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Transcritical fuel sprays form an indispensable part of high-pressure energy-conversion systems. Modeling the complex real-fluid effects in the high-pressure multiphase regime of such sprays accurately, especially the hybrid subcritical-to-supercritical mode of evaporation during mixing fuel and oxidizer, is essential and challenging. This paper represents a novel numerical framework for accurate and efficient simulations of transcritical sprays. The spray is modeled using a diffuse interface method with multiphase thermodynamics, which couples real-fluid state equations with vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) calculations to compute thermo-transport properties. A physically consistent turbulence model for large-eddy simulations (LES) is used, with combustion being modeled via real finite-rate chemistry based on the fugacity of the species. The current method is accurate and free from semi-empirical drop break-up/evaporation models. LES results for the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray-A benchmark demonstrate the potential of the proposed method and its advantages over traditional approaches., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Flight Performance and Propulsion, Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics

In this work, an extension of the Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) method is developed suitable for igniting turbulent flames. To create the FGM, the strongly stretched flamelet equations (SSFE) are solved. Whereas in the standard basic method a single representative flamelet strain rate is used, in the new method a range of strain rates is taken into account. This allows including the effect of a varying turbulent scalar dissipation rate (SDR) during ignition. The new approach is validated by applying it in an Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray A turbulent flame for which detailed experimental data are available. First, in a priori validation step, the performance of the new extended FGM, the multi-strainrate FGM (mFGM), is validated by the simulation of ignition and species profiles in laminar flames along the so-called S-curve diagram and comparing with full chemistry calculations. The sub-grid scale (SGS) spray dispersion model is validated against the inert spray experiments in terms of vapor and liquid penetration as well as the spatial distribution of mixture fraction and its root mean square. Finally, the performance of the extended FGM is evaluated by comparison with the ECN Spray A flame. It is found that compared to the single-strain-rate FGM, the prediction of the ignition delay is improved considerably. This is related to the effect of the inclusion of the effect of the SDR, which is mainly on the second-stage ignition, i.e. the high-temperature chemistry. The low-temperature combustion is also affected as it occurs in richer mixtures than observed for the single-strain-rate FGM. Especially the formaldehyde, associated with low-temperature combustion, occurs in wider distribution. Finally, also predictions of soot evolution are studied. To improve the soot prediction capabilities, a new correction to the retrieved source term of the important pre-cursor, acetylene, is introduced. The above modeling developments, Fluid Mechanics

The flamelet generated manifold (FGM) model is suitable for moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion provided the flamelets underlying the manifold include the effects of strong dilution by products of the fuel/oxidizer mixture. Here we propose such an extended model based on the use of non-premixed flamelets diluted at the airside and develop its application to non-adiabatic combustion in a lab-scale furnace. The extended model is referred to as diluted air FGM (DA-FGM) model. In the DA-FGM model in addition to mixture fraction, progress variable and scaled enthalpy loss, one additional controlling parameter named air dilution level, is introduced leading to a four-dimensional lookup table for laminar flames. For turbulent flames also variances of mixture fraction and progress variable are taken into account as independent variables leading to a six-dimensional table. Using a RANS approach implemented in OpenFOAM-2.3.1, the DA-FGM model has been applied to MILD combustion of Dutch natural gas in a lab-scale furnace operated at a thermal power 9 kW and at equivalence ratio 0.8. Radiation is described using a weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (WSGG) model. The validation study is mainly done using a grey WSGG model with TRI taken into account. The relative importance of including turbulence radiation interaction (TRI) and spectral treatment of radiative transfer is also studied. The predicted velocity and temperature statistics are in good agreement with the experimental LDA and CARS data provided not only the mixture fraction fluctuations but also the progress variable fluctuations are taken into account., Fluid Mechanics

Oxy-fuel combustion of coal pyrolysis gas has recently been proposed to serve as internal heat source of a vertical low-temperature pyrolysis furnace, in order to make the output pyrolysis gas nearly free of nitrogen and widely useful. To keep the pyrolysis temperature and the heat carrier gas volume unchanged from air combustion to oxy-fuel combustion, the equivalence ratio has to be increased up to 8. To explore the flame temperature and species variation at this ultra-rich condition, freely propagating premixed oxy-fuel flames of a typical coal pyrolysis gas at equivalence ratios of 0.5–10 are numerically studied with detailed chemistry. It is found that super-adiabatic flame temperatures (SAFT) occur at equivalence ratios larger than 3 for the considered pyrolysis gas and the SAFT magnitude is 294 K at equivalence ratio of 8. Due to the high H2 mole fraction (46%) in the pyrolysis gas, preferential diffusion plays a negligible role in the SAFT feature. Global net production of CO and H2 by the rich combustion only occurs at moderate equivalence ratio ranges, which are 1.5–8 and 3–5.5 respectively for the two species. At equivalence ratio of 8, the three fuel components are all net consumed following the mole ratio of CH4:CO:H2 = 1:0.07:0.84. Kinetic analysis reveals three factors responsible for the reaction mechanism change with the increase in equivalence ratio. Firstly, the lack of H-radical and the decrease in temperature result in the disappearance of the H2 production peak in the initial stage. Secondly, HO2 attack to CO prevails and hence contribution of CO oxidation in the initial stage increases. Thirdly, the long lasting OH attack to CO and H2 leads to the weakened CO and H2 production rate in the final stage., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Fluid Mechanics

The simple semi-empirical precursor soot model of Brookes and Moss based on the soot number density and soot mass concentration is adopted in a transported probability density function (PDF) method for turbulent diffusion flames. The gas phase chemistry is described by a flamelet generated manifold (FGM) based on the mixture fraction, progress variable and enthalpy loss. The accuracy of the FGM method is validated by using flamelet solutions that are not included in the generating set of the FGM. To account for the radiative heat transfer in the flames, we use a non-gray weighted sum of gray gases model for the gas radiation and a gray soot radiation model. Turbulence–radiation interaction is closed at the level of the optically thin fluctuation approximation and the Reynolds averaged radiative transfer equation is solved by means of a discrete transfer method. The proposed modeling approach is applied in simulations of two turbulent non-premixed methane–air flames at one bar and three bar pressure, respectively. Predictions of the mean temperature and mean soot volume fraction are in good agreement with the measurements in the one bar flame. In the higher pressure flame the mean soot volume fraction is over predicted. For this flame, simulation results using the semi-empirical model of Lindstedt provided better agreement with the measurements. The main difference between the Brookes and Moss model and the Lindstedt model is the nine-times increased soot particle agglomeration rate of the latter. When using the same increased agglomeration rate parameter in the Brookes and Moss model the results become virtually identical. The negligible molecular diffusion of the soot was accounted for by neglecting mean molecular diffusion of the soot variables and by greatly reducing their micro-mixing. The effect of this differential soot diffusion on the mean soot volume fraction is found to be small, but it is significant for the variance of the soot volume fraction., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Fluid Mechanics

This work focuses on the large eddy simulation and the study of turbulent dilute methanol spray flames in vitiated coflow using the secondary-oxidizer Flamelet Generated Model (FGM). The modified FGM model uses an additional secondary oxidizer parameter in addition to the three other parameters previously used for spray flames - progress variable, mixture fraction, and enthalpy. The results for gas phase and droplet properties are validated against the dilute methanol spray flame database for varying fuel injection amounts. The droplet statistics and the liftoff flame heights are accurately captured for all the cases. A proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the scalar fluctuating hydroxyl radical (OH) field and the velocity-temperature field captures the flame structures in the downstream region of ignition kernels. The detailed POD analysis reveals that the base frequency of the dominant OH field equals that of the dominant vortical structure of 67.3 Hz. The flame propagation happens around these dominant vortical structures because of the less-strained fluid mixing., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Fluid Mechanics

A theoretical evaluation of the biochar production process using a biomass gasifier has been carried out herein. Being distinguished from the previous research trend examining the use of a biomass gasifier, which has been focused on energy efficiency, the present study tries to figure out the effect of biochar production rate on the overall process performance because biochar itself has now been given a spotlight as the main product. Biochar can be utilized for agricultural and industrial purposes, along with the benefit of climate change mitigation. A thermodynamic model based on chemical equilibrium analysis is utilized to demonstrate the effect of biochar production rate on the producer gas characteristics such as gas composition, LHV (lower heating value) and cold gas efficiency. Three gasifier models using chemical equilibrium model are reconstructed to simulate biochar-producing gasifiers, and seven kinds of biomass are considered as feed material. Depending on the assumptions applied to the models as well as the biomass types, the results of the simulation show a large variance, whereas the biochar yield rate increases. Through regression analysis with a generalized reduced gradient optimization method, simplified equations to estimate the cold gas efficiency (CGE) and LHV of producer gas of the biochar production process were derived as having six parameters of biomass LHV, fractions of ash, carbon and water, reduction zone temperature, and biochar yield rate. The correlation factors between the thermodynamic model and the regression model are 96.54% and 98.73% for the LHV of producer gas and CGE, respectively. These equations can supply the pre-estimation of the theoretical maximum performance of a planning biochar plant., Energy Technology, Process and Energy, Large Scale Energy Storage, Fluid Mechanics

We present a novel framework for high-fidelity simulations of inert and reacting sprays at transcritical conditions with highly accurate and computationally efficient models for complex real-gas effects in high-pressure environments, especially for the hybrid subcritical/supercritical mode of evaporation during the mixing of fuel and oxidizer. The high-pressure jet disintegration is modeled using a diffuse interface method with multiphase thermodynamics, which combines multi-component real-fluid volumetric and caloric state equations with vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations for the computation of thermodynamic properties of mixtures at transcritical pressures. Combustion source terms are evaluated using a finite-rate chemistry model, including real-gas effects based on the fugacity of the species in the mixture. The adaptive local deconvolution method is used as a physically consistent turbulence model for large eddy simulation (LES). The proposed method represents multiphase turbulent fluid flows at transcritical pressures without relying on any semi-empirical breakup and evaporation models. All multiphase thermodynamic model equations are presented for general cubic state equations coupled with a rapid phase-equilibrium calculation method that is formulated in a reduced space based on the molar specific volume function. LES results show a very good agreement with available experimental data for the reacting and non-reacting engine combustion network benchmark spray A at transcritical operating conditions., Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics

The flamelet generated manifold (FGM) model is suitable for moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion provided the flamelets underlying the manifold include the effects of strong dilution by products of the fuel/oxidizer mixture. Here we propose such an extended model based on the use of non-premixed flamelets diluted at the airside and develop its application to non-adiabatic combustion in a lab-scale furnace. The extended model is referred to as diluted air FGM (DA-FGM) model. In the DA-FGM model in addition to mixture fraction, progress variable and scaled enthalpy loss, one additional controlling parameter named air dilution level, is introduced leading to a four-dimensional lookup table for laminar flames. For turbulent flames also variances of mixture fraction and progress variable are taken into account as independent variables leading to a six-dimensional table. Using a RANS approach implemented in OpenFOAM-2.3.1, the DA-FGM model has been applied to MILD combustion of Dutch natural gas in a lab-scale furnace operated at a thermal power 9 kW and at equivalence ratio 0.8. Radiation is described using a weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (WSGG) model. The validation study is mainly done using a grey WSGG model with TRI taken into account. The relative importance of including turbulence radiation interaction (TRI) and spectral treatment of radiative transfer is also studied. The predicted velocity and temperature statistics are in good agreement with the experimental LDA and CARS data provided not only the mixture fraction fluctuations but also the progress variable fluctuations are taken into account., Fluid Mechanics

A probability density function (PDF)-based combustion modeling approach for RANS simulation of a jet issuing into a hot and diluted coflow is performed. A tabulated chemistry-based model, i.e., flamelet-generated manifold (FGM), is adopted in the PDF method. The manifolds are constructed using igniting counterflow diffusion flamelets with different coflow compositions. To handle the inhomogeneity of the coflow and the entrainment of the ambient air, a second mixture fraction is defined to quantify the mixing of a representative coflow composition with the ambient air. The chemistry is then parameterized as a function of two mixture fractions and a reaction progress variable. To assess the modeling approach, Adelaide JHC flames, namely HM1, HM2, and HM3, having different oxygen concentrations in the hot coflow, 3%, 6%, and 9% O2, respectively, have been simulated for Reynolds number (Re) = 10,000. Profiles of mean mixture fraction and major species are accurately captured by the model along with the mean temperature. The mean temperature profiles are also captured nicely, while the sensitivity of progress variable (PV) on the predictions is highlighted., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

The present work investigates the modeling of turbulent heat transfer in flows where radiative and convective heat transfer are coupled. In high temperature radiatively participating flows, radiation is the most relevant heat transfer mechanism and, due to its non-locality, it causes counter intuitive interactions with the turbulent temperature field. These so-called Turbulence-Radiation Interactions (TRI) largely affect the temperature field, modifying substantially the turbulent heat transfer. Therefore, in the context of modeling (RANS/LES), these interactions require a closure model. This work provides the inclusion of TRI in the modeling of the turbulent heat transfer by adopting a unique approach which consists in approximating the fluctuations of the radiative field with temperature fluctuations only. Based on this approximation, coefficients of proportionality are employed in order to close the unknown terms in the relevant model equations. A closed form of all radiation-temperature-velocity correlation is explicitly derived depending on the chosen turbulent heat transfer model. This model is applied to a standard two-equation turbulent heat transfer closure and used to reproduce results obtained with high-fidelity DNS simulations. While a standard approach (i.e., neglecting TRI) is not able to correctly predict the DNS data, the new model's results shows exceptional agreement with the high-fidelity data. This clearly proves the validity (and the necessity) of the proposed model in non-reactive, radiative turbulent flows., Energy Technology, Fluid Mechanics

A Generalized Langevin Model (GLM) formulation to be used in transported joint velocity-scalar probability density function methods is recalled in order to imply a turbulent scalar-flux model where the pressure-scrambling term is in correspondence with standard Monin's return-to-isotropy term. The proposed non-constant C0 formulation is extended to seen-velocity models for particle dispersion modeling in dispersed two-phase flows. This allows us to correct the wrong turbulent scalar-flux modeling in the limit of tracer particles. Moreover, this allows us to have a more general formulation in order to consider advanced Reynolds-stress models. The cubic model of Fu, Launder, and Tselepidakis is considered, together with the model of Merci and Dick for turbulent dissipation. Results are presented for different swirling and recirculating single-phase and two-phase flows, showing the capabilities of the proposed non-constant C0 GLM formulations compared to the standard GLM., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Eddy dissipation concept (EDC) model and flamelet generated manifolds (FGM) model are developed separately to study the temperature profiles and extinction limits of non-premixed hydrothermal flames. Predictions by the two models are evaluated comparatively by experimental data in literatures. FGM model shows relatively better prediction of temperature than EDC model in the near nozzle field. Extinction temperatures can be predicted by EDC model with deviations of 10–33 K. The extinction flow rates predicted by the FGM model are higher than those by the EDC model. Flow fields and reaction source terms are analysed to identify the inherent mechanism leading different results by the two models. It is illustrated that the positive effect of turbulence on reaction rate near the nozzle by the FGM model is the essential reason causing different flame characteristics from the EDC model by which the turbulence only has negative effect on reaction rate., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

This study investigates the potential of a newly released multi-phase solver to simulate atomisation in an air-blast type atomiser. The 'VOF-to-DPM' solver was used to simulate primary and secondary atomisation in an atomiser with a coaxial injector-like geometry. The solver uses a hybrid Eulerian/Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation with geometric transition criteria between the two models. In this study isothermal, non-reacting flow at room temperature was assumed. The primary focus was predicting Sauter mean diameter and droplet velocity data at a sampling plane downstream of the injector. The solver produces the expected data and predicts trends similar to those found in experimental measurements. The accuracy of the produced droplet diameters was roughly a factor 2 off compared to experiment. This is attributed primarily to mesh resolution. It was concluded that the solver has the potential to predict atomisation at a reasonable computational cost, but further study is needed to confirm its full capabilities., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics, Space Systems Egineering

A probability density function (PDF)-based combustion modeling approach for RANS simulation of a jet issuing into a hot and diluted coflow is performed. A tabulated chemistry-based model, i.e., flamelet-generated manifold (FGM), is adopted in the PDF method. The manifolds are constructed using igniting counterflow diffusion flamelets with different coflow compositions. To handle the inhomogeneity of the coflow and the entrainment of the ambient air, a second mixture fraction is defined to quantify the mixing of a representative coflow composition with the ambient air. The chemistry is then parameterized as a function of two mixture fractions and a reaction progress variable. To assess the modeling approach, Adelaide JHC flames, namely HM1, HM2, and HM3, having different oxygen concentrations in the hot coflow, 3%, 6%, and 9% O2, respectively, have been simulated for Reynolds number (Re) = 10,000. Profiles of mean mixture fraction and major species are accurately captured by the model along with the mean temperature. The mean temperature profiles are also captured nicely, while the sensitivity of progress variable (PV) on the predictions is highlighted., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

The present work investigates the modeling of turbulent heat transfer in flows where radiative and convective heat transfer are coupled. In high temperature radiatively participating flows, radiation is the most relevant heat transfer mechanism and, due to its non-locality, it causes counter intuitive interactions with the turbulent temperature field. These so-called Turbulence-Radiation Interactions (TRI) largely affect the temperature field, modifying substantially the turbulent heat transfer. Therefore, in the context of modeling (RANS/LES), these interactions require a closure model. This work provides the inclusion of TRI in the modeling of the turbulent heat transfer by adopting a unique approach which consists in approximating the fluctuations of the radiative field with temperature fluctuations only. Based on this approximation, coefficients of proportionality are employed in order to close the unknown terms in the relevant model equations. A closed form of all radiation-temperature-velocity correlation is explicitly derived depending on the chosen turbulent heat transfer model. This model is applied to a standard two-equation turbulent heat transfer closure and used to reproduce results obtained with high-fidelity DNS simulations. While a standard approach (i.e., neglecting TRI) is not able to correctly predict the DNS data, the new model's results shows exceptional agreement with the high-fidelity data. This clearly proves the validity (and the necessity) of the proposed model in non-reactive, radiative turbulent flows., Energy Technology, Fluid Mechanics

A Generalized Langevin Model (GLM) formulation to be used in transported joint velocity-scalar probability density function methods is recalled in order to imply a turbulent scalar-flux model where the pressure-scrambling term is in correspondence with standard Monin's return-to-isotropy term. The proposed non-constant C0 formulation is extended to seen-velocity models for particle dispersion modeling in dispersed two-phase flows. This allows us to correct the wrong turbulent scalar-flux modeling in the limit of tracer particles. Moreover, this allows us to have a more general formulation in order to consider advanced Reynolds-stress models. The cubic model of Fu, Launder, and Tselepidakis is considered, together with the model of Merci and Dick for turbulent dissipation. Results are presented for different swirling and recirculating single-phase and two-phase flows, showing the capabilities of the proposed non-constant C0 GLM formulations compared to the standard GLM., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Flameless combustion, also called MILD combustion (Moderate or Intense Low Oxygen Dilution), is a technology that reduces NOx emissions and improves combustion efficiency. Appropriate turbulence-chemistry interaction models are needed to address this combustion regime via computational modelling. Following a similar analysis to that used in the Extended EDC model (E-EDC), the purpose of the present work is to develop and test a Novel Extended Eddy Dissipation Concept model (NE-EDC) to be better able to predict flameless combustion. In the E-EDC and NE-EDC models, in order to consider the influence of the dilution on the reaction rate and temperature, the coefficients are considered to be space dependent as a function of the local Reynolds and Damköhler numbers. A comparative study of four models is carried out: the E-EDC and NE-EDC models, the EDC model with specific, fixed values of the model coefficients optimized for the current application, and the Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) model with pure fuel and air as boundary conditions for flamelet generation. The models are validated using experimental data of the Delft Lab Scale furnace (9 kW) burning Natural Gas (T = 446 K) and preheated air (T = 886 K) injected via separate jets, at an overall equivalence ratio of 0.8. among the considered models, the NE-EDC results show the best agreement with experimental data, with a slight improvement over the E-EDC model and a significant improvement over the EDC model with tuned constant coefficients and the FGM model., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Flameless combustion, also called MILD combustion (Moderate or Intense Low Oxygen Dilution), is a technology that reduces NOx emissions and improves combustion efficiency. Appropriate turbulence-chemistry interaction models are needed to address this combustion regime via computational modelling. Following a similar analysis to that used in the Extended EDC model (E-EDC), the purpose of the present work is to develop and test a Novel Extended Eddy Dissipation Concept model (NE-EDC) to be better able to predict flameless combustion. In the E-EDC and NE-EDC models, in order to consider the influence of the dilution on the reaction rate and temperature, the coefficients are considered to be space dependent as a function of the local Reynolds and Damköhler numbers. A comparative study of four models is carried out: the E-EDC and NE-EDC models, the EDC model with specific, fixed values of the model coefficients optimized for the current application, and the Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) model with pure fuel and air as boundary conditions for flamelet generation. The models are validated using experimental data of the Delft Lab Scale furnace (9 kW) burning Natural Gas (T = 446 K) and preheated air (T = 886 K) injected via separate jets, at an overall equivalence ratio of 0.8. among the considered models, the NE-EDC results show the best agreement with experimental data, with a slight improvement over the E-EDC model and a significant improvement over the EDC model with tuned constant coefficients and the FGM model., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Counterflow diffusion flames of methanol hydrothermal combustion are investigated to improve the understanding of hydrothermal flames. It is indicated that the thermodynamic properties by the Peng-Robinson equation of state and the modified transport properties can reduce the flame temperature by about 500 K. The Takahashi correlation for mass diffusivity is found to be appropriate for hydrothermal combustion through comparison with the experimental data of Wellig et al. (J. Supercrit. Fluids, 2009, 49, 1). Compared to the Kolmogorov length scale in the experimental combustor, the thickness of the calculated counterflow flame is ten times larger, which means that the flame would be affected by the turbulence. The flame stable range is also reproduced well by the developed hydrothermal counterflow flame model. In the end, a Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) table is generated, promising to provide good closure of the non-equilibrium chemical source term in further turbulent flame simulations., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Many industrial processes handle, use, or produce metallic particles small enough to explode in air, thus posing severe explosion hazards. Finishing operations, for example, create very fine particles and have been involved in a growing number of accidents in recent years. New emerging processes, such as 3D printing, are being rapidly developed and directly use micrometric particles to create complete objects by welding layers of material together. Finely divided metals also enter into the composition of plastics, rubber, fibers, paints, coatings, inks, pesticides, detergents, and even drugs; additionally, they are used as catalysts for major industrial chemical reactions, and are even being explored as possible clean alternatives to fossil fuels. Metal dusts are of special concern due to their peculiar combustion properties, including their higher heat of combustion and pyrophoric nature,. As a result, metal dusts explosions are often much more devastating than explosions involving organic materials. Additionally, due to their high reactivity, many fine and most ultra-fine metal powders can burn in carbon dioxide, water vapor and even nitrogen. Whereas preventive measures may reduce explosion risks efficiently, they rarely are sufficient to eliminate explosions completely, especially when dealing with highly reactive metallic particles. Therefore explosion protection measures usually also need to be considered. The high energetic content of metal dusts poses new challenges to conventional explosion protection systems in terms of robustness and response time. This paper reviews the special hazards of metal dusts and presents the state-of-the-art in terms of explosion protection., ISBN 978-88-95608-74-7, Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

This work reports an experimental study on supercritical water oxidation of quinoline. Moderate preheat temperature (420 °C–510 °C) and initial concentration (1 wt%–10 wt%) are selected to address the possibility of utilizing the heat released during the reaction, in order to realize high conversion rate at relatively low preheat temperature. The effects of temperature, residence time, oxidation ratio, pressure and concentration are analyzed. The results show that considerable conversion can happen at relatively low preheat temperature, while increase in temperature will significantly promote the complete conversion. The yield of carbon dioxide increases with the residence time but there is an upper limit due to the stronger dependence on oxidizer concentration, for which an estimated reaction order is 1.90. When the quinoline concentration is larger than 8 wt%, clear exothermic peaks with temperature rise about 100 °C are detected. These exothermic peaks can be interpreted as a sign of ignition interrupted by the heat loss to the surrounding salt bath. An analogy is made between the start temperatures of these exothermic peaks and the ignition temperatures reported in methanol and isopropanol hydrothermal flame research. We conclude that quinoline solutions can be ignited without co-fuels, at comparable ignition temperature as methanol and isopropanol around 450 °C., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Counterflow diffusion flames of methanol hydrothermal combustion are investigated to improve the understanding of hydrothermal flames. It is indicated that the thermodynamic properties by the Peng-Robinson equation of state and the modified transport properties can reduce the flame temperature by about 500 K. The Takahashi correlation for mass diffusivity is found to be appropriate for hydrothermal combustion through comparison with the experimental data of Wellig et al. (J. Supercrit. Fluids, 2009, 49, 1). Compared to the Kolmogorov length scale in the experimental combustor, the thickness of the calculated counterflow flame is ten times larger, which means that the flame would be affected by the turbulence. The flame stable range is also reproduced well by the developed hydrothermal counterflow flame model. In the end, a Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) table is generated, promising to provide good closure of the non-equilibrium chemical source term in further turbulent flame simulations., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

Many industrial processes handle, use, or produce metallic particles small enough to explode in air, thus posing severe explosion hazards. Finishing operations, for example, create very fine particles and have been involved in a growing number of accidents in recent years. New emerging processes, such as 3D printing, are being rapidly developed and directly use micrometric particles to create complete objects by welding layers of material together. Finely divided metals also enter into the composition of plastics, rubber, fibers, paints, coatings, inks, pesticides, detergents, and even drugs; additionally, they are used as catalysts for major industrial chemical reactions, and are even being explored as possible clean alternatives to fossil fuels. Metal dusts are of special concern due to their peculiar combustion properties, including their higher heat of combustion and pyrophoric nature,. As a result, metal dusts explosions are often much more devastating than explosions involving organic materials. Additionally, due to their high reactivity, many fine and most ultra-fine metal powders can burn in carbon dioxide, water vapor and even nitrogen. Whereas preventive measures may reduce explosion risks efficiently, they rarely are sufficient to eliminate explosions completely, especially when dealing with highly reactive metallic particles. Therefore explosion protection measures usually also need to be considered. The high energetic content of metal dusts poses new challenges to conventional explosion protection systems in terms of robustness and response time. This paper reviews the special hazards of metal dusts and presents the state-of-the-art in terms of explosion protection., ISBN 978-88-95608-74-7, Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

This work reports an experimental study on supercritical water oxidation of quinoline. Moderate preheat temperature (420 °C–510 °C) and initial concentration (1 wt%–10 wt%) are selected to address the possibility of utilizing the heat released during the reaction, in order to realize high conversion rate at relatively low preheat temperature. The effects of temperature, residence time, oxidation ratio, pressure and concentration are analyzed. The results show that considerable conversion can happen at relatively low preheat temperature, while increase in temperature will significantly promote the complete conversion. The yield of carbon dioxide increases with the residence time but there is an upper limit due to the stronger dependence on oxidizer concentration, for which an estimated reaction order is 1.90. When the quinoline concentration is larger than 8 wt%, clear exothermic peaks with temperature rise about 100 °C are detected. These exothermic peaks can be interpreted as a sign of ignition interrupted by the heat loss to the surrounding salt bath. An analogy is made between the start temperatures of these exothermic peaks and the ignition temperatures reported in methanol and isopropanol hydrothermal flame research. We conclude that quinoline solutions can be ignited without co-fuels, at comparable ignition temperature as methanol and isopropanol around 450 °C., Accepted Author Manuscript, Fluid Mechanics

In the past 25 years high temperature air combustion (HiTAC) technology has been proved and utilized in industry as a promising way to increase thermal efficiency, create a relatively uniform temperature distribution, and reduce emissions of harmful pollutants such as NOX and CO. However, due to the complexity of fuel-oil combustion, to date HiTAC is mainly applied to gaseous fuel or coal, and little is known about spray combustion under HiTAC condition. In the present study, we numerically investigate the Delft Spray-in-Hot-Coflow (DSHC) using ethanol in high temperature diluted combustion air, and extend it to more co-flow conditions. We employ different temperatures and oxygen concentrations of the co-flow in order to dilute the oxidizer/fuel before it reacts with the fuel/ oxidizer. The pressure-swirl atomizer model with an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was implemented for the spray modeling. Collision, coalescence, secondary breakup and evaporation of the drops were taken into account. The steady laminar flamelet model for the combustion of ethanol, the Discrete Ordinate model for radiation and the k-ε model for the turbulence with enhanced wall treatment were validated by the simulation of the NIST flame under conventional conditions and then used in the current study. The results indicate that the decreased peak temperature in many HiTAC applications with high temperature combustion air is mainly due to the reduced oxygen concentration by entraining flue gas. In the present study, a low oxygen concentration slows the evaporation process of droplets. It results in an enlarged combustion zone, a lowered peak temperature and minor NOX emission. However, decreasing the oxygen concentration may lead to problems of cracking, soot formation and flame extinction, especially for heavy oils. The optimization needs to be carried out based on the analysis of a specific fuel in order to create a HiTAC-like condition. Based on the results of the cur, Fluid Mechanics

Since its discovery, the Flameless Combustion (FC) regime has been seen as a promising alternative combustion technique to reduce pollutant emissions of gas turbine engines. This combustion mode is often characterized by well-distributed reaction zones, which can potentially decrease temperature gradients, acoustic oscillations and, consequently NOx emission. However, the application of FC to gas turbines is still not a reality due to the inherent difficulties faced in attaining the regime while meeting all the engine requirements. Over the past years, investigations related to FC have been focused on understanding the fundamentals of this combustion regime, the regime boundaries, its computational modelling, and combustor design attempts. This article reviews the progress achieved so far, discusses the various definitions of the FC regime, and attempts to point the directions for future research. The review suggests that modelling of the FC regime is still not capable of predicting intermediate species and pollutant emissions. Comprehensive experimental databases with conditions relevant to gas turbine combustors are not available, and moreover, many of the current experiments do not necessarily represent the FC regime. By analysing the latest developments in computational modelling, the review points to the most promising approaches for the prediction of reaction zones and pollutant emissions in FC. The lessons learned from previous design attempts provide valuable insights into the design of a successful gas turbine engine operating under the FC regime. The review concludes with some examples where the gas turbine architecture has been exploited to advance the possibilities of FC in gas turbines., Flight Performance and Propulsion, Fluid Mechanics

Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

Fluid Mechanics

Metal dust deflagrations have become increasingly common in recent years. They are also more devastating than deflagrations involving organic materials, owing to metals' higher heat of combustion, rate of pressure rise, explosion pressure and flame temperature. Aluminum finishing operations offer a particularly significant hazard from the very small and reactive aluminum particles generated, and thus require high attention to details of operation and explosion safety management. This paper presents available statistics on metal dust explosions and studies the specific explosion hazards of aluminum finishing operations. The analysis of seven case studies shows that the proper design, monitoring and maintenance of dust collection systems are particularly important. Furthermore, the isolation of deflagrations occurring in dust collection systems, as well as good housekeeping practices in buildings, are critical safeguards to avoid the occurrence of catastrophic secondary explosions., Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

The present work consists of an investigation of the turbulence radiation interaction (TRI) in a radiative turbulent channel flow of grey gas bounded by isothermal hot and cold walls. The optical thickness of the channel is varied from 0.1 to 10 to observe different regimes of TRI. A high-resolution finite volume method for radiative heat transfer is employed and coupled with the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the flow. The resulting effects of TRI on temperature statistics are strongly dependent on the considered optical depth. In particular, the contrasting role of emission and absorption is highlighted. For a low optical thickness the effect of radiative fluctuations on temperature statistics is low and causes the reduction of temperature variance through the dissipating action of emission. On the other hand, while increasing optical thickness to relatively high levels, the dissipation of temperature variance is balanced, at low wavenumbers in the turbulence spectrum, through the preferential action of absorption, which increases the large-scale temperature fluctuations. A significant rise in the effect of radiation on the temperature variance can be observed as a consequence of the reduction of radiative heat transfer length scales., Energy Technology, Fluid Mechanics

Since its discovery, the Flameless Combustion (FC) regime has been seen as a promising alternative combustion technique to reduce pollutant emissions of gas turbine engines. This combustion mode is often characterized by well-distributed reaction zones, which can potentially decrease temperature gradients, acoustic oscillations and, consequently NOx emission. However, the application of FC to gas turbines is still not a reality due to the inherent difficulties faced in attaining the regime while meeting all the engine requirements. Over the past years, investigations related to FC have been focused on understanding the fundamentals of this combustion regime, the regime boundaries, its computational modelling, and combustor design attempts. This article reviews the progress achieved so far, discusses the various definitions of the FC regime, and attempts to point the directions for future research. The review suggests that modelling of the FC regime is still not capable of predicting intermediate species and pollutant emissions. Comprehensive experimental databases with conditions relevant to gas turbine combustors are not available, and moreover, many of the current experiments do not necessarily represent the FC regime. By analysing the latest developments in computational modelling, the review points to the most promising approaches for the prediction of reaction zones and pollutant emissions in FC. The lessons learned from previous design attempts provide valuable insights into the design of a successful gas turbine engine operating under the FC regime. The review concludes with some examples where the gas turbine architecture has been exploited to advance the possibilities of FC in gas turbines., Flight Performance and Propulsion, Fluid Mechanics

Metal dust deflagrations have become increasingly common in recent years. They are also more devastating than deflagrations involving organic materials, owing to metals' higher heat of combustion, rate of pressure rise, explosion pressure and flame temperature. Aluminum finishing operations offer a particularly significant hazard from the very small and reactive aluminum particles generated, and thus require high attention to details of operation and explosion safety management. This paper presents available statistics on metal dust explosions and studies the specific explosion hazards of aluminum finishing operations. The analysis of seven case studies shows that the proper design, monitoring and maintenance of dust collection systems are particularly important. Furthermore, the isolation of deflagrations occurring in dust collection systems, as well as good housekeeping practices in buildings, are critical safeguards to avoid the occurrence of catastrophic secondary explosions., Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

The present work consists of an investigation of the turbulence radiation interaction (TRI) in a radiative turbulent channel flow of grey gas bounded by isothermal hot and cold walls. The optical thickness of the channel is varied from 0.1 to 10 to observe different regimes of TRI. A high-resolution finite volume method for radiative heat transfer is employed and coupled with the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the flow. The resulting effects of TRI on temperature statistics are strongly dependent on the considered optical depth. In particular, the contrasting role of emission and absorption is highlighted. For a low optical thickness the effect of radiative fluctuations on temperature statistics is low and causes the reduction of temperature variance through the dissipating action of emission. On the other hand, while increasing optical thickness to relatively high levels, the dissipation of temperature variance is balanced, at low wavenumbers in the turbulence spectrum, through the preferential action of absorption, which increases the large-scale temperature fluctuations. A significant rise in the effect of radiation on the temperature variance can be observed as a consequence of the reduction of radiative heat transfer length scales., Energy Technology, Fluid Mechanics

Fluid Mechanics

Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

Dust explosibility is traditionally described by two parameters, namely the maximum explosion pressure, Pmax, and the deflagration index, KSt, usually determined through testing in a closed, pressure-resistant spherical vessel, either 20 L or 1 m3 in volume. These parameters constitute key variables in the design of explosion protection systems, such as venting, suppression or isolation systems. The potential for overdriving dust combustion with pyrotechnical igniters in the 20-l sphere has been recognized, discussed and analyzed for many years, notably in the determination of the minimum explosible and limiting oxygen concentrations, which has led to specific guidelines regarding the ignition source strength in ASTM standards. The current paper presents new experimental evidence that the energy provided by pyrotechnical igniters may, in some instances, physically alter the dust being tested in the 20-l sphere. KSt values can be several times greater in the small vessel compared to those measured in the 1-m3 chamber. Further visual evidence is provided to show that high energy ignition can produce a turbulent flame region, possibly consisting of a hybrid mixture of flammable gas (or vapor) and dust, which can propagate faster than the corresponding pure dust. The experiments suggest that KSt values measured in the 20-l sphere may no longer be representative of a dust deflagration in a real process environment. We recommend additional tests in a 1-m3 chamber when a dust exhibits a low flash point, or when it's KSt is above 300 bar m/s in the 20-l sphere., Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

This contribution presents an outline of a new mathematical formulation for Classical Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (CNET) based on a contact structure in differential geometry. First a non-equilibrium state space is introduced as the third key element besides the first and second law of thermodynamics. This state space provides the mathematical structure to generalize the Gibbs fundamental relation to non-equilibrium thermodynamics. A unique formulation for the second law of thermodynamics is postulated and it showed how the complying concept for non-equilibrium entropy is retrieved. The foundation of this formulation is a physical quantity, which is in nonequilibrium thermodynamics nowhere equal to zero. This is another perspective compared to the inequality, which is used in most other formulations in the literature. Based on this mathematical framework, it is proven that the thermodynamic potential is defined by the Gibbs free energy. The set of conjugated coordinates in the mathematical structure for the Gibbs fundamental relation will be identified for single component, closed systems. Only in the final section of this contribution will the equilibrium constraint be introduced and applied to obtain some familiar formulations for classical (equilibrium) thermodynamics., Fluid Mechanics

We report results of a computational study of oxy-fuel spray jet flames. An experimental database on flames of ethanol burning in a coflow of a O2–CO2 mixture, created at CORIA (Rouen, France), is used for model validation (Cléon et al., 2015). Depending on the coflow composition and velocity the flames in these experiments start at nozzle (type A), just above the tip of the liquid sheet (type B) or are lifted (type C) and the challenge is to predict their structure and the transitions between them. The two-phase flow field is solved with an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, with gas phase turbulence solved by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The turbulence-chemistry interaction is accounted for using the Flamelet Generated Manifolds (FGM) method. The primary breakup process of the liquid fuel is neglected in the current study; instead droplets are directly injected at the location of the atomizer exit at the boundary of the simulation domain. It is found that for the type C flame, which is stabilized far downstream the dense region, some major features are successfully captured, e.g. the gas phase velocity field and flame structure. The flame lift-off height of type B flame is over-predicted. The type A flame, where the flame stabilizes inside the liquid sheet, cannot be described well by the current simulation model. A detailed analysis of the droplet properties along Lagrangian tracks has been carried out in order to explain the predicted flame structure and discuss the agreement with experiment. This analysis shows that differences in predicted flame structure are well-explained by the combined effects of droplet heating, dispersion and evaporation as function of droplet size. It is concluded that a possible reason for the difficulty to predict the type A and B flames is that strong atomization-combustion interaction exists in these flames, modifying the droplet formation process. This suggests that atomization-combustion interaction should be taken into account in futu, Fluid Mechanics

Flameless combustion, named as Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion or high-temperature air combustion (HiTAC), is a promising technology to improve the thermal efficiency while suppressing NOx formation in combustion systems. Flameless combustion can occur when fresh air (and/or fuel) streams are sufficiently diluted by entrained combustion products before reactions take place. It has recently been experimentally studied on laboratory-scale setups because of scientific challenges, environmental concerns and its potential industrial applications. Some burning features in flameless combustion have been observed in jet-in-hot-coflow burners which use hot coflows generated by a secondary burner or diluting air with N2 or/and CO2 to mimic the diluted air which is actually diluted by burnt gases entrainment in furnaces. With the help of highspeed cameras, the time-resolved studies on such burners have been done experimentally. E. Oldenhof et al. [1] reported that the jet-in-hot-coflow flame is stabilized by autoignition kernels and the entrainment of hot oxidizer plays an important role in the formation of autoignition kernels[2]. As O2 level in coflow is reduced, reaction zone becomes less intense leading to a greater degree of partial premixing in these flames[3]. P. R. Medwell et al.[4] also concluded that large-scale vortices can lead to a weakening of the flame front or even local extinction leading to a form of partial premixing, and may contribute to the stabilization of the flameless combustion reaction zone. With low level (5% by volume) hydrogen addition in the fuel, the flame also exhibits autoignition kernels, but this was not observed at higher level (10% and 25%) hydrogen addition cases[5]. However, how can these findings be related to the flames in a furnace is still unclear because of the lack of similar experimental observations in furnace., Fluid Mechanics

Mild combustion in a lab-scale furnace has been experimentally and numerically studied. The furnace was operated with Dutch natural gas (DNG) at 10 kW and at an equivalence ratio of 0.8. OH∗chemiluminescence images were taken to characterize the reaction zone. The chemiluminescence intensity is relatively low compared to conventional flames and relatively uniformly distributed in the reaction zone due to the dilution effects of recirculated burnt gases. Visible flames were not observed. To characterize the dilution effects of burnt gases on reactions, flamelets generated with diluted fuel and diluted air, instead of flamelets based on pure fuel and air, were applied in an extended Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) approach. Burnt gases at stoichiometric mixture fraction rather than those at global equivalence ratio were considered as diluent, which is more appropriate for furnaces operating at lean condition. The numerical simulations were performed using the open source CFD package-OpenFOAM., Fluid Mechanics

This contribution presents an outline of a new mathematical formulation for Classical Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (CNET) based on a contact structure in differential geometry. First a non-equilibrium state space is introduced as the third key element besides the first and second law of thermodynamics. This state space provides the mathematical structure to generalize the Gibbs fundamental relation to non-equilibrium thermodynamics. A unique formulation for the second law of thermodynamics is postulated and it showed how the complying concept for non-equilibrium entropy is retrieved. The foundation of this formulation is a physical quantity, which is in nonequilibrium thermodynamics nowhere equal to zero. This is another perspective compared to the inequality, which is used in most other formulations in the literature. Based on this mathematical framework, it is proven that the thermodynamic potential is defined by the Gibbs free energy. The set of conjugated coordinates in the mathematical structure for the Gibbs fundamental relation will be identified for single component, closed systems. Only in the final section of this contribution will the equilibrium constraint be introduced and applied to obtain some familiar formulations for classical (equilibrium) thermodynamics., Fluid Mechanics

Dust explosibility is traditionally described by two parameters, namely the maximum explosion pressure, Pmax, and the deflagration index, KSt, usually determined through testing in a closed, pressure-resistant spherical vessel, either 20 L or 1 m3 in volume. These parameters constitute key variables in the design of explosion protection systems, such as venting, suppression or isolation systems. The potential for overdriving dust combustion with pyrotechnical igniters in the 20-l sphere has been recognized, discussed and analyzed for many years, notably in the determination of the minimum explosible and limiting oxygen concentrations, which has led to specific guidelines regarding the ignition source strength in ASTM standards. The current paper presents new experimental evidence that the energy provided by pyrotechnical igniters may, in some instances, physically alter the dust being tested in the 20-l sphere. KSt values can be several times greater in the small vessel compared to those measured in the 1-m3 chamber. Further visual evidence is provided to show that high energy ignition can produce a turbulent flame region, possibly consisting of a hybrid mixture of flammable gas (or vapor) and dust, which can propagate faster than the corresponding pure dust. The experiments suggest that KSt values measured in the 20-l sphere may no longer be representative of a dust deflagration in a real process environment. We recommend additional tests in a 1-m3 chamber when a dust exhibits a low flash point, or when it's KSt is above 300 bar m/s in the 20-l sphere., Fluid Mechanics, ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design

Flameless combustion, named as Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion or high-temperature air combustion (HiTAC), is a promising technology to improve the thermal efficiency while suppressing NOx formation in combustion systems. Flameless combustion can occur when fresh air (and/or fuel) streams are sufficiently diluted by entrained combustion products before reactions take place. It has recently been experimentally studied on laboratory-scale setups because of scientific challenges, environmental concerns and its potential industrial applications. Some burning features in flameless combustion have been observed in jet-in-hot-coflow burners which use hot coflows generated by a secondary burner or diluting air with N2 or/and CO2 to mimic the diluted air which is actually diluted by burnt gases entrainment in furnaces. With the help of highspeed cameras, the time-resolved studies on such burners have been done experimentally. E. Oldenhof et al. [1] reported that the jet-in-hot-coflow flame is stabilized by autoignition kernels and the entrainment of hot oxidizer plays an important role in the formation of autoignition kernels[2]. As O2 level in coflow is reduced, reaction zone becomes less intense leading to a greater degree of partial premixing in these flames[3]. P. R. Medwell et al.[4] also concluded that large-scale vortices can lead to a weakening of the flame front or even local extinction leading to a form of partial premixing, and may contribute to the stabilization of the flameless combustion reaction zone. With low level (5% by volume) hydrogen addition in the fuel, the flame also exhibits autoignition kernels, but this was not observed at higher level (10% and 25%) hydrogen addition cases[5]. However, how can these findings be related to the flames in a furnace is still unclear because of the lack of similar experimental observations in furnace., Fluid Mechanics

We report results of a computational study of oxy-fuel spray jet flames. An experimental database on flames of ethanol burning in a coflow of a O2–CO2 mixture, created at CORIA (Rouen, France), is used for model validation (Cléon et al., 2015). Depending on the coflow composition and velocity the flames in these experiments start at nozzle (type A), just above the tip of the liquid sheet (type B) or are lifted (type C) and the challenge is to predict their structure and the transitions between them. The two-phase flow field is solved with an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, with gas phase turbulence solved by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The turbulence-chemistry interaction is accounted for using the Flamelet Generated Manifolds (FGM) method. The primary breakup process of the liquid fuel is neglected in the current study; instead droplets are directly injected at the location of the atomizer exit at the boundary of the simulation domain. It is found that for the type C flame, which is stabilized far downstream the dense region, some major features are successfully captured, e.g. the gas phase velocity field and flame structure. The flame lift-off height of type B flame is over-predicted. The type A flame, where the flame stabilizes inside the liquid sheet, cannot be described well by the current simulation model. A detailed analysis of the droplet properties along Lagrangian tracks has been carried out in order to explain the predicted flame structure and discuss the agreement with experiment. This analysis shows that differences in predicted flame structure are well-explained by the combined effects of droplet heating, dispersion and evaporation as function of droplet size. It is concluded that a possible reason for the difficulty to predict the type A and B flames is that strong atomization-combustion interaction exists in these flames, modifying the droplet formation process. This suggests that atomization-combustion interaction should be taken into account in futu, Fluid Mechanics

The Delft Jet-in Hot Coflow (DJHC) burner is used to investigate flameless combustion by imitating the recirculation flow characteristics appearing in a real complex furnace via a hot diluted coflow[1]. A welldefined stream of high temperature, low oxygen concentration combustion products is injected around the fuel jet as oxidizer in order to obtain ‘Moderate and Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD)’ combustion conditions. For a range of jet and coflow conditions detailed experiments were made [2] and also several numerical validation studies, see e.g. [4,5]. The Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) model for turbulence chemistry interaction modeling has been widely used for modeling MILD combustion. EDC is providing a closure for the mean chemical source term based on a proposed microstructure of the reacting flow following from energy cascade concepts. It assumes that chemical reactions can only happen in the smallest eddies, whose size are of the same order of magnitude as the Kolmogorov scales, the so-called fine structures. Thus, the fraction of fine structure 훾훾∗ and mean residence time 휏휏∗ (the reciprocal of it denotes the mass exchange between reactants inside fine structure and the surrounding) are necessary for EDC simulation. They are related to turbulent kinetic energy 푘푘 and eddy dissipation rate 휀휀 (which are calculated from turbulent models) via two constants 퐶퐶퐷퐷1 and 퐶퐶퐷퐷2 . It has been confirmed that 휀휀 = 2퐶퐶퐷퐷1푢푢∗3/퐿퐿∗ = 4퐶퐶퐷퐷2푢푢∗2/3퐿퐿∗2., Fluid Mechanics

In this paper we investigate and compare two dierent solar receiver technologies for concentrated solar power plants operating with supercritical CO2. The rst receiver is based on conventional surface absorbers, while the second receiver is based on an innovative idea to use volumetric receivers where sunlight is transmitted through a transparent pipe and directly absorbed by nanoparticles dispersed in supercritical CO2. The optical properties of the nanoparticles and the CO2 at high pressures and temperatures have been rst estimated and then used in a Navier-Stokes solver that has been coupled to a radiative transfer solver. The results indicate that for temperatures up to 700C the volumetric receiver achieves thermal collector eciencies up to 65% as compared to surface receivers with 50%., Energy Technology, Fluid Mechanics

Mild combustion in a lab-scale furnace has been experimentally and numerically studied. The furnace was operated with Dutch natural gas (DNG) at 10 kW and at an equivalence ratio of 0.8. OH∗chemiluminescence images were taken to characterize the reaction zone. The chemiluminescence intensity is relatively low compared to conventional flames and relatively uniformly distributed in the reaction zone due to the dilution effects of recirculated burnt gases. Visible flames were not observed. To characterize the dilution effects of burnt gases on reactions, flamelets generated with diluted fuel and diluted air, instead of flamelets based on pure fuel and air, were applied in an extended Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) approach. Burnt gases at stoichiometric mixture fraction rather than those at global equivalence ratio were considered as diluent, which is more appropriate for furnaces operating at lean condition. The numerical simulations were performed using the open source CFD package-OpenFOAM., Fluid Mechanics

We report on a comparative study of model predictions of jet-in-hot-coflow flames. TheDelft Jet-in-Hot- Coflow (DJHC) burner was built to mimic the important characteristics of flameless combustion without the complications of a real furnace [1,2]. The DJHC burner has been used to create a turbulent diffusion flame of Dutch Natural Gas in a coflowing oxidizer stream of high temperature with low oxygen concentration. The experimental database contains the results of high speed chemiluminescence imaging, velocity statistics from LDA measurementsand temperature statistics from CARS measurements. In recent years several computational studies have been made using the DJHC burner as validation database [3-9]. It has been shown before that predictions are sensitive to the coflow radial profiles of temperature and oxygen concentration, to there presentation of effects of entrained air, and to turbulence-chemistry interaction and this is also the focus of the present study, Fluid Mechanics

We report on a comparative study of model predictions of jet-in-hot-coflow flames. TheDelft Jet-in-Hot- Coflow (DJHC) burner was built to mimic the important characteristics of flameless combustion without the complications of a real furnace [1,2]. The DJHC burner has been used to create a turbulent diffusion flame of Dutch Natural Gas in a coflowing oxidizer stream of high temperature with low oxygen concentration. The experimental database contains the results of high speed chemiluminescence imaging, velocity statistics from LDA measurementsand temperature statistics from CARS measurements. In recent years several computational studies have been made using the DJHC burner as validation database [3-9]. It has been shown before that predictions are sensitive to the coflow radial profiles of temperature and oxygen concentration, to there presentation of effects of entrained air, and to turbulence-chemistry interaction and this is also the focus of the present study, Fluid Mechanics