Lean flame blowout is investigated experimentally within a high-speed combustor to analyze the temporal extinction dynamics of turbulent premixed bluff body stabilized flames. The lean blowout process is induced through fuel flow reduction and captured temporally using simultaneous high-speed particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) and CH* chemiluminescence. The evolution of the flame structure, flow field, and the resulting strain rate along the flame are analyzed throughout extinction to distinguish the physical mechanisms of blowout. Flame-vortex dynamics are found to be the main driving mechanism of flame extinction; namely, a reduction of flame-generated vorticity coupled with an increase of downstream shear layer vorticity. The vorticity dynamics are linked to hydrodynamic instabilities that vary as a function of the decreasing equivalence ratio. Frequency analysis is performed to characterize the dynamical changes of the hydrodynamic instability modes during flame extinction. Additionally, various bluff body inflow velocity regimes are investigated to further characterize the extinction instability modes. Both equivalence ratio and flow-driven instabilities are captured through a universal definition of the Strouhal number for the reacting bluff body flow. Finally, a Karlovitz number-based criterion is developed to consistently predict the onset of global extinction for different inflow velocity regimes.

La combustion diphasique implique de nombreux phénomènes physiques complexes, comprenant l'atomisation, la dispersion, l'évaporation et la combustion. Bien que la simulation numérique soit un outil performant pour aborder ces différentes interactions entre les phases liquides et gazeuses, la méthode doit être validée par des études expérimentales fiables. Par conséquent, des données expérimentales précises sur la structure de la flamme et sur les propriétés de la phase liquide et gazeuse le long des étapes d'évaporation et de combustion sont nécessaires. La complexité des configurations aéronautiques réelles implique d'étudier l'effet des propriétés locales sur la dynamique des flammes pour une configuration canonique. Ce travail, réalisé dans le cadre du projet ANR TIMBER, a pour objectif d'améliorer la compréhension de la combustion en flux diphasique, ainsi que de produire une base de données efficace et originale pour la validation des modèles utilisés dans les LES. / Liquid fuels are the primary energy source in a wide range of applications including industrial and residential furnaces, internal combustion engines and propulsion systems. Pollutant emission reduction is currently one of the major constraints for the design of the next generation combustion chamber. Spray combustion involves many complex physical phenomena including atomization, dispersion, evaporation and combustion, which generally take place simultaneously or within very small regions in the combustion chambers. Although numerical simulation is a valuable tool to tackle these different interactions between liquid and gas phases, the method needs to be validated through reliable experimental studies. Therefore, accurate experimental data on flame structure and on liquid and gas properties along the evaporation and combustion steps are needed and are still challenging. A joint effort between numerical and experimental teams is necessary to meet tomorrow's energy challenges and opportunities. The complexity of the real aeronautical configurations implies to study the effect of local properties in flame dynamics on a canonical configuration, which presents the essential feature of very well defined boundary conditions. This work, carried out within the framework of the ANR TIMBER project, aims to improve the understanding of two-phase flow combustion, as well as to produce an efficient and original database for the validation of the models used in LES.