Shear-Driven Hydrogen-Air Mixing in OP16 DLE Combustor

A Comparative Study Between URANS and LES

Conference paper (2024)

Authors

T. Donepudi Energy Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Rene Pecnik Energy Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
J.W.R. Peeters Energy Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
S.A. Klein Energy Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Thijs Bouten Destinus Energy
Lars-Uno Axelsson Destinus Energy
Research Group
Energy Technology (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2024

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Process and Energy

Research Group

Energy Technology

Abstract

This paper presents numerical predictions of the flow field in the swirl-stabilized OP16 DLE combustor using hydrogen as a fuel. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations employing unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Wall Modelled Large Eddy Simulations (WMLES) are performed without including reaction mechanisms. The objective is to gain insights into scalar mixing predictions of the two approaches when hydrogen and air undergo shear-driven turbulent mixing. Accurate scalar mixing predictions are crucial in the combustors’ design process to assess the uniformity of fuel-air mixing as localized regions of high fuel concentrations can lead to increased NOx emissions and to identify locations with a propensity for Boundary Layer Flashback (BLF). Results are compared and analyzed in terms of time-averaged equivalence ratio, unmixedness and Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) profiles. TKE predictions are lower in URANS, leading to significantly lower fuel-air mixing levels than WMLES, indicating differences in their predictions of shear-layer interactions in the mixing region and the swirl section of the combustor.