Title: Computational analysis of incompressible turbulent flow in an idealised swirl combustor

Authors: A.C. Benim, M.P. Escudier, A. Nahavandi, A.K. Nickson, K.J. Syed, F. Joos

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Dusseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Josef-Gockeln-Strasse 9, D-40474 Dusseldorf, Germany. ' Department of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Harrison-Hughes Building, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK. ' Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Dusseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Josef-Gockeln-Strasse 9, D-40474 Dusseldorf, Germany. ' Cummins Turbo Technologies, St. Andrew's Road, Huddersfield HD1 6RA, UK. ' Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd., Group Manager Combustion Technology, Zentralstrasse 40, CH-5242 Birr, Switzerland. ' Laboratory of Turbomachinery, Helmut Schmidt University, Holstenhofweg 85, D-22043 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract: Isothermal turbulent swirling flow in a water test rig, representing an idealised swirl combustor, has been investigated experimentally and numerically. The Reynolds number based on combustor inlet diameter and mean axial velocity was 4600. Two cases were investigated at two different swirl intensities. Time-averaged velocities and RMS turbulence intensities were measured by Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA), along radial traverses at different axial stations. In the three-dimensional, transient computations, Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and URANS Reynolds Stress Models (RSM) have basically been employed as modelling strategies for turbulence. To model subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence for LES, the models owing to Smagorinsky and Voke were used. In one of the cases, Detached Eddy Simulations (DES) were also applied. The predictions have been compared with the measurements. It has been observed that LES provides the best overall accuracy, where no significant differences between the Smagorinsky and Voke models could be discerned.

Keywords: CFD; DES; detached eddy simulation; LES; large eddy simulation; RSM; Reynolds stress models; turbulent swirling flows; URANS; unsteady RANS; computational fluid dynamics; modelling; subgrid-scale turbulence.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2011.037571

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2011 Vol.11 No.1, pp.42 - 53

Published online: 19 Dec 2010 *

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