The Zeldovich number is a dimensionless number which provides a quantitative measure for the activation energy of a chemical reaction which appears in the Arrhenius exponent, named after the Russian scientist Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich, who along with David A. Frank-Kamenetskii, first introduced in their paper in 1938.[1][2][3] In 1983 ICDERS meeting at Poitiers, it was decided that the non-dimensional number will be named after Zeldovich.[4]

It is defined as

where

  • is the activation energy of the reaction
  • is the universal gas constant
  • is the burnt gas temperature
  • is the unburnt mixture temperature.

In terms of heat release parameter , it is given by

For typical combustion phenomena, the value for Zel'dovich number lies in the range . Activation energy asymptotics uses this number as the large parameter of expansion.

References

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  1. ^ Williams, Forman A. "Combustion theory." (1985).
  2. ^ Linan, Amable, and Forman Arthur Williams. "Fundamental aspects of combustion." (1993).
  3. ^ Y.B. Zel’dovich and D.A. Frank-Kamenetskii, Theory of thermal propagation of flame, Zh. Fiz. Khim+. 12 (1938), pp. 100–105.
  4. ^ Clavin, P. (1985). Dynamic behavior of premixed flame fronts in laminar and turbulent flows. Progress in energy and combustion science, 11(1), 1-59.