Hi, I am a new comer to the CFD field, especially for turbulent flow and simulation of combustion. Really need your help.

Now I am trying to simulate an incineration process, what we need is the prediction of the output flue gas compoent concentration and the optimal operation conditions for maximum product of one component.

We've got a verticlly aligned cylindrical combustion chamber, air and propane are premixed and burned in a nozzle mixing burner under the chamber. The material incinerated is one kind of aqueous solution, we only have some pyrolysis chemical kinetics on this solution, but no combustion kinetics. When the combustion becomes steady, we sampled and measured the flue gas component concentration along the chamber by gas chromatograph.

I really don't know how I can start with, How can I simulate the burner, and how can I make some reasonable assumptions. Should I concentrate my attention on chemistry or CFD can provide me what I want. I've tried to use Gambit1.0 to create the geometry, but didn't find the tool for drawing a curve. Thank you so much!

xinxin

I don't want to rain on your parade, but using CFD to simulate combustion problems is not nearly as mature as predictions of non-reacting turbulent flows and heat transfer. In fact, I would go so far as to say you shouldn't try it unless you consider yourself something of a combustion expert. CFD codes can not currently predict stability or lifted flames, so your CFD model may lead you to change equipment in such a way that it will become unsafe to operate. Additionally, CFD codes can not accurately predict pollutant emissions. I would assume that the equipment you discuss has some required destruction efficiency. Changing the operating parameters will effect the destruction of the waste stream, and CFD may or may not be able to predict this. My company is an incineration system vendor (along with other combustion equipment), and we use CFD alongside chemkin and other guidelines to design incinerators.

Phil Smith at the Univ. of Utah is one of the leading research authorities on using CFD to simulate industrial furnaces and incinerators. Some of his papers are at: http://www.crsim.utah.edu/~smith/papers.shtml

If you want to do CFD work like you describe, hire a consultant. REI (http://www.reaction-eng.com/) has a good reputation. I noticed you are using Fluent. They have good people in their consulting group.

Some of the CFD work I have done is at: http://www.johnzink.com/Test_Center/cfd-2.htm I have done some incineration work, but none is shown on the web page above. I'm not an incineration expert. If you really want to try this, I'll give you advice on setting up a simulation. I'd need to know more about the process to make any recommendations. Also, be sure and use the support Fluent provides!!