In this work, a hybrid Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) method has been implemented in which both premixed and diffusion based laminar flame manifolds are generated independently and used within one solution framework to capture the multiple combustion regimes inside a combustor. The two manifolds are generated by solving the conservation of species and energy in a transformed space of mixture fraction and progress variable. The mixture averaged properties in a combustor are then calculated using a scalar weighted contribution of premixed and diffusion manifolds. This scalar represents the extent of premixing inside the combustor and its normalized value is obtained from a scalar product of the mean gradients of fuel and oxidizer mass fractions. A volume-weighted smoothing is performed on this normalized scalar to ensure smooth transition between the premixed to diffusion regimes and vice-versa, from one location to another location inside the combustor. This hybrid or multi-regime FGM approach is validated for two turbulent CH4-air partially premixed flames. The first flame chosen in the current work is a lifted turbulent flame, while the second flame is pilot-stabilized flame. First, the computations are performed for premixed- and diffusion-based laminar manifolds and then the results with hybrid models are presented. The results of the hybrid approach are compared for predicting the lift-off height, which is driven by the balance of turbulence and kinetics at any location. It is observed that the hybrid model leads to an improvement in the prediction of the lift-off height prediction. The new hybrid model is a generic representation of the FGM modeling, which enables its use without any a priori need to focus on a specific type of manifold creation for any combustor.
Evaluation of partially premixed turbulent flame stability from mixture fraction statistics in a slot burner
