Quasi-direct numerical simulations of the flow characteristics of a thermal plasma reactor with counterflow jet

Three-dimensional quasi-direct numerical simulations have been performed to investigate a thermal plasma reactor with a counterflow jet. The effects of the momentum flux ratio and distance between the counterflow jet and the thermal plasma jet on the flow characteristics are addressed. The numerical results show that the dimensionless location of the stagnation layer is significantly affected by the momentum flux ratio, but it is not dependent on the distance.Specifically, the stagnation layer is closer to the plasma torch outlet with the increase of the momentum flux ratio. Furthermore, the flow regimes of the stagnation layer and the flow characteristics of the thermal plasma jet are closely related to the momentum flux ratio. The characteristic frequencies associated with the different regimes are identified. The deflecting oscillation flow regimes are found when the momentum flux ratio is low, which provokes axial velocity fluctuations inside the thermal plasma jet. By contrast, for cases with a high momentum flux ratio, flapping flow regimes are distinguished. The thermal plasma jets are very stable and the axial velocity fluctuations mainly exist in the stagnation layer.

Large eddy simulation of turbulent premixed and stratified combustion using flame surface density model coupled with tabulation method

Large eddy simulations(LESs) are performed to investigate the Cambridge premixed and stratified flames, SwB1 and SwB5, respectively. The flame surface density(FSD) model incorporated with two different wrinkling factor models, i.e., the Muppala and Charlette2 wrinkling factor models, is used to describe combustion/turbulence interaction, and the flamelet generated manifolds(FGM) method is employed to determine major scalars. This coupled sub-grid scale(SGS) combustion model is named as the FSD-FGM model. The FGM method can provide the detailed species in the flame which cannot be obtained from the origin FSD model. The LES results show that the FSD-FGM model has the ability of describing flame propagation, especially for stratified flames. The Charlette2 wrinkling factor model performs better than the Muppala wrinkling factor model in predicting the flame surface area change by the turbulence.The combustion characteristics are analyzed in detail by the flame index and probability distributions of the equivalence ratio and the orientation angle, which confirms that for the investigated stratified flame, the dominant combustion modes in the upstream and downstream regions are the premixed mode and the back-supported mode, respectively.

Large eddy simulation of turbulent premixed piloted flame using artificial thickened flame model coupled with tabulated chemistry

A sub-grid scale(SGS) combustion model, which combines the artificial thickened flame(ATF) model with the flamelet generated manifold(FGM) tabulation method, is proposed. Based on the analysis of laminar flame structures, two self-contained flame sensors are used to track the diffusion and reaction processes with different spatial scales in the flame front, respectively. The dynamic formulation for the proposed SGS combustion model is also performed. Large eddy simulations(LESs) of Bunsen flame F3 are used to evaluate the different SGS combustion models. The results show that the proposed SGS model has the ability in predicting the distributions of temperature and velocity reasonably, while the predictions for the distributions of some species need further improvement. The snapshots of instantaneous normalized progress variables reveal that the flame is more remarkably and severely wrinkled at the flame tip for flame F3.More satisfactory results obtained by the dynamic model indicate that it can preserve the premixed flame propagation characteristics better.

Numerical study of the effect of coflow argon jet on a laminar argon thermal plasma jet

The effects of the velocity and width in coflow argon jet inlet on the flow characteristics of laminar argon thermal plasma jet flowing into the cold air have been studied by the large eddy simulation methods. The Kelvin–Helmholtz instability between argon thermal plasma jet and coflow argon jet causes the transition from a laminar jet to a turbulent jet in the presence of coflow argon jet. Moreover, increasing the velocity and width in coflow argon jet inlet can enhance turbulent transport and provoke coherent structure in the downstream of thermal plasma jet. And the mixing characteristics between argon thermal plasma, coflow argon and ambient air are strengthened. In addition, the width in coflow argon jet inlet has a significant effect on the distribution of temperature in the upstream of thermal plasma jet. It was also found that the transition occurs in advance with the increase of velocity and width in coflow argon jet inlet.