Simulation of Turbulent Combustion in Porous Ceramic Materials

This paper presents two-dimensional numerical simulations of combustion of an air/methane mixture in a radial porous combustor using a model that explicitly considers the intra-pore levels of turbulent kinetic energy. Transport equations are written in their time-and-volume averaged form and a volume-based statistical turbulence model is applied to simulate turbulence generation due to the porous matrix. A cylindrical porous combustor is analyzed, in which the mixture flows inside it in the axial direction, being the flue gases ejected through the lateral surface. Combustion is modeled via a unique simple closure. For high excess air, the flame front moves towards the lateral exit of the burner. Also, increasing the inlet flow rate for stoichiometric mixture pushes the flame out of the porous material.