EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

Oxygen Methane Combustion

Simulation Towards Pollution Free
Solution For Industry and
Transportation
by
Arni Steingrimsson
A thesis submitted in partial fulllment of the
degree of Master of Science
in the
Department of Aerospace Engineering
November 2012
Declaration of Authorship
I, AUTHOR NAME, declare that this thesis titled, THESIS TITLE and the work
presented in it are my own. I conrm that:
This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree
at this University.
Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any
other qualication at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly
stated.
Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly at-
tributed.
Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With
the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work.
I have acknowledged all main sources of help.
Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made
clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself.
Signed:
Date:
i
Write a funny quote here.
If the quote is taken from someone, their name goes here
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Combustion simulation of pure oxygen and pure methane using pulse injection was laid
out to investigate the combustion eciency. The combustion system has some great
advantages over most common combustors as the fuel is inexpensive and the system can
be setup to produce zero emission. Validation of the combustion setup and numerics
was done with empirical data from Salgues et al. [1]. Initial results indicate that some
improvements are needed in mesh and combustion model.
Acknowledgements
The acknowledgements and the people to thank go here, dont forget to include your
project advisor. . .
iv
Contents
Declaration of Authorship i
Abstract iii
Acknowledgements iv
List of Figures vii
List of Tables viii
Abbreviations ix
Physical Constants x
Symbols xi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Combustion Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Combustion Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Pulse Combustion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Governing Equations and Theory 6
2.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.1 Navier-Stokes Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.2 Navier-Stokes Integral Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.3 Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.3.1 k Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.3.2 LES Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.4 Combustion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.4.1 Finite Rate Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.4.2 Eddy Dissipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3 Method of solution 13
3.1 The Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
v
Contents vi
3.2 The Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 Boundary Condition and Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.1 Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.2 Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.3 Inlet Methane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.4 Inlet Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.5 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
A Appendix Title Here 19
Bibliography 20
List of Figures
1.1 CES System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Bladon Jet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Natural gas prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Pulse Combustion Schematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Flow Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 Combustor Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2 Combustor inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3 Combustor original . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.4 Combustor inlet length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.5 Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
vii
List of Tables
3.1 Comparison of mesh sizes [2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Typical LES mesh sizes [3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
viii
Abbreviations
LAH List Abbreviations Here
ix
Physical Constants
Speed of Light c = 2.997 924 58 10
8
ms
s
(exact)
x
Symbols
a distance m
P power W (Js
1
)
angular frequency rads
1
xi
For/Dedicated to/To my. . .
xii
Chapter 1
Introduction
In times of depression it can be hard for businesses to justify buying green solutions,
which are most of the time more expensive. In stead the business tries to cut back and
it is natural to cut convenience before necessity. In the automotive industry the gasoline
engine is still the most popular fuel in the US even though Diesel is more ecient and
thus greener. Electric cars are getting more popular but they have a short range and
are expensive. The purpose of this study is to deliver a very ecient, inexpensive and
powerful combustion to be used in pollution free energy system.
1.1 The System
One of the most popular examples in many chemistry books, when reaction is being
discussed, is to use oxygen and hydrogen or oxygen and methane.
2H
2
+O
2
2H
2
O
or
CH
4
+ 2O
2
CO
2
+ 2H
2
O
When combusting pure oxygen and pure methane the products are water and carbon
dioxide. At room temperature the two products are at dierent phases and it is a simple
process to separating them. This is the foundation for the pollution free combustion
system. Clean Energy Systems, Inc. along with Siemens Power Generation, Inc. and
Florida Turbine Technology, Inc. have tested and delivered a pollution free power plant
[4]. The heart of the system is the rocket like combustor. The concept can then be
expanded to other areas than just power plants, e.g. heavy machinery, ships and even
cars as Bladon Jets has demonstrated with their micro turbine in Jaguar Limo [5].
1
Chapter 1. Chapter Title Here 2
Fuel
Combustor HPT
Elect.
Gen.
CO
2
Cleanup
Cooling
Water
Oxygen
LPT IPT
Oxygen
Fuel
Reheat Combustor
HRSG
Raw CO
2
Condensate
Steam/CO
2
LP
Steam
To CO
2
Compression
Condenser
HX
Figure 1.1: Pollution free liquid rocket combustor power plant system made by Clean
Energy Systems
In this study the combustion chamber design is not like the traditional designs as seen
in most gas turbines. The design is much like a liquid rocket engine. In the past
most liquid rocket engine studies were focused on liquid oxygen and hydrogen as it
has the highest specic impulse [6]. Relatively recent, more emphasis has been gaining
for the liquid oxygen and methane studies. Methane has higher specic impulse than
kerosene, it is space storable, clean burning and has higher density [7]. Another reason
for more LOX/CH4 research attention is to use methane for human exploration of Mars
as NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center has been testing LOX/CH4 injectors for [8].
Martin Marietta Corp showed also in 3 months that they could build a Mars In-Situ
propellant production unit. The unit would be able to produce methane and water from
the Maritian atmosphere [9]. With more research and test for space propulsion and
exploration it is hard to ignore the fact that the US has abundance of methane [10].
At last and one of the most important factor is that the price of Methane has been
relatively stable and low the past 40 years, see gure 1.3.
Chapter 1. Chapter Title Here 3
Figure 1.2: Micro turbine made by Bladon Jets are used as range extenders in up-
coming Jaguar electric sport vehicles
Figure 1.3: Natural gas wellhead prices history of the past 40 years
1.2 Combustion Stability
The liquid oxygen and methane combustion stability or instability are of great impor-
tance for combustion chamber design. Rocketdyen performed numerous performance and
stability tests for NASA and results showed that many stability issues exist and more
research is needed to get full understanding [11]. The Academy of Equipment Command
& Technology performed numerical instability study on LOX/CH4 combustors and also
compared the combustion instability of LOX/H2. Low frequency instabilities are evident
with LOX/CH4 combustion while high frequency instabilities are evident with LOX/H2
Chapter 1. Chapter Title Here 4
combustion. Use of bae to control the instabilities does not have an eect on the low
frequencies as it does for the high frequencies in the LOX/H2 combustion. Extending
the combustion chamber has most dampening eect on the low frequency [12]. Experi-
mental and numerical study of combustion instability of LOX/H2 and LOX/HCH4 were
performed by the Institute of Command & Technology and the National University of
Defense Technology. Numerical models compare well with experiments. The results
show that increasing the velocity ratio suppress the instability. Optimum bae ratio is
noticed but dier for the methane and hydrogen. Mass ow rate to chamber pressure
ratio seems to inuence the combustion instability in a rectangular LOX/CH4 chamber
as noted by [13] and injection of nitrogen ow increases the pressure amplitude [14].
1.3 Combustion Models
In numerical analysis of combustion a good compromise between cost and accuracy can
be a key. Assumption of no droplets existing in truly supercritical environment using
dense gas proved successful for [15]. LES turbulence model was used to compute the
LOX/CH4 combustion at supercritical condition. Due to high Reynolds numbers the
Subgrid Scale model was computed using Fractal Model, developed by the group [15].
Simplifying the equation of state is not recommended and signicant dierence in results
can be expected [16]. Use of ideal gas will over-predict the temperature and pressure
[17]. Newer study shows good results using Peng-Robinson cubic equation of state and
modied subgrid chemistry is used to achieve realistic temperatures [18]. Assumption of
using calculated adiabatic ame temperature as the maximum temperature in LOX/CH4
non-premixed ames is not feasible [19]. Use of Lagrangian solver to model impingement,
droplet vaporization and combustion does not seem feasible and is not able to capture
the major ow mechanisms of LOX/CH4 combustion simulation [20].
1.4 Pulse Combustion
Unfortunately not much data is available for numerical simulation of pulsating com-
bustion [21] and none have been found using liquid oxygen. Pulse combustion has been
around for more than 75 years and its main usage has been in the area of drying [22, 23].
There are many benets of using pulsating combustors and they could proof superior
to existing designs. Some of the benets include high thrust-to-weight ratio [24], very
high combustion eciency [21], increased mass and heat transfer [22] and lower carbon
dioxide and nitrogen oxide emission [25]. Primary pollution prediction study was carried
Chapter 1. Chapter Title Here 5
out using simplied kinetic model derived from GRI-Mech3 and provided better results
than the detailed GRI-Mech2.11 [26].
Flow
Diode
Flow
Diode
D. Recharge and Compress
Flow
Diode
Backflow
B. Expansion
Resonance Tube
Combustion
Products
Combustion Chamber
Flow
Diode
A. Ignition and Combustion
Figure 1.4: Schematics of pulse combustion. Taken from reference: [27]
With all the benets it is hard to believe that pulse combustion is not considered the
standard in combustion design. Other complexities in design and lack of understanding
has prevented its success and acceptance [28]. Experimental and numerical investiga-
tion of ow dynamics has been popular in recent years. Implementation of sub model
to simulate dynamic valve head proofs important [29] for accurate pulse combustion.
Successful ame testing methods have been investigated and will proof important for
future validation and understanding [30]. The ow eects in pulse combustors was stud-
ied using numerical models by [28] and the eects on the wall temperature and forcing
combustion frequency studied. Determination of the eect of air and fuel feed rate has
been studied and at least one of the feeding ow has to be modulated to achieve pulse
combustion [31]. In more recent application the use of pulsating rocket is being consid-
ered for hypersonic space planes. Study of pulse combustion in scramjet using ethylene
and kerosene has been tested and showed stable combustion for ethylene but not possible
for kerosene [32]. Another similar study showed that signicant fuel savings is achieved
by using pulse combustor in supersonic vehicles [33]. Other research of pulse combustion
has been scaling analysis [34] and pulsating ow in axial turbine [35].
Chapter 2
Governing Equations and Theory
Computational uid dynamics (CFD) is a tool used extensively in industry where it
can be used in uid ow simulation of liquid uids as well as uid in gaseous phase.
Combustion and heat transfer are as well extensively used as it can be very expensive,
it could be illegal or even impossible to perform certain tests empirically. Another area
of use is in acoustic simulations just to name a few.
To represent the physics of ow, chemical reaction etc. the Navier Stokes equations are
used. The equations are partial dierential equations named after the French mathe-
matician and civil engineer Claude Louis Navier (1758-1836) and the Irish physicist and
mathematician George Stokes (1819-1903). Navier was not able to arrive correctly to
his equation because he did not understand fully the shear stresses in uids. Stokes on
the other hand did understand the shear stresses in uids and published his theory of
motion of viscous uid in 1845 [36].
Navier-Stokes equations are based on the continuum mechanics where interactions among
uid molecules are expressed by physical constant, which is viscosity. Navier-Stokes
equations do not account for interactions at microscopic levels such as used in statistical
mechanics. To verify if your Navier-Stokes equation will qualify for your type of prob-
lem the Knudsen number can be used to verify what ow regime you are working in see
gure 2.1 [37].
To perform a simulation the user must create the geometry (the boundary), create the
mesh (the discretization) and dene the solver conditions (set initial condition, boundary
condition, steady or unsteady and turbulence etc.) for its problem. In this study the
ANSYS CFX uid dynamics code was used for all simulations.
6
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 7
n/n
0
L
(
m
i
c
r
o
n
s
)
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
10
1
10
2
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
10
1
10
2
10
3
K
n
=
1
.
0
K
n
=
1
0
L
/
=
2
0

Dilute Gas
Dense Gas
K
n
=
0
.
1
K
n
=
0
.
0
1
Slip
Flow
Transitional
Flow
Free
Molecular
Flow
Continuum
Flow
Navier-Stokes
Equations
Figure 2.1: List of ow regimes that can be used to model gas microow
2.1 Governing Equations
For transient reacting ow the conservation of mass, momentum, energy and species
is used. Solution of complicated physics such as turbulent uid ow, heat transfer,
chemical reaction and others are required.
2.1.1 Navier-Stokes Equation
Conservation of mass or the continuity equation can be written in general as following:

t
+ (u) = 0 (2.1)
It states that the rate of mass into a uid is equal to the rate of mass out of the uid.
The term on the left is the rate of time of the density and the term on the right is the
convective term which shows the ow of mass out of a uid. Second law of motion, named
after Sir Isaac Newton states that the net forces acting on an element is equal to the mass
of a uid element with an acceleration. The forces acting on the uid element can be
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 8
split in body forces (gravity, magnetic, centrifugal and coriolis forces) and surface forces
(pressure or normal forces and viscous or shear forces). The conservation of momentum
is derived from the Newtons second law of motion and can be written in general as
follows in 3 dimensions:
Conservation of momentum, x component:
(u)
t
+ (uu) =
p
x
+ (u) +S
Mx
(2.2)
Conservation of momentum, y component:
(v)
t
+ (vu) =
p
y
+ (v) +S
My
(2.3)
Conservation of momentum, z component:
(w)
t
+ (wu) =
p
z
+ (w) +S
Mz
(2.4)
The conservation of energy describes the energy of a uid. The transport equation
describes the rate of change of the energy inside the uid as being equal to the ux of
heat into the element and the rate of work done on the uid particle due to the body and
the surface forces. The equation can be written in general for compressible unsteady 3
dimensional ow as:
Conservation of energy:
(i)
t
+ (iu) = p u + (kT) + +S
i
(2.5)
where equation of state is:
p = p(, T) and i = i(, T)
perfect gas p = RT and i = C

T
(2.6)
and the dissipation function is:
=
_
2
_
_
u
x
_
2
+
_
v
y
_
2
+
_
w
z
_
2
_
+
_
u
y
+
v
x
_
2
+
_
u
z
+
w
x
_
2
+
_
v
z
+
w
y
_
2
_
+( u)
2
(2.7)
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 9
where
S
M
= S
M
+ [S
M
] is the source term or the body force, e.g. gravity
= dynamic viscosity
= kinematic viscosity
k = materials conductivity
(2.8)
2.1.2 Navier-Stokes Integral Equation
The most common discretization method in commercial codes is the nite volume
method. Given is the transport equation for the property
()
t
+ (u) = () +S

(2.9)
where is the diusion coecient and is the conserved property.
To be useful for nite volume methods the transport equation is integrated over the
control volume as follows:
_
CV
()
t
dV +
_
CV
(u)dV =
_
CV
()dV +
_
CV
S

dV (2.10)
The rst term on the left hand side represents the rate of increase of the property and
the second term is the convective term. Right hand side is the diusive term and the
last term is the source term. Using the Gausss divergence theorem the equation above
is rewritten with the convective and diusive term integrated over the bounding surface
of the control volume.

t
_
_
_
CV
dV
_
_
+
_
A
n (u)dA =
_
A
n ()
_
CV
S

dV (2.11)
then for steady state (

t
= 0) problems the equation becomes:
_
A
n (u)dA =
_
A
n ()
_
CV
S

dV (2.12)
while for time-dependant problems the equation is:
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 10
_
t

t
_
_
_
CV
dV
_
_
dt+
_
t
_
A
n(u)dAdt =
_
t
_
A
n()dAdt+
_
t
_
CV
S

dV dt (2.13)
2.1.3 Turbulence
Almost all uid will experience some turbulence. In this study the so called k- model
and the large eddy simulation (LES) model were used to model the combustion physics.
Turbulence models used in computational uid dynamics are very dierent and can be
very accurate like Direct numerical simulation and large eddy simulation but will take
extensive amounts of time and computer resources.
2.1.3.1 k Turbulence Model
The k- model is based on two algebraic equation, k equation which can be derived
from the Navier-Stokes equation and the equation which on the other hand cannot
be derived from the Navier-Stokes. The k equation uses the following transport
equation[38, 39].
Turbulence Kinetic Energy:
k
t
+ (ku) =
_

_
+ 2
t
S
ij
S
ij
(2.14)
Dissipation Rate:

t
+ (u) =
_

k
k
_
+C
1

k
2
t
S
ij
S
ij
C
2

2
k
(2.15)
where
t
= C

k
2

is the Eddy Viscosity and the follow are the standard coecients
C

= 0.09

k
= 1.00

= 1.3
C
1
= 1.44
C
2
= 1.92
(2.16)
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 11
2.1.3.2 LES Turbulence Model
Unlike the k model the Large Eddy Simulation computes the turbulence directly
at least partially. It is computationally heavy and requires very ne mesh. In short
the LES computes the eddies that are larger than the mesh spacing and models the
eddies that are smaller than the mesh spacing. The model to calculate the small eddies
is called subgrid scale model (SGS). In 1999 a new LES model was proposed by [40]
called Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE). The main improvements over the
Smagorinsky model were to account for the contribution in regions where irrational strin
is dominated by vorticity. In near wall the Smagorinsky gives a non-zero value of
t
when
velocity gradient exist and this has been improved with the new WALE model [40]. The
proposed eddy-viscosity for the WALE model is written as follows:

t
= (C
w
)
2
(S
d
ij
S
d
ij
)
3/2
(

S
ij

S
ij
)
5/2
+ (S
d
ij
S
d
ij
)
5/4
(2.17)
and the velocity gradient tensor
S
d
ij
=
1
2
( g
2
ij
+ g
2
ij
)
1
3

ij
g
2
kk
(2.18)
where g
2
ij
= g
ik
g
kj
and
ij
is the Kronecker symbol and the tensor
S
d
ij
=

S
ik

S
kj
+

ik

kj

1
3

i
j[

S
ik

S
kj

ik

kj
] (2.19)
and nally the vorticity tensor

ij
=
1
2
_
u
i
x
j

u
j
x
i
_
(2.20)
2.1.4 Combustion
To compute the chemical reaction the nite rate chemistry model was used in CFX
for the transient simulation. To initialize the ow and the reaction for the transient
solution the k model was used along with eddy dissipation chemistry model in the
time average simulation.
Chapter 2. Governing Equations and Theory 12
2.1.4.1 Finite Rate Chemistry
The last conservation equation needed in this study is the conservation of species and is
as follows [38, 41]:

t
(Y
k
) +

x
i
(u
i
Y
k
) =

x
i
_
D
k
Y
k
x
i
_
+
k
(2.21)
with species mass fraction Y
k
, diusion coecient D
k
and reaction rate
k
. The reaction
rate equation or the source term in the transport equation is

k
= (MW)
k
q
k
q
kj
=
dC
M
k
dt

j
= (v

k
v

k
)
_
k
f
N

k=1
(C
M
k
)
v

kj
k
b
N

k=1
(C
M
k
)
v

kj
_
(2.22)
the k
f
is the specic reaction rate constant or the Arrhenius law
k
f
= AT

exp(
E
a
R
u
T
) (2.23)
where
A = pre-exponent constant
= temperature exponent
E
a
= activation energy
(2.24)
2.1.4.2 Eddy Dissipation
Using the transport equation of species above the reaction rate for fuel is[38, 42]:

f
u =

k
C
EDC
min
_

Y
fu
,

Y
ox
s
_
_

1

_
(2.25)
where

= 4.6
_
v
k
2
_
1/2
=

Y
p
r/(1 +s)

Y
min
+

Y
p
r/(1 +s)
(2.26)
and

Y
min
= min
_

Y
f
u,

Y
ox
_
(2.27)
Chapter 3
Method of solution
This chapter will cover the technical setups that are used to perform the study. The
geometry was created with the aim to match the dimensions used in the paper by Salgues
et al [1] where they performed an empirical combustion tests using liquid oxygen and
methane. Geometry was created to match [1] and meshing included a RANS mesh and
a LES mesh. All simulations were performed using ANSYS CFX and both time average
and time dependent simulation were performed. k turbulence equation and LES
were applied and Eddy Dissipation model and Finite Rate Chemistry model for the
combustion.
3.1 The Geometry
To perform this study a rocket style combustor was created using Computer Aided
Design (CAD) tool. The design and dimension were chosen to match geometry from
empirical data for validation purposes. The geometry is a simple cylinder section with
two inlets at one end of the cylinder and outlet at the other end as can be seen in gure
3.1. The cylinder section is 292.1 mm (11.5 inches) long and has a diameter of 50.8 mm
(2 inches). There are two inlets, one is for the oxygen and the other for the methane.
The oxygen inlet is 3.429 mm in diameter, disk shaped, with its center at the center axis
of the main cylinder. The methane inlet is an annulus shaped with an outer diameter
of 5.182 mm and inner diameter of 4.191 mm. The center location of the methane inlet
is the same as the oxygen inlet. There is a wall annulus between the oxygen inlet and
the fuel inlet as indicated in gure 3.2 with an inner diameter of 3.429 mm and outer
diameter of 4.191 mm. The outlet, nozzle throat, is an opening of 9.652 mm in diameter.
Figure 3.3 shows the original schematic from [1].
13
Chapter 3. Method of solution 14
292.1 mm
Inlet Outlet
50.8 mm
Figure 3.1: Geometry created using Siemens NX showing main dimensions
Fuel inlet
Oxygen inlet
Figure 3.2: Closeup on the inlet section of the CAD, showing the oxygen and fuel
inlets
Due to combustion instability it was critical to model an inlet cylinder section with a
nite length to stabilize the simulation. In this study 6 dierent geometries were created,
all with dierent inlet length. Since the validation paper did not specify or show the
proper dimensions of the inlet, a trial and error approach was performed to match the
validation results. In gure 3.4(a) the geometry was modeled without a cylinder inlet
section. This proved to have very unstable characteristics and no feasible simulation
achieved. Figure 3.4(b)-3.4(f) shows the geometry with a cylinder section of 20 mm, 30
mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 17.5 mm respectfully. The walls were not given any thickness
as it was not part of this study to include any structural nor heat transfer study.
Chapter 3. Method of solution 15
Figure 3.3: Original schematic of the validation combustor [1]
(a) Version 1, 0 mm (b) Version 2, 20 mm (c) Version 3, 30 mm
(d) Version 4, 10 mm (e) Version 5, 15 mm (f) Version 6, 17.5 mm
Figure 3.4: Comparison of dierent combustor inlet length
3.2 The Mesh
Even though the geometry is simple and relatively easy to mesh using structural hexa
mesh it was decided that the geometry would be meshed using unstructured tetra mesh.
Unstructured meshes are popular in industry because they are very exible, can t
around very complex geometry and do not need much interaction from the user. The
drawbacks are that in most cases the solver runs slower on unstructured meshes or it
takes longer to reach convergence [add reference]. To capture all complex ow conditions,
such as wakes, the user has to pack more elements in the wake region with unstructured
meshes. The mesh was constructed by creating surface mesh on each component, i.e.
inlets, walls and outlet and then volume mesh generated from the surface mesh.
In this study there were two meshes created, one for the time-average solution or RANS
simulation and the other for the Large Eddy Simulation. Both meshes are pretty ne
Chapter 3. Method of solution 16
Figure 3.5: Mesh created using Pointwise, LES mesh size
(over million cells) but only the LES mesh is used for the LES simulations and the mesh
sizes are set per Jiangs [3] typical mesh settings, see 3.2.
The RANS mesh has 1,048,720 cells or elements and 189,206 points or nodes. Com-
parison of the dierent mesh sizes are listed in 3.1. The LES mesh has 6,622,543 cells
and 1,149,690 points and can be seen in gure 3.5. The LES mesh uses wall model to
resolve the subgrid scale eddies and that way the cost of the mesh was reduced signi-
cantly as can be seen in 3.2. The meshes have cell volume ranging from 7.28914 10
13
to 7.74837 10
9
. The mesh characteristics can be seen in table 3.1, which shows the
mesh characteristics of the mesh used in this study as well as mesh characteristics from
Boudier et. al. LES mesh sensitivity study in complex geometry combustors [2].
Coarse mesh Fine mesh My RANS mesh My LES mesh
Total num. of points 230,118 7,661,005 189,206 1,149,690
Total num. of cells 1,242,086 43,949,682 1,048,720 6,622,543
Max. cell volume 3.12671 10
8
4.05748 10
9
7.74837 10
9
2.96836 10
11
Min. cell volume 1.81795 10
11
1.1828 10
12
1.07624 10
17
2.61382 10
18
Table 3.1: Comparison of mesh sizes [2]
DNS Wall-Resolved LES LES with Wall Model
Streamwise x
+
10-15 50-150 100-600
Spanwise z
+
5 10-40 100-300
WEall-normal (y
+
) 1 1 30-150
Number of points in 0 < y
+
< 10 3-5 3-5 -
Table 3.2: Typical LES mesh sizes [3]
Chapter 3. Method of solution 17
3.3 Boundary Condition and Procedure
This section will describe the boundary condition used at each mesh boundary, ow
condition and initial condition used in this study as well as the simulation procedure.
3.3.1 Walls
All walls were treated as smooth with no slip condition. No slip condition tells the solver
that the velocity at the wall the nodes are zero. In sub micro and nano scale or in slip
ow conditions, see 2.1, the velocity is not zero at the wall and the particles will slip.
Smooth wall condition is used to model smooth surface which will not cause disturbance
in the boundary layer like what would happen with rough surface.
3.3.2 Outlet
The ow regime in the outlet was treated subsonic but there are options to treat the
outlet ow regimes as supersonic. The outlet was set to have relative pressure of zero
and the outlet was treated as pure outow, that is, the ow can only ow out but not
in.
3.3.3 Inlet Methane
The ow regime in the methane inlet was treated as subsonic and this was also the
case for the oxygen inlet. Mass fraction for the inlet was set to 1 for CH4 to treat the
combustion model with purse methane. The methane was given a mass ow rate of
0.03923kg/s and temperature to 300 K.
3.3.4 Inlet Oxygen
To simulate pure oxygen the mass fraction was set to 1 for the O2 only. Most combustion
simulations have atmospheric air which would only contain 21% of the mass. The oxygen
was given a mass ow rate of 0.1177kg/s. The temperature was kept constant at 300 K.
3.3.5 Procedure
In the validation phase the RANS mesh was used only for quicker solution turnaround
time. Geometry 3.4(a) through 3.4(f) were tested and results compared with validation
Chapter 3. Method of solution 18
paper [1]. The focus was to compare the velocity of RANS simulation with the validation
and change the geometry till a matching velocity was found. Boudier et. al [43] indicated
in their study that velocity, along with other variables, were not so sensitive to mesh
resolution. Once a close match was found with the RANS mesh the LES simulation
with LES mesh was ran on the same geometry and results compared. The last step
was to compare combustion instability and use a new pulsating technique to reduce the
instability and increase performance.
Appendix A
Appendix Title Here
Write your Appendix content here.
19
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