CFD SIMULATION OF A MESO-COMBUSTOR WITH DETAILED KINETICS

Development of micro and meso scale propulsion and power-generation systems requires the capability to design mesocombustors. To this aim and to improve the understanding of flow field structure and flame stabilization in a whirl meso-combustor, a combined CFD and experimental work has been carried out. In the present paper we present and discuss the results of the experimental activitycarried out on a meso-scale whirl combustor of about 254 mm3 in both unreactive and reactive conditions. The reactive experiments are performed at a pressure of 3 atm and using different gaseous fuels. The combustion efficiency, major species and chemiluminescent species are measured at the combustor outlet and inside the reactive volume, respectively. The meso-combustor is modeled using the CFD code Ansys-Fluent adopting a RANS approach, a 3D mesh with up to ~10E6 cells and detailed kinetic mechanisms. The comparison with measurements is satisfactory especially when the k-omega and the EDC models are adopted for describing turbulence and turbulence-chemistry interactions.