ABSTRACT
Blowout or blowoff of a flame is sometimes actually desired, as in the case of unintentional oil well fires. This chapter considers the stabilization of a simple laminar premised flame on a Bunsen burner, in order to set ideas. If the flow speed everywhere exceeds the flame speed, no stabilization is possible and the flame will blow off. The laminar flame speed capability goes from the usual adiabatic flame speed near the center of the flow, but degrades as the wall is approached. There are many methods to stabilize premixed flames in turbulent flows, but a common method used in ramjets and afterburners is the use of bluff bodies inserted into the flow field. There are several methods that have been used for analysis of the stabilization process, all of which work for scaling laws, because the situation is always a competition between residence time of the combustibles and the reaction speed.
