t
. (21)
6
In what follows we provide formulas for the rst order extrapolation only. For-
mulas of higher orders of accuracy are a bit bulky, but can be obtained straightfor-
wardly.
The interpolation results, in general, in

k
(t
n
+ t) = e

k
(tn+t)
_

k
(t
n
) +
mp

=0

k,n,
G
k,n,
_
(22)
with

k
(t) =
2

|k|
2
t
_
tn
dt
r
2
0
(t)
+
1
2

|k|
t
_
tn
dt
r
0
(t)
, (23)
and

k,n,
=
tn+t
_
tn

r
2
0
()e

k
()
d. (24)
In order to move any further, we will now assume that
r
0
(t) t

. (25)
Then (23) can be written as
k
(t) =
k
(t)
k
(t
n
), where

k
(t) =

2

|k|
2
t
2
n
r
2
0
(t
n
)t
+

|k|t
n
ln t
2r
0
(t
n
)
, = 1. (26)
and

k
(t) =

2

|k|
2
t
2
n
(2 1)r
2
0
(t
n
)t
21

|k|t

n
2( 1)r
0
(t
n
)t
1
, = 1. (27)
Further, (24) for the rst order of approximation will become

k,n,
=
t

n
r
2
0
(t
n
)
t. (28)
Then, the integration formula (22) is transformed into

k
(t
n
+ t) = e

k
(tn+t)
k
(tn)
_

k
(t
0
) +
t
r
2
0
(t
0
)
g
k
(t
n
)
_
, (29)
with
k
(t) given by (26) and (27).
A computational algorithm based on numerical spherical harmonics transfor-
mation (SHT) [10], similar to [9], was used in this work in order to solve (8). In
addition, the stability of the numerical integration scheme was improved by eval-
uating the contribution from the linear terms analytically, as shown above, and the
code was parallelized in order to speed up the computations and to use larger data
sets.
7
4 Computational results
4.1 Saturation on the long time intervals
Typical shapes of the ame fronts governed by (1) over large time intervals are
illustrated in Fig. 1. The graph of [r(, t)<r >]/<r > for t = 7.65 10
4
shows that the wrinkle amplitudes are up to 10% of the averaged ame radius.
The explicit forcing was not applied in this example.
1.0 0.5 0 0.5 1.0
1.0
0.5
0
0.5
1.0
r(,t)
r
(

,
t
)
10
5
10
5
0.1 0.05 0 0.05 0.1
0.1
0.05
0
0.05
0.1
(r<r>)/<r>
(
r

<
r
>
)
/
<
r
>
Figure 1: Evolution of a spherical ame governed by (1). Here values of r(, t)
are on the left and [r(, t) <r>]/<r> for t = 7.65 10
4
are on the right.
Positive values of the latter are in blue and negative ones are in red; = 0.8,
f(, t) 0.
Permanent growth of the size of a spherical ame as it expands prompts studies
of the effect of the size of a planar ame on its propagation speed as the rst
step towards the understanding of the acceleration mechanism of the expanding
ames. The investigation of the dynamics of planar ames shows that the spatially
averaged ame speed
<
t
>=
1
L
L
_
0

t
t
dx (30)
of a ame size L stops growing and begins to oscillate irregularly around its time
average <<
t
>> for large enough t. A denite correlation between the size of the
ame and its stabilized spatially averaged propagation speed <<
t
>> was estab-
lished, see e.g. [11]. The effect was explained by proving the high sensitivity of
planar cellular ames to particular types of linear perturbations, see [1114]. By
continuing calculations reported in [11] for even larger planar ames, we estab-
lished that their propagation speed no longer grows after a certain critical ame
8
size is reached, see graph on the right of Fig. 2. In this paper we are interested in
extending these ndings for planar propagating ames to the expanding ones. In
particular, we are studying the possibility of a stabilization of the expansion rate
for large enough time intervals, when the ame size grows sufciently large.
Stabilized velocities <<
t
>> of the planar ames and averaged velocities
<
t
>=
1
2
_
2
0
t
t
d of the spherical ames are compared in Fig. 2. Power law
approximations (t t

for the expansion rate of the spherical ame are also

depicted there. Sudden increase of <
t
> begins from t
c
2.2 10
3
. For the
whole considered time interval [2.2 10
3
, 7.65 10
4
] the optimal 0.34. For
earlier times t [2.210
3
, 2.010
4
], the best approximation is with 0.47, i.e.
almost 1/2 as obtained in experiments. However, as time goes by, the expansion
rate slows down and for t [3.0 10
4
, 7.65 10
4
] we got 0.23.
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
t
<

t
>
0.34
0.47
0.23
0 0.75 1.5 2.25 3
x 10
4
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
L
<
<

t
>
>
Figure 2: Averaged ame front velocity for spherical (left) and planar (right)
ames versus time t and ame size L respectively. Here = 0.8 and f(, t) 0.
Markers on the right graph show the calculated cases.
A tendency towards stabilization of <
t
> to a constant for t is evident
in the graph too. A change in morphology of the ame front at t
s
2.5
10
4
is even more obvious in the graph of the variation of the perturbation of the
averaged circular ame relatively to the radius of this averaged ame, i.e. of
max
02
[r(, t)<r>]/<r>, which is shown on the left of Fig. 3.
The number of cells per unit length of the averaged ame contour is depicted
on the right of Fig. 3. It stabilizes to a cell size of about 200, which is exactly
the same as for large enough planar ames. Eventually, Fig. 4 illustrates the
spectral distribution of energy of the perturbation (, t), which stabilizes by t
s

2.5 10
4
too.
Stabilization of the averaged perturbation gradient = / can also be
seen on the left of Fig. 5. Besides the saturation of the gradient the graph illus-
trates the importance of the number of Fourier modes K involved in the numerical
simulation. The jumps in the graph correspond to the instances when we doubled
K in order to match the continuously increasing size of the ame. The graph is
9
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
t
V
a
r

)
/
<
r
>
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
t
N
/
[
2

<
r
>
]
Figure 3: Ratio of the maximal amplitude of perturbation and of the averaged
ame radius (left) and number of cells per unit length of the averaged ame con-
tour (right). Here = 0.8 and f(, t) 0.
0 2 4 6
x 10
4
8
6
4
2
0
k
l
o
g
1
0
E
k
0 4 8 12
x 10
4
8
6
4
2
0
k
l
o
g
1
0
E
k
Figure 4: Spectral distributions of energy of the perturbation (, t) for t =
2.4928 10
4
(left) and t = 7.65 10
4
(right).
getting smoother if K is adjusted more gradually and is kept much larger than the
ratio of the critical wavelength
cr
= 4/ to the circumferential length of the
ame. The graph on the right of Fig. 5 depicts the energy of the highest order
Fourier harmonic involved in the simulation.
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
t
<
|

|
>
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
2
4
x 10
3
t
l
o
g
1
0
E
K
Figure 5: Averaged gradient of the perturbation (left) and energy of the highest
order harmonic involved in the simulation (right).
10
According to the data obtained in numerical simulations we may summarize
the mechanism of ame front expansion in the Fourier space as follows. The
energy of relatively long wave harmonics >
cr
permanently grows according to
the Darrieus-Landau instability. This gained energy is transferred towards shorter
wavelengths via the nonlinear effects and dissipates through the modes of short
enough wavelengths <
cr
. As ame expands the number of short enough
angular modes reduces and the overall dissipation rate may become insufcient
to counterbalance the generation of energy due to the Darrieus-Landau instability.
This results in an accumulation of energy in the short wavelength spectrum, see
Fig. 5 (right), and leads to the blow-up of the numerical solution if the number K
of used harmonics is not increased in time. This effect explains a slight elevation
of the short wave tail of the spectral energy distribution on the right of Fig. 4
in comparison to the graph on the left. The latter one corresponds to the time
moment soon after K was doubled, though the former one is just approaching the
moment when K needs to be increased.
In general, the process of stabilization of the expanding spherical front to a
saturated state is very similar to the planar ame. The only distinctive difference
is that the transitional period for the expanding ame is much longer. Using the
realistic set of dimensional parameters from [5], e.g. planar ame speed relative to
the burnt gases u
b
= 0.5 m/sec and thermal diffusivity D
th
= 2.510
5
m
2
/sec,
one may interpret our ndings in dimensional terms as follows. First cusps begin
to appear on the ame surface for <r> 0.1 m; ame acceleration with the rate
<r> t
3/2
starts for <r> 0.4 m; acceleration rate begins to slow down for
<r> 5 m, and the acceleration ceases for <r> 20 m. Most of experiments
summarized in [1] and reported in more recent works [15, 16] were carried out
in enclosures and were affected by essential pressure rise and acoustics. Thus,
there might be a considerable discrepancy between the characteristic ame radii
just reported and those measured in realistic combustion experiments. Eventually,
of course there is a chance that the stabilization of the expansion rate is just a
consequence of the perturbative nature of the governing model used in this work.
4.2 Effect of forcing
A random point-wise set of perturbations uniformly distributed in time and in the
Fourier space is a suitable model for both the computational round-off errors and
a variety of perturbations of physical origins. In general, such a model would look
like
f(x, t) =
M(t)

m=1
a
m
cos(
m
+
m
)(t t
m
), (31)
11
where a
m
, t
m
,
m
, and
m
are non-correlated random sequences. It is assumed
that t
1
t
2
t
m
t
M(t)
t, 0
m
2, and
m
0,
m = 1, 2, . . . , M(t). However, in practice we use only two harmonics with =

= oor [ <r>/2] and =

+ 1 weighted according to their closeness to the

critical wavenumber
cr
= <r>/2:
f(x, t) f
0
[(1
cr
+

) cos

+(
cr

) cos(

+1)]

m=0
(t t
m
). (32)
These two harmonics approximate the critical planar ame harmonic of the wave-
length
cr
= 4/, which was shown to contribute the most in the fastest growing
perturbations in the Sivashinsky-type models of ame dynamics, see [17].
The sign of the noise amplitude f
0
in (32) was either plus or minus for every
m with the probability 1/2. The delta function (t t
m
) was approximated by
()
1/2
e
(ttm)
2
/
with a small enough value of . The impulse-like noise (32)
is used here for the sake of simplicity. Some arguments towards its validity were
suggested in [18]. Validation of models like (31), (32) and of the present numer-
ical approach was carried out in [17]. More sophisticated and physically realistic
models of temporal noise characteristics can be used with (1) as well.
The importance of the effect of the amplitude of noise and frequency of ap-
pearance of the impulse-like perturbations on the ame speed is illustrated in Fig.
6.
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
t
<

t
>
0 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
x 10
4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
t
<

t
>
f
0
=10
12
f
0
=10
6
f
0
=10
3
f
0
=10
1
Figure 6: Effect of forcing amplitude and frequency on the averaged ame expan-
sion speed for <t
m+1
t
m
>= 50 (left) and <t
m+1
t
m
>= 10 (right).
More details of the effect of noise are presented in Fig. 7. On the left we
plotted graphs of the time instance at which the ame begins to accelerate ver-
sus frequency of appearance of the impulse-like perturbations for a variety of the
perturbation amplitude f
0
. Similar graphs of the nearly saturated ame expansion
speed are given on the right.
12
3 2.5 2 1.5 1
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
log
10
<t
m+1
t
m
>
t
*
3 2.5 2 1.5 1
0.4
0.5
0.6
log
10
<t
m+1
t
m
>
<

t
>
f
0
=10
12
f
0
=10
6
f
0
=10
3
f
0
=10
1
Figure 7: Effect of forcing amplitude and frequency on the beginning of acceler-
ation (left) and stabilized ame expansion speed (right).
4.3 Three-dimensional numerical experiments
In order to integrate (8)-(10) we used an algorithm which is very similar to that
one developed in [9]. In addition, we parallelized the algorithm and used a few
techniques to improve its stability and accuracy, see [19].
The basis functions in the spherical harmonics transformation (SHT) are the
orthonormal eigenfunctions of the Laplace operator in spherical coordinates. How-
ever, unlike the Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT), the discrete SHT of a data
set is its approximation rather than an equivalent representation. Namely, it links
a full matrix with N
2
elements representing a function on a regular spherical mesh
of N
2
nodes in physical space and a triangular matrix of N
2
/2 spherical harmon-
ics coefcients. Thus, every back/forward cycle results in loss of information.
This loss is similar to the effect of a short wave lter. In our approach it is associ-
ated with the nonlinear term only.
Coordinate singularities at the sphere poles result in accumulation of approx-
imation errors near the poles and weaken numerical stability. In order to prevent
accumulation of approximation errors near the poles, we rotate the coordinate sys-
tem around an axis in the equatorial plane by an angle from time to time. The
coordinate transformation formulas for such an axis passing through the points
= /2 are
cos

= cos cos + sin sin cos

cot

= cot cos csc sin cot

Their structure precludes use of the addition theorem for spherical polynomials to
transform the coefcients

n,m
to the new coordinate system without the global
SHT back to the physical space. On the other hand, the back/forward SHT entails
the application of a short wave lter to the whole solution

n,m
, rather than just to
the nonlinear term

N
n,m
. Hence, these rotations should not be done too frequently.
Also, it is useful to combine them with rotations around the axis passing through
the poles. Implementation of the latter ones is trivial.
13
Message Passing Interface (MPI) parallelization paradigm was implemented
to allowthe computational work to be distributed to a number of processors. How-
ever, the distributed data needs to be exchanged between these processors, which
creates the biggest problem in modelling dynamics of large radius ames. Un-
like the multidimensional DFT, discrete SHT does not possess a structure of a
tensor product of one-dimensional transformations. Therefore, the data transmis-
sion required by the truly distributed discrete SHT is much more sophisticated and
intensive than just back/forward row/column transposition of the global solution
array required by the DFT, see e.g. [20]. This results in a very fast growth of the
communication overheads when the number of processors increases.
Spherical computational algorithms based on parallel Legendre-Fourier trans-
formations are much less efcient than the standard planar Fourier methods. How-
ever, expanding spherical ames can be successfully simulated by the parallel SFT
method. An example of the evolution of a random three-dimensional perturbation
of a spherical ame is illustrated in Fig. 8.
Figure 8: Evolution of a spherical ame; t 40 (left) and t 72 (right). Here
= 0.764.
4.4 Dynamics of curved ame segments
Our numerical experiments showed that long time simulations of the three-dimensional
expanding ames using discrete SHT might be possible on a parallel computer
with large enough physically shared memory. However, there is an alternative
approach based on simulations of the three-dimensional ame segments and fol-
lowing extension to the whole surface by periodicity. In order to validate this idea
we applied it to the two-dimensional ames rst.
14
Results of two-dimensional numerical simulations of the dynamics of sectors
[0, 2/

] of a spherical ame are illustrated in Fig. 9. One may see that

the narrowing of the sector does not affect the ame expansion rate in absence of
explicit forcing and that a correlation between this rate and the size of the segment
becomes apparent as forcing strengthens. Similar observations were obtained for
other parameters discussed earlier in this Section.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
x 10
4
0
0.2
0.4
t
<

t
>
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
x 10
4
0
0.2
0.4
t
<

t
>

=1

=2

=4

=8
Figure 9: Averaged ame segment expansion speed for f
0
= 0 (left) and f
0
= 0.1,
<t
m+1
t
m
>= 10 (right).
Our calculations also show that there is a critical value of

above which sec-

torial simulations no longer represent the whole spherical ame. For example, we
would not present the results of our simulations with

= 16 as an approximation
for the whole spherical ame. However, based on our two-dimensional results, it
looks like simulations of the three-dimensional spherical ames using the Fourier,
rather than the Fourier-Legendre, spectral model of the Sivashinsky type in the
sector 0 , , or even in 0 , /2, are safe.
5 Conclusions
Long time interval simulations of a simplied model of the expanding spherical
ames indicated that their expansion rate slows down as the ame size grows. The
saturation of the planar ame propagation speed as their size grows was estab-
lished too. Hence, a hypothesis of stabilization of the spherical ame expansion
rate over a nite time interval is proposed.
Further similarities with the propagating planar ames achieved by the ex-
panding spherical ames on large time intervals were established in the studies
of the effect of forcing, revealing a clear correlation between the strength of the
forcing and the ame expansion rate. This supports the idea that the acceleration
of both planar and expanding ames results from explicit and/or implicit forcing,
which is always present both in experiments and calculations at least as noise of
various physical origins.
15
In spite of many benets of the simplied ame dynamics models, they have
not been constructed to cope with signicant perturbations of spherical ames.
This casts a reasonable doubt in the possibility of extending the effects observed
for the simplied model to realistic ames. In order to verify the hypothesis,
numerical simulations of a more sophisticated model are required. In particular,
model [8] is valid for ames of any geometry if thermal gas expansion due to
combustion does not generate signicant vorticity, i.e. for 1. However, even
in the coordinate form (3)-(6) the governing equation of model [8] is extremely
difcult to solve numerically, because, in contrast to (2), its nonlocal term has no
convolution structure.
Using parallelized spherical harmonics transformation, the evolution of a three-
dimensional expanding spherical ame has been successfully simulated to a stage
when wrinkles appear and form a well developed cellular structure. However,
computational problems associated with the spherical harmonics transformation
make it difcult to extend these calculations on time intervals which would match
those attained in our two-dimensional simulations. On the other hand, it was also
noticed that the simulations of the three-dimensional spherical ames using the
Fourier, rather than the Fourier-Legendre, spectral model of the Sivashinsky type
in the sector 0 , , or even in 0 , /2, are reasonable.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the EPSRC (Grant GR/R66692, UK), the US-Israel
Binational Science Foundation (Grant 200 2008), the German-Israel Foundation
(Grant G-695-15.10/2001), and the Israel Science Foundation (Grants 67-01 and
278-03). One of the authors is grateful to the Royal Society, The Academy Study
Group on Israel and the Middle East, and to the Tel Aviv University for their
support when working on this paper.
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