A stochastic approach towards large eddy simulation of methanol/air spray flames
File(s)Noh-D-2015-PhD-Thesis.pdf (10 MB)
Main article
Author(s)
Noh, Dongwon
Type
Thesis or dissertation
Abstract
The present work attempts to conduct numerical simulations of turbulent two-phase flows in two academic burners with methanol/air spray flames. It is challenging to simulate turbulent spray flames as many complex phenomena such as turbulence-chemistry interaction, spray dispersion and evaporation, and atomisation processes of liquid fuel occur simultaneously. The transported sub-grid scale (sgs) probability density function (pdf) equation in conjunction with the Eulerian stochastic field method formulated in the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is applied to the experimental configurations operated with different fuel delivery systems, namely a commercial ultrasonic atomiser and a Research Simplex Atomiser (RSA). The performance of the LES methodology as an effective modelling tool for two-phase combusting flows is assessed by simulating a methanol/air turbulent nonpremixed spray flame with a fine droplet distribution achieved by the ultrasonic atomiser. Comparisons of the computed gas phase and droplet statistics with measurements show a good agreement, suggesting that the stochastic dispersion and evaporation models employed in this work are appropriate. The fundamental aspects of this turbulent spray flame such as the occurrence of external group combustion and its development into separate combusting islands are well reproduced. For this particular configuration, the significance of the sgs chemistry model in capturing the development of the flame is highlighted. A systematic, stochastic approach towards modelling a polydisperse droplet distribution associated with the simplex atomiser is developed in this study. The predictive capabilities of the stochastic breakup model are validated by detailed comparisons between the simulated results and the experimental data in terms of droplet and gas phase statistics. The general features of this spray flame including the lift-off height and the formation of a double reaction zone are reasonably well captured, confirming the validity of the LES-pdf formulation when applied to turbulent nonpremixed spray flames.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2015-12
Date Awarded
2016-03
Advisor
Marquis, Andrew
Jones, William
Sponsor
European Union
Grant Number
FP7/2007-2013
Publisher Department
Mechanical Engineering
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)