Large eddy simulation of a bluff body stabilized lean premixed flame

Abstract

The present study is devoted to verify current capabilities of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methodology in the modeling of lean premixed flames in the typical turbulent combustion regime of Dry Low NO x gas turbine combustors. A relatively simple reactive test case, presenting all main aspects of turbulent combustion interaction and flame stabilization of gas turbine lean premixed combustors, was chosen as an affordable test to evaluate the feasibility of the technique also in more complex test cases. A comparison between LES and RANS modeling approach is performed in order to discuss modeling requirements, possible gains, and computational overloads associated with the former. Such comparison comprehends a sensitivity study to mesh refinement and combustion model characteristic constants, computational costs, and robustness of the approach. In order to expand the overview on different methods simulations were performed with both commercial and open-source codes switching from quasi-2D to fully 3D computations. © 2014 A. Andreini et al.