LES of Biomass Syngas Combustion in a Swirl Stabilised Burner: Model Validation and Predictions

In this work, numerical investigations were performed using large eddy simulations and validated against detailed measurements in the CeCOST swirl stabilised burner. Both cold and reactive flow have been studied and the model has shown a good agreement with experiments. The verification of the model was done using the LES index of quality and a single grid estimator. The cold flow simulations predicted results closely to experiments setting baseline for the reactive simulations. Coherent structures like the vortex rope above the swirler and a precessing vortex core in the combustion chamber were identified. The reactive conditions were modelled with the Flamelet generated manifold and artificially thickened flame models. Simulations were performed for an experimental syngas composition from black liquor gasification at three different CO₂ dilution levels. Three different Reynolds numbers were investigated with the model matching closely to experimentally detected 2D flow field and OH for the most CO₂ diluted mixture. It was found that the opening angles of the flames differ by a maximum of 13% between experiments and simulations. The most diluted fuel investigated experienced a liftoff distance of 23.5 mm at the Re 25 k. This was also the highest liftoff distance experienced in this cohort of fuels. The same fuel also proved to have the thickest flame annulus at 78.5 mm. Overall, in cases with no experimental data available the predictions made by the model follow the same trends which hints its applicability to higher Re cases.