Modeling of Combustion Chambers for Predicting Pollutant Concentrations

This investigation presents the results of numerically modeling the combustion processes with a combustor. This furnace model consists of a rectangular chamber with rear and forward facing steps. The fuel and oxidizer are injected from two separate inlets. The swirl produced by the oxidizer inlet vanes in the actual physical situation is also modeled. The governing elliptical equations are solved numerically using a modified Gauss-Siedel procedure. Upwind differences are employed in the nonlinear convective terms to insure stability for all the Reynolds numbers considered. A parametric study to show the influence of the inlet conditions on the interior recirculation flow was performed. The burning of methane was studied within the model combustor with particular attention focused on the formation of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. Stream lines, temperature, and concentration profiles are obtained within the combustor. The effect of inlet conditions on center-line profiles is discussed.