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The tabulated premixed conditional moment closure (T-PCMC) method has been shown to provide the capability to model turbulent, premixed methane flames with detailed chemistry and reasonable runtimes in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) environment by Martin et al. (2013, "Modeling an Enclosed, Turbulent Reacting Methane Jet With the Premixed Conditional Moment Closure Method," ASME Paper No. GT2013-95092). Here, the premixed conditional moment closure (PCMC) method is extended to large eddy simulation (LES). The new model is validated with the turbulent, enclosed reacting methane backward facing step data from El Banhawy et al. (1983, "Premixed, Turbulent Combustion of a Sudden-Expansion Flow," Combust. Flame, 50, pp. 153-165). The experimental data have a rectangular test section at atmospheric pressure and temperature with an inlet velocity of 10.5 m/s and an equivalence ratio of 0.9 for two different step heights. Contours of major species, velocity, and temperature are provided. The T-PCMC model falls into the class of table lookup turbulent combustion models in which the combustion model is solved offline over a range of conditions and stored in a table that is accessed by the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code using three controlling variables: the reaction progress variable (RPV), variance, and local scalar dissipation rate. The local scalar dissipation rate is used to account for the affects of the small-scale mixing on the reaction rates. A presumed shape beta function probability density function (PDF) is used to account for the effects of subgrid scale (SGS) turbulence on the reactions. SGS models are incorporated for the scalar dissipation and variance. The open source CFD code OpenFOAM is used with the compressible Smagorinsky LES model. Velocity, temperature, and major species are compared to the experimental data. Once validated, this low "runtime" CFD turbulent combustion model will have great utility for designing the next generation of lean premixed (LPM) gas turbine combustors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an ammonia-water Kalina cycle driven by low-grade waste energy released from the combustion reactions of mill's rejection which is coupled with 500 MWe coal-fired thermal power plant to quantify the additional electrical power. Energy of combustion for mill rejection is computed by combustion modeling equations. A thermodynamic property calculator for the binary mixture and a computer simulation program have been developed by MS-Excel and Visual Basic for Application (VBA) to calculate and optimize the Kalina cycle operating parameters based on thermodynamic modeling equations. Variation of key operating parameters, namely, turbine inlet pressure, mass flow rate of binary mixture, and ammonia mass fraction in mixture is studied and filters the optimum value accordingly to maximize the cycle efficiency. Technocommercial feasibility is also done through economic analysis. The results show that about 562.745 kWe power generation can be added with total plant generation for organization profit. This will enhance the combined plant efficiency from 38.559% to 38.604%. Maximum net Kalina cycle efficiency o f24.74% can be achieved with ammonia mass fraction of 0.4 at condenser back pressure of 1.957 bar and turbine inlet pressure and temperature of 20 bar and 442.40 K, respectively. Ammonia mass fraction of 0.4 is the optimum choice for 20 bar turbine inlet pressure to get maximum output after maintaining minimum 50 K degree of superheat compared to ammonia mass fraction of 0.3. The cycle peiformance at ammonia mass fraction of 0.4 is better than 0.5 due to less condenser back pressure. Kalina cycle operating with less mass flow rate performs higher cycle efficiency when dryness fraction at turbine exhaust is less than 1 and performance deteriorates at above 1. This deterioration is due to higher condenser energy loss carried away by cooling water (CW) flow. The simple payback period of this system is around 5.5 years if the system is running with 80% plant availability factor and 100% plant load factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subdetonative propulsion mode using thermal choking has been studied with a one-dimensional (1D) real gas model that included projectile acceleration. Numerical results from a control volume analysis that accounted for unsteady flow effects established that the thrust coefficient versus Mach number profile was lower than that obtained with a quasi-steady model. This deviation correlates with experimental results obtained in a 38-mm-bore ram accelerator at 5.15 MPa fill pressure. Theoretical calculations were initially carried out with the assumption that the combustion process thermally choked the flow about one projectile length behind the projectile base. Thus the control volume length used in this 1D modeling was twice the projectile length, which is consistent with experimental observations at velocities corresponding to Mach number less than 3.5. Yet the choice of the length of the combustion zone and thus the control volume length remains a key issue in the unsteady modeling of the ram accelerator. The present paper provides a refinement of the unsteady one-dimensional model in which the effect of control volume length on the thrust coefficient and the projectile acceleration were investigated. For this purpose the control volume length determined from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a function of projectile Mach number was applied. The CFD modeling utilized the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations to numerically simulate the reacting flow in the ram accelerator. The shear-stress transport turbulence and the eddy dissipation combustion models were used along with a detailed chemical kinetic mechanism with six species and five-step reactions to account for the influence of turbulence and rate of heat release on the length of the combustion zone. These CFD computational results provided Mach number dependent estimates for the control volume length that were implemented in the 1D modeling. Results from the proposed improved 1D unsteady modeling were compared and validated with ram accelerator experimental data with significant improvements in terms of the predicted thrust dependence on Mach number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear stability analysis by means of low-order network models is widely spread in industry and academia to predict the thermoacoustic characteristics of combustion systems. Even though a vast amount of publications on this topic exist, much less is reported on the predictive capabilities of such stability analyses with respect to real system behavior In this sense, little effort has been made on investigating if predicted critical parameter values, for which the combustion system switches from stability to instability, agree with experimental observations. Here, this lack of a comprehensive experimental validation is addressed by using a model-based control scheme. This scheme is able to actively manipulate the acoustic field of a combustion test rig by imposing quasi- arbitrary reflection coefficients. it is employed to continuously vary the downstream reflection coefficient of an atmospheric swirl-stabilized combustion test rig from fully reflecting to anechoic. By doing so, the transient behavior of the system can be studied. In addition to that, an extension of the common procedure, where the stability of an operating point is classified solely based on the presence of high amplitude pressure pulsations and their frequency, is given. Generally, the predicted growth rates are only compared with measurements with respect to their sign, which obviously lacks a quantitative component. In contrast to that, in this paper validation of linear stability analysis is conducted by comparing calculated and experimentally determined linear growth rates of unstable modes. Besides this, experimental results and model predictions are also compared in terms of frequency of the least stable mode. Excellent agreement between computations from the model and experiments is found. The concept is also used for active control of combustion instabilities. By tuning the downstream reflectivity of the combustion test rig, thermoacoustic instabilities can be suppressed. The underlying mechanism is an increase in the acoustic energy losses across the system boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]