Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Combustion-Heat Transfer (Furnaces, Heaters, Kilns) - Application Spotlight Presentation

Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Combustion and Heat Transfer in Furnaces, Heaters

and Kilns
Application Spotlight | Last updated version: 2306*
*This presentation is updated only if major related content are added or modified. Thus, this presentation may not be updated at every release.
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Table of Contents
Overview
Furnaces Why is Combustion Modeling Necessary Today?
Combustion Modeling in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Typical Scenarios for Modeling Furnaces, Heaters and Kilns
Combustion Modeling Deep Dive:
Combustion in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Process Heaters Kilns • Geometry and Mesh
• Flow Physics
• Combustion Chemistry and Heat Transfer
• Sprays and Particle Physics
• Tube Side Physics
• Emissions Modeling
• Tips and Tricks
Burner Design Exploration Case Study
Overview:
Combustion and Heat Transfer in
Furnaces, Heaters, and Kilns
Why is Combustion Modeling Necessary Today?
• Improved fuel/air mixing

Improved performance • Improved combustion efficiency
• Emissions reduction
• Wide operability
Increased reliability • Uniform heat transfer
• Reduce thermal stress
• Fewer expensive field testing

Cost management • Improved operational efficiency
• Reduced maintenance costs
How can Combustion Modeling Address the Challenges?
• Improved fuel/air mixing

Predict and understand real-world behavior:
• Performance prediction under full-load, part-load
• Improved combustion efficiency
• Prediction of emissions under different operating conditions
• Emissions reduction • Predicting solid component temperatures
• Uniform heat transfer Engineer Innovation
• Reduce thermal stress
Explore many design variants early in
development:
• Fewer expensive field testing • Reduce number of field tests which are often expensive and time
• Improved operational efficiency consuming
• Reduced maintenance costs • Explore the effect of design variables on combustor performance
Key Requirements
Complex Geometry Handling

• Ability to import CAD from a variety of sources, including
directly from external CAD packages
Flexible and Robust Meshing
• Tools to create, modify or repair complex geometry
Multiphysics Modelling
Speed and Performance
Powerful Data Analysis
Workflow Automation
Intelligent Design Exploration
Complex Geometry Handling in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Bi-directional connectivity to native CAD packages
for modifying and creating geometries
• Built-in parametric feature-based modeler (3D-
CAD)
• Fully integrated CAD tool to build geometry
• Import external CAD models and modify them
• Import surface data in various formats
• Surface meshes
• Neutral format data
• Native CAD data
• Powerful surface and CAD repair tools
Key Requirements

• Robust meshing to capture complex geometry features
Flexible and Robust Meshing • Adequate resolution of fluid and solid regions for accurate
conjugate heat transfer simulations
Multiphysics Modelling • Reacting Flow model specific adaptive mesh refinement for
flame propagation and positioning
Workflow Automation
Flexible and Robust Meshing in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Polyhedral mesh is able to capture geometric
complexity while maintaining high mesh quality
• Robust prism layer mesh resolves turbulent

boundary layer, thereby capturing near wall
physics accurately
• Specialized thin mesher for meshing thin solids

involved in heat transfer calculations
• Conformal interfaces between fluid and solid

regions for accurate flux mapping in conjugate
heat transfer calculations
• Adaptive mesh for flame positioning or transient

flames.
Key Requirements

• Ability to model liquid as well as gaseous fuels
Flexible and Robust Meshing • Conjugate heat transfer analysis for component durability
• Accurate prediction of emissions such as NOx and Soot
Workflow Automation NOx in Flameless combustor (LES)

Green areas: NOx > 50 ppm
Intelligent Design Exploration Blue: Fuel

Orange: Flame front
Multiphysics Modeling in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Computationally efficient flamelet based models
for accurate description of combustion chemistry
using pre-computed tables
• Accurate species prediction through reacting

species transport model
• Quick and accurate emission predictions with

reactor network model
• Built in emission models for accurate NOx and

soot emissions predictions
• Participating media radiation model for accurate

radiative heat transfer computations
Multiphysics Modeling in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Tight coupling between flow, heat transfer and Fluid Temperature
combustion models
• Flow: Steady or unsteady turbulence models
• Heat transfer: Conduction, convection,

radiation
• Combustion: Flamelet or reacting species Liner Temperature Exit Temperature

transport model
• Emission Models: NOx, soot, reactor network
• Thermoacoustics – Acoustic Modal Solver

with thermoacoustic n-tau model
Key Requirements

• Robust solvers for combustion simulations
Flexible and Robust Meshing • Leverage GPU hardware for fast Flamelet combustion
• Excellent scalability for multiphysics simulations
Workflow Automation
Speed and Performance in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Near-linear scaling - proven to very high core-
Case Speedup PISO vs SIMPLE
count in benchmarks
Sandia Flame D ~5x
• PISO solver for fast LES combustion Gas Turbine with CH4 ~4x
Gas Turbine with liquid ~3x
• GPU-native Flamelet modeling fuel spray
Flameless combustor 4.7x
• Range of methods to achieve balance between
Single jet 4.7x
compute time and accuracy:
49,152 100%
• Fast table-based flamelet models for Cold
Hot
Ideal (100% scaling)
statistically steady turbulent combustion 36,864 75%
SPEED UP
• Reacting species transport for accurate 24,576 50%
calculation of transient combustion
12,288 25%
• Optimized complex chemistry solver using cell
clustering and ISAT (In-Situ Adaptive 0 0%
Tabulation) 0 6,144 12,288 18,432 24,576 30,720 36,864 43,008 49,152
CORES
Key Requirements

• Powerful, integrated post processing and visualization
Flexible and Robust Meshing • Tools to understand complex interdependencies
Workflow Automation
Powerful Data Analysis in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Analyze solution while simulation is running
• Creating Reports of specific quantities
• Visualizing the solution
• Scalar and vector scenes
• Streamlines
• Accessing solution data through derived parts
such as volume rendering
• Plotting sets of data from the solution
Volume rendering of flameless combustor
• Explore and interrogate solutions with data focus
Green: NOx > 50 ppm
Blue: Fuel
Orange: Flame front
Key Requirements

• End-to-end pipelined workflow in one environment
Flexible and Robust Meshing • Workflow easily repeated with a few clicks enabling design
space exploration
Workflow Automation
Workflow Automation in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• End-to-end pipelined workflow in one environment
• Import and creation of geometries
• Meshing generation
• Solution of governing equations
• Analysis of results
• Features for efficient and extensible simulation
framework
R2
• Custom simulation tree and their comparison R1
between simulation files
• Filters and tagging to facilitate automation and CAD Mesh Solution Analysis
enhance usability
• Simulation operations enable complex workflows
(e.g., mesh, morph and remesh) to be easily
performed enabling design space exploration
Key Requirements

• Intelligent search and design space exploration to improve
combustor performance
Flexible and Robust Meshing
• Explore designs that help maximize fuel-air mixing,
minimize emissions, or maximize exit temperature
Multiphysics Modelling uniformity
Workflow Automation
Design Space Exploration in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Simcenter STAR-CCM+
• Leverage the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ workflow to
easily automate design space exploration:
• Single & multi-objective optimization Build Simulate
• Design Of Experiments (DOE)

• Industry leading hybrid-adaptive intelligent search
CAD Mesh Solution Analysis
• Combines multiple search strategies
Explore
simultaneously to arrive at better designs in
fewer iterations
• No need to tune complex algorithms Assess
• No need for model simplification
Modeling Process Heaters
Typical Scenario
Challenge: Complex geometry, several burners and several tubes. Adequate

description of firebox side and tube side physics in a reasonable time
Solution: 3D modeling of fire box side and 1D modeling of process side using
Reacting Channel Co-simulation model a cost-effective alternative
Impact: Accurate prediction of operation characteristics with fast turn-around

times
• Flame lengths, shapes, flame-flame interactions
Process Side Coupling
• Combustion efficiency, emissions predictions
• Heat flux distribution, flue gas patterns, and potential hot-spots
• Tube skin temperature and process side yield
• Ability to explore burner designs and tube arrangements faster
Modeling Furnaces
Typical Scenario
Challenge: Adequate resolution of relevant scales to evaluate Temperature

combustion efficiency, emissions, and heat transfer
Solution: Robust meshing with choice of flamelet based or

species transport combustion model coupled with participating
media radiation model for accurate flow, chemistry and heat
transfer calculations
Impact: Simulation driven furnace design improvements and

performance analysis
• Flame location, length and heat transfer
• Wall temperature and heat flux distribution
• Efficiency and emissions- CO, Soot, NOx
Modeling Kilns in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Typical Scenario
Challenge: Effectively use simulations to develop and identify Temperature

improved burners that meet performance efficiency and
emissions standards
Solution: Simulating flow, mixing, reaction and heat transfer

using state-of-the-art models for solid, liquid and gaseous fuels
Impact:
• Evaluating and exploring the influence of burner design
and position on wall heat transfer profiles,
• Assessing the impacts of fuel changes on system Gas Temperature Wall Temperature
performance
• Efficiently scale burner performance from pilot scale to
full-scale
Summary
• Predict and understand real-world behavior of high temperature process equipment

• Explore many design variants early in development
Complex Geometry Handling Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Flexible and Robust Meshing • High quality mesh to capture geometry complexity and for
accurate conjugate heat transfer calculations
Multiphysics Modeling
• Comprehensive suite of combustion and emission models
Speed and Performance cover different application scenarios
• Tight coupling between flow, heat transfer, and reacting
Powerful Data Analysis flow models for reliable simulations
Workflow Automation • Wide range of methods to balance compute time and

accuracy
Intelligent Design Exploration • Fast solvers with excellent scalability
Deep Dive:
Combustion and Heat Transfer
in Furnaces, Heaters, and Kilns
Table of Contents
Overview
Furnaces Why is combustion modeling necessary today?
Combustion Modeling in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Typical Scenarios for Modeling Furnaces, Heaters and Kilns
Combustion Modeling Deep Dive:
Combustion in Simcenter STAR-CCM+
Process Heaters Kilns • Geometry and Mesh
• Flow Physics
• Combustion Chemistry and Heat Transfer
• Sprays and Particle Physics
• Tube Side Physics
• Emissions Modeling
• Thermoacoustics modeling
• Tips and Tricks
Burner Design Exploration Case Study
Combustion Modeling in
High Temperature Process Equipment
Deep Dive
Simulation Requirements for Combustion Modeling
Key Information
Simulations should address key performance parameters: Furnaces
• Low emissions
• Low pressure drop
• Good turndown
Process Heaters Kilns
Simulations require an adequate representation of:
• Geometry
• Flow physics
• Combustion chemistry
• Heat transfer
• Spray or particle physics (for liquid or solid fuels)
• Description of slow forming pollutants such as NOx and soot
Geometry and Mesh
Deep Dive
How to represent the geometry in combustion simulations?
Key Information
Geometry representation Full geometry Half or quarter model with symmetry
• A number of different approaches can be used, depending on
the scope of the simulation and the desired tradeoff between
fidelity and run time
• For example, a furnace geometry can be modeled:
• In full, without any simplification
• As a half, quarter or a sector model with symmetry or periodic Symmetry
boundaries boundaries
• As a 2-D axisymmetric model

2-D Axisymmetric model
How to construct a mesh for combustion simulations?
Key Information
Swirler and narrow passages adequately resolved
To adequately capture Fluid region:
• Ensure liner holes and fuel injection ports are adequately
resolved
• Swirler region and other narrow passageways are adequately
resolved
• Fuel-air mixing and reaction region is adequately resolved
Table based refinement
• Volumetric refinement
• Table based refinement Fuel-air mixing and reaction region adequately resolved
• If flame position is unknown or dynamic:

• Reacting flow mesh adaptive mesh refinement Volumetric refinement
User Guide Information:

Adaptive Mesh
Pre-processing > Meshing > Mesh Refinement > Field Function
Mesh Refinement
How to construct a mesh for conjugate heat transfer analysis?
Key Information
• It is recommended to use a polyhedral mesher to have a
conformal mapping between fluid and solid regions
• Thin solids can be meshed using:
• Polyhedral mesher
• Thin mesher for thin solids
• Shell conduction for solid shells
• Utilize enough prism layer cells to accurately capture near wall
behavior.
• Simulating Physics > Modeling Heat Transfer > Modeling
Energy in Solids
• Simulating Physics > Modeling Turbulence > Wall Treatment
Flow Physics
Deep Dive
Flow Physics for High Temperature Process Equipment
Model Information
Reynolds averaged approach:
• Can use a coarser mesh
• Not as computationally intensive as LES or DES
• Ability to predict flame instabilities or pollutant concentrations
varies.
Large eddy simulation approach:

• Improved scalar mixing and dissipation rate predictions
• Needs a sufficiently fine mesh so can be computationally
intensive
• Better capture of combustion instabilities, mixing effects and
pollutant concentrations
User guide information:
Simulating Physics > Modeling Turbulence
Temperature RANS Instantaneous Temperature: LES
Combustion Chemistry
and Heat Transfer
Deep Dive
Description of Combustion Chemistry
Key Information
Combustion chemistry can be represented in three ways: Time scales of chemistry:
• Flamelet approach for accurate and fast flame location 10-9 – 100 sec Stiffness
• Reacting species transport approach for accurate species
prediction
• Relax to Chemical Equilibrium for unknown mechanisms.
Comprehensive list of combustion models to address a wide
range of industry-relevant scenarios
• Premixed, non-premixed and partially premixed flames
• Flamelet models for steady combustion scenarios
• Flamelet combined with flame propagation model for accurate
flame positioning
• Reacting species transport model for accurate description of slow
forming species like CO and NOx
Number of species:
User guide Information:
100 – 1000’s of species in hydrocarbon combustion
Simulating Physics > Combustion and other Reacting Flows
How to pick a combustion model for my simulation?
Key Information
Choosing between flamelet model and reacting

species transport Flamelet Regime
• Flamelet approach is suggested when reaction is faster than

mixing
• Steady burning or Gas turbines at full power
• Reacting species transport approach is suggested when mixing
is faster than reaction
• Ignition, extinction Off the Flamelet Regime
• Slow forming pollutants (CO, NOx, soot)

• Multiple fuel streams
• Relax to Chemical Equilibrium can be used if no mechanism
is available.
User guide Information:
Simulating Physics > Combustion and Other Reacting Flows >
Flamelet
Combustion Chemistry: Flamelet Approach
Model Information
Flame propagation
Overview Flamelet models
• Chemistry in 3D CFD approximated by 0D/1D laminar flamelet Kinetic rate
• Pre-calculate 0D/1D flamelets using combustion tables Flamelet Generated Manifold
Dynamic
• Fluctuations through assumed shape PDFs Thickened Flame*
Steady Laminar Flamelet
• Applicability: Coherent Flame
Model*
• 2 stream combustion (fuel + oxidizer) + 1 inert stream
Chemical Equilibrium
Turbulent Flame
• Chemical equilibrium - 3 reactive streams + 1 inert stream Speed Closure*
* Not suitable for
auto-ignition
Benefits
• CPU time efficient
• Accuracy: Fluctuations through assumed shape PDFs
Oxidizer Fuel
Limitations
• Slowly forming species and transient combustion not
0D/1D model Combustion Table 3D model
accurately captured
Flamelet
Model Description
• Flamelet Generated Manifold: Canonical systems: 0D ignition
flamelet, 1-D premixed opposed flow flame
• Steady Laminar Flamelet: Canonical system 1-D steady,
opposed flow diffusion flame
• Chemical Equilibrium: Canonical system thermodynamically
Well stirred reactor
driven
When to Use It?

• Flamelet Generated Manifold: use for premixed or partially
premixed flames
• Steady Laminar Flamelet: use for non-premixed flames
• Chemical Equilibrium: use when only temperature and heat
fluxes are of interest, or when no chemical mechanism is
available Oxidizer Fuel
Typical Applications
• Steady burning i.e., gas turbines at full power
Flamelet: Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM)
Model Description
• Canonical systems: 0D ignition flamelet, 1-D premixed opposed flow flame
• Progress Variable Source:
• Coherent Flame Model (CFM)
• FGM Kinetic Rate
• Dynamic Thickened Flame Model (TFM)
• Turbulent Flame Speed Closure (TFC) 0D ignition Flamelet
When to Use It?

• FGM with kinetic rate – for non-premixed and partially premixed flames
• FGM with TFM – LES simulation of a premixed flame
• FGM with TFC – for turbulent cases that require accurate flame positioning
in premixed and partially premixed systems
• FGM with CFM – for laminar cases that require accurate flame positioning
in premixed and partially premixed systems
Oxidizer Fuel
• Steady burning i.e., gas turbines at full power, furnaces, burners etc
1-D opposed flow Premixed Flame
Flamelet: Steady Laminar Flamelet (SLF)
Model Description
• Canonical system 1-D steady, opposed flow diffusion flame
• Chemistry assumed to be fast compared to flow and mixing
• The thermo-chemical state is parameterized by mixture fraction
and the scalar dissipation rate
When to Use It?

• Steady Laminar Flamelet: use for non-premixed flames
Oxidizer Fuel
• Can be used in conjunction with Coherent Flame Model (CFM)
or Turbulent Flame Speed Closure model (TFC) flame
propagation models to simulate partially premixed flames
1-D Opposed Flow Flame
• Steady burning applications without ignition and extinction
Flamelet: Chemical Equilibrium (CE)
Model Description
• Canonical system thermodynamically driven and assumes
chemistry is very fast compared to flow and mixing
• Corresponds to zero strain in the SLF model or the burned state
(progress variable 1) in the FGM model
• Thermo-chemical state is parameterized by mixture fraction and
enthalpy
When to Use It?

• Chemical Equilibrium: use for non-premixed flames
• Can be used in conjunction with Coherent Flame Model (CFM)
or Turbulent Flame Speed Closure model (TFC) flame
propagation models to simulate partially premixed flames
• Steady burning applications without ignition and extinction
Combustion Table Generation for Flamelet Models
Model Information
160
Built-in combustion table generation 140 v11.06
• No need to run separate chemistry solver 120 v12.02 The effect of adaptive table
CO [ppmvd]
generation on table size
100
• Full workflow contained within Simcenter STAR-CCM+
80
• Easy to change operating conditions, regenerate combustion
60
table and re-run
40
• Fully parallelized generation process
20
Adaptive combustion tables 0
• Significantly decreased table size 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Table size [GB]
• Refine until user defined tolerance reached
Compatible with all flamelet combustion models, as well as
NOx emissions model Combustion Table Flamelet Combustion Model
Reacting Species Transport
Model Information
Overview Reacting Species
Transport
• Transport all species and calculate all reactions online
• Close chemical source term using: Complex Chemistry
• Turbulent mixing time
Eddy Break-Up
• Reaction rates
Benefits
• Generalized: Applicable for multi-stream combustion
• Accurate: Suitable for calculation of slowly forming pollutants,
ignition
Limitations
• Speed: Can be CPU time expensive
• Accuracy: Cannot include fluctuations with assumed shape
PDFs
Complex Chemistry
Model Description
• Chemistry imported from text files, rather than entered manually
• Three options for fluctuations Imported reactions in
user interface
• Eddy dissipation concept
• Laminar flame concept
• Dynamic Thickened Flame Model – for LES
When to Use It?

• Ignition/extinction
• Slowly forming pollutants
• Gas turbines at off-design load points
• Multi-fuel combustion
Chemistry Acceleration
Model Description
• Clustering: Groups cells with similar thermo-chemical states
and reaction rate mapped based on average state of the group
• In Situ Adaptive Tabulation (ISAT): Computationally expensive

terms are tabulated and then interpolated at run-time
• Dynamic Mechanism Reduction: Identifies dominant pathways

based on Directed Relation Graph at each time step/iteration
and reduces the mechanism on the fly ECN spray H
Fuel: n-heptane, Chemistry: Lu skeletal, 188 species
When to Use It?
• Clustering performance improves with mesh size
• ISAT can substantially speed up complex chemistry simulations
for mechanisms that have less than 40 species
• DMR shows greater gains when large mechanisms with several
species are used for complex chemistry simulations
Complex Chemistry – Approximation Methods
Model Description
Relax to Chemical Equilibrium IFRF coal furnace
• Efficient calculation of combustion in single and multi-stream
systems, for example exhaust gas abatement and incinerators
• No need for a chemical mechanism
• Chemical time-scale can be used to prevent auto-ignition
When to Use It?

• If the chemical mechanism is unknown
• For a quick flame position study using the ‘Include Chemistry
Time’ approach.
• Use a single / two step mechanism
• When multiple distinct fluid streams are entering the reaction
system and therefore tabulated methods can not be used.
Heat Transfer for High Temperature Processes
Model Information
Radiation Temperature
Radiative Transport Equation solved using DOM (Discrete Ordinates
Method). S2-S16 quadrature available.
• Spectral Modeling of Thermal Radiation
• Gray Thermal Radiation
• K-distribution Thermal Radiation
• Multiband Thermal Radiation
• Particle Radiation
• Scattering: isotropic, gray
• Absorption: gray
• Radiative Properties of Participating Media
• Absorption Coefficient: using Weighted Sum of Gray Gases Method Gas Temperature
(WSGGM)
Wall Temperature
• Absorption coefficient using correlation based k-distribution method
User Guide Information: Theory > Heat Transfer > Thermal
Radiation > Participating Media Radiation
GPU-native Flamelet modeling
Key Information
Example: Industrial Gas Turbine combustor – 40 million polyhedral cells, LES with
All Flamelet based models able to be run directly using GPU FGM Kinetic Rate, 150ms modeled time.
hardware
• Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM), Steady Laminar Flamelet 37% 63% less
and Chemical Equilibrium 40 45% faster 1200 200
cheaper energy
Flame propagation models
Estimated Energy Consumption

Solver Elapsed Time [h]
1000
160
• Kinetic Rate, Thickened Flame Model and Turbulent Flame
Estimated Cost ($)

30
Speed Closure supported 800
120
NOx Emissions
(kWh)
20 600
• Prompt, Thermal and Fuel NOx emissions models also run
80
directly on GPU 400
High fidelity combustion 10
40
• Combine with GPU enabled LES (2210) and PISO (2306) for 200
rapid, high-fidelity combustion simulations

0 0 0
Equivalent results
• Very similar predictions between CPU and GPU generated The reduction of 45% in computing time is here evaluated comparing a CPU
results, reducing the need for revalidation (see validation in solution on 640 AMD EPYC 7532s to a GPU solution on 8 NVIDIA A100 cards.
appendix) Cost estimation from popular cloud vendor. CPU: $2.46 per node hour; GPU:
$32.77 per node hour
Sprays and Particle Physics
Deep Dive
Spray Physics for Liquid Fuel Combustion
Model Information
Shock-induced droplet breakup: Reinecke & Waldman (1970)
Models available to account for detailed spray physics:
• Droplet breakup
• Primary atomization
• Secondary breakup models
• Spray evaporation
• Single and multi-component droplet evaporation
• Several injector types available to cover wide range of
scenarios Multicomponent fuel droplet evaporation: Daif et al (1999)
• Droplet-wall interaction models

• Bai-Gosman wall impingement
• Bai-ONERA wall impingement
• Satoh wall impingement
• Rebound
User Guide Information: Theory > Lagrangian Multiphase Flow
Physics for Solid Fuel Combustion
Model Information
Models available to account for detailed solid fuel combustion:
• Moisture Evaporation
• Based on departure from vapor-liquid equilibrium
• Devolatilization
• 1 step, 2 steps, user defined rate Coal Furnace: CO field and tracks of large coal particles
• Particle Combustion
• 1st order combined rate, half-order combined rate
Quantity Measured Predicted Dimension
• Char Oxidation
T 1353 1347 Kelvin
• 1st order combined rate, half-order combined rate
Oxygen 3.0 4.0 Vol. %, dry
• Particle Porosity
CO2 15.6 15.2 Vol.%, dry
• Constant or varying
Burnout 99.4 99.9 Weight %
• Several injector types available to cover wide range of
scenarios Given Ultimate Analysis : C = 0.8036, H = 0.0508,
• User Guide Information: Theory > Reacting Flow > Particle O = 0.1217, N = 0.0145, S = 0.0094
Reactions
Tube Side Physics
Deep Dive
Physics for Tube Side Processes
Model Information
Process Side Coupling
Reacting Channel Co-Simulation Model
• Data exchanged between 3-D Simcenter STAR-CCM+
simulation and 1-D plug flow reactor
• Reacting channels not explicitly meshed which results in
significant computational saving
• Tube side can be considered to be open channels or packed
beds
• Suitable correlations
Fire box physics:
3-D turbulent flow, any combustion model, participating media
radiation model
Process side physics:
Any number of tubes, full and half tubes, flexible definition of tube
side reactions
User Guide Information: Interacting with CAE Software >
Reacting Channel Coupling
Reacting Channel Co-Simulation
Model Description
• Tailor-made model for chemical processes in long narrow tubes
• Using 1D plug flow assumption for tube side physics
• Global and detailed kinetic modeling of process side
• Supports user-defined reaction rates in the process side Reacting
Channels
• Supports straight tubes and tubes with re-entry
When to Use It?

Gas Phase
• For any chemical processes in long tubes Temperature
• Packed/fixed bed reactors
• Open channels
• Use with steady state species transport combustion model
• Process heaters
• Cracking furnaces
• Steam reformers Straight Tubes Tubes with different types of re-entry options
Inputs and Outputs for Tube Side Processes
Key Information
Tube side analysis of flow CH4 Mass Fraction
• Axial velocity profile (1-D Plug flow assumption)
• Pressure drop (simple pipe or packed bed)
• Inputs: Porosity, packing material diameter, tube length
Tube side analysis of heat transfer
• Heat transfer coefficient (simple pipe for packed bed) –
correlation or user table H2 Mass Fraction
• Outputs: tube wall temperature, process fluid temperature

Tube side analysis of chemical kinetics
• Detailed chemistry or global chemistry
• Supports user-defined rates
• Output: species conversion/yield
Emissions Modeling
Deep Dive
Emissions Modeling: NOx
Model Information
Built in NOx model selection available. NOx transported as a
Trend in NOx emissions for different flow splits to the pilot
passive scalar. Source terms evaluated from different pathways:
• Thermal NOx
• High Temperature oxidation by atmospheric O2 via 3-step
Zeldovich mechanism
• Prompt NOx
• Based on global kinetics parameters derived by De Soete.
Occurs in staged combustion. Is characterized by short
residence times
• Fuel NOx
• Pathway dominant for fuels with nitrogen content. Accounts
for intermediates like HCN and NH3.
Simulating Physics > Combustion and Other Reacting Flows >
Reacting Flow Formulation > NOx Emission Formulation
Emissions Modeling: Reactor Networks
Key Information
• Quick assessment of emissions in gas turbines or burners
• Postprocess flow solution from quick flame propagation
model to get emissions – less need to run full complex
chemistry
• Additional Model “Reactor Network”
• Constant Pressure and Perfectly Stirred Reactor supported
• Right click – “Run Reactor Network”
• New field functions for post processing – “RN *”

Theory > Reacting Flow > Reactor Networks
Emissions Modeling: Soot
Model Information
Three methodologies available
• Soot sectional method
• Accurate model that resolves complex particle size distributions
and allows prediction of bi-modal or multi-modal distributions Results for ECN spray H1
Fuel: n-heptane
• In-built reports of ‘Soot PSDF’ (Particle Size Distribution
Complex Chemistry
Function) and ‘Soot Diameters’
Chemistry: Wang2
• Method of moments
• Up to 4 soot moments solved to obtain assumed particle size Fuel + O2
distribution function
CxHyOz
• Moss-Brookes-Hall (MBH) two equation C2H2
CO2
• Semi-empirical model with 2 transported equations H2O
O2 + C2H2
OH
• Higher flexibility to calibrate
Theory > Reacting Flow > Soot
1https://ecn.sandia.gov/
1Wang, H. Yao, M. Yue, Z. Jia, M. and Reitz, R. D. Combust. and Flame 162, pp. 2390 – 2404 (2015)
Thermoacoustics Modeling
Deep Dive
Thermoacoustics Modeling: Acoustic Modal Solver with thermoacoustic n-tau
model
Key Information
• Quick assessment of thermoacoustic stability in gas
turbines or burners
• Helmoltz solver which solves a wave equation from linearized
Navier-Stokes equations
• Additional Model “Acoustic Modal Solver”
• Option to include a flame transfer function with an n-tau
model
• Provides acoustic frequencies, growth rates and mode
shapes
• Visualize modes with Acoustic Pressure Normalized field
function
• Boundary conditions of perfectly reflecting, zero acoustic
pressure and specified or quadratic impedance
Simulating Physics > Aeroacoustics> Acoustic Modal Solver
Tips and Tricks
Model Decision Tree - RANS
Tips and Tricks
How to Set up a LES Combustion Calculation?
Tips and Tricks
General Information:
• LES can be started using RANS solution as the initial condition
• Either SIMPLE (Implicit Unsteady) or PISO (PISO Unsteady)
can be used for combustion simulations. PISO has been tested
to be faster.

Simulating Physics > Modeling Turbulence > Scale-Resolving
Simulations > Large Eddy Simulation (LES) > LES Guidelines
Theory> Numerical Flow Solution> Finite Volume Discretization >
Segregated Flow Solver (SIMPLE and PISO)
Converged RANS LES using RANS solution

as initial condition
Model Decision Tree - LES
Tips and Tricks
Combustion
Off flamelet manifold –
ignition / extinction / slow
On flamelet manifold
chemistry
Flamelet Reacting Species Transport

Premixed / partially
Non-premixed
premixed
Chemistry,
Steady ignition/extinction
Flamelet Generated
Laminar
Manifold
Flamelet
Complex
Chemistry
Flickering / close to Premixed/partially
extinction Steadily burning premixed & steadily Non-premixed / flickering /
burning close to extinction
Thickened Thickened Laminar Flame

Kinetic Rate
Flame Model Flame Model Concept
How to Set up an LES Combustion Calculation?
Tips and Tricks
Typical Workflow for LES Combustion:

1. Start with Converged RANS solution
2. Set up LES models. Default WALE model works well for most
configurations
3. If running flamelet based model, change Mixture Fraction
Variance option in Physics Continue from “Transport
Equation” to “Algebraic option”
4. Set up desired field mean and field variance monitors
5. Select appropriate time-step and temporal discretization (2nd
order for SIMPLE can be used)
6. Collect statistics over sufficient flow throughs before final
comparisons
Converged RANS LES using RANS solution

as initial condition
How to construct a mesh for LES Combustion?
Tips and Tricks
Mesh requirements and settings

• Either trimmer mesh or polyhedral mesh can be used for LES
combustion calculations
• Fundamental requirement: cutoff wave number is in the
inertial sub-range in the primary region of interest of the
simulation.
• Mesh should not be too stretched or have a large aspect ratio
• Typically 4-6 prism layers are used for wall boundaries.
• If performing CHT analysis, additional prism layers may be Polyhedral mesher with Field function refinement table
required for better resolution of the near wall physics.
How to construct a mesh for LES Combustion?
Tips and Tricks
Desired LES mesh resolution

• Try to resolve at least around 80 percent of the Turbulent
Kinetic Energy (TKE)
• Compute %Resolved TKE via field function
where: %Resolved TKE = Resolved TKE*100/(Total TKE)
• Total TKE = Resolved TKE + Subgrid Scale TKE
• Subgrid scale TKE is estimate from LES model
• Resolved TKE can be computed from velocity variance
monitors (see User Guide > LES Guidelines)
• In a scalar scene display %Resolved TKE to identify regions
that might need further refinement.
• Note: It is ok for the inlets to be a little under-resolved since
no reactions occur there.
How to Select a Time Step for LES Combustion?
Tips and Tricks
Time step requirements and settings Volume rendering of flameless combustor

• Time step size should be carefully chosen based on the Green: NOx > 50 ppm; Blue: Fuel rich; Orange: Flame front
convective CFL and mesh.
• A time step size of 1e-5 s or lower is generally
recommended.
• If a step size of 1e-5 or lower is used, the default URFs can
be increased for faster convergence.
• The number of inner iterations if using Implicit Unsteady
solver can also be reduced for faster turn around. Typical
number of inner iterations is 15 for a time-step size of 1e-5
• To check if the chosen time-step is suitable for the LES run,
display the Convective Courant number after running LES for
~1 flow through. The general recommendation is to have a
CFL of 1 or less than 1 for most of the domain where
reactions occur
How to Select Model and Solver Settings for LES Combustion?
Tips and Tricks
Some model and solver settings:

Flow:
• Use bounded central differencing for convection under
Segregated Flow node in the physics continua
• The upwind blending factor of 0.15 is generally used for
combustion calculations but depending on the mesh quality,
it can be lowered to 0.05 for really good meshes or
increased to 0.35 for meshes where certain regions are not
well refined
Combustion:
• If using complex chemistry combustion model, select
Laminar Flame Concept (LFC) for turbulence-chemistry
interactions in the LES run
Radiation and Lagrangian:
• If participating media radiation model and or Lagrangian
model is used, the update frequency should be set to once
per time-step
How to judge if my simulation has converged?
Tips and Tricks

• Apart from residuals, engineering quantities of interest should
be monitored to judge convergence
• Create Reports and plots for:
• Overall mass balance
• Overall energy balance
• Mass flow averaged Temperature at the exit
• Mass flow averaged values of NOx and other species of
interest at the exit
Mass Flow Averaged Temperature at the Exit
• For calculations with complex chemistry set up elemental
and species balance reports
• For LES calculations set up Field Mean and Field Variance
monitors and sample them over several flow throughs.
Typical number of samples can range between 5000-10000
after the initial transients have been washed out.
Resources on Support Center
Tips and Tricks

Furnaces
The following articles might be useful:
• Best Practices for RANS Combustion
• Where can I find chemical kinetic mechanisms for use in my
combustion simulations
• Introduction to Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) Table
Generation Process Heaters Kilns
• How to post-process Nitrogen Oxide Emissions
• Chemistry acceleration for complex chemistry modeling using
clustering
• Chemistry acceleration for complex chemistry modeling using
ISAT
• Best practices for an evaporating spray
Burner Design Exploration
Case Study
Design and Performance Objectives of Burners
Burner Operation Requirements

• Flame Stability
• Acceptable flame pattern / length
• Flue gas patterns
• Avoid Flame impingement
• Avoid Flame-Flame interaction
• Maximize combustion efficiency
• Meet stringent emission standards
CFD modeling of burners operating in their actual environment can

provide useful and detailed information that can be used to asses,
improve and optimize their performance
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation of a generic flat flame burner
Design Space Exploration Case Study
Geometry Details: Objective : Minimization of CO and NOx from

• 4 Fuel ports
Baseline Flat Flame Burner Geometry
• Fuel and oxidizer at STP – Natural Gas burning
in air • Multi-objective optimization
• Burner Heat Release = 0.88 MW
• CO and NOx are competing objectives
• Excess Air Supplied = 10%
Air flow rate

Fuel flow rate D
Design Space Exploration Case Study
Burner Fuel Injector/Port Optimization
Geometry Details: Fuel flow Air flow

• 4 Fuel ports rate D rate
• Fuel and oxidizer at STP – Natural Gas burning in air
• Burner Heat Release = 0.88 MW
• Excess Air Supplied = 10%
Objective : Minimization of CO and NOx from Baseline

Flat Flame Burner Geometry
• Multi-objective optimization
• CO and NOx are competing objectives
Burner Design Variables
Primary injector Spacing Burner tile angle Primary nozzle angle

(range: 25mm – 250mm) (range: 1 to 35 deg, 10 steps) (range: 1 to 20 deg, 10 steps)
Primary ports angle spacing Side nozzle angle Side nozzle angle spacing
(range: 5 to 45 deg, 11 steps) (range: 1 to 30 deg, 10 steps) (range: -120 to 60 deg, 50 steps)
Burner Optimization Results
• A total of 85 designs were run
Symmetry plane
• 13 designs did not meet the following constraints and were rejected:
• Constraint 1: Meet Flame Height Requirement
• Constraint 2: Meet average fire box temperature
• Best design minimizes CO by 0.5% and NOx by 13% from baseline
4.55E-05
Pareto Front and Baseline
Optimization
Total CO at the Exit (kg/s)
Baseline
4.54E-05 Best Design
4.53E-05 Baseline Volume rendering of the flames
4.52E-05
4.51E-05
Lowest NOx and CO

4.50E-05
1.50E-04 1.90E-04 2.30E-04 2.70E-04 3.10E-04 3.50E-04
Total NOx at the Exit (kg/s)
14 million cells
Fuel jet resolution using table
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Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Combustion-Heat Transfer (Furnaces, Heaters, Kilns) - Application Spotlight Presentation

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Simcenter STAR-CCM+

Combustion and Heat Transfer in Furnaces, Heaters

• Improved fuel/air mixing

• Fewer expensive field testing

• Improved fuel/air mixing

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

Complex Geometry Handling

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

• Robust prism layer mesh resolves turbulent

• Specialized thin mesher for meshing thin solids

• Conformal interfaces between fluid and solid

• Adaptive mesh for flame positioning or transient

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Workflow Automation NOx in Flameless combustor (LES)

Intelligent Design Exploration Blue: Fuel

• Accurate species prediction through reacting

• Quick and accurate emission predictions with

• Built in emission models for accurate NOx and

• Participating media radiation model for accurate

• Flow: Steady or unsteady turbulence models

• Heat transfer: Conduction, convection,

• Combustion: Flamelet or reacting species Liner Temperature Exit Temperature

• Emission Models: NOx, soot, reactor network

• Thermoacoustics – Acoustic Modal Solver

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

Complex Geometry Handling

Speed and Performance

Powerful Data Analysis

Intelligent Design Exploration

• Design Of Experiments (DOE)

• No need for model simplification

Challenge: Complex geometry, several burners and several tubes. Adequate

Impact: Accurate prediction of operation characteristics with fast turn-around

Challenge: Adequate resolution of relevant scales to evaluate Temperature

Solution: Robust meshing with choice of flamelet based or

Impact: Simulation driven furnace design improvements and

Challenge: Effectively use simulations to develop and identify Temperature

Solution: Simulating flow, mixing, reaction and heat transfer

• Predict and understand real-world behavior of high temperature process equipment

Complex Geometry Handling Simcenter STAR-CCM+

Workflow Automation • Wide range of methods to balance compute time and

• As a 2-D axisymmetric model

• If flame position is unknown or dynamic:

User Guide Information:

Large eddy simulation approach:

Choosing between flamelet model and reacting