STAR-CCM+ User Guide

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Combustion Tutorials

Three types of models have been chosen for combustion tutorials: An idealized CAN type gas turbine combustion chamber A flame tube Methane on platinum These models will familiarize you with STAR-CCM+s combustion modeling capabilities and introduce various recommended practices for simulating combusting flows.
CAN Type Gas Turbine Combustion Chamber

The problem geometry (shown below) consists of three sets of air inlets placed circumferentially at the combustor head to promote maximum mixing and flame stabilization. Swirling air enters the primary combustion zone through the two sets of inlets nearest to the axis of symmetry. Non-swirling air enters the upper inlet and thence the primary, secondary and dilution zones via five injection holes in the baffle. Air is assumed to be composed of 23.3% oxygen and 76.7% nitrogen, by mass, and its initial pressure and temperature are 1 bar and 293 K, respectively.

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The use of periodic interfaces allows the cylindrical combustor to be represented by a single sixty-degree sector, reducing the computational effort required by a factor of roughly 5 6 .

The combustion models illustrated using the above geometry are: Propane combustion using a 3-step Eddy Break-up model. Propane combustion using an adiabatic PPDF model. Hydrogen combustion using an adiabatic PPDF Flamelets model.
Flame Tube

The problem geometry consists of a two-dimensional representation of a flame tube. The flow involves an inviscid, compressible, multi-component gas whose components are reacting chemically. A premixed mixture of hydrogen and air enters the pipe through an inlet at a pressure of 1 bar and a temperature of 1000K. The combustion model illustrated using this geometry is the complex chemistry operator splitting model.
Methane on Platinum

Methane on platinum deposition is modeled by importing complex chemistry descriptions from external files. In this simulation, a premixed combination of methane and air flows over a platinum plate at a pressure of 1 bar and a temperature of 600K.

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3-Step Eddy Break-Up Tutorial

This tutorial models propane combustion in air using a 3-step Eddy Break-up model as detailed below:
C 3 H 8 + 1.5O 2 3CO + 4H 2 CO + 0.5O 2 CO 2 H 2 + 0.5O 2 H 2 O

(9)

(10)

(11)

The physical properties of the air components (23.3% O2 and 76.7% N2, by mass) and the rest of the reaction components (C3H8 , CO, H2 , CO2 , H2O) are defined as follows: O2 Molecular weights Density Molecular viscosity Specific heat Thermal conductivity 32.0 N2
8

C3H 44.1 1

CO 28.0 8

H2
2

CO O 44.01

H2

28.00 8

2.01

18.02

Ideal gas 1.716 x 105 Pas Determined via thermodynamic polynomial functions Determined via the Lewis number

Air enters the combustion chamber through the three air inlets and propane gas enters through the fuel inlet, as indicated in the introductory Combustion Tutorials section. Both air and fuel are at a pressure of 1 bar and a temperature of 293 K at the inlets.

Importing the Mesh and Naming the Simulation

Start up STAR-CCM+ in a manner that is appropriate to your working environment and select the New Simulation option from the menu bar.

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Visualizing the Imported Geometry

To view the geometry more clearly, change the viewing direction. Open the Scenes > Geometry Scene 1 > Attributes node, then right-click on the View node. Select Edit....

In the Edit View dialog, enter the values shown below and then click Apply.

Close the Edit View dialog. To make the interior features of the combustor geometry visible, change the opacity of its surfaces.

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First select the Segregated Flow node.

In the Properties window, change the Convection property to 1st-order.

Repeat this process for the Segregated Species, Segregated Fluid Enthalpy and Standard K-Epsilon nodes. Save the simulation by clicking on the (Save) button.

Setting Material Properties

The components of the mixture and its material properties must now be defined.

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Select the C3H8 > Component Properties > Specific Heat node.

In the Properties window, change the Method property to Thermodynamic

Polynomial Data

Repeat this process for the remaining six components. This completes the specification of material properties. Save the simulation.

Dening Reactions
Within the Models node, select the Eddy Break-up node.

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Select the C3H8 node and, in the Properties window, enter 1.0 for the Stoich. Coeff.

Repeat this for O2 , CO and H2 , assigning stoichiometric coefficients of 1.5, 3.0 and 4.0, respectively. The specification of Reaction 1 is now complete. Follow the same procedure to define the remaining two reactions of the chemical reaction scheme:
CO + 0.5O 2 CO 2 H 2 + 0.5O 2 H 2 O

(12)

(13)

Save the simulation.

Setting Initial Conditions and Reference Values

The lower temperature limit for the specific heat polynomials imported from the materials database is 200 K. Although this temperature is much lower than we would expect to find in the converged solution, it is possible that temperatures below this may arise early on in the run. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the minimum allowable temperature to match the lower temperature limit for the polynomials.

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In the Properties window, set the Value property to 293 K.

Select the Turbulence Specification node. In the Properties window, select Intensity + Length Scale for the Method property. Set the turbulence intensity to 0.05 and the turbulent length scale to 0.2. Save the simulation.

Creating Interfaces
All regions and boundaries already have suitable names so we can proceed to create the periodic interface linking the two plane, rectangular, cyclic boundaries. Open the Regions > Default_Fluid > Boundaries node. A node will be displayed for each boundary region.

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Two new periodic boundary nodes will appear under the Boundaries node and a new node named Periodic 1 will appear under the Interfaces node.

Setting Boundary Conditions and Values

All wall boundaries, including the baffle, are adiabatic, no-slip walls. Since this is the default wall boundary type, no changes are required here. The default settings are also suitable for the outlet, so the only boundary conditions that need to be specified are for the four inlets. Select the Air_Inlet1 > Physics Conditions > Velocity Specification node.

In the Properties window, change the Method property to Components. Select the Turbulence Specification node and, in the Properties window, change the Method property to Intensity + Length Scale. The air and fuel will be made to swirl on entry to the combustor by specifying inlet velocity vectors in a new cylindrical coordinate system. To create the latter: Open the Tools node, right-click the Coordinate Systems node and then

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Click OK. Select the Fuel_Inlet > Physics Values > Velocity > Constant node. In the Properties window enter -28,-60,100 m/s for the Value property. Specification of the boundary conditions is now complete. Save the simulation.

Setting Solver Parameters and Stopping Criteria

The default under-relaxation factors for the flow and turbulence equations are suitable for this case but those for the species and energy equations need to be reduced to ensure solution convergence. Select the Solvers > Segregated Species node.

In the Properties window, change the Under-Relaxation Factor property to

0.8

Select the Segregated Energy node and change the Fluid Under-Relaxation Factor property to 0.8 also. It is important that the under-relaxation factors for the species and energy equations are the same to ensure that the two solutions remain synchronized. Other species and energy modeling settings, such as the choice of differencing scheme, should also be kept the same. The simulation will be run for 500 iterations, which is sufficient to achieve a steady-state solution. This number can be specified using a stopping criterion.

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Add the plane section part to the Selected list.

Click Close. Right-click on the scalar bar in the display. In the pop-up menu that appears, select Temperature.

Rotate the scalar scene until the view is roughly perpendicular to the plane section (which is colored beige in the geometry scene), and the inlet boundaries are on the left. Save the simulation.

Reporting, Monitoring and Plotting

STAR-CCM+ can dynamically monitor virtually any quantity while the solution develops. This requires setting up a report defining the quantity of interest and the parts of the region to be monitored. A monitor is then defined based on that report. The former also helps to create an appropriate X-Y graph plot.

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Rename the Carbon In Plot node as Carbon Balance.

Make sure that the Title property of the Carbon Balance node is Carbon Balance. Double-click the Carbon Balance node to display the empty plot in the Graphics window. The analysis is now ready to be run. Save the simulation.

Running the Simulation

To run the simulation, click the (Run) button on the toolbar. If this is not displayed, use the Solution > Run menu item. You may also activate the Solution toolbar by selecting Tools > Toolbars > Solution and then clicking the toolbar button. The Residuals display will be created automatically and will show the solvers progress. If necessary, click on the Residuals tab to bring the Residuals plot into view. An example of a residual plot is shown in a separate part of the User Guide. This example will look different from your residuals, since the plot depends on the models selected.

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solution has indeed converged.

Save the simulation.

Visualizing the Results

Select the Scalar Scene 1 display to view the temperature profile for the

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angle so that velocity vectors are clearly visible.

Summary
This tutorial introduced the following STAR-CCM+ features: Importing the mesh and saving the simulation. Visualizing the geometry. Defining models for eddy break-up combustion. Defining material properties required for multi-component gases. Defining chemical reactions. Setting initial conditions and reference values. Creating interfaces. Defining boundary conditions. Setting solver parameters and stopping criteria. Creating vector and scalar displays for examining the results. Setting up monitoring reports and plots. Running the solver for a set number of iterations. Analyzing the results using STAR-CCM+s visualization facilities.

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combustor.ccm.

Click Open to start the import. The Import Mesh Options dialog will appear. Select the following options:
Run mesh diagnostics after import Open geometry scene after import

Ensure that the Dont show this dialog during import option is not selected and then click OK. STAR-CCM+ will provide feedback on the import process, which will take a few seconds, in the Output window. A geometry scene showing the combustor geometry will be created in the Graphics window. Finally, save the new simulation to disk under file name adiabaticPPDF.sim.

Visualizing the Imported Geometry

To view the geometry more clearly, change the viewing direction. Right-click the Scenes > Geometry Scene 1 > Attributes > View node and

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Open the Displayers node and select the Geometry 1 node.

In the Properties window, change the Opacity property to 0.2.

The baffle and the five injection holes in it are now visible through the external surface of the combustor. You can now proceed to Setting up the Models.

Setting up the Models

Models define the primary variables of the simulation, including pressure, temperature and velocity, and what mathematical formulation will be used to generate the solution. In this example, the flow involves a turbulent, compressible, multi-component gas whose components are reacting chemically. The Segregated Flow model will be used together with the standard K-Epsilon turbulence model and the PPDF reaction model. To select the models: Open the Continua node, right-click on the Physics 1 node and select

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node.

In the Properties window, change the Convection property to 1st-order.

Repeat this process for the Adiabatic PPDF and Standard K-Epsilon nodes. Save the simulation by clicking the (Save) button.

The next step is Defining Mixture Components.

Dening Mixture Components

The PPDF table used in this tutorial involves only six gaseous species: C3H8, O2, N2, CO, CO2 and H2O which, for demonstration purposes, should provide a solution of reasonable accuracy. A more realistic solution could be obtained by including additional intermediate species in the table. To define the gas components corresponding to the above species:

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do not need to be changed so we can now proceed to Generating the PPDF Table.

Generating the PPDF Table

First, we will change the number of heat loss ratio points defined in the table: Select the PPDF Equilibrium Table node.

In the Properties window, make sure that the Number of heat loss ratio points equals 1. Change the Relative Pressure of the mixture property to 0.0 Pa. Now define the fuel and oxidizer streams: Select the Fluid Stream Manager > Fuel Stream node.

Change the Temperature of the stream property to 293 K. Right-click on the Fuel Stream > Components node and select

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Setting Initial Conditions

The combustors initial condition is a stationary flow field consisting entirely of air. The default values of initial mixture fraction, mixture fraction variance and velocity are all zero so no changes to the initial conditions are required.

Creating Interfaces
All regions and boundaries already have suitable names so we may now create the periodic interface linking the two plane, rectangular, cyclic boundaries. Open the Regions > Default_Fluid > Boundaries node. A node is shown for each boundary region. Ctrl+click to select the Cyclic1 and Cyclic2 nodes.

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In the Properties window, enter a Value of 1.0. Select the Fuel_Inlet > Physics Values > Velocity > Constant node. In the Properties window enter -28,-60,100 m/s for the Value property. Specification of the boundary conditions is now complete. Save the simulation.

Setting Stopping Criteria

Adjust the maximum number of iterations so that the calculation will run for 600 iterations, which should be sufficient for a steady-state solution. This number can be specified using a stopping criterion. Open the Stopping Criteria node and then select the Maximum Steps node.

Change the Maximum Steps property to 600.

The solution will not run beyond 600 iterations, unless this stopping criterion is changed or disabled. Save the simulation.

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appears, select Temperature.

Select the Scenes > Geometry Scene 1 > Displayers > Section Scalar 1 node.

In the Properties window, change the Contour Style property to Smooth Filled. Rotate the geometry scene until the view is roughly perpendicular to the beige plane section and the inlet boundaries are on the left. Save the simulation.

Running the Simulation

To run the simulation, click the (Run) button on the toolbar.

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Visualizing the Results

Go to the Geometry Scene 1 display to view the temperature profile for the converged solution.

Right-click on the scalar bar in the Geometry Scene 1 display and select

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The resulting scene is shown below.

It will be seen that the ratios value is generally rather high, implying that the predicted maximum temperature is considerably lower than the adiabatic flame temperature. In a realistic modeling exercise, a considerably finer mesh would be needed to increase confidence in the calculated temperatures.

Summary
This tutorial introduced the following STAR-CCM+ features: Importing the mesh and saving the simulation. Visualizing the geometry. Defining an adiabatic PPDF combustion model. Generating a PPDF table. Creating interfaces. Defining boundary conditions. Setting stopping criteria. Creating scalar displays for examining the results.

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Adiabatic PPDF Flamelets Tutorial

In this tutorial, a hydrogen combustion case is set up using the PPDF Laminar Flamelets reaction model for unpremixed flames. The model assumes adiabatic conditions (no heat loss) and accounts for non-equilibrium and finite-rate chemistry effects. For adiabatic PPDF, the physical properties of the fuel (hydrogen in this case) are not utilized directly by STAR-CCM+ as no additional transport equations requiring these properties are solved. Temperature, density and species mass fractions are evaluated using the function formulation (see the Adiabatic Equilibrium Model section in the User Guide). Air enters the combustion chamber through the three air inlets and hydrogen gas enters through the fuel inlet, as indicated in the introductory Combustion Tutorials section.

Importing the Mesh and Naming the Simulation

Start up STAR-CCM+ in a manner that is appropriate to your working environment and select the New Simulation option from the menu bar. Continue by importing the mesh and naming the simulation. A predominantly hexahedral cell mesh has been prepared for this analysis. and saved in the STAR .ccm file format. Select File > Import... from the menu bar. In the Open dialog, simply navigate to the doc/tutorials/combustor subdirectory of your STAR-CCM+ installation directory and select file

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Open the Displayers node and select the Geometry 1 node.

In the Properties window, change the Opacity expert property to 0.2.

The baffle and the five injection holes in it are now visible through the external surface of the combustor. You can now proceed to Setting up the Models

Setting up the Models

Models define the primary variables of the simulation, including pressure, temperature and velocity, and what mathematical formulation will be used to generate the solution. In this example, the flow involves a turbulent, compressible, multi-component gas whose components are reacting chemically. The Segregated Flow model will be used together with the standard K-Epsilon turbulence model and the PPDF reaction model. To select the models: Open the Continua node, right-click on the Physics 1 node and select

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