A Computational Study of a Dump Combustor with and Without Swirler

Abstract

AbstractCombustor is an important component in all heat engines. A major goal of combustion research is to develop accurate, tractable, and predictive models for the phenomena occurring in the combustor. There are numerous parameters that affect the combustion process in the combustor. Hence, several experiments have been conducted by researchers to study those parameters and their effects. This study is also a small effort in the same direction to focus on phenomena occurring in the combustor. In this paper, cold flow of air in a combustor is simulated to take an insight view of phenomena occurring inside. A swirling cold flow is also done and compared to the results without swirl flow. In without swirl condition, the flow field is compared at variable Reynolds numbers 2285 to 3428 and in swirl condition, the flow field is compared at different swirl vane angles (30°–75°). At the inlet point, pressure and temperature is 60psi and 300 K, respectively. At the outlet point, pressure and temperature is equal to atmospheric condition. The potential core, recirculation, and shear zone are found in the non-swirling flow. In the recirculation zone, there is a clear effect of variation in Reynolds number. It is seen that recirculation strength increases with an increase in Reynolds number in non-swirling type combustor. The effects of swirl vane angles on central and corner recirculation zones are visualized in swirl flow. All studies have been done on a dump combustor and numerically simulated by using ANSYSFLUENT simulation package.KeywordsCombustionFlow fieldANSYSSimulation