Infinitely Fast Heterogeneous Catalysis Model for Premixed Hydrogen Flame-Wall Interaction

Abstract

In most computations of reacting flows, walls are considered as inert. This approach can produce non-physical results that lead to very large values of heat release at the wall for hydrogen Flame-Wall Interaction (FWI). This paper confirms this unexpected behavior at walls for H2 flames. It also explores the possibility that the problem does not come from a deficiency of the chemical scheme at low temperatures but from the wall boundary condition: due to the large amount of radical species produced by H2 flames, the “inert” assumption may not be valid anymore. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to propose a simplified model named Infinitely Fast Heterogeneous Catalysis (IFHC) that mimics surface reactions and (2) to test it on the canonical Head-On Quenching (HOQ) configuration. A large set of parameters is investigated: a skeletal (San Diego) and a detailed (Burke) chemical schemes are tested, the grid-dependence and the influence of operating conditions (ϕ, Tw and P) are assessed. Results show that the IFHC model can inhibit the chemical pathways that are responsible for the heat generation peak observed on the wall in hydrogen FWI with inert surfaces. The IFHC model also allows computations to converge when the mesh is refined, a property that cannot be reached for inert wall treatments. Using IFHC, neither the predicted quenching distance nor the flame structure are altered. However, the maximum wall heat flux is significantly decreased when compared to inert walls. Over the range of operating conditions studied, the maximum wall heat flux is reached at high pressure, low wall-temperature and equivalence ratios close to the maximum of reactivity of H2 flames (ϕ≈1.7). This study shows that, for H2 FWI, walls should be at least modeled with simple surface reactions – such as IFHC – and that assuming inert walls is not possible.Novelty and significance statementThe work presented in this paper is new, original and of interest at the present time as many groups simulate near-walls H2/Air flames. The IFHC model is relevant for all premixed hydrogen combustion close to walls and is, thus, relevant for most realistic premixed hydrogen combustion scenarios. Besides being conservative in terms of mass, momentum, energy and atom balance, IFHC allows to reach mesh convergence during quenching contrary to simplistic inert wall treatments. It also allows to describe walls at an affordable computational cost compared to a full set of heterogeneous reactions. This work also opens the discussion with experimentalists since, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the dimensional maximum wall heat fluxes are not yet available in the literature and are, thus, provided here for future comparison.