Unconventional anomalous roughening in the slow combustion of paper

ISSN： 1362-3036

Source： Philosophical Magazine Letters, Vol.81, Iss.7, 2001-07, pp. : 495-504

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Abstract

The height fluctuations in the flame front during slow combustion of paper display an unconventional anomalous scaling behaviour, whereas the burning front roughness is statistically self-affine. The anomalous roughness is characterized by different scaling exponents in the local ( zeta 1) and the global ( alpha > zeta ₁) length scales. Furthermore, we find that the local roughness exponent, as well as the power spectrum S (structure factor of flame front), decrease as the sheet width W increases as zeta ₁ prop S prop W^-v, where >0, despite the fact that the global roughness exponent does not depend on W. This distinguishes the unconventional anomalous roughening from the scaling behaviour expected in the cases of super-roughening and intrinsic anomalous roughening. The physical implications of these points are discussed.