High-speed video analysis of flame oscillations along a PMMA rod after stagnation region blowoff

During blowoff extinction of clear cast PMMA rods in concurrent axial flow for microgravity BASS-II experiments, a dynamic flame oscillation was observed after the flame was blown off of the stagnation point but briefly stabilized on the periphery of the rod. Complementary normal gravity experiments were conducted and flame oscillations were tracked using a high-speed color camera at 240 frames per second. The side-stabilized flame oscillated up and down the rod with increasing amplitude until the entire flame extinguished. In none of the BASS-II or normal gravity tests could the side-stabilized flames persist (Hopf subcritical bifurcation). Since the oscillations occurred even in microgravity, the mechanism does not depend on gravity. For the larger fuel radius tests, the flame developed asymmetric oscillation (pitchfork bifurcation). The oscillation time and the number of oscillations scale with the inverse square of the rod radius (∼ Fourier no.) for the preheated microgravity rods. The average flame oscillation frequency is found to be linearly dependent on the mixed convective stretch rate (inverse of the flow time). The flame intensity varied in concert with its direction, either increasing or decreasing as the flame moved upstream or downstream, respectively. The oscillation frequency decreased as the amplitude increased and the flame slipped slightly farther down the rod with each oscillation. The flame speed increased with each subsequent oscillation, both flashing forward upstream and retreating downstream. The oscillations were found to closely follow a power law log-periodic dependence similar to those that describe systems approaching a critical point, such as diffusion-limited aggregation clusters, earthquakes, ruptures, and even stock market crashes. The net flame speeds varied linearly with ambient oxygen concentration, and linearly with the mixed convective stretch rate. Based on these observations, a mechanistic theory of the oscillations is described, and is consistent with the thermodiffusive instability.