CFX Combustion &

Radiation - Introduction

1 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 What is combustion ?
Combustion:
Defined as an Exothermic Chemical Reaction of a fuel
(For example CH4) with an oxidant (For example O2) to
form products.

Modes of Combustion:

• Flame Mode: Thin Zone of intense chemical reaction

called ‘flame’ exists.

• Non-Flame Mode: Volumetric Combustion Process.

2 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Applications for Combustion Modeling
Wide range of reacting flows:
• Furnaces
• Boilers
• Process heaters
• Gas turbines
• Rocket engines

Predictions of:
• Flow field and mixing characteristics
• Temperature field
• Species concentrations
• Particulates and pollutants

3 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Combustion Phenomenology
Chemistry
• stoichiometry
• chemical kinetics
Heat transfer
• conduction, convection,
radiation
• buoyancy
Mass transfer
Turbulence
• turbulence-chemistry
interaction
Compressibility
Particle transport

4 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Thermo-chemistry : Common Terms
Mass fraction (Yk) : Mass of Species k / Total mass

Mole fraction (Xk): Moles of species k / Total Moles

N
1 Y
Gas Molecular Weight (W):   k ; Wk is the species molecular weight
W k 1 Wk

Mole fraction (Xk) = (W/Wk) Yk

Gas density(ρ): PW / RT ; P = Gas Pressure, T=Temperature

T
Species Enthalpy (Sensible + Chemical):h k   pk   0
C dT h f ,k
Tref
N
Gas Enthalpy: h   h k Yk
k 1
5 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013
 Combustion Types
Stoichiometric
Surface Premixed
Flame Front

Air Air Fuel Fuel

+ Air +Air

Fuel Fuel + Air Fuel + Air

Non-Premixed Partially Premixed Premixed

6 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Combustion Process
Combustion depends directly on Mixing and Chemistry. The relative speed
of chemical reaction to mixing is crucial.

• Fast Reactions: reaction progress is limited by turbulent mixing.

• Slow Reactions: reaction progress is limited by chemical kinetics.

Damköhler Number (Da) represents the ratio of the characteristic turbulent

mixing time to the characteristic chemical reaction time and determines
modelling approach:

Da = Mixing Time Scale / Chemical Time Scale

•For Da >> 1, Chemical reaction rates are fast: mixing limited rate
•For Da << 1, Chemical reaction rates are slow: Chemistry limits rate

7 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Numerical Modeling of Combustion
– Fuel, Oxidant and Products of a combustion process are
scalar variables and are tracked as Mass Fractions of a
Multi-Component Fluid.

– Each Mass Fraction is computed from a generic advection-

diffusion transport equation with source terms to account
for consumption or production of species.

Y  Y
i   (  u Y )   ( i ) R
t x j i x eff x f
j j j

– where Rf is the source term representing the generation or

consumption of reactant or product. The source term is model and
reaction dependent.

8 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Chemical Kinetics: Reaction Source Term
The k th species mass fraction transport equation is:

    Yk 
Yk    u i Yk    D k   Rk
t x i x i  x i 

Nomenclature: chemical species, denoted Sk , react as:

N N

 '
k 1
k Sk   "
k 1
k Sk

CH 4  2O2  CO2  2H2O

Example:

S1  CH 4 S2  O 2 S3  CO 2 S4  H 2 O
Forward and backward '1  1  '2  2 '3  0  '4  0
Stoichiometric coefficients "1  0 "2  0 "3  1 "4  2

9 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Chemical Kinetics
The calculated reaction rate is proportional to the products of the
reactant concentrations raised to the power of their respective
reaction orders, or exponents

k th species reaction rate (for a single reaction):

 Ek
 k  RT  N  k'
Rk  M k ( "k  'k )  Ak T e  C j

  j 1
 k , k - reactant and product stoichiometric coefficients
 k - rate exponent for reactant j and product j in reaction k
k - temperature exponent of reaction k
Ek - activation energy
R - universal gas constant
Ak - pre-exponential factor
Cj - molar concentration of species j
Kk - equilibrium constant
Rk - rate of production or consumption of species ‘i’ in reaction ‘k’

10 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Why do we need Combustion Modeling?
Governing reacting Navier-Stokes equations are accurate,
but DNS is prohibitive ...

Turbulence
• Large range of time and length scales
• Modeling done by time (or Reynolds) averaging
– Introduces terms (the Reynolds stresses) which must be modeled
Chemistry
• Realistic chemical mechanisms have tens of species, hundreds of reactions, and
stiff kinetics (widely disparate time scales)
– Determined for a limited number of fuels

11 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Reynolds (Time) Averaged Species Equation

  Y  
 
  u Y  

u"i Y"k   
 
 D k
Yk 
  R k
 t  x i x i x i x i 
k i k


{unsteady term} convection convection molecular mean

(zero for by mean by turbulent diffusion chemical
steady flows) velocity velocity fluctuations source term

Yk , Dk , Rk are the k th species mass fraction, diffusion coefficient and

chemical source term respectively

Turbulent flux term modeled by mean gradient diffusion as

u"i Y" k  t /Sct   Yk / xi , which is consistent in the k-e context

Gas phase combustion modeling focuses on Rk

• Arguably more difficult to model than the Reynolds stresses for turbulence

12 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Turbulence Chemistry Interaction

 Arrhenius reaction rate terms are highly nonlinear

Rk  AT  C j j exp  E RT 


 Cannot neglect the effects of turbulence fluctuations on chemical

production rates

Rk  Rk (T )

13 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013

 Combustion Models in ANSYS CFX
Combustion Models in ANSYS CFX-14:

- Eddy Dissipation Model (EDM Model)  Da >> 1

- Finite Rate Chemistry Model (FRC Model)  Da << 1
- Combined Model (EDM+FRC Model)
- PDF Flamelet
- Pre-mixed/Partially Premixed Model : Burning Velocity Model
- Extended Coherent Flame Model
- NOx Model
- Oil Combustion Model
- Coal Combustion Model

14 © 2013 ANSYS, Inc. September 19, 2013