Detailed modeling of aluminum particle combustion——From single particles to cloud combustion in Bunsen flames

A numerical model for aluminum cloud combustion which includes the effects of interphase heat transfer,phase change,heterogeneous surface reactions,homogeneous combustion,oxide cap growth and radiation within the Euler–Lagrange framework is proposed.The model is validated in single particle configurations with varying particle diameters.The combustion process of a single aluminum particle is analyzed in detail and the particle consumption rates as well as the heat release rates due to the various physical/chemical sub-models are presented.The combustion time of single aluminum particles predicted by the model are in very good agreement with empirical correlations for particles with diameters larger than 10μm.The prediction error for smaller particles is noticeably reduced when using a heat transfer model that is capable of capturing the transition regime between continuum mechanics and molecular dynamics.The predictive capabilities of the proposed model framework are further evaluated by simulating the aluminum/air Bunsen flames of Mc Gill University for the first time.Results show that the predicted temperature distribution of the flame is consistent with the experimental data and the double-front structure of the Bunsen flame is reproduced well.The burning rates of aluminum in both single particle and particle cloud configurations are calculated and compared with empirical correlations.Results show that the burning rates obtained from the present model are more reasonable,while the correlations,when embedded in the Euler–Lagrange context,tend to underestimate the burning rate in the combustion stage,particularly for the considered fuel-rich flames.

Studies on aluminum powder combustion in detonation environment

The combustion mechanism of aluminum particles in a detonation environment characterized by high temperature(in unit 10^(3)K),high pressure(in unit GPa),and high-speed motion(in units km/s)was studied,and a combustion model of the aluminum particles in detonation environment was established.Based on this model,a combustion control equation for aluminum particles in detonation environment was obtained.It can be seen from the control equation that the burning time of aluminum particle is mainly affected by the particle size,system temperature,and diffusion coefficient.The calculation result shows that a higher system temperature,larger diffusion coefficient,and smaller particle size lead to a faster burn rate and shorter burning time for aluminum particles.After considering the particle size distribution characteristics of aluminum powder,the application of the combustion control equation was extended from single aluminum particles to nonuniform aluminum powder,and the calculated time corresponding to the peak burn rate of aluminum powder was in good agreement with the experimental electrical conductivity results.This equation can quantitatively describe the combustion behavior of aluminum powder in different detonation environments and provides technical means for quantitative calculation of the aluminum powder combustion process in detonation environment.