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.

Review on Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Premixed Combustion in Tubes

This paper reviews the existing knowledge on the large eddy simulation(LES) of turbulent premixed combustion in empty tubes and obstructed tubes. From the view of model development in LES, this review comprehensively analyzes the development history and applicability of the important Sub-Grid Scale(SGS) viscosity models and SGS combustion models. LES is also used to combine flow and combustion models to reproduce industrial explosion including deflagration and detonation and the transition from deflagration to detonation(DDT). The discussion about models and applications presented here leads readers to understand the progress of LES in the explosion of tube and reveals the deficiencies in this area.

Simulation of Combustion Flow of Methane Gas in a Premixed Low-Swirl Burner using a Partially Premixed Combustion Model

Because the rotational current stabilizes the flame by creating a recirculation zone,it may increase the risk of reversal.For this reason,low-spin combustion is used to stabilize the flame while preventing flashbacks.Therefore,in this study,the combustion flow of methane gas in a low-swirl burner is simulated using a partially premixed combustion model.Furthermore,the fuel flow rate is considered constant.The research parameters include swirl angle(θ=35°–47°),equivalence ratio(φ=0.6–0.9)and inlet axial flow radius(R=0.6–0.7)and effect of these parameters on temperature distribution,flame length,flame rise length,velocity field,and streamlines of the number of pollutant species are investigated.The contours of streamline,temperature distribution,and velocity distribution are also presented for analysis of flow physics.The results show that with increasing the fuel-air ratio,the strength of the axial flow decreases,and the position of the maximum flame temperature shifts toward the inlet of the reactants.The results also reveal that by increasing the swirl angle of the flow,the position of the minimum velocity value(opposite to the direction of the axis)tends towards the outlet.The results also indicate that the maximum temperature of the combustion chamber increases with increasing the swirl angle,and inθ=35°,the maximum temperature is 1711℃and inθ=41°,this value is 1812℃.Finally,by increasing the swirl angle toθ=47°,the maximum flame temperature position is found at a considerable distance from the inlet and is 1842℃.

Flow characterization and dilution effects of N_2 and CO_2 on premixed CH_4/air flames in a swirl-stabilized combustor

Numerically-aided experimental studies are conducted on a swirl-stabilized combustor to investigate the dilution effects on flame stability, flame structure, and pollutant emissions of premixed CH4/air flames. Our goal is to provide a systematic assessment on combustion characteristics in diluted regimes for its application to environmentally-friendly approaches such as biogas combustion and exhanst-gas recirculation technology. Two main diluting species, N2 and CO2, are tested at various dilution rates. The results obtained by means of optical diagnostics show that five main flame regimes can be observed for Nz-diluted flames by changing excess air and dilution rate. CO2-diluted flames follow the same pattern evolution except that all the domains are shifted to lower excess air. Both N2 and CO2 dilution affect the lean blow- out （LBO） limits negatively. This behavior can be counter-balanced by reactant preheating which is able to broaden the flammability domain of the diluted flames. Flame reactivity is degraded by increasing dilution rate. Meanwhile, flames are thickened in the presence of both diluting species. NOx emissions are significantly reduced with dilution and proved to be relevant to flame stability diagrams： slight augmentation in NOx emission profiles is related to transitional flame states where instability occurs. Although dilution results in increase in CO emissions at certain levels, optimal dilution rates can still be proposed to achieve an ideal compromise.

RANS simulations on combustion and emission characteristics of a premixed NH_(3)/H_(2) swirling flame with reduced chemical kinetic model

Ammonia(NH_(3))is considered as a potential alternative carbon free fuel to reduce greenhouse gas emission to meet the increasingly stringent emission requirements.Co-burning NH_(3) and H_(2) is an effective way to overcome ammonia’s relative low burning velocity.In this work,3D Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS)numerical simulations are conducted on a premixed NH_(3)/H_(2) swirling flame with reduced chemical kinetic mechanism.The effects of(A)overall equivalence ratio Φ and(B)hydrogen blended molar fraction XH2 on combustion and emission characteristics are examined.The present results show that when 100%NH_(3)-0%H_(2)-air are burnt,the NO emission and unburned NH3 of at the swirling combustor outlet has the opposite varying trends.With the increase of Φ,NO emission is found to be decreased,while the unburnt ammonia emission is increased.NH_(2)→HNO,NH→HNO and HNO→NO sub-paths are found to play a critical role in NO formation.Normalized reaction rate of all these three sub-paths is shown to be decreased with increased Φ.Hydrogen addition is shown to significantly increase the laminar burning velocity of the mixed fuel.However,adding H_(2) does not affect the critical equivalence ratio corresponding to the maximum burning velocity.The emission trend of NO and unburnt NH_(3) with increased Φ is unchanged by blending H_(2).NO emission with increased X_(H2) is increased slightly less at a larger Φ than that at a smaller Φ.In addition,reaction rates of NH_(2)→HNO and HNO→NO sub-paths are decreased with increased X_(H2),when Φ is larger.Under all tested cases,blending H_(2) with NH_(3) reduces the unburned NH_(3) emission,especially for rich combustion conditions.In summary,the present work provides research finding on supporting applying ammonia with hydrogen blended in low-emission gas turbine engines.

A Lagrangian-based flame index for the transported probability density function method

We propose a new flame index for the transported probability density function(PDF) method. The flame index uses mixing flux projections of Lagrangian particles on mixture fraction and progress variable directions as the metrics to identify the combustion mode, with the Burke-Schumann solution as a reference. A priori validation of the flame index is conducted with a series of constructed turbulent partially premixed reactors. It indicates that the proposed flame index is able to identify the combustion mode based on the subgrid mixing information. The flame index is then applied the large eddy simulation/PDF datasets of turbulent partially premixed jet flames. Results show that the flame index separate different combustion modes and extinction correctly. The proposed flame index provides a promising tool to analyze and model the partially premixed flames adaptively.

Effects of swirler position on flame response and combustion instabilities

This study is concerned with the experimental and theoretical investigation of the combustion instabilities in a premixed swirl combustor.It is focused on the effects of the swirl mixing distance on the intrinsic thermoacoustic mode.The swirler as an origin of the swirling flow is also the source of the flow disturbance,which has effects on the flame response.The location of the swirler is varied in the experiment to study the effect on combustion instabilities and flame transfer functions.A low order model is built to analyze the thermoacoustic instabilities of the combustion system.The experimental results show that the ITA switches from an unstable state to a stable state as the swirl mixing distance changes with an increment of 15 mm;while the instability of the quarter-wave mode is not varied.The measured Flame Transfer Functions(FTFs)show that the gain curves of the frequency-dependent FTFs seem to be stretched or compressed with the modulation of the swirler position,which has effects on frequencies and instabilities of thermoacoustic modes.With the low order model,the effects of flame response on combustion instabilities are analyzed and the flame dominant nature of the ITA mode is confirmed.

Experimental investigations on combustion characteristics of syngas composed of CH_(4),CO,and H_(2)

The residual gas and remained raw gas in dual gas resources polygeneration system are quite complex in components(mainly CH_(4),CO,and H_(2)),and these results to the distinguished differences in combustion reaction.Experimental investigations on basic combustion characteristics of syngas referred above are conducted on a laboratory-scale combustor with flame temperature and flue gas composition measured and analyzed.Primary air coefficient(PA),total air coefficient(TA),and components of the syngas(CS)are selected as key factors,and it is found that PA dominates mostly the ignition of syngas and NOx formation,while TA affects the flue gas temperature after high temperature region and NOx formation trend to be positive as H_(2)/CO components increase.The results provide references for industrial utilization.