Evolution of Flame Curvature in Turbulent Premixed Bunsen Flames at Different Pressure Levels

The physical mechanisms underlying the curvature evolution in turbulent premixed Bunsen flames at different thermodynamic pressures are investigated using a three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulation database. It is found that, due to the occurrence of the Darrieus-Landau instability, the high-pressure flame exhibits higher probability of developing large negative curvature values and saddle concave topologies than the low pressure cases. The terms in the curvature transport equation due to normal strain rate gradients and curl of vorticity arising from both turbulent flow and flame normal propagation play pivotal roles in the curvature evolution. The mean value of the net contribution of the flame propagation terms dominates over the net contributions arising from the background fluid motion. The net contribution of the source/sink terms tries to reduce the convexity of the flame surface in the positively curved locations. By contrast, the net contribution of the source/sink terms promotes concavity of the flame surface towards the reactants in the negatively curved regions and this effect is particularly strong for the high pressure flame, where the effects of the Darrieus-Landau instability are prominent. This also gives rise to large negative skewness of the probability density functions of curvature in the high-pressure flame with the Darrieus-Landau instability.