Species and temperature predictions in a semi-industrial MILD furnace using a non-adiabatic conditional source-term estimation formulation

A Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation of the semi-industrial International Flame Research Foundation (IFRF) furnace is performed using a non-adiabatic Conditional Source-term Estimation (CSE) formulation. This represents the first time that a CSE formulation, which accounts for the effect of radiation on the conditional reaction rates, has been applied to a large scale semi-industrial furnace. The objective of the current study is to assess the capabilities of CSE to accurately reproduce the velocity field, temperature, species concentration and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) emission for the IFRF furnace. The flow field is solved using the standard k–ε turbulence model and detailed chemistry is included. NO_x emissions are calculated using two different methods. Predicted velocity profiles are in good agreement with the experimental data. The predicted peak temperature occurs closer to the centreline, as compared to the experimental observations, suggesting that the mixing between the fuel jet and vitiated air jet may be overestimated. Good agreement between the species concentrations, including NO_x, and the experimental data is observed near the burner exit. Farther downstream, the centreline oxygen concentration is found to be underpredicted. Predicted NO_x concentrations are in good agreement with experimental data when calculated using the method of Peters and Weber. The current study indicates that RANS-CSE can accurately predict the main characteristics seen in a semi-industrial IFRF furnace.