The primary objective of this research is to characterize fuel combustion in reactive flow simulations using advanced kinetic modeling and mechanism reduction tools. Since incorporating detailed chemical kinetic model in the realistic reactive flow simulations is a computationally challenging task due to the large size of detailed kinetic mechanism, it is of great interest to develop approaches for simplifying the kinetic models and reducing computational costs in reactive flow simulations. In this dissertation, we first extend the previously developed on-the-fly reduction approach to the characterization of complex biodiesel combustion using detailed biodiesel surrogate mechanism. Major combustion characteristics such as ignition, emission, as well as engine performance for biodiesel compared with conventional fossil fuels are studied. Although the incorporation of detailed biodiesel combustion mechanism in complex reactive flow simulation is enabled, the simulation is still highly time-consuming. To further alleviate the computational intensity, a hybrid reduction scheme coupling the on-the-fly reduction with global quasi-steady-state approximation (QSSA) is developed. The proposed hybrid reduction scheme is demonstrated in various reactive flow simulations including zero-dimensional PFR model, multidimensional HCCI engine CFD model, and realistic gas phase injector CFD simulations. A flux-based quasi-steady-state (QSS) species selection procedure is introduced to facilitate the demonstration of hybrid scheme. Finally, a novel computational framework integrating automated mechanism generation and on-the-fly reduction is proposed and implemented using a stepwise integration. The proposed framework is then demonstrated in methane oxidation case studies and shows a new way of conducting reactive flow simulation without having an actual mechanism before the simulation starts. The integration of automated mechanism generation and on-the-fly reduction is a promising technique to perform reactive flow simulations and has the potential to reduce the computational cost of the simulations. The work in this dissertation provides powerful tools and important insight for the incorporation of detailed chemical kinetics in the reactive flow simulations.

Modelling and Simulation of Reactive Flows presents information on modeling and how to numerically solve reactive flows. The book offers a distinctive approach that combines diffusion flames and geochemical flow problems, providing users with a comprehensive resource that bridges the gap for scientists, engineers, and the industry. Specifically, the book looks at the basic concepts related to reaction rates, chemical kinetics, and the development of reduced kinetic mechanisms. It considers the most common methods used in practical situations, along with equations for reactive flows, and various techniques—including flamelet, ILDM, and Redim—for jet flames and plumes, with solutions for both. In addition, the book includes techniques to accelerate the convergence of numerical simulation, and a discussion on the analysis of uncertainties with numerical results, making this a useful reference for anyone who is interested in both combustion in free flow and in porous media. - Helps readers learn how to apply applications of numerical methods to simulate geochemical kinetics - Presents methods on how to transform the transport equations in several coordinate systems - Includes discussions of the basic concepts related to reaction rates, chemical kinetics, and the development of reduced kinetic mechanisms, including the most common methods used in practical situations - Offers a distinctive approach that combines diffusion flames and geochemical flow problems

The main objective of this research is to develop a kinetic model reduction framework that enables incorporation of detailed chemistry with realistic flow simulation. Comprehensive computational fluid dynamics tools and detailed kinetic mechanisms have been developed, and the fully integration of these two components has been recognized as an imperative necessity to represent realistic systems. However, integrating detailed chemistry in complex flow simulation is expensive and oftentimes prohibitive. Thus this work is driven by the premise to reduce the computational intensity introduced by including detailed chemistry in realistic flow simulation and meanwhile retain acceptable accuracy. The work in this dissertation is focused on the development of an efficient yet accurate kinetic reduction method that enables dynamic reduction within the context of reactive simulations. Excessive computational intensity introduced by the integration of detailed chemistry in reactive flow simulation stems from the large size of detailed kinetic models. The kinetic model reduction method proposed in this dissertation is to address the following two unique aspects: (i) effective reduction of model size; and (ii) efficient integration of the reduction method dynamically during reactive flow simulation without introducing significant overhead. The proposed method is based on an element flux analysis approach which provides an indicator to quantify element transitions between species. The element flux can be further implemented to retrieve useful information from the kinetic network and identify active species under given reaction conditions, which constitute the fundamental of kinetic analysis and redundancy identification in mechanism reduction. It is demonstrated in this research that element flux analysis gives rise to both an effective and efficient dynamic mechanism reduction method, as well as a useful kinetic analysis tool. The proposed approaches can be extended to multiple disciplines since a large number of applications in novel fuel development, engine design, and petro chemistry require the efficient modeling of reactive flows.

Combustion is an old technology, which at present provides about 90% of our worldwide energy support. Combustion research in the past used fluid mechanics with global heat release by chemical reactions described with thermodynamics, assuming infinitely fast reactions. This approach was useful for stationary combustion processes, but it is not sufficient for transient processes like ignition and quenching or for pollutant formation. Yet pollutant formation during combustion of fossil fuels is a central topic and will continue to be so in future. This book provides a detailed and rigorous treatment of the coupling of chemical reactions and fluid flow. Also, combustion-specific topics of chemistry and fluid mechanics are considered, and tools described for the simulation of combustion processes.

Plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) is a promising combustion enhancement technique that shows great potential for applications to a number of different practical combustion systems. In this dissertation, the chemical kinetics associated with PAC are investigated numerically with a newly developed model that describes the chemical processes induced by plasma. To support the model development, experiments were performed using a plasma flow reactor in which the fuel oxidation proceeds with the aid of plasma discharges below and above the self-ignition thermal limit of the reactive mixtures. The mixtures used were heavily diluted with Ar in order to study the reactions with temperature-controlled environments by suppressing the temperature changes due to chemical reactions. The temperature of the reactor was varied from 420 K to 1250 K and the pressure was fixed at 1 atm. Simulations were performed for the conditions corresponding to the experiments and the results are compared against each other. Important reaction paths were identified through path flux and sensitivity analyses. Reaction systems studied in this work are oxidation of hydrogen, ethylene, and methane, as well as the kinetics of NOx in plasma.In the fuel oxidation studies, reaction schemes that control the fuel oxidation are analyzed and discussed. With all the fuels studied, the oxidation reactions were extended to lower temperatures with plasma discharges compared to the cases without plasma. The analyses showed that radicals produced by dissociation of the reactants in plasma plays an important role of initiating the reaction sequence. At low temperatures where the system exhibits a chain-terminating nature, reactions of HO2 were found to play important roles on overall fuel oxidation. The effectiveness of HO2 as a chain terminator was weakened in the ethylene oxidation system, because the reactions of C2H4 + O that have low activation energies deflects the flux of O atoms away from HO2. For the ethylene and methane oxidation systems, the reaction pathways important for the formation of intermediate species are discussed. The reactions of CH3 and C2H5 were found to influence the production channels of minor species.In the studies on the kinetics of NOx in plasma, several mechanistic insights were obtained, including the identification of formation and consumption steps of N2O and the extensive review of three NO formation schemes found in the current reaction mechanism. Efforts to address the known inaccuracies of the current model are also reported.

Introduces advanced mathematical tools for the modeling, simulation, and analysis of chemical non-equilibrium phenomena in combustion and flows, following a detailed explanation of the basics of thermodynamics and chemical kinetics of reactive mixtures. Researchers, practitioners, lecturers, and graduate students will find this work valuable.

Contents: Description of accurate boundary conditions for the simulation of reactive flows. Parallel direct numerical simulation of turbulent reactive flow. Flame-wall interaction and heat flux modelling in turbulent channel flow. A numerical study of laminar flame wall interaction with detailed chemistry: wall temperature effects. Modeling and simulation of turbulent flame kernel evolution. Experimental and theoretical analysis of flame surface density modelling for premixed turbulent combustion. Gradient and counter-gradient transport in turbulent premixed flames. Direct numerical simulation of turbulent flames with complex chemical kinetics. Effects of curvature and unsteadiness in diffusion flames. Implications for turbulent diffusion combustion. Numerical simulations of autoignition in turbulent mixing flows. Stabilization processes of diffusion flames. References.