Pergamon Int. Comm.HeatMass Transfer, Vol.23, No. 8, pp. 1173-1179, 1996 Copyright © 1996Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All fights reserved 0735-1933/96 $12.00 + .00 PII S0735-1933(96)00098-X A NOVEL FLOW REACTOR FOR THE STUDY OF HEAT-lOSS EFFECTS ON TURBULENT FLAME PROPAGATION Ralph C. Aldredge Department of Mechanical ~ Aeronautical Engineering University of California, Davis, CA 95616-5294 Email: rcaldredge@ucdavis.edu (Communicated by J.P. Hartnett and W.J. Minkowycz) ABSTRACT A novel flow reactor is proposed for the study of heat-loss effects on the propa- gation of turbulent premixed flames. This Taylor-Couette flow reactor allows the stabilization of a premixed flame in a stationary, high-intensity turbulent flow and the examination of the role of heat transfer from the flame (to the walls of the apparatus) on the experimentally observed quenching of the premixed flame at high turbulence intensities. The key advantages and design parameters of the flow reactor are identified and discussed. Copyright © 1996Elsevier Science Ltd Background Premixed-Combustion Regimes The combustion rate of a premixed flame may be enhanced either by large-scale flame wrinkling or by local combustion-zone modification resulting from small-scale velocity fluctuations. Figure 1 describes three ideal regimes of flame propagation. In each case a combustion zone, defined by the separation of pure reactants on the far left from pure products on the far right, propagates to the left at some, possibly time-dependent, speed UT. In Fig. la the premixed flame is only wrinkled by large-scale velocity fluctuations of the flow, while in Fig. lb the internal structure of 1173