Analytical Formulation-Based Soot Modelling in Ethylene Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Makhija ◽  
Krishna Sesha Giri
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Mixture Fraction ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Smoke Point ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Detailed Model ◽  
Conservation Equations ◽  
Oxidation Rates

Abstract Soot volume fraction predictions through simulations carried out on OpenFOAM® are reported in diffusion flames with ethylene fuel. A single-step global reaction mechanism for gas-phase species with an infinitely fast chemistry assumption is employed. Traditionally soot formation includes inception, nucleation, agglomeration, growth, and oxidation processes, and the individual rates are solved to determine soot levels. However, in the present work, the detailed model is replaced with the soot formation and oxidation rates, defined as analytical functions of mixture fraction and temperature, where the net soot formation rate can be defined as the sum of individual soot formation and oxidation rates. The soot formation/oxidation rates are modelled as surface area-independent processes. The flame is modelled by solving conservation equations for continuity, momentum, total energy, and species mass fractions. Additionally, separate conservation equations are solved to compute the mixture fraction and soot mass fraction consisting of source terms that are identical and account for the mixture fraction consumption/production due to soot. As a consequence, computational time can be reduced drastically. This is a quantitative approach that gives the principal soot formation regions depending on the combination of local mixture fraction and temperature. The implemented model is based on the smoke point height, an empirical method to predict the sooting propensity based on fuel stoichiometry. The model predicts better soot volume fraction in buoyant diffusion flames. It was also observed that the optimal fuel constants to evaluate soot formation rates for different fuels change with fuel stoichiometry. However, soot oxidation strictly occurs in a particular region in the flame; hence, they are independent of fuel. The numerical results are compared with the experimental measurements, showing an excellent agreement for the velocity and temperature. Qualitative agreements are observed for the soot volume fraction predictions. A close agreement was obtained in smoke point prediction for the overventilated flame. An established theory through simulations was also observed, which states that the amount of soot production is proportional to the fuel flow rate. Further validations underscore the predictive capabilities. Model improvements are also reported with better predictions of soot volume fractions through modifications to the model constants based on mixture fraction range.

scholarly journals Fuel Molecular Structure and Flame Temperature Effects on Soot Formation in Gas Turbine Combustors

1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
O¨. L. Gu¨lder ◽  
B. Glavincˇevski ◽  
M. F. Baksh
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structure ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Flame Temperature ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Smoke Point ◽  
Temperature Fields ◽  
Diesel Fuels

A systematic study of soot formation along the centerlines of axisymmetric laminar diffusion flames of a large number of liquid hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon blends, and aviation turbine and diesel fuels was made. Measurements of the attenuation of a laser beam across the flame diameter were used to obtain the soot volume fraction, assuming Rayleigh extinction. Two sets of hydrocarbon blends were designed such that the molecular fuel composition varied considerably but the temperature fields in the flames were kept practically constant. Thus it was possible to separate the effects of molecular structure and the flame temperature on soot formation. It was quantitatively shown that the smoke point height is a lumped measure of fuel molecular constitution. The developed empirical relationship between soot volume fractions and fuel smoke point and hydrogen-to-carbon ratio was applied to five different combustor radiation data, and good agreement was obtained.

scholarly journals Fuel Molecular Structure and Flame Temperature Effects on Soot Formation in Gas Turbine Combustors

1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ö. L. Gülder ◽  
B. Glavinčevski ◽  
M. F. Baksh
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structure ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Flame Temperature ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Smoke Point ◽  
Temperature Fields ◽  
Diesel Fuels

A systematic study of soot formation along the centerlines of axisymmetric laminar diffusion flames of a large number of liquid hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon blends, and aviation turbine and diesel fuels were made. Measurements of the attenuation of a laser beam across the flame diameter were used to obtain the soot volume fraction, assuming Rayleigh extinction. Two sets of hydrocarbon blends were designed such that the molecular fuel composition varied considerably but the temperature fields in the flames were kept practically constant. Thus it was possible to separate the effects of molecular structure and the flame temperature on soot formation. It was quantitatively shown that the smoke point height is a lumped measure of fuel molecular constitution. The developed empirical relationship between soot volume fractions and fuel smoke point and hydrogen to carbon ratio was applied to five different combustor radiation data, and good agreement was obtained.

scholarly journals Effect of the Preheated Oxidizer Temperature on Soot Formation and Flame Structure in Turbulent Methane-Air Diffusion Flames at 1 and 3 atm: A CFD Investigation

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3671
Author(s):  
Subrat Garnayak ◽  
Subhankar Mohapatra ◽  
Sukanta K. Dash ◽  
Bok Jik Lee ◽  
V. Mahendra Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Reaction Rate ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Flame Structure ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Pressure Elevation

This article presents the results of computations on pilot-based turbulent methane/air co-flow diffusion flames under the influence of the preheated oxidizer temperature ranging from 293 to 723 K at two operating pressures of 1 and 3 atm. The focus is on investigating the soot formation and flame structure under the influence of both the preheated air and combustor pressure. The computations were conducted in a 2D axisymmetric computational domain by solving the Favre averaged governing equation using the finite volume-based CFD code Ansys Fluent 19.2. A steady laminar flamelet model in combination with GRI Mech 3.0 was considered for combustion modeling. A semi-empirical acetylene-based soot model proposed by Brookes and Moss was adopted to predict soot. A careful validation was initially carried out with the measurements by Brookes and Moss at 1 and 3 atm with the temperature of both fuel and air at 290 K before carrying out further simulation using preheated air. The results by the present computation demonstrated that the flame peak temperature increased with air temperature for both 1 and 3 atm, while it reduced with pressure elevation. The OH mole fraction, signifying reaction rate, increased with a rise in the oxidizer temperature at the two operating pressures of 1 and 3 atm. However, a reduced value of OH mole fraction was observed at 3 atm when compared with 1 atm. The soot volume fraction increased with air temperature as well as pressure. The reaction rate by soot surface growth, soot mass-nucleation, and soot-oxidation rate increased with an increase in both air temperature and pressure. Finally, the fuel consumption rate showed a decreasing trend with air temperature and an increasing trend with pressure elevation.

scholarly journals The influence of aliphatics on soot inception modelling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nemanja Ceranic
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Surface Reactivity ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Laminar Diffusion Flames ◽  
Laminar Diffusion ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic

Soot models have been investigated for several decades and many fundamental models exist that prescribe soot formation in agreement with experiments and theories. However, due to the complex nature of soot formation, not all pathways have been fully characterized. This work has numerically studied the influence that aliphatic based inception models have on soot formation for coflow laminar diffusion flames. CoFlame is the in-house parallelized FORTRAN code that was used to conduct this research. It solves the combustion fluid dynamic conservation equations for a variety of coflow laminar diffusion flames. New soot inception models have been developed for specific aliphatics in conjunction with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon based inception. The purpose of these models was not to be completely fundamental in nature, but more so a proof-of-concept in that an aliphatic based mechanism could account for soot formation deficiencies that exist with just PAH based inception. The aliphatic based inception models show potential to enhance predicative capability by increasing the prediction of the soot volume fraction along the centerline without degrading the prediction along the pathline of maximum soot. Additionally, the surface reactivity that was used to achieve these results lied closer in the range of numerically derived optimal values as compared to the surface reactivity that was needed to match peak soot concentrations without the aliphatic based inception models.

Prediction of Soot Formation Trends in Turbulent Kerosene-Air Diffusion Jet Flames With Elevated Operating Pressure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pravin Nakod ◽  
Saurabh Patwardhan ◽  
Ishan Verma ◽  
Stefano Orsino
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Mixture Fraction ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Operating Pressure ◽  
Jet Flames ◽  
Emission Standard ◽  
Radial Profiles ◽  
Air Diffusion

Emission standard agencies are coming up with more stringent regulations on soot, given its adverse effect on human health. It is expected that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon place stricter regulations on allowed levels of the size of soot particles from aircraft jet engines. Since, aircraft engines operate at varying operating pressure, temperature and air-fuel ratios, soot fraction changes from condition to condition. Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are playing a key role in understanding the complex mechanism of soot formation and the factors affecting it. In the present work, soot formation prediction from numerical analyses for turbulent kerosene-air diffusion jet flames at five different operating pressures in the range of 1 atm. to 7 atm. is presented. The geometrical and test conditions are obtained from Young’s thesis [1]. Coupled combustion-soot simulations are performed for all the flames using steady diffusion flamelet model for combustion and Mass-Brookes-Hall 2-equation model for soot with a 2D axisymmetric mesh. Combustion-Soot coupling is required to consider the effect of soot-radiation interaction. Simulation results in the form of axial and radial profiles of temperature, mixture fraction and soot volume fraction are compared with the corresponding experimental measured profiles. The results for temperature and mixture fraction compare well with the experimental profiles. Predicted order of magnitude and the profiles of the soot volume fraction also compare well with the experimental results. The correct trend of increasing the peak soot volume fraction with increasing the operating pressure is also captured.

scholarly journals A Numerical Investigation on Soot Formation From Laminar Diffusion Flames of Ethylene/Methane Mixture

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongsheng Guo ◽  
Stephanie Trottier ◽  
Matthew R. Johnson ◽  
Gregory J. Smallwood
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Fuel Mixture ◽  
Methyl Radical ◽  
Laminar Diffusion Flames ◽  
Laminar Diffusion ◽  
Methane Mixture ◽  
Phase Chemistry

The sooting propensity of laminar diffusion flames employing ethylene/methane mixture fuel is investigated by numerical simulation. Detailed gas phase chemistry and moments method are used to describe the chemical reaction process and soot particle dynamics, respectively. The numerical model captures the primary features experimentally observed previously. At constant temperatures of air and fuel mixture, both maximum soot volume fraction and soot yield monotonically decrease with increasing the fraction of carbon from methane in the fuel mixture. However, when the temperatures of air and fuel mixture are preheated so that the adiabatic temperatures of all flames are same, the variation of the maximum soot yield becomes higher than what would be expected from a linear combination of the flames of pure ethylene and pure methane, showing a synergistic phenomenon in soot formation. Further analysis of the details of the numerical results suggests that the synergistic phenomenon is caused by the combined effects of the variations in the concentrations of acetylene (C2H2) and methyl radical (CH3). When the fraction of carbon from methane in fuel mixture increases, the concentration of C2H2 monotonically decreases, whereas that of methyl radical increases, resulting in a synergistic phenomenon in the variation of propargyl (C3H3) radical concentration due to the reactions C2H2 + CH3 = PC3H4 + H and PC3H4 + H = C3H3 + H2. This synergistic phenomenon causes a qualitatively similar variation trend in the concentration of pyrene (A4) owing to the reaction paths C3H3 → A1 (benzene) → A2 (naphthalene) → A3 (phenanthrene) → A4. Consequently, the synergistic effect occurs for soot inception and PAH condensation rates, leading to the synergistic phenomenon in soot yield. The similar synergistic phenomenon is not observed in the variation of peak soot volume fraction, since the maximum surface growth rate monotonically decreases, as the fraction of carbon from methane in fuel mixture increases.

scholarly journals Experimental and Numerical Study on the Sooting Behaviors of Furanic Biofuels in Laminar Counterflow Diffusion Flames

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5995
Author(s):  
Qianqian Mu ◽  
Fuwu Yan ◽  
Jizhou Zhang ◽  
Lei Xu ◽  
Yu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Counterflow Diffusion Flames ◽  
C3 Species ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Counterflow Flames

Furanic biofuels have received increasing research interest over recent years, due to their potential in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the production of harmful pollutants. Nevertheless, the heterocyclic structure in furans make them readily to produce soot, which requires an in-depth understanding. In this study, the sooting characteristic of several typical furanic biofuels, i.e., furan, 2-methylfuran (MF), and 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), were investigated in laminar counterflow flames. Combined laser-based soot measurements with numerical analysis were performed. Special focus was put on understanding how the fuel structure of furans could affect soot formation. The results show that furan has the lowest soot volume fraction, followed by DMF, while MF has the largest value. Kinetic analyses revealed that the decomposition of MF produces high amounts of C3 species, which are efficient benzene precursors. This may be the reason for the enhanced formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot in MF flames, as compared to DMF and furan flames. The major objectives of this work are to: (1) understand the sooting behavior of furanic fuels in counterflow flames, (2) elucidate the fuel structure effects of furans on soot formation, and (3) provide database of quantitative soot concentration for model validation and refinements.

Transient Development of Flame and Soot Distribution in Laminar Diffusion Flame With Preheated Air

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bijan Kumar Mandal ◽  
Amitava Sarkar ◽  
Amitava Datta
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Flame ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Qualitative Difference ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Soot Oxidation ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Conservation Equations ◽  
Soot Particles

A numerical investigation of the transient development of flame and soot distributions in a laminar axisymmetric coflowing diffusion flame of methane in air has been carried out considering the air preheating effect. The gas phase conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy, and species concentrations along with the conservation equations of soot mass concentration and number density are solved simultaneously, with appropriate boundary conditions, by an explicit finite difference method. Average soot diameters are then calculated from these results. It is observed that the soot is formed in the flame when the temperature exceeds 1300 K. The contribution of surface growth toward soot formation is more significant compared with that of nucleation. Once the soot particles reach the high temperature oxygen-enriched zone beyond the flame, the soot oxidation becomes important. During the initial period, when soot oxidation is not contributing significantly, some of the soot particles escape into the atmosphere. However, under steady condition the exhaust product gas is nonsooty. Preheating of air increases the soot volume fraction significantly. This is both due to more number of soot particles and the increase in the average diameter. However, preheating of air does not cause a qualitative difference in the development of the soot-laden zone during the flame transient period.

scholarly journals Experimental Investigation of Oxygen Addition to Fuel on Soot Formation in Laminar Coflow Diffusion Flames of Ethylene and Propane

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengshan Liu ◽  
Kevin A. Thomson ◽  
Gregory J. Smallwood
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Oxygen Flow Rate ◽  
Flame Height ◽  
Fuel Flow Rate ◽  
Fuel Flow ◽  
Oxygen Addition

Investigation of the effect of oxygen addition to fuel on the visible flame appearance and soot formation characteristics of laminar diffusion flames is important to gain comprehensive understanding of gas-phase combustion chemistry and its interaction with soot chemistry. This paper reports experimental results of oxygen addition to fuel on the visible flame height and soot volume fraction distributions in axisymmetric coflow laminar ethylene and propane diffusion flames at atmospheric flames. The carbon flow rate was maintained constant in all the experiments. Although many experimental studies have been conducted in the literature in this topic, the present investigation aimed at providing spatially resolved soot volume fraction distributions over the entire range of oxygen addition from no oxygen addition up to the point of flashback while keeping the carbon mass flow rate constant. The level of oxygen added to fuel right before flashback is about 45% (the percentage of oxygen addition is always by volume in this study) of the fuel flow rate in the ethylene flame and 300% of the fuel flow rate in the propane flame. As the added oxygen amount to ethylene increases, the visible flame height first increases. When the added oxygen flow rate is about 13% of the fuel flow rate, the flame becomes smoking, i.e., soot escapes from the flame tip. When the oxygen flow rate reaches about 42% of the fuel flow rate, the flame stops smoking. When oxygen was added to propane, the visible flame height linearly decreases with increasing the amount of oxygen. These very different effects of oxygen addition to ethylene and propane indicate that oxygen plays a drastically different role in the chemical pathways leading to soot formation in ethylene and propane flames. Distributions of soot volume fractions in these flames were measured using a 2D light attenuation technique coupled with the Abel inversion. The present study provides valuable experimental data for validating soot models.

scholarly journals The influence of aliphatics on soot inception modelling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nemanja Ceranic
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Diffusion Flames ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Soot Volume Fraction ◽  
Surface Reactivity ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Laminar Diffusion Flames ◽  
Laminar Diffusion ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic

Soot models have been investigated for several decades and many fundamental models exist that prescribe soot formation in agreement with experiments and theories. However, due to the complex nature of soot formation, not all pathways have been fully characterized. This work has numerically studied the influence that aliphatic based inception models have on soot formation for coflow laminar diffusion flames. CoFlame is the in-house parallelized FORTRAN code that was used to conduct this research. It solves the combustion fluid dynamic conservation equations for a variety of coflow laminar diffusion flames. New soot inception models have been developed for specific aliphatics in conjunction with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon based inception. The purpose of these models was not to be completely fundamental in nature, but more so a proof-of-concept in that an aliphatic based mechanism could account for soot formation deficiencies that exist with just PAH based inception. The aliphatic based inception models show potential to enhance predicative capability by increasing the prediction of the soot volume fraction along the centerline without degrading the prediction along the pathline of maximum soot. Additionally, the surface reactivity that was used to achieve these results lied closer in the range of numerically derived optimal values as compared to the surface reactivity that was needed to match peak soot concentrations without the aliphatic based inception models.

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