OpenFOAM for LES of premixed 

combustion and mixing processes
Hannes Kröger, Steffen Jahnke, Nikolai Kornev, Egon Hassel

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 1
8th June 2007
 Introduction
●
LTT­Rostock: OpenFOAM is used for LES in different 
projects
– LES of premixed combustion: Combustion Induced 
Vortex Breakdown
– LES of mixing processes: Jet mixer
– Development of the inflow generator
– Dimpled surfaces in heat exchangers

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 2
8th June 2007
 Contents
●
LES of combustion ­ Combustion Induced Vortex Breakdown 
(CIVB)
– Introduction, Motivation
– Computations, Results
– Current developments
●
LES of mixing processes ­ Jet mixer
– Introduction
– Influence of mesh, SGS model and inflow conditions

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 3
8th June 2007
 Contents
●
LES of combustion ­ Combustion Induced Vortex Breakdown 
(CIVB)
– Introduction, Motivation
– Computations, Results
– Current developments
●
LES of mixing processes ­ Jet mixer
– Introduction
– Influence of mesh, SGS model and inflow conditions

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 4
8th June 2007
 Vortex Breakdown
●
recirculation bubble is  flow
formed in vortical flows if 
swirl strength exceeds 
critical threshold
Picture: Lim / National University of Singapore

●
known from 
– delta wings at high angles 
of attack
– strong vortical flows
Picture:University of Liverpool

flow
OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 5
8th June 2007
 Vortex Breakdown
●
utilized in premixed gas­turbine combustion chambers 
for aerodynamical flame stabilization

combustion chamber
mixing pipe sT ●
vortex breakdown is enforced 
by jump of cross­sectional area
Uax >> sT ●
stable flame position
Uax ●
flame burns in recirculation 
bubble
flow stable
Picture: Fritz / PhD­Thesis, Technical University Munich
flame

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 6
8th June 2007
 Combustion Induced Vortex 
Breakdown
●
aerodynamical flame stabilization can get unstable
●
Investigations at TU Munich: CIVB is responsible

mixing pipe
●
under certain conditions (high 
load) flame propagation into 
mixing pipe can be observed
●
reason is interaction of flame 
and vortex breakdown

Picture: Fritz / PhD­Thesis, Technical University Munich

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 7
8th June 2007
 Model experiment: 
CIVB in free vortices
●
Objective: Flame flashback in a 
free rotating jet
●
Targets:
– understanding the physical 
mechanism
– influence of parameters
– quantitative prediction of CIVB 
phenomenon

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 8
8th June 2007
 CIVB in free vortices
Experimental observations
Cold flow with critical swirl:
Axial velocity
180
<u> [m/s]
2.00
160 1.75
1.50
140 1.25
1.00
0.75
120
0.50
0.25
100 0.00

z [mm]
­0.25
80

60

40

20

0
­40 ­20 0 20
y [mm]

Flamespeed estimated from film: v f ≈2.5 m / s
Estimated turbulent flamespeed: sT ≈s L u ' =0.17m / s1m/ s=1.17m /s
OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 9
8th June 2007
 Numerical simulations
●
Step 1:
– Calculation of isothermal flow 
through swirl generator device to 
get mean velocity profiles
PIV LES

Geometry of swirl generator

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 10
8th June 2007
 Numerical simulations
●
Step 2: Calculation of the reacting flow (partially 
premixed)
Solver: Xoodles (Weller b­ model)
inhomogeneousMixture
with transport equations for Su and Xi

Resolution: 1 million cells (cell edge length 1.5mm at flame)

SGS model: oneEqEddy

Boundary conditions: mean velocity from precursor simulation
turbulent fluctuations from inflow generator
(turbulent spot method)

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 11
8th June 2007
 Numerical simulations

 qualitative reproduction of phenomenon successful

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 12
8th June 2007
 x
Results
●
instantaneous velocity field:   x=0
recirculation bubble in front of flame tip
●
confirmation after averaging in flame­ Uax
fixed coordinate system

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 13
8th June 2007
 Further analysis
Vortex breakdown: explanation via vorticity
●
Vorticity is turned
●
Circumferentially aligned vorticity induces deceleration on vortex axis
●
positive feedback: vortex breakdown Strain effect in 
incompressible flows
vorticity production

∂
 1
u⋅∇  =−
  ∇⋅u  2
∇ ×∇ p ⋅∇
 u
∂t 
volume baroclinic strain torus vorticity
expansion production stretch induced velocity

only present in variable density flows

flow
OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 14
8th June 2007
 Further analysis
Which production mechanism contributes most?
Vorticity induces velocity uind according to:
(Biot­Savart­Law)

An induced acceleration can be obtained:

 Integration was carried out with a 
postprocessing program using the 
OpenFOAM­library

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 15
8th June 2007
 Further analysis
induced accelerations averaged in flame­fixed CS:
strain/stretch:
largest contribution to deceleration 
of axial flow
x

 x=0

large fluctuations

Uax

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 16
8th June 2007
 Current developments
●
Implementation of 
– PDF methods for combustion simulation
●
presumed PDF's: 
– beta PDF, clipped gaussian, ...
– Flame Surface Density PDF (L. Vervisch & P. Domingo)
– Partial PDF (A. Mura & R. Borghi)
– usage of ILDM chemistry tables

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 17
8th June 2007
 Implementation
new library: 
libcompositionPdf

MultidimensionalLookupTable<T> beta clippedGaussian .....

chemistryTable compositionPdf<PDF>

presumedPdfThermo<PDF>

presumedPdfOodles

MultidimensionalLookupTable: lookup table with arbitrary number of progress variables
presumedPdfThermo: thermo­class for presumed­PDF method

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 18
8th June 2007
 Application
●
depending on
– selected (and implemented) PDF
– selected progress variable
– generated lookup table
the implementation can be used for non­premixed and 
premixed combustion
●
currently computation of test cases

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 19
8th June 2007
 Test cases
●
premixed ●
non premixed
ORACLES burner Sydney swirl flame SM1

Isosurface T=1100K

 work in progress, no quantitative results yet
OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 20
8th June 2007
 Contents
●
LES of combustion ­ Combustion Induced Vortex Breakdown 
(CIVB)
– Introduction, Motivation
– Computations, Results
– Current developments
●
LES of mixing processes ­ Jet mixer
– Introduction
– Influence of mesh, SGS model and inflow conditions

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 21
8th June 2007
 Jet mixer
●
Jet mixer in chemical industry: chemical reactor
●
Project targets: Investigation of micro­mixing in liquids

computational domain

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 22
8th June 2007
 Jet mixer ­ Investigations

Numerical Experimental
●
RANS (CFX 5) ●
LIF (mixing)
●
LES (inhouse code) ●
LDA (velocities)
●
LES (OpenFOAM)

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 23
8th June 2007
 Jet mixer – Influence of mesh type
experiment
1. 1. block­structured hex
2. unstructured hex
3. tetrahedra

2.

3.

x/D

computational domain
OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 24
8th June 2007
 Jet mixer – influence of SGS model
experiment
1. locDynSmagorinsky
2. locDynOneEqEddy
1.
3. dynOneEqEddy
           4. DMM
2.

3.

4.

x/D

computational domain

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 25
8th June 2007
 Jet mixer – influence of inflow BC's
●
Comparison of
– random inflow
– quasi­periodic inflow

random

random (5x turb. intensity)

quasi­periodic

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 26
Isosurfaces 
8th June 2007 2=­5000
 Future Works
●
Complete implementation of presumed­PDF methods
●
G­equation / WENO scheme for unstructured 
tetrahedral meshes

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 27
8th June 2007
 Thank you for your attention!

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the
●
OpenFOAM developer community
●
DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
●
HLRN (Norddeutscher Verbund für Hoch­ und 
Höchstleistungsrechnen)

OpenFOAM­Workshop Zagreb 28
8th June 2007