Analysis and Measurement of Candle Flame Shapes

Abstract

A combined analytical and experimental study was performed to produce and validate a method by which the lengths and widths of flames burning on wax candles can be predicted. Two analogies are drawn: first, that heat transfer from the wick can be modeled as a slender vertical rod undergoing a natural convection process surrounded by a stagnant film; and second, that fuel pyrolyzed from the wick surface that remains unburned until above the wick can be modeled as flow from a circular port burner. Empirical correlations applied to the theoretical equations have produced reasonable agreement with measured flame lengths and widths for paraffin candles.