Conditional Moment Closure for Large Eddy Simulations

A conditional moment closure (CMC) based combustion model for large-eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent reacting flow is proposed and evaluated. Transport equations for the conditionally filtered species are derived that are consistent with the LES formulation and closures are suggested for the modelling of the conditional velocity, conditional scalar dissipation and the fluctuations around the conditional mean. A conventional β-probability density distribution of the scalar is used together with dynamic modelling for the sub-grid fluxes. The model is validated by comparison of simulations with measurements of a piloted, turbulent methane-air jet diffusion flame.     

Temperature and related statistics in turbulent jet flames

This paper describes the use of digitally-compensated thermocouples to characterise the time-resolved behaviour of the temperature field in turbulent non-premixed jet flames for Re?2×10⁴, including the transport of heat and the related temperature dissipation. The experimental procedures used are analysed, including the thermocouple time constant determination and the numerical derivative compensation method, and assessments of accuracy are provided for the cross-correlation techniques used in order to estimate high-order temperature statistics in the flames studied. The results quantify the influence of the spatial resolution of the measuring systems on the accuracy of correlation values, regarding the characteristics scales of the flames studied, and demonstrate the applicability of fine-wire thermocouples to characterise the turbulent transport and the dissipation of temperature in non-premixed jet flames.     

Investigation of Modeling for Non-Premixed Turbulent Combustion

A method for predicting filtered chemical species concentrations and filtered reaction rates in Large-Eddy Simulations of non-premixed, non-isothermal, turbulent reacting flows has been demonstrated to be quite accurate for higher Damköhler numbers. This subgrid-scale model is based on flamelet theory and uses presumed forms for both the dissipation rate and subgrid-scale probability density function of a conserved scalar. Inputs to the model are the chemistry rates, the Favre-filtered scalar, and its subgrid-scale variance and filtered dissipation rate. In this paper, models for the filtered dissipation rate and subgrid-scale variance are evaluated by filtering data from 5123-point Direct Numerical Simulations of a single-step, isothermal reaction developing in the isotropic, incompressible, decaying turbulence field of Comte-Bellot and Corrsin. Both the subgrid-scale variance and the filtered dissipation rate models (the sub-models) are found to be reasonably accurate. The effect of the errors introduced by the sub-models on the overall model is found to be small, and the overall model is shown to accurately predict the spatial average of the filtered species concentrations over a wide range of times.     

Experimental characterization of non-premixed turbulent jet propane flames

This paper reports an experimental study conducted on turbulent jet propane flames aiming at further understanding of turbulent structure in non-premixed slow-chemistry combustion systems. Measurements of mean and fluctuating velocity and temperature fields, mean concentration of major chemical species, correlation between velocity and temperature fluctuations, and dissipation of temperature fluctuations are reported in a turbulent round jet non-premixed propane flame, Re=20 400 and 37 600, issuing vertically in still air. The experimental conditions were designed to provide a complete definition of the upstream boundary conditions in the measurement domain for the purpose of validating computational models. The measured data depicts useful flow field information for describing turbulent non-premixed slow-chemistry flames. Velocity–temperature correlation measurements show turbulent heat fluxes tended to be restricted to the mixing layer where large temperature gradients occurred. Observations of non-gradient diffusion of heat at x/D=10 were verified. Temperature fluctuation dissipation, χ, showed the highest values in the shear layer, where the variance of temperature fluctuations was maximum and combustion occurred. The isotropy between the temperature dissipation in the radial and tangential directions was confirmed. By contrast, the observed anisotropy between axial and radial directions of dissipation suggests the influence of large structures in the entrainment shear layer on the production of temperature fluctuations in the flame region. The value of the normalized scalar dissipation at the stoichiometric mixture fraction surface, χ_st, was calculated, and ranges between 2 and 4 s⁻¹. The measured data were used to estimate the budgets in the balance equations for turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stresses, turbulent heat flux and temperature variance, quantifying the mechanisms involved in the generation of turbulence as well as in the transport of the temperature.     

Corrections for underresolved scalar measurements in turbulent flows using a DNS database

We estimate the effect of finite spatial resolution of a probe for scalar measurements, using a database from direct numerical simulations (DNS). These are for homogeneous isotropic turbulence in temporal decay, Schmidt number unity, and low Taylor-microscale Reynolds number (≃27–42). The probe could be a cold wire for measuring temperature in a turbulent flow. Correction factors for the scalar variance, scalar dissipation rate, and mixed velocity-scalar derivative skewness are estimated, for a sensor length up to 15 times the Batchelor length scale. It is shown that the lack of resolution yields the largest attenuation on the dissipation rate, followed by the scalar variance. On the contrary, the mixed skewness, which is affected the least, is overestimated. Further, it is shown that if one estimates the mixed skewness via the scalar variance dynamical equation and neglects the term involving the time derivative of the scalar energy spectrum, large errors in the correction factor of the mixed skewness are introduced. Finally, it is found that correction factors obtained assuming Kraichnan scalar model spectrum and following Wyngaard (in Phys Fluids 14:2052–2054, 1971) approach are close to those from the DNS.     

Prediction of Global Extinction Conditions and Dynamics in Swirling Non-premixed Flames Using LES/CMC Modelling

The Large Eddy Simulation (LES)/three-dimensional Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) model with detailed chemistry is applied to predict the operating condition and dynamics of complete extinction (blow-off) in swirling non-premixed methane flames. Using model constants previously selected to provide relatively accurate predictions of the degree of local extinction in the piloted jet flames Sandia D ?F, the error in the blow-off air velocity predicted by LES/3D-CMC in short, recirculating flames with strong swirl for a range of fuel flow rates is within 25 % of the experimental value, which is considered a new and promising result for combustion LES that has not been applied before for the prediction of the whole blow-off curve in complex geometries. The results also show that during the blow-off transient, the total heat release gradually decreases over a duration that agrees well with experiment. The evolution of localized extinction, reactive scalars and scalar dissipation rate is analyzed. It has been observed that a consistent symptom for flames approaching blow-off is the appearance of high-frequency and high-magnitude fluctuations of the conditionally filtered stoichiometric scalar dissipation rate, resulting in an increased fraction of local extinction over the stoichiometric mixture fraction iso-surfaces. It is also shown that the blow-off time changes with the different blow-off conditions.     

Lower Bounds on Scalar Dissipation in Bounded Rectilinear Flows

Lower bounds on the scalar dissipation rate in rectilinear flows are found for three sets of constraints. The bounding dissipation rates provide upper bound estimates of the scalar concentration variance. One of the lower bounds on the dissipation rate is close to the dissipation rate assessed from detailed numerical simulation. This proximity enables a simplified model of concentration variance. For a pulse input of solute, the predictions of concentration variance by the simplified model are in agreement with the results of detailed simulation. The large-time bimodality of the concentration variance and its rate of decay observed in the detailed numerical simulations is predicted by the simplified model.     

Simulations of Turbulent Non-Premixed Counterflow Flames with First-Order Conditional Moment Closure

Simulations of turbulent CH₄-air counterflow flames are presented, obtained in terms of zero and two-dimensional first-order Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) to study the flame structure and extinction limits. The CMC equation with detailed chemistry is solved without the need for operator splitting, while the accompanying flow field is determined using a commercial CFD software employing a Reynolds stress turbulence model and additional transport equations for the turbulent scalar flux and for the mean scalar dissipation rate. Two detailed chemical mechanisms and different conditional scalar dissipation rate models have been examined and small differences were found.The first-order CMC captures the overall structure of the counterflow flame accurately for the unconditional averages. The calculated conditional averages behave as if the scalar dissipation rate were under-predicted, although a comparison with measurement of the conditional scalar dissipation rate is reasonable. The calculated extinction velocity is found to be much higher than the experimental value, but the trend of increasing extinction velocity with air dilution of the fuel stream is captured well. The discrepancies with the data are mostly attributed to the neglect of conditional fluctuations.     

Effects of imaging system blur on measurements of flow scalars and scalar gradients

Planar imaging of flow scalars is widely used in fluid mechanics, but the effects of imaging system blur on the measured scalar and its gradients are often inadequately quantified. Here, we present a 1-D analytical study that uses simplified models of the scalar profiles and imaging system blur to estimate the measurement errors caused by finite resolution. One objective of this paper is to give the experimentalist a methodology for quantitatively assessing the impact of imaging system blur on the accuracy of scalar measurements. The scalar profiles are modeled as either error or Gaussian functions, and the imaging system resolution is cast in terms of the line-spread function (LSF), which is modeled as Gaussian. The analysis gives the errors induced in the scalar structure thickness, gradient, and dissipation, for varying degrees of blur, the latter of which is quantified by , the standard deviation of the Gaussian LSF. The results show that, to keep errors in the peak scalar gradients and dissipation to less than 10%, the 20%-width of the scalar structures should be at least 7.5. Typical flow imaging experiments require fast (i.e., low f/#) optics that may suffer from significant blur and, therefore, this requirement may be difficult to meet in many applications. It is also shown that the resolution requirements for measuring the dissipation are more restrictive than for structure thicknesses. Further simulations were made to assess the effects of having clustered, or closely spaced, dissipation structures. Compared to the single structure results, there is a less severe resolution requirement to obtain scalar structure length scales, but a more severe requirement on the scalar gradient and dissipation.     

Conditional Moment Closure/Large Eddy Simulation of the Delft-III Natural Gas Non-premixed Jet Flame

Large-Eddy Simulation (LES), coupled with the Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) sub-grid model and the GRI3 detailed chemical mechanism, are used to explore the structure of the Delft III piloted turbulent non-premixed flame. The use of a quite refined multi-dimensional CMC grid and the detailed chemistry, together with the capability of LES to follow local fluctuations of the scalar dissipation, allow the prediction of localised extinctions and re-ignitions in locations consistent with experiment. The statistics of velocity, mixture fraction, temperature, mass fractions of the major species and of OH are overall in good agreement with experimental data. Carbon monoxide is captured very well, but NO is overpredicted, perhaps due to inherent limitations of the GRI3 scheme to capture NO emissions.     

Noise Correction and Length Scale Estimation for Scalar Dissipation Rate Measurements in Turbulent Partially Premixed Flames

A recently developed conditional sampling-based method for correcting noise effects in scalar dissipation rate measurements and for estimating the extent of resolution of the dissipation rate is employed to analyze the data obtained in turbulent partially premixed (Sandia) flames. The method uses conditional sampling to select instantaneous fully resolved local scalar fields, which are analyzed to determine the measurement noise and to correct the Favre mean, conditional, and conditionally filtered dissipation rates. The potentially under-resolved local scalar fields, also selected using conditional sampling, are corrected for noise and are analyzed to examine the extent of resolution. The error function is used as a model for the potentially under-resolved local scalar to evaluate the scalar dissipation length scales and the percentage of the dissipation resolved. The results show that the Favre mean dissipation rate, the mean dissipation rate conditional on the mixture fraction, and dissipation rate filtered conditionally on the mixture fraction generally are well resolved in the flames. Analyses of the dissipation rates filtered conditionally on the mixture fraction and temperature show that the length scale increases with temperature, due to lower dissipation rate and higher diffusivity. The dissipation rate is well resolved for temperatures above 1,300 K but is less resolved at lower temperatures, although the probability of very low temperature events is low. To fully resolve these rare events the sample spacing needs to be reduced by approximately one half. The present study further demonstrates the effectiveness of the new noise correction and length scale estimation method.     

Scalar turbulence model investigation with variable turbulent Prandtl number in heated jets and diffusion flames

Traditional turbulence models using constant turbulent Prandtl number fail to predict the experimentally observed anisotropies in the thermal eddy diffusivity and thermal turbulent intensity fields. Accurate predictions depend strongly on the turbulence model employed. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to assess the performance of turbulence model with variable turbulent Prandtl number in predicting of thermal and scalar fields quantities. The model is applied to axisymmetric turbulent round jet with variable density and in turbulent hydrogen diffusion flames using the flamelet concept. The k − ɛ turbulence model is used in conjunction with thermal field; the model involves solving supplemental scalar equations for the temperature variance and its dissipation rate. The model predictions are compared with available experimental data for the purpose of validating model. In reacting cases, velocity and scalar (including temperature and mass fractions) predictions agree relatively well in the near field of the investigated diluted hydrogen flames.     

A Posteriori Assessment of Algebraic Scalar Dissipation Models for RANS Simulation of Premixed Turbulent Combustion

This paper examines the effects of scalar dissipation rate modelling on mean reaction rate predictions in turbulent premixed flames. The sensitivity of the mean reaction rate is explored by using different closures for scalar dissipation and the sensitivity of the scalar dissipation models themselves is also examined with respect to their defining constants. The influence of different scalar dissipation models on the flame location and mean velocities is reported and compared with experimental results. The predicted reaction rate is found to be sensitive to the choice of closure used for scalar dissipation and also to the respective constants used in the scalar dissipation models. It is also found that the scalar dissipation models involving chemical and turbulent time scales yield a more physically plausible reaction rate when compared with the scalar dissipation models relying only on the turbulent time scale.     

Spatial resolution effects on the measurement of scalar variance and scalar gradient in turbulent nonpremixed jet flames

The effect of spatial averaging is important for scalar gradient measurements in turbulent nonpremixed flames, especially when the local dissipation length scale is small. Line imaging of Raman, Rayleigh and CO-LIF is used to investigate the effects of experimental resolution on the scalar variance and radial gradient in the near field of turbulent nonpremixed CH₄/H₂/N₂ jet flames at Reynolds numbers of 15,200 and 22,800 (DLR-A and B) and in piloted CH₄/air jet flames at Reynolds numbers of 13,400, 22,400 and 33,600 (Sandia flames C/D/E). The finite spatial resolution effects are studied by applying the Box filter with varying filter widths. The resulting resolution curves for both scalar variance and mean squared-gradient follow nearly the same trends as theoretical curves calculated from the model turbulence kinetic energy spectrum of Pope. The observed collapse of resolution curves of mean squared-gradient for nearly all studied cases implies the shape of the dissipation spectrum is approximately universal. Fluid transport properties are shown to have no effect on the dissipation resolution curve, which implies that the dissipation length scale inferred from the square gradient is equivalent to the length scale for the scalar dissipation rate, which includes the diffusion coefficient. With the Box filter, the required spatial resolution to resolve 98% of the mean dissipation rate is about one−two times of the dissipation cutoff length scale (analogous to the Batchelor scale in turbulent isothermal flows). The effects of resolution on the variances of mixture fraction, temperature, and the inverted Rayleigh signal are also compared. The ratio of the filtered variance to the true variance is shown to depend nearly linearly on the probe resolution. The inverted Rayleigh scattering signal can be used to study the resolution effect on temperature variance even when the Rayleigh scattering cross section is not constant. The experimental results also indicate that these laboratory scale turbulent jet flames have small effective Reynolds numbers, such that there is some direct interaction of the large (energy containing) and small (dissipative) scalar length scales, especially for the near field case at x/d = 7.5 of the piloted Sandia flames C/D/E.     

Subgrid length-scales for large-eddy simulation of stratified turbulence

The influence of buoyancy on the length-scales for the dissipation rate of kinetic energy, and for momentum, heat, and other scalar transport has to be known for subgrid-scale (SGS) models in a large-eddy simulation (LES). For the inertial subrange, Lilly (1967) has shown that grid spacing is the relevant length-scale for SGS effects. Deardorff (1980) proposed to reduce all the length-scales for stable stratification. Numerical and experimental data show, however, that the dissipation length-scale may strongly increase in stable layers with little shear. Lumley's (1964) theory for the energy spectrum in a stratified fluid also suggests such an increase. In this paper we apply the analysis of previous algebraic second-order closure SGS models, parameter studies with different length-scale models in LES, and the analysis of direct simulations of sheared and unsheared stably stratified homogeneous turbulence. These analyses show advantages of first-order closures for LES and suggest that the limiting effect of stratification should only be applied to the length-scales of vertical eddy-diffusivities of heat and scalars but not to those of momentum and dissipation.Dedicated to Professor J.L. Lumley on the occasion of his 60th birthday.This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

A Priori Evaluation of the Laminar Flamelet Decomposition Model for Turbulent Premixed Flames using DNS Data

Laminar flamelet decomposition (LFD) is a dynamic approach for modelling sub-filter scale turbulence-chemistry interactions in Large-Eddy Simulations using a stretched flamelet library. In this work, the performance of the LFD model – that was previously used only in non-premixed combustion—is investigated a priori for premixed combustion using positively-strained flamelets in the reactant-to-product configuration. For this purpose, a DNS database of methane-air premixed flames is utilized. The flames are propagating in a rectangular box under homogeneous isotropic turbulence conditions over a wide range of Karlovitz numbers. The results show that the LFD model can correctly account for the sub-filter scale turbulence-chemistry interactions to predict the filtered reaction rates and the filtered scalar field, provided that turbulent and laminar mixing are well predicted. The deviations from the DNS results are attributed to the shortcomings of the strained flamelet library and the non-flamelet effects. Finally, the LFD results are compared with a different sub-filter scale model using the same strained flamlelet library, and the relative performances of the two models are discussed.—

     

Some Aspects of Scalar Dissipation

Scalar dissipation is of great importance in the theory and modelling of combustion and other reacting turbulent flows. Measurements of scalar dissipation are found to lack the quality assurance of checks available from the conservation equations. Conditional averages of the scalar dissipation, so important in turbulent reacting flow theory and modelling, have qualitative and quantitative dependences that are very dependent on the details of the flow and mixing conditions. Accordingly, effort needs to focus on viable means of modelling it. Fluctuations of the scalar dissipation about the conditional mean are also important. Research results in this area need to be made more accessible to the combustion scientist. Heat release effects, so important in turbulent premixed combustion, are found to be much less important in non-premixed combustion.     

Expected escape times from attractor basins due to low intensity noise

In this paper, a numerical approach is described to estimate escape times from attractor basins when a dynamical system is subjected to noise or stochastic perturbations. Noise can affect nonlinear system response by driving solution trajectories to different attractors. The changes in physical behavior can be observed as amplitude and phase change of periodic oscillations, initiation or annihilation of chaotic motion, phase synchronization, and so on. Estimating probability of transitions from one attractor to another, and predicting escape times are essential for quantifying the effects of noise on the system response. In this paper, a numerical approach is outlined where probability transition maps are generated between grids. Then, these maps are iterated to find the probability distribution after long durations, wherein, a constant escape rate can be observed between basins. The constant escape rate is then used to estimate the average escape times. The approach is applicable to systems subjected to low-intensity stochastic disturbances and with long escape times, where Monte Carlo simulations are impractical. Escape times up to \(10^{13}\) periods are estimated without relying on computationally expensive computations.

     

Simulations of Three-Dimensional Turbulent Mixing for Schmidt Numbers of the Order 1000

We report basic results from new numerical simulations of passive scalar mixing at Schmidt numbers (Sc) of the order of 1000 in isotropic turbulence. The required high grid-resolution is made possible by simulating turbulence at very low Reynolds numbers, which nevertheless possesses universality in dissipative scales of motion. The results obtained are qualitatively consistent with those based on another study (Yeung et al., Phys. Fluids 14 (2002) 4178-4191) with a less extended Schmidt number range and a higher Reynolds number. In the stationary state maintained by a uniform mean scalar gradient, the scalar variance increases slightly with Sc but scalar dissipation is nearly constant. As the Schmidt number increases, there is an increasing trend towards k ^?1 scaling predicted by Batchelor (Batchelor, J. Fluid Mech. 5 (1959) 113-133) for the viscous-convective range of the scalar spectrum; the scalar gradient skewness approaches zero; and the intermittency measured by the scalar gradient flatness approaches its asymptotic state. However, the value of Sc needed for the asymptotic behavior to emerge appears to increase with decreasing Reynolds number of the turbulence. In the viscous-diffusive range, the scalar spectrum is in better agreement with Kraichnan's (Kraichnan., Phys. Fluids 11 (1968) 945-953) result than with Batchelor's.