Mitigation of preferential diffusion effects by intensive strain in lean premixed hydrogen flamelets

The interplay between strain and preferential diffusion in lean premixed hydrogen flamelets is investigated numerically. Lean conditions are established at an equivalence ratio of 0.5. Detailed chemistry, one-dimensional simulations are performed on a reactants-to-products counterflow configuration, both including and artificially excluding preferential diffusion effects. A comprehensive analysis of the flame physical properties is performed, showing that preferential diffusion tends to weaken the flame as compared to the case where it is artificially suppressed, as it triggers a local leaning of the mixture ahead of the flame front. Counterintuitively, strain is observed to counteract or limit this preferential diffusion effect, with the peaks of radicals and reaction rate, flame thickness, and consumption speed, progressively approaching and in some cases overtaking the corresponding solution obtained with equal diffusivities as strain increases. This is shown to be a consequence of the fluid elements being increasingly preferentially transported in the flame tangential direction rather than diffusing in the flame normal direction. Hence, the flame weakening effect due to different diffusive fluxes of fuel and oxidizer across the flame front is progressively compensated by their differential transport on the flame tangential direction triggered by increasing applied strain rate, which instead enables an overall enrichment of the burning mixture. This analysis provides a different view as compared to previous studies attributing to strain an enhancing influence on the effects of preferential diffusion. In this work the opposite interpretation is proposed instead, where strain acts as a limiting factor to the weakening effect of preferential diffusion on lean hydrogen flames.