Classification and Dynamics of Ultralean Hydrogen–Air Flames in Horizontal Cylindrical Hele–Shaw Cells

Using the successively inverted projection method, we studied the dynamics of ultralean hydrogen–air flames propagating freely in a horizontal cylindrical Hele–Shaw cell. To quantify the two revealed characteristics of the flame dynamics—the dependence of the average flame velocities on time and the dependence of the initial flame velocity on the stoichiometry of the initial hydrogen–air mixture—we proposed time and stoichiometric scaling relations. The first relation approximates the dependence of the path of the flame front in hydrogen–air mixtures with an initial hydrogen concentration exceeding a certain critical value. The second relation approximates the dependencies of the initial flame front velocities on the hydrogen concentration. The general relationships for topologically different types of ultralean hydrogen–air flames can be interpreted as additional evidence of the presence of a general mechanism for the transition from discrete fronts of isolated drifting ball flames to a quasi-continuous deflagration flame front through a cascade of bifurcations.