Numerical Modeling of Victorian Brown Coal Combustion in a Tangentially Fired Furnace

Abstract

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a 375 MW brown-coal-fired furnace in the Latrobe Valley, Australia, has been developed using ANSYS CFX 12.0. To improve the model predictions, a coal combustion model that takes into consideration carbon monoxide reactions has been utilized in ANSYS CFX 12.0. A level of confidence in the current CFD model has been established by carrying out a mesh independence test and validation against the furnace gas exit temperature (FGET), concentration of flue gas components, total boiler heat supply, and the wall incident heat fluxes measured in the power plant. The validated CFD model is then applied to investigate the effects of several operating conditions at full load, such as different out-of-service firing groups and different combustion air distributions on the coal flame. It is found that the selection of out-of-service firing groups has a considerable effect on coal combustion in terms of high-temperature zone shape and location and distribution of incident ra...