Influence of Coflow on Buoyant Plume Puffing

This study investigates the influence of an annular coflowing air stream on the puffing behavior of a buoyant plume by employing the BiGlobal Linear Stability Analysis. An increase in the coflow is found to mitigate the puffing intensity and eventually stabilize the plumes. From the stability analysis, the critical coflow ratios, which represent the amount of coflow required to completely suppress the puffing, have been estimated for plumes spanning a wide range of nondimensional parameters. The analysis shows that the critical coflow ratio largely depends on the two buoyancy parameters, the Froude number, and the density ratio whereas it remains marginally affected by the plume Reynolds number. Plumes with higher buoyancy require larger coflow for suppressing puffing. From the instability analysis, we have obtained a correlation law for critical coflow ratios in buoyant plumes. Also, it is found that the plume puffing frequency increases with an increase in the coflow. We attempt to ascertain the reasons for instability mitigation and frequency increase in the puffing plumes because of coflow.