Investigation of Premature Failure of an Industrial Combustor: A Case Study.

A case study using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to detect a design problem in an industrial combustor is described in this paper. An industrial combustor supposed to operate for 5 years presented a hot zone 6 months after it started up to operate, which caused the refractory lining material to smelt. Through CFD modeling, it was possible to propose modifications to the combustor design, improving the lifetime of the refractory lining material. ANSYS CFX software was used to simulate the combustor physical model. A recirculating hot zone on the combustor inner wall was predicted from CFD as being the cause of the problem. From CFD simulations, a new combustor design was proposed, simulated, and implemented in the process. After the modifications, a lower temperature at the hot zone was successfully achieved. The predicted maximum temperature on the refractory inner wall was reduced from 1315 K (original design) to 1157 K (best design), reducing the combustor external temperature from 442 to 420 K, lower than the maximum allowed temperature of 423 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]