Lecture 2:

Non Premixed Combustion Model

15.0 Release

Advanced Combustion Modeling

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 Diffusion Flames
Fuel and Oxidizer enters separately in the combustion zone
They mix and burn during continuous inter-diffusion

Time required for convection and diffusion is much larger that for
chemical reactions
Problem can be simplified since it eliminates parameters associated with
chemical kinetics

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 Non-premixed Vs Premixed Combustion
Fuel
Non-Premixed Combustion Combustion chamber
Separate streams for Fuel and oxidizer Oxidizer Non-Premixed
Convection or diffusion of reactants from either side
into a flame sheet Fuel
Turbulent eddies distort the laminar flame shape and +
Combustion chamber
enhance mixing Premixed
May be simplified to a mixing problem Oxidizer

Premixed combustion
Fuel and oxidizer are already mixed at the molecular
level prior to ignition
Flame propagation from hot products to cold reactants
Rate of propagation (flame speed) depends on the
internal flame structure
Turbulence distorts the laminar flame shape and thus
accelerates flame propagation
Non-Premixed Premixed
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 Modeling turbulent reacting flows
Simplify the chemistry
Use finite rate/eddy dissipation approach
Considers global chemical reaction mechanisms
Decouple chemistry from flow
Use mixture fraction approach
Equilibrium chemistry PDF model
Laminar flamelet model
Progress variable (premixed model)
Mixture fraction and progress variable (partially premixed model)
Model detailed chemistry (stiff chemistry)
CPU intensive
Typically requires use of very small time steps to achieve numerical stability and
convergence
Can be impractical
Use of the stiff chemistry solver will allow larger time steps to be used
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 Combustion Models
Mixture Fraction Model (Non-Premixed model)
Equilibrium
Single and 2 mixture fraction model
Flamelet
Steady
Unsteady flamelet model
Species Transport Model
Fast chemistry
Eddy dissipation/finite rate
Relax to equilibrium
Detailed chemistry
Laminar stiff chemistry solver
Eddy Dissipation Concept
PDF transport
Surface chemistry

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 Non Premixed Combustion Model
15.0 Release

Advanced Combustion Modeling

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 Non-premixed model
Burke & Schumann (1928), Bilger (1976) suggested a closure based on mixture fraction (Z) for
turbulent diffusion flames
Assumptions involved
Separate streams for fuel and oxidizer (diffusion flames)
Equal species diffusion coefficients
Suitable for turbulent flows as turbulent diffusion overwhelms
Unity Lewis number
Low Mach number flow
With these assumptions
Species transport equations can be reduced to a single equation for conserved scalar, mixture fraction (Z
or f)
For mixture fraction equation, the reaction source terms cancel out since elements are conserved in
chemical reactions
S. P. Burke and T. E. W. Schumann, Indust. Eng. Chem. 20 (1928) p. 998
R. W. Bilger, Combust. Sci. Technol. 13 (1976) p. 155
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 Non-premixed model (cont)
The Favre mean mixture fraction equation

+ . = .

For chemical equilibrium, scalars like Yi, and T are uniquely related to the mixture fraction (f)
For adiabatic systems: =
For non-adiabatic systems: = ,
In turbulent flows
Mean values of scalars are of interest
The probability density function, P(f) can be employed
Describes the temporal fluctuations of f in the turbulent flow
Mathematical functions like or double functions can be used
Transport equation for variance of mean mixture fraction would be required


+ . = .
+

t = 0.85; Cg = 2.86 and Cd = 2.0

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 Non-premixed model (cont)
Density weighted mean species mass fraction or temperature

=

Overall calculation procedure
Chemical Equilibrium PDF Shape
= P = P ,

Mean scalar value

=

values can be pre-tabulated for given chemistry model (like chemical

equilibrium) and assumed PDF shape and looked up whenever required
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 Mixture fraction
Mixture fraction (Z or f)
1 kg CH4 reaction CO2 H2O
= + 1 kg O2 CO O2 CH4

atomic elements
Z = 1 at fuel inlet conservation
f = 1/2 f = 1/2
Z = 0 at oxidizer inlet
In other region
Z represents fraction of fuel stream
(1 - Z) represents fraction of oxidizer stream

Fuel-air ratio = ()

( )
Equivalence ratio = ()

For methane-air reaction: CH4+2(O2+3.76N2) CO2+2H2O+7.52N2

ZSt = = = .
+(+.)
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 Model set up
Switch on turbulence model
Switch on non premixed combustion model
Select chemical equilibrium for state relation
definition
Specify operating pressure
Specify rich flammability limit
Little less than 2 times Zst
Thermodynamic data base file mentioned in the file
path location would be used for equilibrium
calculation
Specify composition and temperature for fuel and
oxidizer streams
Calculate PDF table
Boundary conditions
Fuel inlet/s Z = 1.0
Oxidizer inlet/s Z = 0.0

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 Systems That Can be Modelled With One Mixture Fraction
40% O2
60% N2
60% H2 f=0
f=1 100% C3H8 f=1
40% N2
21% O2 f=0 40% O2 f=0
79% N2 60% N2

60% CH4 mR
15% H2O f=1
25% CO
21% O2 mF fexit
f=0 f=1 mF
79% N2 f exit
m F m
60% CH4 f=1 mO f=0
O

15% H2O
25% CO
Premixed systems CANNOT be modeled using the mixture fraction PDF approach

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 The Two Mixture Fractions Model
Solve for a second, independent, conserved scalar (mean and variance)
Computationally expensive since PDF integrations performed at run-time
Text User Interface option for full tabulation

p f p2 psec f fuel , psec df fuel dpsec

1 1
1 fuel

0 0
With a second mixture fraction variable you can model:
Three gas stream compositions (different species and/or temperature)
Two fuels and one oxidizer streams
One fuel and two oxidizer streams
One fuel, one oxidizer and one inert stream
Co-firing a gaseous fuel with a liquid or solid particle (coal) fuel
Two composition discrete phase
Co-firing a liquid fuel with a coal fuel
A single fuel with two off gases - significant for coal combustion as volatiles and char burnout
can be tracked separately

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 Systems That Can be Modelled With Two Mixture Fractions

System with two distinct fuel inlets: CH4/CO/C3H8 s=1

Oxidant f = 0, s = 0
CH4/C3H8 f=1

21% O2 f=s=0
System with two distinct oxidizer inlets: Fuel f=1
35% O2 s=1

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 Mixture Fraction/PDF Approach for Non-Adiabatic systems
Local thermo-chemical state is related to the mixture fraction and
enthalpy i i f , h

N T
h m j h j C p , j dT

where
j 1
Tref

Turbulent fluctuations are described by a joint PDF, p(f, h*).

It is reasonable to assume that enthalpy fluctuations are independent of
the enthalpy level itself

h F h
Then the enthalpy can be related to the mixture fraction alone
h h f
The joint PDF now becomes a single variable PDF with p( f ) evaluated as
before.
p[ f, h*( f )] = p( f )h*-h
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 Mixture Fraction/PDF Approach for Non-Adiabatic
systems
Averaged quantities are now evaluated as:

i i f , h p f df
0

Enthalpy is determined from the transport equation:

t
h

xi

ui h



t h
xi h xi
Sh

where Sh represents enthalpy source terms from radiation or dispersed

phase heat exchange

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 Non-Adiabatic Systems
Qwall or Qradiation
Heat transfer to domain Fuel f=1
boundaries and/or radiation Oxidant f=0
heat transfer

Fuel
Multiple fuel or oxidant inlets T = T1
f=1
Oxidant f=0
at different temperatures
Fuel f =1
T = T2

Dispersed phase heat transfer Oxidant Liquid fuel or pulverized coal

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 PDF table generation
Non Premixed combustion model is the model of choice for non-premixed
gas phase reacting flow problem where the models assumptions are fulfilled
(non-premixed inlets, turbulent flow, equilibrium)
Easy set up, there is no need to provide a mechanism
Robust and fast to converge
No need to select the species for the equilibrium calculation, the user defines the "boundary" species, and
the "excluded" species. The equilibrium solver automatically adds any other species in equilibrium

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 Solution strategies for Non premixed model

Non-premixed model:
In general there is no need to solve first the cold flow, or to patch high temperature
Start with the reacting flow simulation without radiation
Enable radiation once the main flow feature and temperature field have been
established

Default URF could be too aggressive for complex reacting flow system
The effect of under-relaxation is highly non-linear
Decrease the diverging residual URF in increments of 0.1
Under-relax density when using the mixture-fraction PDF model (0.7)
Once solution is stable, attempt to increase energy, mixture and radiation URFs as
close as possible to 1

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 Compressible Non-premixed Combustion Model
Enthalpy
Enthalpy from PDF tables : h = chemical + thermal (sensible)
Total enthalpy solved in Fluent: H = chemical + thermal + kinetic
In Fluent, PDF lookup table: h = H kinetic energy
Hence, non-adiabatic PDF tables required, even if simulation is adiabatic.

Pressure
Pressure used in PDF is constant: density calculated as
p PDF
PDF ~
RT
Density in compressible cases calculated as
pSolver pSolver
Solver ~
PDF
RT p PDF
Species and temperature are assumed unaffected by pressure
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 Compressible Non-premixed Combustion Model

Use the compressible model with caution

The assumption of chemical equilibrium (or near chemical equilibrium with the
laminar flamelet model) is increasingly inaccurate at higher flow speeds:
Flow residence time decreases
Temperature decreases and reaction rates drop

The effect of pressure variations, both mean and fluctuating, are neglected in
the model:
Equilibrium species and temperatures are very sensitive to pressure
pressure a 4D table would be required for equilibrium

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 Non-premixed Combustion Model
Advantages
Chemistry decoupled from underlying turbulent flow; providing increased
stability and efficiency.
Accurate tracking of intermediate species concentrations and dissociation
effects
Turbulence-chemistry interactions accounted for rigorously via PDFs
Model of choice if underlying assumptions are valid

Disadvantages
Flow must be turbulent
Applicable to non-premixed flames only
Chemistry must be close to equilibrium everywhere (Da > 1000)
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 Laminar Flamelet Model
Steady and unsteady laminar flamelet model
Applicability
Flow Regime: Turbulent flow (high Re)
Chemistry: Moderately non-equilibrium due to aerodynamic strain
Application examples
Prediction of lift off and blow off phenomena in jet flames
Internal combustion engine (Diesel unsteady flamelet submodel only)
Liquid/liquid reacting systems (unsteady flamelet submodel)

Limitations
Steady approach cannot realistically model phenomena which depend on detailed
kinetics (such as ignition, extinction and low-Da flow).

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 Steady Laminar Flamelet
Turbulent flame modeled as ensemble of stretched laminar flames
The laminar flame model is the opposed flow diffusion
Extension of mixture fraction/PDF model to moderate chemical non-equilibrium

turbulent flame
laminar flamelet
structure (see
detail below)
velocity (ufuel) velocity (uox)
velocity gradient (afuel) velocity gradient (aox)
temperature (Tfuel) temperature (Tox)
fuel composition oxidizer composition
fuel-oxidizer distance
(Kai) is the scalar dissipation rate (1/s)
0; The chemistry tends to equilibrium
Chemistry departs from equilibrium with increase in
5
due to aerodynamic straining
N. Peters (1984) Laminar Diffusion Flamelet Models in Non-Premixed Turbulent Combustion. Prog.. Energy. Combust. Sci., 10, p. 319.
6
N. Peters (1986) Laminar Flamelet Concepts in Turbulent Combustion. 21st Symposium on Combustion, p. 1231.
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 Flamelet Modeling Approach
Turbulent flame brush is modeled as an
ensemble of discrete diffusion flamelets
Density weighted mean species mass fraction or
temperature
= , ,
f and are assumed to be independent
, =
Delta function is assumed for
Mean scalar dissipation rate is calculated as Instantaneous Turbulent
flamelets flame brush
=

Cx = 2.0
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 Model Set Up
Overall setup and solution procedure is similar to
equilibrium closure model
Except the state relation calculations
Need to generate/import flamelets
Flamelet generation from specified reaction
mechanism
CHEMKIN mechanism file
Species limit 500
Options to import pre generated flamelets
Standard format
CFX-RIF
Oppdif
Single or multiple flamelets
Single: user specified strain a
Multiple: strained flamelet library (up to extinction)
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 Unsteady Flamelet Models
Generalized Unsteady Flamelet Model
Post-process one or several unsteady marker In that represents the probability of fuel
from nth flamelet, after achieving a converged reacting flow using the steady state
flamelet
The steady flow solution must be computed with the steady laminar flamelet model
The effect of the unsteady flamelets on the flow is neglected
The slow-forming species as NOx must be identified before solving
The marker probability transport equations are solved simultaneously with the slow
species transport equations Yi until the marker diffused out of the domain.
The unsteady species mass fraction are computed from

Applications: adiabatic or near adiabatic systems

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 Unsteady Flamelet Models
Diesel Unsteady Flamelet Model
The chemistry is modeled as a single (or multiple)
one-dimensional laminar flamelet
The flamelet species and energy equations are
solved simultaneously with the flow.
The flamelet equations are advanced for a fractional
step using properties from the flow, and then the
flow is advanced for the same fractional time-step Lifted flame
using properties from the flamelet.
Multiple diesel unsteady flamelets allow to consider
Several combustion events (split injections)
Lifted spray flames
Exhaust Gas Recirculation with mixture fraction Same mixture fraction but
Applications: predicting combustion in compression- different reaction progress states
ignition engines
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 Diesel Unsteady Flamelet Model
The initial flamelet condition at the start
of the diesel simulation is a mixed-but-
unburnt distribution
For the flamelet fractional time-step, the
volume-averaged scalar dissipation,
pressure and fuel and oxidizer
temperatures, are passed from the flow
solver to the flamelet solver
Temperature rise during compression
accounted using additional term in
flamelet energy equation
This rise in flamelet temperature due to
compression eventually leads to ignition
of the flamelet

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 Summary
Mixture fraction approach
Equilibrium chemistry PDF model
Laminar flamelet model
Unsteady flamelet model
Tutorials & additional resources
Several tutorial available for these models

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