Modeling the Transport of Fuel Mixture Perturbations and Entropy Waves in the Linearized Framework

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, a new method is introduced to model the transport of entropy waves and equivalence ratio fluctuations in turbulent flows. The model is based on the Navier–Stokes equations and includes a transport equation for a passive scalar, which may stand for entropy or equivalence ratio fluctuations. The equations are linearized around the mean turbulent fields. These serve as the input to the model in addition to a turbulent eddy viscosity, which accounts for turbulent diffusion of the perturbations. Based on these inputs, the framework is able to predict the linear response of the flow velocity and passive scalar to harmonic perturbations that are imposed at the boundaries of the computational domain. These, in this study, are fluctuations in the passive scalar and/or velocities at the inlet of a channel flow. The code is first validated against analytic results, showing very good agreement. Then, the method is applied to predict the convection, mean flow dispersion, and turbulent mixing of passive scalar fluctuations in a turbulent channel flow, which has been studied in previous work with direct numerical simulations (DNS). Results show that our code reproduces the dynamics of coherent passive scalar transport in the DNS with very high accuracy and low numerical costs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that turbulent mixing has a significant effect on the transport of the passive scalar fluctuations. Finally, we apply the method to explain experimental observations of transport of equivalence ratio fluctuations in the mixing duct of a model burner.