Stability of the cylindrical flame front in an annular combustion chamber

Using small perturbations, within the framework of phenomenological theory of mixture combustion we study stability of the cylindrical front of deflagration combustion in an annular combustion chamber. The flame front is described as a discontinuity of gasdynamic parameters. It is discovered that the flame front is unstable for some types of small perturbations of the mainstream flow of the fuel mixture and the flame front. The mechanics of instability is examined using both numerical and analytical methods. The cases are presented of evolution of the instabilities rotating in the annular channel.     

Simulation of quasi-dimensional combustion model for predicting diesel engine performance

In order to improve the precision of quasi-dimensional combustion model for predicting diesel engine performance and promote the real time operating performance of the simulation model, a new phase-divided spray mixing model is proposed and the quasi-dimensional combustion model of diesel engine working process is developed. The software MATLAB/Simulink is utilized to build the quasi-dimensional combustion model of diesel engine working process, and the performance for diesel engine is simulated. The simulation results agree with experimental data quite well. The comparisons between them show that the relative error of power and brake specific fuel consumption is less than 2.8% and the relative error of nitric oxide and soot emissions is less than 9.1%. By utilization of this simulation model with personal computer, the average computational time for one diesel engine working process is 36 s, which presents good real time operating performance of the model. At the same time, the influence of parameters in calculation of air entrainment on prediction precision of diesel engine’s simulation model is analyzed.     

The interaction between the different scale eddies of the turbulence

IntroductionTheturbulenceiscomposedfromdifferentscaleeddies[1].Theturbulenttransportsofmomentum,heatandcontentcausedbythedifferentscaleeddieswillbeverydifferentandtheinteractionofdifferent[2]scaleeddiesexists.Inthecenteroftheearthquake,theexcitationofthestronggroundmotionistightlyrelatedtotherandomsmallscale[3]fractures.Similarly,thelargescalefluctuationsinheterogeneousatmospherearetightlyrelatedtothesmallscalefluctuations.Inthispaper,thegloballyturbulentauto-correlationfunctionwhichobeysthep…     

Influence of turbulence on the performance of a laboratory scale HAWT

The oncoming wind to horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) may change its speed and direction stochastically in time. Hence, turbine blades are exposed to flows both with fluctuating angle of attack and fluctuating yaw angles. The modern wind turbines are reacting to those changes by pitch angle and torque control not only to exploit as much power as possible but also stabilize energy production and prevent any damage of the turbine. However, time scales of wind fluctuations and sudden changes of wind properties can be very short and with very high in amplitude. In the present study we focus on the influence of turbulence on the performance of a HAWT. Main motivation of the investigations is to figure out best strategies for the aerodynamic design of the blades operating under turbulent conditions. A laboratory scale HAWT and a performance measurement set-up are employed to measure the influence of the oncoming wind. The tests are conducted in the closed loop wind tunnel of our institute. The test section of the tunnel is 1.87 m in width, 1.4 m in height and 2 m in length. The rotor blades are specially designed and optimized for this wind tunnel and the generator used. The turbulence is generated by two static squared mesh grids; fine and coarse one. Hence, two mainly different turbulence scales are obtained. In addition, the distance between the wind-turbine and the grid is adjusted to have additional sub-turbulence scales for each grid. The turbulence is nearly isotropic and decays in the flow direction. The developments of Taylor's micro scale (λ_g) and integral scale (L_g) of the turbulence in the flow direction at various incoming wind velocities (8−16 m/s) are measured. Hence, the facility allows to expose the wind-turbine to turbulence with various energy and length scale content. Those measurements are conducted with hot-wire anemometry in the absence of the wind-turbine. Upstream and downstream turbulence intensities (TI) distributions are measured to give insight on the surrounding free stream and turbine wake interaction and how can different turbulence eddies scales contribute in the influence of the performance of the turbine. Performance measurements are conducted with and without turbulence and the results are compared. The study shows that the higher the turbulence, the more the power extracted by the turbine. This is due to the higher interaction of large eddies with the turbine wake and with the boundary layer, which helps to keeping it attached. Furthermore, higher TI's help in suppressing the tip vortex, thus, reduce turbine tip losses. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The effect of turbulence on mixing in prototype reaction‐diffusion systems

The effect of turbulence on mixing in prototype reaction‐diffusion systems is analyzed here in the special situation where the turbulence is modeled ideally with two separated scales consisting of a large‐scale mean flow plus a small‐scale spatiotemporal periodic flow. In the limit of fast reaction and slow diffusion, it is rigorously proved that the turbulence does not contribute to the location of the mixing zone in the limit and that this mixing zone location is determined solely by advection of the large‐scale velocity field. This surprising result contrasts strongly with earlier work of the authors that always yields a large‐scale propagation speed enhanced by small‐scale turbulence for propagating fronts. The mathematical reasons for these differences are pointed out. This main theorem rigorously justifies the limit equilibrium approximations utilized in non‐premixed turbulent diffusion flames and condensation‐evaporation modeling in cloud physics in the fast reaction limit. The subtle nature of this result is emphasized by explicit examples presented in the fast reaction and zero‐diffusion limit with a nontrivial effect of turbulence on mixing in the limit. The situation with slow reaction and slow diffusion is also studied in the present work. Here the strong stirring by turbulence before significant reaction occurs necessarily leads to a homogenized limit with the strong mixing effects of turbulence expressed by a rigorous turbulent diffusivity modifying the reaction‐diffusion equations. Physical examples from non‐premixed turbulent combustion and cloud microphysics modeling are utilized throughout the paper to motivate and interpret the mathematical results. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Evaluation of the approximated diffusion flamelet concept using fuels with different chemical complexity

The ability of flamelet models to reproduce turbulent combustion in devices such as diesel engines or gas turbines has enhanced the usage of these approaches in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The models based on turbulent look-up tables generated from counterflow laminar diffusion flames (DF model) permit drastic reduction of the computational cost of the CFD calculation. Nevertheless, for complex molecular fuels, such as n-heptane, the oxidation process involves hundreds of species and the calculation of the transport equations together with the ODE system that models the chemical kinetics for the DF solution becomes unaffordable for industrial devices where hundreds of flamelets are required. In this context, new hypotheses have to be introduced in order to reduce the computational cost maintaining the coherence of the combustion process. Recently, a new model known as Approximated Diffusion Flamelet (ADF) has been proposed with the aim of solving the turbulent combustion for complex fuels in a reduced time. However, the validity of this model is still an open question and has to be verified in order to justify subsequent CFD calculations. This work assesses the ADF model and its ability to reproduce accurately the combustion process and its main parameters for three fuels with different chemical complexity and boundary conditions by its comparison with the DF model. Results show that although some discrepancies arise, the ADF model has the ability to correctly describe the ignition delay and the combustion structure in the auto-ignition zone that is the most relevant one for industrial processes.     

Collisionless diffusion of particles across a magnetic field at a plasma edge in the presence of turbulence

We study the collisionless diffusion of electrons and ions across a magnetic field at a plasma edge, in the turbulent field produced by a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. Ions and electrons are described by gyro-kinetic equations which include the finite Larmor radius correction and the polarization drift. Characteristic methods associated with cubic spline interpolation in two dimensions (2D) are used to integrate the gyro-kinetic equations in a slab geometry.     

Evaluating returns to scale and congestion by production possibility set in intersection form

This research proposes a new method to estimate returns to scale(RTS) of decision making units(DM Us) with multiple inputs and outputs.The state of return to scale includes increasing RTS,constant RTS,decreasing RTS and evidence of congestion.The method is based on the production possibility set in the intersection form given by a set of linear inequalities.We propose and prove the necessary and sufficient conditions for the RTS estimation.With the new procedure,to estimate the RTS of a DM U is simply to ch...     

Singular perturbed vector field method applied to combustion in diesel engine: Continuous case with thermal runaway

In this study, we employ the well-known method of a singularly perturbed vector field (SPVF) and its application to the thermal runaway of diesel spray combustion. Given a system of governing equations, consisting of hidden multi-scale variables, the SPVF method transfers and decomposes such a system into fast and slow singularly perturbed subsystems. The resulting subsystem enables us to better understand the complex system and simplify the calculations. Powerful analytical, numerical, and asymptotic methods (e.g., the method of slow invariant manifolds and the homotopy analysis method) can subsequently be applied to each subsystem. In this paper, we compare the results obtained by the methods of slow invariant manifolds and SPVF, as applied to the spray (polydisperse) droplets combustion model.     

Re.ned Modeling of the pressure redistribution/scrambling under consistent consideration of scalar turbulence effects in turbulent combustion

In practical turbulent flow problems of engineering importance the coupling between velocity and scalar turbulence along with the variable density plays a non negligible role. For computations using second moment closure approach, the pressure redistribution/scrambling is the most critical term to be modeled as well known. Almost all existing models consist in rescating models derived on a constant density basis in a density weighted form. With regard to turbulent premixed combustion in fact, the application of such models to a range of transient one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional premixed flames in the flamelet regime has been found to yield unsatisfactory results, see [1]. As pointed out by Sadiki [2], the use of the Favre method must be consistently considered as far as open thermodynamic systems are concerned. Furthermore, the need for maintaining certain invariance properties, physical and mathematical realizability conditions in formulating turbulence models is well accepted. Because turbulent processes are irreversible, these efforts demand a carefull consideration of thermodynamic concepts. Based on the results in [1] and following [2], this work aims to derive a physically consistent formulation of the pressure redistribution/scrambling term under consideration of the variable density. Considering the case of premixed flames, the thermochemistry is included by means of a single reactive scalar ‐ the reaction progress variable. The accuracy of the model extensions proposed is demonstrated by comparing the numerical results with experimental data in opposed jet premixed flame configuration.     

Pulsating traveling waves in the singular limit of a reaction–diffusion system in solid combustion

We consider a coupled system of parabolic/ODE equations describing solid combustion. For a given rescaling of the reaction term (the high activation energy limit), we show that the limit solution solves a free boundary problem which is to our knowledge new.In the time-increasing case, the limit coincides with the Stefan problem with spatially inhomogeneous coefficients. In general it is a parabolic equation with a memory term.In the first part of our paper we give a characterization of the limit problem in one space dimension. In the second part of the paper, we construct a family of pulsating traveling waves for the limit one phase Stefan problem with periodic coefficients. This corresponds to the assumption of periodic initial concentration of reactant.     

Extended flamelet model and improved interaction of chemistry and turbulence for modeling partially premixed combustion with a joint PDF method

Turbulent combustion is commonly categorized into premixed, non-premixed and partially premixed combustion. For nonpremixed combustion simulations the laminar flamelet concept proved to be very valuable while for the more complex case of partially premixed combustion this model shows considerable deficiencies. Here, the classical laminar flamelet approach is extended to the partially premixed combustion regime. For that, the joint statistics of mixture fraction, scalar dissipation rate and a progress variable, calculated with a joint probability density function (PDF) method, is used to get the statistics of the compositions and of the chemical energy source term from pre-processed flame tables. This approach can be compared with the unsteady flamelet concept; the main differences consists of the way the progress variable evolution is computed and in the pre-computed flame tables. The progress variable describes the point of time a fluid parcel is consumed by a flame front. The fluid parcels are represented by computational particles, which are used for PDF methods. The pre-computed flame tables are computed from steady solutions 2D stabilized flames propagating into an unburnt mixture with varying mixture fraction. The corresponding position of a fluid particle in such a 2D laminar flame is determined by its mixture fraction and a burning time; both to be modeled for each computational particle in the PDF simulation. Numerical experiments of turbulent diffusion jet flames demonstrate that this approach can be employed for challenging test cases. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Feedback control of combustion oscillations in combustion chambers

Model-based algorithms are generally employed in active control of combustion oscillations. Since practical combustion processes consist of complex thermal and acoustic couplings, their accurate models and parameters may not be obtained in advance economically, a model free controller is necessary for the control of thermoacoustic instabilities. Active compensation based control algorithm is applied in the suppression of combustion instabilities. Tuning the controller parameters on line, the amplitudes of the acoustic waves can be modulated to desired values. Simulations performed on a control oriented, typical longitudinal oscillations combustor model illustrate the controllers’ capability to attenuate combustion oscillations.     

Interactive simulation of bushfires in heterogeneous fuels

The program IGNITE, developed by the authors, is a landscape fire modelling system that deals with fires in heterogeneous fuels. Landscapes are represented as cellular automata (grids of pixels) and fire spread is modelled as an epidemic process. An integrated geographic information system permits the importing and editing of maps from compatible sources, such as satellite imagery. Maps, models and other information are organized as scenarios; historical fires can be recorded and replayed. Modules are being developed for application to fire prevention, fire suppression, land-use management, and to training and education. An illustration of using the system to deal with heterogeneous fuel is its application to the problem of percolation in patchy fuel.     

Solutions of quasi-geostrophic turbulence in multi-layered configurations

We consider quasi-geostrophic (QG) models in two- and three-layers that are useful in theoretical studies of planetary atmospheres and oceans. In these models, the streamfunctions are given by (1+2) partial differential systems of evolution equations. A two-layer QG model, in a simplified version, is dependent exclusively on the Rossby radius of deformation. However, the f-plane QG point vortex model contains factors such as the density, thickness of each layer, the Coriolis parameter, and the constant of gravitational acceleration, and this two-layered model admits a lesser number of Lie point symmetries, as compared to the simplified model. Finally, we study a three-layer oceanography QG model of special interest, which includes asymmetric wind curl forcing or Ekman pumping, that drives double-gyre ocean circulation. In three-layers, we obtain solutions pertaining to the wind-driven doublegyre ocean flow for a range of physically relevant features, such as lateral friction and the analogue parameters of the f-plane QG model. Zero-order invariants are used to reduce the partial differential systems to ordinary differential systems. We determine conservation laws for these QG systems via multiplier methods.     

Parallel preconditioners and multigrid solvers for stochastic polynomial chaos discretizations of the diffusion equation at the large scale

This paper presents parallel preconditioners and multigrid solvers for solving linear systems of equations arising from stochastic polynomial chaos formulations of the diffusion equation with random coefficients. These preconditioners and solvers are extensions of the preconditioner developed in an earlier paper for strongly coupled systems of elliptic partial differential equations that are norm equivalent to systems that can be factored into an algebraic coupling component and a diagonal differential component. The first preconditioner, which is applied to the norm equivalent system, is obtained by sparsifying the inverse of the algebraic coupling component. This sparsification leads to an efficient method for solving these systems at the large scale, even for problems with large statistical variations in the random coefficients. An extension of this preconditioner leads to stand‐alone multigrid methods that can be applied directly to the actual system rather than to the norm equivalent system. These multigrid methods exploit the algebraic/differential factorization of the norm equivalent systems to produce variable‐decoupled systems on the coarse levels. Moreover, the structure of these methods allows easy software implementation through re‐use of robust high‐performance software such as the Hypre library package. Two‐grid matrix bounds will be established, and numerical results will be given. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The principle of maximum randomness in the theory of fully developed turbulence. II. Isotropic decaying turbulence

A statistical model for describing the decay of developed isotropic turbulence of an incompressible fluid is proposed. The model uses the distribution function of the velocity pulsations introduced earlier by the authors on the basis of the principle of maximum randomness of the velocity field for a given spectral energy flux. The renormalization-group technique and expansion are used to calculate the correlation functions of the velocity that occur in the equation of spectral energy balance. This leads to a closed equation for the dependence of the energy spectrum on the integral turbulence scaler _c(t). In the inertial interval, this equation gives the Kolmogorov asymptotic spectrum, while for the time dependence ofr _c(t) and the pulsation energye(t) it predicts the power lawsr _c(t)t^2/5 andr(t)t ^–6/5.Physics Research Institute of the St Petersburg University. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 150–159, July, 1993.