No Arabic abstract
The combustion instability is investigated computationally for a multi-injector rocket engine using the flamelet progress variable (FPV) model. A C++ code is developed based on OpenFOAM 4.0 to apply the combustion model. Flamelet tables are generated for methane/oxygen combustion at the background pressure of $200$ bar using a 12-species chemical mechanism. A power law is determined for rescaling the reaction rate for the progress variable to address the pressure effect. The combustion is also simulated by the one-step-kinetics (OSK) method for comparison with the FPV approach. A study of combustion instability shows that a longitudinal mode of $1500$ Hz and a tangential standing wave of $2500$ Hz are dominant for both approaches. While the amplitude of the longitudinal mode remains almost the same for both approaches, the tangential standing wave achieves a larger amplitude in the FPV simulation. A preliminary study of the resonance in the injectors, which is driven by the longitudinal-mode oscillation in the combustion chamber, is also presented.
Neural networks (NN) are implemented as sub-grid flame models in a large-eddy simulation of a single-injector liquid-propellant rocket engine. The NN training process presents an extraordinary challenge. The multi-dimensional combustion instability problem involves multi-scale lengths and characteristic times in an unsteady flow problem with nonlinear acoustics, addressing both transient and dynamic-equilibrium behaviors, superimposed on a turbulent reacting flow with very narrow, moving flame regions. Accurate interpolation between the points of the training data becomes vital. The NNs proposed here are trained based on data processed from a few CFD simulations of a single-injector liquid-propellant rocket engine with different dynamical configurations to reproduce the information stored in a flamelet table. The training set is also enriched by data from the physical characteristics and considerations of the combustion model. Flame temperature is used as an extra input for other flame variables to improve the NN-based model accuracy and physical consistency. The trained NNs are first tested offline on the flamelet table. These physics-aware NN-based closure models are successfully implemented into CFD simulations and verified by being tested on various dynamical configurations. The results from those tests compare favorably with counterpart table-based CFD simulations.
A lattice Boltzmann model is considered in which the speed of sound can be varied independently of the other parameters. The range over which the speed of sound can be varied is investigated and good agreement is found between simulations and theory. The onset of nonlinear effects due to variations in the speed of sound is also investigated and good agreement is again found with theory. It is also shown that the fluid viscosity is not altered by changing the speed of sound.
Three-dimensional laminar flow structures with mixing, chemical reaction, normal strain, and shear strain qualitatively representative of turbulent combustion at the small scales are analyzed. A mixing layer is subjected to counterflow in the transverse y- and z-directions. Both non-reactive and reactive flows are examined. Reduction of the three-dimensional boundary-layer equations to a one-dimensional similar form is obtained allowing for heat and mass diffusion with variations in density and properties. In steady configurations, a set of ODEs governs the three velocity components as well as the scalar-field variables. A flamelet model for individual diffusion flames with combined shear and normal strain is developed. Another model with solution in similar form is obtained for a configuration with a dominant diffusion flame and a weaker fuel-rich premixed flame. Results for the velocity and scalar fields are found for ranges of Damkohler number Da, normal strain rate due to the counterflow, streamwise-velocity ratio across the mixing layer, Prandtl number, and Mach number. For the flamelet model, a conserved scalar is cast as the independent variable to give an alternative description of the results. The imposed normal strain decreases mixing-layer thickness and increases scalar gradients and transport rates. There is indication of diffusion control for partially premixed flames in the multi-branched flame situation. The enhancement of the mixing and combustion rates by imposed normal strain on a shear layer can be very substantial. Also, the imposition of shear strain and thereby vorticity on the counterflow can be substantial indicating the need for flamelet models with both shear strain and normal strain.
A thin solid (e.g., paper), burning against an oxidizing wind, develops a fingering instability with two decoupled length scales. The spacing between fingers is determined by the Peclet number (ratio between advection and diffusion). The finger width is determined by the degree two dimensionality. Dense fingers develop by recurrent tip splitting. The effect is observed when vertical mass transport (due to gravity) is suppressed. The experimental results quantitatively verify a model based on diffusion limited transport.
The present article investigates the interactions between the pilot and main flames in a novel stratified swirl burner using both experimental and numerical methods. Experiments are conducted in a test rig operating at atmospheric conditions. The system is equipped with the BASIS (Beihang Axial Swirler Independently-Stratified) burner fuelled with premixed methane-air mixtures. To illustrate the interactions between the pilot and main flames, three operating modes are studied, where the burner works with: (i) only the pilot flame, (ii) only the main flame, and (iii) the stratified flame (with both the pilot and main flames). We found that: (1) In the pilot flame mode, the flame changes from V-shape to M-shape when the main stage is switched from closed to supplying a pure air stream. Strong oscillations in the M-shape flame are found due to the dilution of the main air to the pilot methane flame. (2) In the main flame mode, the main flame is lifted off from the burner if the pilot stage is supplied with air. The temperature of the primary recirculation zone drops substantially and the unsteady heat release is intensified. (3) In the stratified flame mode, unique beating oscillations exhibiting dual closely-spaced frequencies in the pressure spectrum. is found. This is observed within over narrow window of equivalence ratio combinations between the pilot and main stages. Detailed analysis of the experimental data shows that flame dynamics and thermoacoustic couplings at these two frequencies are similar to those of the unstable pilot flame and the attached main flame cases, respectively. Large Eddy Simulations (LESs) are carried out with OpenFOAM to understand the mechanisms of the time averaged flame shapes in different operating modes. Finally, a simple acoustic analysis is proposed to understand the acoustic mode nature of the beating oscillations.