Application of Sensitivity Analysis to Premixed Hydrogen-Air Flames

In this paper an efficient method for calculating the sensitivity coefficients of a system of nonlinear two-point boundary value problems is applied to a set of freely propagating, atmospheric pressure, premixed, hydrogen-air flames. The procedure utilizes the Jacobian matrix in Newton’s method to generate efficiently first-order sensitivity coefficients. In our analysis we illustrate the effect of variations in the reaction rates and the transport coefficients on the adiabatic flame speed, the temperature and the species profiles. We discuss how the existence of scaling and self-similarity relations among the sensitivity coefficients can imply that relatively simple behavior can exist in complex flames. We also make specific predictions regarding the response of the flame thickness to parametric and species flux disturbances. The sensitivity analysis presented in the paper can also be applied to other more complicated systems. In this way the important kinetic and transport processes in such flames can be determined accurately and efficiently.