Phenomenology of electrostatically manipulated laminar counterflow non-premixed methane flames

The effect of electrostatic fields on the dilute plasma of chemi-ions generated by a non-premixed, N₂-diluted, methane-oxygen flame was studied in an experimental burner whereby a counterflow flame was positioned between the parallel plates of a large-scale capacitor. It was shown that flame morphology and location could be controlled solely through electrostatics. The location of the flame could be controlled through applied voltage, virtually independently of overall mixture composition and strain rate applied on the flame. In fact, through electrostatic actuation, it was possible to push the flame without extinction literally at the fuel nozzle, where there is very little oxidizer. Also, a computational framework for the study of these flames was developed in a computer program and verified with previous computations of the same flame. In future work, this framework will be used in tandem with the electrostatics computations that the computer program enables in order to probe the underlying physics of the flame.