Tutorial: 2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor

Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Introduction
The purpose of this tutorial is to provide guidelines and recommendations for setting up
and solving a natural gas combustion using the multiple laminar flamelet model. The
equilibrium chemistry assumption for the non-premixed model ignores the aerodynamic
strain of the flame. By using the steady flamelet model, the local non-equilibrium due to
the strain can be well modeled. In addition, the flamelet model can predict flame lift off
and blow off phenomena, which are missed by the equilibrium chemistry assumption.
This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:
Set up and solve the steady flamelet model by importing CHEMKIN mechanism and
generating multiple flamelets.
Solve the solution with multiple laminar flamelet model.
Postprocess the resulting data.

Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from
ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Tutorial Guide, and that you are familiar with the ANSYS FLUENT
navigation pane and menu structure. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will
not be shown explicitly.
This tutorial uses equilibrium mixture fraction/pdf model and laminar flamelet mixture
fraction/pdf model, with the k- realizable turbulence model and DO radiation model. If
you have not used these models before, refer to ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Users Guide and
ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Tutorial Guide.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Problem Description
The problem was modeled after the experiments carried out at the Burner Engineering Research Laboratory (BERL). This study involves an unstaged natural gas flame in a 300 KW
industrial burner. The schematic of the the problem is as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Schematic of the Problem

Setup and Solution

Preparation
1. Copy the files (berl.msh.gz and berl.prof) to the working folder.
2. Copy the CHEMKIN mechanism file (smooke46.che) and thermodynamic database
file (thermo.db) to the working folder.
3. Use FLUENT Launcher to start the 2D version of ANSYS FLUENT.
For more information about FLUENT Launcher refer to Section 1.1.2, Starting
ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher in ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Users Guide.
The Display Options are enabled by default. Therefore, after you read in the mesh, it
will be displayed in the embedded graphics window.
Step 1: Mesh
1. Read the mesh file (berl.msh.gz).
File Read Mesh...
As the mesh file is read, ANSYS FLUENT will report the progress in the console.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Step 2: General Settings

1. Define the solver settings.
General

(a) Select Axisymmetric Swirl from the 2D Space list.

2. Scale the mesh.
General Scale...

(a) Select mm from the View Length Unit In drop-down list.

(b) Select mm from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list.
(c) Click Scale and close the Scale Mesh dialog box.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

3. Check the mesh (see Figure 2).

General Check
ANSYS FLUENT will perform various checks on the mesh and will report the progress
in the console. Make sure the minimum volume reported is a positive number.

Figure 2: Mesh Display

Step 3: Models
1. Enable the Energy Equation.
Models

Energy Edit...

2. Select the standard k  turbulence model.

Models

Viscous Edit...

3. Select the Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model.

Models

Radiation Edit...

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

(a) Set Flow Iterations per Radiation Iteration to 1.

(b) Set Theta Divisions and Phi Divisions to 4.
(c) Set Theta Pixels and Phi Pixels to 3.
These values are recommended for the DO radiation model with periodic boundaries. For more details, see Section 14.3.5, Setting Up the DO Model in ANSYS
FLUENT 13.0 Users Guide.
(d) Retain the default values for the other parameters.
(e) Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
An information dialog box will open reminding you to confirm the property values
that have been extracted from the database. Click OK.
4. Select Non-Premixed Combustion from the Model list to open Species Model dialog box.
Models

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Species Edit...

2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

(a) Click Chemistry tab.

i. Select Steady Flamelet from the State Relation group box.
ii. Click Import CHEMKIN Mechanism....

A. Select smooke46.che for Gas-Phase CHEMKIN Mechanism File.

B. Select thermo.db for Gas-Phase Thermodynamic Database File.
C. Click Import and close the CHEMKIN Mechanism Import dialog box.
(b) Click the Boundary tab.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

i. Select Mole Fraction from the Specify Species in group box.

ii. Enter 315 for Fuel (k) and Oxid (k) in the Temperature group box.
iii. Set the composition of Fuel and Oxid for the Species as shown in the following
table:
Species
ch4
o2
co2
n2

Fuel
0.984
0
0.003
0.013

Oxid
0
0.21
0
0.79

(c) Click the Flamelet tab.

i. Enter 20 for Maximum Number of Flamelets.
ii. Click Calculate Flamelets.
After calculating flamelets, ANSYS FLUENT displays a Question dialog box
asking you whether to save the flamelet file. Click Yes and save the file
berl.fla.gz.
(d) In the Table tab click Calculate PDF Table.
You can click on Display PDF Table... if you want to see the plot. Click Display
in the PDF Table dialog box.
(e) Write the PDF file (berl.pdf.gz).
File Write PDF...
(f) Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Step 4: Materials
Materials

Mixture Create/Edit...

1. Select wsggm-domain-based from the Absorption Coefficient drop-down list.

2. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
Step 5: Boundary Conditions
1. Read the profile file (berl.prof).
File Read Profile...
2. Set the boundary conditions for the air-inlet zone.
Boundary Conditions

air-inlet-4 Edit...

(a) Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
(b) Select vel-prof u and vel-prof w from the Axial-Velocity and Swirl-Velocity dropdown lists, respectively.
(c) Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down
list in the Turbulence group box.
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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

(d) Enter 17% for Turbulent Intensity and 29 mm for Hydraulic Diameter.
(e) Click the Thermal tab and enter 312 K for Temperature.
(f) Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the fuel-inlet-5 zone.
Boundary Conditions

fuel-inlet-5 Edit...

(a) Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
(b) Enter 157.25 for Radial Velocity.
(c) Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down
list in the Turbulence group box.
(d) Enter 5% for Turbulent Intensity and 1.8 mm for Hydraulic Diameter.
(e) Click the Thermal tab and enter 308 K for Total Temperature.
(f) Click the Species tab and enter 1 for Mean Mixture Fraction.
(g) Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the outlet zone.
Boundary Conditions

poutlet-3 Edit...

(a) Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down
list in the Turbulence group box.
(b) Enter 5% for Backflow Turbulence Intensity and 600 mm for Backflow Hydraulic
Diameter.
(c) Click the Thermal tab and enter 1300 K for Backflow Outlet Temperature.
(d) Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the wall zones.
(a) Enter the values as shown in the following table:
Zone
Name
wall-10
wall-11
wall-12
wall-13
wall-6
wall-7
wall-8
wall-9

Temperature
1100
1273
1173
1173
1370
312
1305
temp-prof t

Internal
Emissivity
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.5
0.6

Step 6: Solution
1. Set the solution parameters.
Solution Methods

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

(a) Select Coupled from the Scheme drop-down list.

(b) Enable Pseudo Transient.
2. Set solution controls.
Solution Controls
(a) Set Density to 0.25 in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
(b) Click Advanced to set the advanced parameters.

i. Click the Expert tab.

ii. Enable and enter 25 for Energy, Temperature, and Mean Mixture Fraction in
the Pseudo Transient Equation Specific Time Step Controls group box.
iii. Click OK to close the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

For reacting flow applications it is recommended to lower the under relaxation factors for density, increase the time step for energy, temperature and
mixture fraction and use a automatic conservative option.
3. Initialize the flow field.
Solution Initialization
(a) Select all-zones from the Compute from drop-down list.
(b) Click Initialize.
4. Save the case file (berl-ini.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
5. Run the calculation for 500 iterations (see Figure 3).
Run Calculation

Figure 3: Scaled Residuals

The solution will converge in approximately 465 iterations.
6. Save the case and data files (berl-converged.cas/dat.gz).
File Write Case & Data...
7. Select Second Order Upwind for all parameters except Gradient, Pressure, and Mixture
Fraction Variance.
Solution Methods
8. Run the calculation for 500 iterations (see Figure 4).
Run Calculation

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Figure 4: Scaled Residuals

9. Save the case and data files (berl-second.cas/dat.gz).

File Write Case & Data...
10. Compute the fluxes.
Reports

Fluxes Set Up...

(a) Calculate the Mass Flow Rate with air-inlet-4 and fuel-inlet-5 as Boundaries.
(b) Calculate the Mass Flow Rate with poutlet-3 selected from Boundaries.
The mass imbalance is small. Both these figures are equal and opposite in sign
to each other.
(c) Calculate the Total Heat Transfer Rate by selecting all from the list of Boundaries.
(d) Close the Flux Reports dialog box.
Step 7: Postprocessing
1. Display filled contours of velocity, temperature and mass fraction of o2.
Graphics and Animations

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Contours Set Up...

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Figure 5: Contours of Velocity Magnitude

Figure 6: Contours of Temperature

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2D Simulation of a 300 KW BERL Combustor Using the Laminar Flamelet Model

Figure 7: Contours of Mass fraction of O2

Summary
In this tutorial, you learned how to set up and solve a natural gas combustion using the
multiple laminar flamelet model. For accurate results and for comparison with experimental
data, it is recommended to solve a complete second order solution.

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