Turbulent combustion modeling using a flamelet generated manifold approach——a validation study in Open FOAM

An OpenFOAM based turbulence combustion solver with flamelet generated manifolds (FGMs) is presented in this paper. A series of flamelets, representative for turbulent flames, are calculated first by a one-dimensional (1D) detailed chemistry solver with the consideration of both transport and stretch/curvature contributions. The flame structure is then parameterized as a function of multiple reaction control variables. A manifold, which collects the 1D flame properties, is built from the 1D flame solutions. The control variables of the mixture fraction and the progress variable are solved from the corresponding transport equations. During the calculation, the scalar variables, e.g., temperature and species concentration, are retrieved from the manifolds by interpolation. A transport equation for NO is solved to improve its prediction accuracy. To verify the ability to deal with the enthalpy loss effect, the temperature retrieved directly from the manifolds is compared with the temperature solved from a transport equation of absolute enthalpy. The resulting FGM-computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled code has three significant features, i.e., accurate NO prediction, the ability to treat the heat loss effect and the adoption at the turbulence level, and high quality prediction within practical industrial configurations. The proposed method is validated against the Sandia flame D, and good agreement with the experimental data is obtained.

Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Air Distribution on Turbulent Flow and Combustion in a Tubular Heating Furnace

A three-dimension full-size numerical simulation of the effect of air distribution on turbulent flow and combustion in a tubular heating furnace was carried out. A standard k –ε turbulent model, a simplified PDF combustion model and a discrete ordinate transfer radiation model were used. The hybrid grid combining a structured and a non-structured grid was generated without any simplification of the complicated geometric configuration around the burner. It was found that the multistage combustion could reduce and control the peak value of temperature. At the same time, it was concluded that the amount of primary air had little effect on the global distribution of velocity and temperature in the furnace, but a great effect on that around the burner. It is recommended that 45% - 65% of the total amount of air be taken in in primary air inlets in the furnace. All the results are important to optimize the combustion progress.

Simulation of turbulent combustion in DLR Scramjet

Turbulent combustion in a DLR (German Aerospace Center) Scramjet engine was simulated using the newly-proposed Partially Resolved Numerical Simulation (PRNS) procedure. The PRNS procedure uses temporal filtering to define large-scale turbulence, and the model developed to account for unresolved scales is grid independent. No problem about inner commutation error and inconsistencies will arise from the PRNS, while such issues are of concern in traditional Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methods. The mean results have good agreement with the experiment data and the flow structures with small scales are well resolved.

Numerical Investigations on the Impact of Turbulent Prandtl Number and Schmidt Number on Supersonic Combustion

The flow field inside the combustor of a scramjet is highly complicated and the related turbulent Prandtl and Schmidt numbers have a significant impact on the effective numerical prediction of such dynamics.As in many cases researchers set these parameters on the basis of purely empirical laws,assessing their impact(via parametric numerical simulations)is a subject of great importance.In the present work,in particular,two test cases with different characteristics are selected for further evaluation of the role played by these non-dimensional numbers:Burrows-Kurkov case and DLR case.The numerical results indicate that these parameters influence ignition location.Moreover,the temperature distribution is more sensitive to them than to H2O mass fraction and velocity distributions.

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 structures of turbulent swirling flows and methane-air swirling diffusion combustion

Turbulent swirling flows and methane-air swirling diffusion combustion are studied by large-eddy simulation （LES） using a Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid scale turbulence model and a second-order moment （SOM） SGS combustion model, and also by RANS modeling using the Reynolds Stress equation model with the IPCM＋wall and IPCM pressure-strain models and SOM combustion model. The LES statistical results for swirling flows give good agreement with the experimental results, indicating that the adopted subgrid-scale turbulence model is suitable for swirling flows. The LES instantaneous results show the complex vortex shedding pattern in swirling flows. The initially formed large vortex structures soon break up in swirling flows. The LES statistical results of combustion modeling are near the experimental results and are as good as the RANS-SOM modeling results. The LES results show that the size and range of large vortex structures in swirling combustion are different from those of isothermal swirling flows, and the chemical reaction is intensified by the large-eddy vortex structures.

Comparison Between LES and RANS Modeling of Turbulent Swirling Flows and Swirling Diffusion Combustion

Turbulent swirling flows and methane-air swirling diffusion combustion are simulated by both large-eddy simulation (LES) using a Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence model, a second-order moment (SOM) subgrid-scale combustion model and an eddy break up (EBU) combustion model and Reynolds-averaged NavierStokes (RANS) modeling using the Reynolds stress equation model and a second-order moment (SOM) combustion model. For swirling flows, the LES statistical results give better agreement with the experimental results than the RANS modeling, indicating that the adopted subgrid-scale turbulence model is suitable for swirling flows. For swirling combustion, both the proposed SOM SGS combustion model and the RANS-SOM model give the results in good agreement with the experimental results, but the LES-EBU modeling results are not in agreement with the experimental results.

Response Surface Modeling of Fuel Rich and Fuel Lean Catalytic Combustion of the Stabilized Confined Turbulent Gaseous Diffusion Flames

The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been applied to explore the thermal structure of the experimentally studied catalytic combustion of stabilized confined turbulent gaseous diffusion flames. The Pt/γAl2O3 and Pd/γAl2O3 disc burners were situated in the combustion domain and the experiments were performed under both fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions at a modified equivalence (fuel/air) ratio (ø) of 0.75 and 0.25 respectively. The thermal structure of these catalytic flames developed over the Pt and Pd disc burners were inspected via measuring the mean temperature profiles in the radial direction at different discrete axial locations along the flames. The RSM considers the effect of the two operating parameters explicitly (r), the radial distance from the center line of the flame, and (x), axial distance along the flame over the disc, on the measured temperature of the flames and finds the predicted maximum temperature and the corresponding process variables. Also the RSM has been employed to elucidate such effects in the three and two dimensions and displays the location of the predicted maximum temperature.

Validation of the RANS-SOM Combustion Model Using Direct Numerical Simulation of Incompressible Turbulent Reacting Flows

The second-order moment combustion model, proposed by the authors is validated using the direct numerical simulation （DNS） of incompressible turbulent reacting channel flows. The instantaneous DNS results show the near-wall strip structures of concentration and temperature fluctuations. The DNS statistical results give the budget of the terms in the correlation equations, showing that the production and dissipation terms are most important. The DNS statistical data are used to validate the closure model in RANS second-order moment （SOM） combustion model. It is found that the simulated diffusion and production terms are in agreement with the DNS data in most flow regions, except in the near-wall region, where the near-wall modification should be made, and the closure model for the dissipation term needs further improvement. The algebraic second-order moment （ASOM） combustion model is well validated by DNS.

Second-order modeling of non-premixed turbulent methane-air combustion

The main purpose of this research is the second-order modeling of flow and turbulent heat flux in nonpremixed methane-air combustion.A turbulent stream of non-premixed combustion in a stoichiometric condition,is numerically analyzed through the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations.For modeling radiation and combustion,the discrete ordinates(DO) and eddy dissipation concept model have been applied.The Reynolds stress transport model(RSM) also was used for turbulence modeling.For THF in the energy equation,the GGDH model and high order algebraic model of HOGGDH with simple eddy diffusivity model have been applied.Comparing the numerical results of the SED model(with the turbulent Prandtl 0.85) and the second-order heat flux models with available experimental data follows that applying the second-order models significantly led to the modification of predicting temperature distribution and species mass fraction distribution in the combustion chamber.Calculation of turbulent Prandtl number in the combustion chamber shows that the assumption of Pr_(t) of 0.85 is far from reality and Pr_(t) in different areas varies from 0.4 to 1.2.

Simulation of Turbulent Combustion Flame Feature Based on Fractal Theory for SI Engines

The flame structure of gasoline engine is complicated and has the characteristic of fractal geometry. A fractal combustion model was used to simulate the engine working cycle. Based on this model, the fractal dimension and laminar flame surface area of turbulent premixed flames were studied under different working conditions. The experimental system mainly includes an optical engine and a set of photography equipment used to shoot the images of turbulent flame of spark-ignition engine. The difference box-counting method was used to process 2D combustion images. In contrast to the experimental results, the computational results show that the fractal combustion model is an effective method of simulating the engine combustion process. The study provides a better understanding for flame structure and its propagation.

Numerical Application of the Flamelet Model to Supersonic Turbulent Combustion

In this study,the flow field structure inside a scramjet combustor is numerically simulated using the flamelet/progress variable model.Slope injection is considered,with fuel mixing enhanced by means of a streamwise vortex.The flow field structure and combustion characteristics are analyzed under different conditions.Attention is also paid to the identification of the mechanisms that keep combustion stable and support enhanced mixing.The overall performances of the combustion chamber are discussed.

Unraveling the role of dual Ti/Mg metals on the ignition and combustion behavior of HTPB-boron-based fuel

Metal additives play an essential role in explosive and propellant formulations. Boron(B) is widely used in propellant applications owing to its high energetic content. The addition of B to explosives and propellants increases their energy density, making them more efficient and powerful. Nevertheless, B forms oxide layers on its surface during combustion, slowing down the combustion rate and reducing rocket motor efficiency. To overcome this issue, other metal additives such as aluminum(Al), magnesium(Mg),and titanium(Ti) are revealed to be effective in boosting the combustion rate of propellants. These additives may improve the combustion rate and therefore enhance the rocket motor’s performance. The present study focused on preparing and investigating the ignition and combustion behavior of pure hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene(HTPB)-B fuel supplemented with nano-titanium and nanomagnesium. The burn rates of HTPB-B fuel samples were evaluated on the opposed flow burner(OFB)under a gaseous oxygen oxidizer, for which the mass flux ranges from 22 kg/(m^(2)·s) to 86 kg/(m^(2)·s). The addition of Ti and Mg exhibited higher regression rates, which were attributed to the improved oxidation reaction of B due to the synergetic metal combustion effect. The possible combustion/oxidation reaction mechanism of B-Mg and B-Ti by heating the fuel samples at 900℃ and 1100℃ was also examined in a Nabertherm burnout furnace under an oxygen atmosphere. The post-combustion products were collected and further subjected to X-ray diffraction(XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM) analyses to inspect the combustion behavior of B-Ti and B-Mg. It has been observed that the B oxide layer at the interface between B-Ti(B-Mg) is removed at lower temperatures, hence facilitating oxygen transfer from the surroundings to the core B. Additionally, Ti and Mg decreased the ignition delay time of B, which improved its combustion performance.

Disasters of gas-coal spontaneous combustion in goaf of steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams

In light of the escalating global energy imperatives,mining of challenging-to-access resources,such as steeply inclined extra-thick coal seams(SIEC),has emerged as one of the future trends within the domain of energy advancement.However,there is a risk of gas and coal spontaneous combustion coupling disasters(GCC)within the goaf of SIEC due to the complex goaf structure engendered by the unique mining methodologies of SIEC.To ensure that SIEC is mined safely and efficiently,this study conducts research on the GCC within the goaf of SIEC using field observation,theoretical analysis,and numerical modeling.The results demonstrate that the dip angle,the structural dimensions in terms of width-to-length ratio,and compressive strength of the overlying rock are the key factors contributing to the goaf instability of SIEC.The gangue was asymmetrically filled,primarily accumulating within the central and lower portions of the goaf,and the filling height increased proportionally with the advancing caving height,the expansion coefficient,and the thickness of the surrounding rock formation.The GCC occurs in the goaf of SIEC,with an air-return side range of 41 m and an air-intake side range of 14 m,at the intersection area of the“<”-shaped oxygen concentration distribution(coal spontaneous combustion)and the“>”-shaped gas concentration distribution(gas explosion).The optimal nitrogen flow rate is 1000 m3/h with an injection port situated 25 m away from the working face for the highest nitrogen diffusion efficacy and lowest risk of gas explosion,coal spontaneous combustion,and GCC.It has significant engineering applications for ensuring the safe mining of SIEC threatened by the GCC.

Fabrication and characterization of multi-scale coated boron powders with improved combustion performance:A brief review

Boron has high mass and volume calorific values,but it is difficult to ignite and has low combustion efficiency.This literature review summarizes the strategies that are used to solve the above-mentioned problems,which include coatings of boron by using fluoride compounds,energetic composites,metal fuels,and metal oxides.Coating techniques include recrystallization,dual-solvent,phase transfer,electrospinning,etc.As one of the effective coating agents,the fluorine compounds can react with the oxide shell of boron powder.In comparison,the energetic composites can effectively improve the flame temperature of boron powder and enhance the evaporation efficiency of oxide film as a condensed product.Metals and metal oxides would react with boron powder to form metal borides with a lower ignition point,which could reduce its ignition temperature.

The regulation of ferrocene-based catalysts on heat transfer in highpressure combustion of ammonium perchlorate/hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene/aluminum composite propellants

The regulation of the burning rate pressure exponent for the ammonium perchlorate/hydroxylterminated polybutadiene/aluminum(AP/HTPB/Al)composite propellants under high pressures is a crucial step for its application in high-pressure solid rocket motors.In this work,the combustion characteristics of AP/HTPB/Al composite propellants containing ferrocene-based catalysts were investigated,including the burning rate,thermal behavior,the local heat transfer,and temperature profile in the range of 7-28 MPa.The results showed that the exponent breaks were still observed in the propellants after the addition of positive catalysts(Ce-Fc-MOF),the burning rate inhibitor((Ferrocenylmethyl)trimethylammonium bromide,Fc Br)and the mixture of Fc Br/catocene(GFP).However,the characteristic pressure has increased,and the exponent decreased from 1.14 to 0.66,0.55,and 0.48 when the addition of Ce-FcMOF,Fc Br and Fc Br/GFP in the propellants.In addition,the temperature in the first decomposition stage was increased by 7.50℃ and 11.40℃ for the AP/Fc Br mixture and the AP/Fc Br/GFP mixture,respectively,compared to the pure AP.On the other hand,the temperature in the second decomposition stage decreased by 48.30℃ and 81.70℃ for AP/Fc Br and AP/Fc Br/GFP mixtures,respectively.It was also found that Fc Br might generate ammonia to cover the AP surface.In this case,a reaction between the methyl in Fc Br and perchloric acid caused more ammonia to appear at the AP surface,resulting in the suppression of ammonia desorption.In addition,the coarse AP particles on the quenched surface were of a concave shape relative to the binder matrix under low and high pressures when the catalysts were added.In the process,the decline at the AP/HTPB interface was only exhibited in the propellant with the addition of Ce-Fc-MOF.The ratio of the gas-phase temperature gradient of the propellants containing catalysts was reduced significantly below and above the characteristic pressure,rather than 3.6 times of the difference in the blank propellant.Overall,the obtained results demonstrated that the pressure exponent could be effectively regulated and controlled by adjusting the propellant local heat and mass transfer under high and low pressures.

Optical investigations on lean combustion improvement of natural gas engines via turbulence enhancement

In the global background of“Carbon Peak”and“Carbon Neutral”,natural gas engines show great advantages in energy-saving and pollution reduction.However,natural gas engines suffer from the issues of combustion instabilities when operating under lean burning conditions.In this paper,the role of turbulence enhancement in improving the lean combustion of natural gas was investigated in an optical SI engine with high compression ratios.Variable swirl control valves(SCV)were designed and intake tumble and swirl were combined to regulate turbulent motion and turbulent intensity.Particle image velocimetry was employed to measure in-cylinder turbulence,and transient pressure acquisition and high-speed photography were synchronously performed to quantify combustion evolutions.The results show that incylinder turbulent intensity is enhanced significantly through reducing SCV closing angles.Such that flame propagation speed and thermal efficiency are significantly improved with an increment of turbulent intensity,which indicated that mean effective pressures are not sensitive to spark timing.The analysis of flame images shows that the combined turbulence increases in the radial orientation from the spark plug to the cylinder wall,leading to an earlier flame kernel formation and a faster burning rate.Therefore,the combined turbulence has the potential in reducing the cyclic variations of lean combustion in natural gas engines.

Micro-aluminum powder with bi-or tri-component alloy coating as a promising catalyst:Boosting pyrolysis and combustion of ammonium perchlorate

A novel design of micro-aluminum(μAl)powder coated with bi-/tri-component alloy layer,such as:Ni-P and Ni-P-Cu(namely,Al@Ni-P,Al@Ni-P-Cu,respectively),as combustion catalysts,were introduced to release its huge energy inside Al-core and promote rapid pyrolysis of ammonium perchlorate(AP)at a lower temperature in aluminized propellants.The microstructure of Al@Ni-P-Cu demonstrates that a three-layer Ni-P-Cu shell,with the thickness of~100 nm,is uniformly supported byμAl carrier(fuel unit),which has an amorphous surface with a thickness of~2.3 nm(catalytic unit).The peak temperature of AP with the addition of Al@Ni-P-Cu(3.5%)could significantly drop to 316.2℃ at high-temperature thermal decomposition,reduced by 124.3℃,in comparison to that of pure AP with 440.5℃.It illustrated that the introduction of Al@Ni-P-Cu could weaken or even eliminate the obstacle of AP pyrolysis due to its reduction of activation energy with 118.28 kJ/mol.The laser ignition results showed that the ignition delay time of Al@Ni-P-Cu/AP mixture with 78 ms in air is shorter than that of Al@Ni-P/AP(118 ms),decreased by 33.90%.Those astonishing breakthroughs were attributed to the synergistic effects of adequate active sites on amorphous surface and oxidation exothermic reactions(7597.7 J/g)of Al@Ni-P-Cu,resulting in accelerated mass and/or heat transfer rate to catalyze AP pyrolysis and combustion.Moreover,it is believed to provide an alternative Al-based combustion catalyst for propellant designer,to promote the development the propellants toward a higher energy.

Turbulent Image Restoration in Atmosphere with Cyclopean Processing via Binocular Fusion

The outstanding issue to overcoming atmospheric turbulence on distant imaging is a fundamental interest and technological challenge.We propose a novel scenario and technique to restore the optical image in turbulent environmental by referring to Cyclopean image with binocular vision.With human visual intelligence,image distortion resulting from the turbulence is shown to be substantially suppressed.Numerical simulation results taking into account of the atmospheric turbulence,optical image system,image sensors,display and binocular vision perception are presented to demonstrate the robustness of the image restoration,which is compared with a single channel planar optical imaging and sensing.Experiment involving binocular telescope,image recording and the stereo-image display is conducted and good agreement is obtained between the simulation with perceptive experience.A natural extension of the scenario is to enhance the capability of anti-vibration or anti-shaking for general optical imaging with Cyclopean image.