Numerical Investigation Into the Effect of Air Swirl on Non-Premixed Combustion

Endeavour is made to investigate the effect of swirled air on methane-air combustion in a Harwell combustor geometry. The inlet air swirl intensity on combustion characteristics such as temperature, pollutant formation, and flow dynamics is studied. The modeling of turbulent characteristics is performed with the standard K–ε model using ANSYS Fluent. Eddy dissipation model with one step reaction is used for modeling chemical reaction and P-I radiation model for radiation heat transfer. The swirl number is achieved in the range of 0.0 to 0.6, by varying the tangential velocity to the air inlet. With the increase in swirl intensity, the maximum flame temperature drops, and most of the flame formation shifts towards the inlet of the furnace. The change in the flow field is aided by the formation of recirculating bubbles. The swirl causes the flame to spread radially away from the axis, thereby increasing the heat transfer flux to the furnace wall. As a result, a significant reduction in the formation of NO pollutants is observed.

Review of Wood Biomass Cyclone Burner

Despite the technology for wood biomass combustion being much more advantageous when compared to traditional burners, such as the Stoker or fluidized burner, there has been scant research on the topic of wood biomass cyclone burners. The purpose of this paper is to review biomass cyclone burner technology, which includes theory, design, and combustion, in terms of the chemistry and properties of wood biomass, emission related to NOx and CO, and application of the burner, such as co-firing with coal and gasification firing. The design factors for type 2 cyclone burners have been identified through the following three dimensionless numbers: swirl intensity (S), Strouhal number (St), and Reynolds number (Re). The lowest CO and NOx of type 2 cyclone burners have been sought for pulverized and non-pulverized wood biomass. The benefits of the co-firing of wood biomass in a cyclone burner with coal, have been presented in respect to combustion efficiency, alkali retention, and the amount of K and Na. The results evidently reveal the reduction in clinker and slag generation, which are the biggest concern to wood biomass combustion. The recent results of gasification studies using type 2 cyclone burners are compared, in terms of producer gases and syngases (H2, CO, CO2, CH4).

The Viscoelastic Swirled Flow in the Confusor

A two-dimensional mathematical model for a steady viscoelastic laminar flow in a confusor was developed under the condition of swirled flow imposed at the inlet. Low density polyethylene was considered as a working fluid. Its behavior was described by a two-mode Giesekus model. The proposed mathematical model was tested by comparing it with some special cases presented in the literature. Additionally, we propose a system of equations to find the nonlinear parameters of the multimode Giesekus model (mobility factor) based on experimental measurement. The obtained numerical results showed that in a confusor with the contraction rate of 4:1, an increase in the swirl intensity at Wi < 5.1 affects only the circumferential velocity, while the axial and radial velocities remain constant. The distribution pattern of the first normal stress difference in the confusor is qualitatively similar to the one in a channel with abrupt contraction, i.e., as the viscoelastic fluid flows in the confusor, the value of N1 increases and reaches a maximum at the end of the confusor. Dimensionless damping coefficients of swirl are used to estimate the swirl intensity. The results show that the swirl intensity decreases exponentially.

Performance characteristics of flow in annular diffuser using CFD

An annular diffuser is a critical component of the turbomachinery, and its prime function is to reduce the flow velocity. The current work is carried to study the effect of four different geometrical designs of an annular diffuser using the ANSYS Fluent. The numerical simulations were carried out to examine the effect of fully developed turbulent swirling and non-swirling flow. The flow behavior of the annular diffuser is analyzed at Reynolds number 2.5 × 105. The simulated results reveal pressure recovery improvement at the casing wall with adequate swirl intensity at the diffuser inlet. Swirl intensity suppresses the flow separation on the casing and moves the flow from the hub wall to the casing wall of the annulus region. The results also show that the Equal Hub and Diverging Casing (EHDC) annular diffuser in comparison to other diffusers has a higher static pressure recovery (C p = 0.76) and a lower total pressure loss coefficient of (C L = 0.12) at a 17° swirl angle.

Influence of twisted tape insert on the coolant flow characteristics in swirled film cooling

The Present paper discusses film cooling behavior through numerical simulation in the presence of a twisted tape insert inside the film hole. The twisted tape insert imparts a swirl to the coolant flow. Coolant swirl intensity is controlled by varying the pitch of the twisted tape resulting in swirl numbers (S) of 0.0289, 0.116 and 0.168. The film cooling performance is evaluated using area-averaged effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient for blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. Results revealed a significant amount of improvement in averaged effectiveness with the addition of swirl. Coolant swirl predominantly modifies the jet trajectory resulting in a reduced jet penetration and increased lateral expansion. Further investigation on the effect of twisted tape thickness on the coolant distribution has been found to be negligible. Pressure losses occurring due to the insertion of twisted tape inside the film hole is evaluated through the coefficient of discharge which indicated the necessity of higher pumping power than the film cooling case with no-swirl.

Simulation Investigation on the Flow and Mixing in Ducts of the Rotary Energy Recovery Device

The rotary energy recovery device (RERD) is widely equipped in desalination to reduce the system energy consumption. In this study, the fluid dynamics and mixing performance of a typical structure RERD and a visualization apparatus of a RERD (V-RERD) had been compared by simulation. The effects of rotating components on fluid dynamics and mixing had been researched. Simulation results indicated that a swirling flow can be observed from flow fields in the device duct. In the RERD case, the swirling flow changed its rotating direction in the center of the duct, while in the V-RERD case, its rotating direction was unchanged. Then, a swirling number Sn was applied to characterize the degree of swirl intensity, and its formation mechanism in RERD had been discussed. In addition, the Q criterion was adopted to visualize the three-dimensional flow structures and identify vortex structures in the duct. The evolution of vortices in the working process had been investigated. It was found that vortices significantly affected the mixing performance, and the detached vortex could lead to high turbulence and mixing in the duct. Suppressing the vortex shedding may reduce the flow turbulence and gain a lower volumetric mixing rate.