Acta Astronautica 162 (2019) 536–545

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Acta Astronautica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

Numerical investigation of embedding some hot obstacles in a low speed T

reacting flow of the moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution in a jet-in-hot-
coflow
Mohammad Mansouriana, Reza Kamalia,∗, In-Seuck Jeungb
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71348-51154, Iran
b
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Given the daily growth of pollutant emissions in this age of technology, every method that can increase the
Moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution efficiency of the combustion as well as reduce the pollution is very important to consider. One way to reach this
combustion with hot obstacles goal is moderate or intense low oxygen dilution. In the present work, this technology of turbulent nonpremixed
Preheat temperature CH4-H2 jet flames has investigated in various working conditions in Dally burner, numerically. In this regard, the
Energy consumption
finite volume method in OpenFOAM package has used with k-ε Re-Normalization Group as well as the discrete
ordinates radiation model. Furthermore, the eddy dissipation concept for interaction between turbulence and
chemistry in combination with the detailed reaction mechanism have been employed. At first, the results are
compared with the experimental data and after validating the obtained results of the solution, the moderate or
intense low-oxygen dilution combustion is investigated by putting some hot obstacles in the burner. The results
show that the hot obstacle has a role similar to the hot spot and helps this condition of combustion to reduce the
initial cost in order to preheat the hot oxidizer co-flow. This means that putting the hot obstacle in the burner
causes to reduce the preheat temperature and the energy consumption per second up to 300 K and 17.9%,
respectively, while it increases the turbulence intensity, reaction zone, outlet CO2 and H2O species while reduces
NOx and CO emissions.

1. Introduction studied a MILD condition industrial burner through internal exhaust

Recently, several methods have been proposed to improve the
combustion process and there are many researchers who have made
numerous efforts to predict combustion behavior in various applica-
tions [1–5]. For instance, Faber et al. [6], Barzegar et al. [7], Engin
et al. [8], Wang et al. [9] and Hu et al. [10,11] carried out extensive
investigations about oxy-fuel combustions. Furthermore, there are
several highly efficient combustion technologies for the reduction of
pollutants such as swirl combustion [12], Plasma-assisted combustion
[13], Moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion [14].
MILD combustion is a process to couple the combustions with very high
efficiencies and very low pollutant emissions. This technology is re-
cognized by the amount of O2, reactants temperature and the maximum
increase in the combustion process temperature. Due to the unique
features of this technology, there are several experimental and nu-
merical investigations of MILD combustion in various academics and
industrial applications. For example, Galleti et al. [15] numerically
gases recirculation. They found that the NO emission reduces by up to
99.7% when operating in MILD combustion mode rather than in flame
combustion mode. MILD combustion of pulverized coal has been
modeled by some researchers [16–18] and the results show that the
level of pollutant emissions are lower than the traditional combustion
in the same working conditions. Khalil et al. [19] evaluated the fla-
meless regime criteria based on exhaust gas recirculation and mixing
using computational fluid dynamics. They found that reduction in the
air jet diameter by 50% increase recirculation ratio to 100%. Mousavi
et al. [20] numerically investigated the effects of adding H2 to the
flameless oxidation process and noted that adding H2 to the process
leads to a reduction in NOx emissions. An experimental and computa-
tional investigation of MILD and flame conditions burner are carried
out by Galletti et al. [21]. They showed that the modeling of MILD
combustion process needs a proper turbulence-chemistry interaction
treatment and detailed kinetic mechanisms, especially in the presence
of hydrogen. Danon et al. [22], through a numerical investigation,

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rkamali@shirazu.ac.ir (R. Kamali).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.06.034
Received 30 March 2019; Received in revised form 27 May 2019; Accepted 27 June 2019
Available online 29 June 2019
0094-5765/ © 2019 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Mansourian, et al. Acta Astronautica 162 (2019) 536–545

Nomenclature time
Z mixture fraction
Symbols
Greek letters
A pre-exponential factor
[A] molar concentration of substance A β coefficient of thermal expansion
[B] molar concentration of substances B ε rate of dissipation of turbulence energy
C volume fraction constant μi eddy viscosity, Pa.s
C time scale constant v kinematic viscosity, m2/s
Ea activation energy ρ Density, kg/m3
K Turbulence kinetic energy
m partial order in [A] Abbreviations
n partial order in [B]
N total number of fluid phase chemical species present in the CFD computational fluid dynamics
system EDC Eddy dissipation concept
R gas constant DO discrete ordinates
Ri net rate of production of species i by chemical reaction GRI-Mech detailed reaction mechanism
Si rate of creation by addition from the dispersed phase plus HSRC hybrid solar receiver and combustor
any user-defined sources JHC Jet-flame-in-hot-coflow
T Temperature, K MILD Moderate or intense low oxygen dilution
ui velocity component in the corresponding direction RNG Re-Normalization Group
Yi Fine-scale species mass fraction after reacting over the TMC Traditional MILD combustion

indicated that the formation of recirculation zones can improve heat
regeneration and the temperature uniformity. Parente et al. [23] in-
vestigated the MILD combustion regime by a novel methodology based
on principal component analysis and claimed that their methodology is
able to identify all regions of the MILD condition by different physical
processes. Mousavi et al. [24] investigated the generation of entropy in
a flameless oxidation burner numerically. Their results explained that
by injecting fuel with an angle into the combustion chamber, the net
rates of reaction and entropy generation increase. In other works by this
group [25,26], by using large eddy simulation methodology, the non-
premixed flameless oxidation (FLOX) in a furnace was investigated. The
results indicated that significant changes occur in the FLOX behavior by
changes in working parameters such as inlet Reynolds number, the
concentration of inert gas, and inlet temperature of the fuel and hot co-
flows. Galletti et al. [27] purposed reduced kinetic schemes including
thermal, N2O, NNH and HNO/NO2 intermediate routes which can be
used in a wide range of MILD combustion conditions. Ye et al. [28]
found that pressure, jet velocity, and carrier gas have large impacts on
NOx emissions in an experimental study. Kruse et al. [29] found that the
mixing of reactant flow is an important factor for stabilization and
control of MILD combustion. Mardani and Ghomshi [30], in a numer-
ical study, showed that under OXY-MILD condition, an increment of
inlet oxygen level decreases the amounts of CO, NO, CH2O, and HCO. A
0.3 MW industrial burner under MILD condition by low-temperature air
was investigated by Tu et al. [31]. They found that the lowly preheated
air reduces the rate of combustion at the upstream furnace and causes a
backward movement under MILD condition. Cheong et al. [32] simu-
lated a counter-flow CH4 mild combustion and found that a higher
temperature is allowed under MILD-CO2 combustion, suggesting the
improvement of energy efficiency for MILD combustion technology. A

Fig. 1. Schematic of the studied burner [52].

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Table 1 addition, to estimate precision and error accumulation we used the

Operational conditions of the present work [48]. Smirnov's method [44–47]. After ensuring the accuracy of the present
Inlet condition Composition, mass fraction Velocity, m/s Temperature, K simulation by comparing the obtained results with the experimental
Fuel H2 = 11.1, CH4 = 88.9 70 300 data [48], the MILD combustion behaviors are analyzed under several
Coflow O2 = 3, N2 = 85, H2O = 6.5, 3.2 1300 conditions. In this regard, a number of hot obstacles are placed in the
CO2 = 5.5 burner to reduce the preheat co-flow temperature.
wind Tunnel O2 = 23.3, N2 = 76.7 3.2 300

2. Mathematical modeling
novel configuration of a hybrid solar receiver and combustor (HSRC)
under the MILD condition is reported by Lim et al. [33]. The results 2.1. Turbulence model
revealed that there is potential to reduce fuel consumption and levelize
the cost of electricity by up to 41% and 4%, respectively. Shu et al. [34] In the present work, the k-ε RNG (Re-Normalization Group) method
investigated the formation of NO from the MILD combustion of CH4 in is used to renormalize the Navier-Stokes equations to account for the
a hot co-flow (JHC) burner. Their results show that using H2O inert gas effects of smaller scales of motion [49]. This approach is a mathema-
as a diluent gas reduces NOx emission more when using CO2 inert gas; tical technique that can be used to derive a turbulence model. Fur-
hence, H2O is superior over CO2 to realize the MILD oxy-combustion. thermore, it results in a modified form of the ε-equation which attempts
An optimal equivalence ratio of 0.8 is obtained by Hu et al. [35,36] and to account for the different scales of motion through changes in pro-
Zhang et al. [37] to minimize emissions during MILD combustion. Hu duction term. There are several ways to write the transport equations
et al. [38] optimized global reaction mechanisms under MILD oxy- for k and ε; a simple interpretation by neglecting the buoyancy is:
combustion to improve the prediction of the distribution of tempera- µt k
tures, the value of equilibrium concentrations of major species, and the ( k) + ( kui) = µ+ + Pk
t xi xj k xj (1)
maximum concentration of CO emission. Tian et al. [39] applied the
MILD combustion to a co-axial-jet I-shaped recuperative radiant tube
µt 2
for further performance enhancement. Their results show that there is a ( )+ ( ui ) = µ+ + C1 Pk C2
remarkable space between the MILD condition and co-axial-jet pattern
t xi xj xj k k (2)
in narrow and small spaces. Additionally, Sánchez et al. [40], Cao et al. In which
[41] and Xing et al. [42] have comprehensive studies about the MILD
(FLOX) mode in various industrial applications. k2
µt = Cµ
(3)
As highlighted in the above studies, MILD combustion is a high-tech
technology aiming to achieve an efficient reaction phenomenon from Pk = µt 2Sij Sij (4)
the viewpoint of pollutant emission, fuel consumption, etc. Moreover, it
could provide the opportunity of establishing cost-effective and low
emission combustions, if the initial required energy is reduced. One of C2 = C2 +
Cµ 3
(1 0 )
the conditions for reaching a MILD regime is preheating the oxidizer in 1+ 3
(5)
co-flow to a temperature higher than the self-ignition temperature of And
the fuel-air mixture. Since this process is so costly, any method that can
1
aid in reaching MILD condition with lower cost and energy consump- (2Sij Sij ) 2k
tion could help to develop this technology. Hence, in the present study, =
(6)
MILD combustion in a JHC burner is investigated, using the eddy dis-
sipation concept (EDC) model, k-ε RNG turbulence model and GRI 2.11 1
=
reaction mechanism [43] have utilized in OpenFOAM package. In T p (7)

Fig. 2. a- Validation of the present work, b-precent of results deviation.

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Fig. 3. Dally burner in which 18 square obstacles.

Fig. 5. Temperature distribution for three mentioned cases.

Fig. 4. Contour of temperature for three mentioned cases.

In laminar flame, Ri is computed by Arrhenius expression but in

Furthermore, all constants in the above equations are as follows:
turbulent combustion, there are many different turbulence-chemistry
0 = 0.438, = 0.012, C 2 = 1.68, C 1 = 1.42, = 0.7194, interaction models, which consider the effect of turbulence on the net
rate of production of species. The EDC is one of the turbulence-chem-
= 0.7194, Cµ = 0.0845
k
istry interaction models, which are used, is applicable to a wide range
of combustion products, including premixed and non-premixed, pro-
blems that have a chemical reaction faster than mixing in a finite
2.2. Eddy dissipation concept (EDC) structure (where the turbulent mixing time is limited), as well as pro-
blems dominated by chemical reactions (where some combustion-lim-
The conservation equation for chemical species take the bellow iting reactions are present).
general form that solves for N-q species: This concept is based on turbulence energy cascade and for the first
time, was introduced by Magnusson and Hjertager [50]. This method is
( Yi ) + ( v Yi ) = Ji + Ri + Si an experimental model and calculates the mean reaction rate of the
t (8)
turbulent flows assuming that the reaction occurs in small turbulent
Ri is the net rate of production of species i by chemical reaction and structures, called the fine scales, and that it occurs in the fine structure.
Si is the rate of creation by addition from the dispersed phase and the In the EDC method, the volume fraction of the fine scales and mean
user-defined source. Ji is the diffusion flux of species i, which arises due residence time ( ) are defined as below:
to concentration gradients and differs in both laminar and turbulent
3/4 3/4
flows. In turbulent flows, computational fluid dynamics also considers =
3CD2
= C
the effects of turbulent diffusivity. The net source of chemical species i 4CD1 k2 k2 (9)
due to reaction, Ri which appeared as the source term in the species
1/2 1/2 1/2
transport equation is computed as the sum of the reaction sources over CD2
= = C
the NR reactions among the species. 3 (10)

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Fig. 6. Distribution of a- CH2O and b- OH.

Fig. 7. Contours of a- CH4 and b- H2.

In which, the superscript ∗ denotes the fine-scale quantities and ν is ( )2

Ri = (Yi Yi )
the kinematic viscosity. Furthermore, (C ) and (C ) are volume fraction [1 ( )3] (11)
and time scale constant where are equal to 2.1377 and 0.4082, re-
spectively, by default [50]. In the present framework, the volume The EDC model can incorporate detailed chemical mechanisms into
fraction constant (C ) and time scale constant (C ) are set to 3 and 1, turbulent reacting flows. Also, GRI. 2.11 reaction mechanism is used. In
respectively. The mean reaction rate in the conservation equation is this mechanism, the reaction rate is calculated by
shown in Eq. (11) which for the mean species i is:
r = AT be Ea / RT (12)

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Fig. 8. Distribution of a- CH4 and b- H2.

Fig. 9. Distribution of a-vorticity and b-turbulent kinetic energy.

Fig. 10. Contour of a- CO2 and b- H2O.

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Fig. 11. CO distribution in different conditions a-CO contour and b- CO profile in the axis direction.

Fig. 12. Profile of a- CO and b- NOx in vertical coordinate.

In which A is a pre-exponential factor, b is a constant and Ea is fraction would be 1 in the fuel and 0 in the oxidant.
activation energy. These quantities are given for all reactions which are
incorporated in the GRI mechanism.
Furthermore, a parameter called variable of mixture fraction (Z) is 3. Physical model
suggested by Ref. [48] to study the flame structure in the JHC burner.
This parameter is widely adopted to inspect non-premixed combustion. Fig. 1 is a schematic of the burner used in the present study, which is
It is due to the fact that the results are independent of the burner known as Dally burner [48]. This burner is comprised of three inlet
structure. The mixture fraction is related to the mass balance of C, H nozzles and an outlet nozzle with dimensions and conditions as speci-
and O elements, which is calculated as follows [51]: fied in Fig. 1. As can be observed, the inlet fuel, which is a combination
of H2 and CH4, enters through the central nozzle with a diameter of
2(YC YC ,2)
+
2(YH YH ,2 ) 2(YO YO,2) 4.2 mm. A nozzle of 82 mm in diameter is arranged around the fuel inlet
Z=
WC 2WH WO
for hot co-flow, which is a combination of H2O, O2, N2, and CO2. Fi-
2(YC ,1 YC ,2) 2(YH ,1 YH ,2 ) 2(YO,1 YO,2)
WC
+ 2WH WO (13) nally, there is a nozzle of 210 mm in radius around the co-flow inlet
nozzle for air which is comprised of N2 and O2. The length of the burner
where Yj and Wj represent the mass fraction and atomic mass for ele- is 500 mm according to Ref. [48] and the diameter of the burner's outlet
ment j, respectively. The subscripts 1 and 2 show the value extracted nozzle is 420 mm. Furthermore, the mass fraction of the species used in
from either the fuel or the oxidant. Using this criterion, the mixture the present work is presented in Table 1. It can be observed that

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M. Mansourian, et al.
temperature of the co-flow inlet is 1300 K, while the fuel and the wind
tunnel temperatures are equal to 300 K. Also, the velocity of the inlet
fuel is equal to 70 m/s and this value is 3.2 m/s for the other two flows.
Additionally, the mesh grids of the computational domain are shown in
Fig. 1, denoting a structured grid with higher cell concentration near
the fuel inlet and the hot co-flow, which is the main area where reac-
tions take place. The number of the used cells after grid study is 45000,
and the values considered for turbulent kinetic energy are 53 and 3 m2/
s2, respectively, for fuel inlet and hot co-flow inlet.
4. Results and discussions
4.1. Validation
In this section, the results from the current simulation are compared
with the experimental data [48] to validate the numerical framework.
To achieve this aim, a comparison between the predicted mixture
fraction and the experimental data [48] at three radial distances of 30,
60, 120 mm is shown in Fig. 2a–b. As is evident from Fig. 2a–b, there is
a reasonable agreement between the mixture fractions at all positions
obtained from the current investigation (the maximum error is less than
3.5%) and those obtained experimentally; showing that the present
numerical method is capable of predicting the MILD combustion be-
havior at various working conditions. In addition, In addition, to esti-
mate precision and error accumulation we used the Smirnov's method
[44–47] and the results satisfy the condition presenting in the Smirnov's
method.
4.2. Effect of hot obstacles
In this section, the variations in both the structure of the burner and
co-flow inlet conditions are studied. The geometry depicted in Fig. 3
has been used for this purpose. The geometry shows a Dally burner in
which 18 square obstacles have been placed. The dimensions of the
sides of these obstacles are similar to the radius of fuel inlet nozzle, and
the first obstacle is placed at a distance of 0.3 m from the fuel inlet
nozzle so that it can help to circulate the fuel upon entering with a high
velocity. These obstacles are distributed on a square with sides equal to
41 mm, same as the radius of hot co-flow inlet nozzle (at an angle of
45°). The height of this section is chosen to affect the whole inlet re-
acting flow including the fuel and the hot co-flow. By embedding ob-
stacles in the burner, the flow is deflected, and turbulence intensity is
increased. Since the enhancement of turbulence intensity causes the
reacting flow to mix more effectively, it is expected that embedding
obstacles lead to an improved combustion process. The obtained results
will be discussed in the following section. Furthermore, according to
Fig. 3, a structured mesh is utilized throughout the computational do-
main. It should be added that the properties of the inlet flow are in
accordance with section 3, except that in case 1, co-flow is preheated up
to 1100 K and the temperature of the obstacles is 1300 K. For case 2, the
preheated co-flow has a temperature equal to 1000 K and the tem-
perature of obstacles is 1400 K. Due to their high temperature, these
obstacles agitate the combustive flow and help to improve the com-
bustion process similar to a hot-spot.
Contours of Fig. 4 represent the temperature distribution for TMC,
case-1, and case-2. It is observable that placing obstacles in the burner
changes the temperature distribution considerably. By embedding the
obstacle near the central axis, the temperature is decreased, and this
leads to a decrease in NOx emissions. Also, it is apparent that when the
reactive flow impacts the obstacles, the temperature is increased be-
cause the hot obstacles play the role of hot spots for the combustion
process. Also, by comparing cases 1 and 2, it is evident that by changing
the temperature of the obstacles, the temperature distribution is af-
fected across the burner, and temperatures at similar points are higher
for case 1. Considering the reduction of co-flow preheat temperature,
no combustion occurs at the burner inlet, however, as the reacting flow
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Acta Astronautica 162 (2019) 536–545
impacts with the obstacles, combustion starts due to the increase in
turbulence, which in turn enhances the mixing of the fuel and oxidizer
mixture. As mentioned above, hot obstacles improve the combustion
process and the reason for combustion is the presence of hot obstacles.
Since preheating the gaseous co-flow up to 1300 K is extremely costly,
using hot obstacles that act as hot-spots can be a suitable method to
achieve a MILD regime at a lower cost. Also, considering Fig. 5 which
demonstrates the temperature distribution in the direction perpendi-
cular to the flow and at 0.03 m from the inlet, it is evident that using
obstacles causes the combustion temperature to drop.
Fig. 6a–b shows the contours of CH2O and OH species generated by
the combustion of CH4-H2 through breaking the molecular bonds of H2.
During this process, H2 atoms bond with O2 atoms and generate OH
that implies heat release and fuel consumption. The two species are
produced through CH2O + OH↔CHO + H2O and CO + OH↔CO2+H
reactions. On the other side, CH2O and OH are in relation with each
other through CH3+O2↔OH + CH2O and O + CH3O↔OH + CH2O
reactions. Fig. 6a shows the formation of CH2O during traditional MILD
combustion, as well as cases 1 and 2. It clearly shows that the maximum
mole fraction of CH2O zone decreases in cases 1 and 2. This is indicative
of the accelerated speed of fuel decomposition. In addition, it increases
the level of energy release. Fig. 6b shows OH radicals which identify the
reaction zone. These contours show that in cases 1 and 2, energy release
takes place closer to inlet nozzles with a higher value, indicating that
reaction zone increases. By comparing the CH2O contours of cases 1 and
2, it is found that when using case 1, a larger area contains CH2O,
meaning that energy release is increased in this case; although a lower
cost is imposed in case 2 for preheating hot co-flow, but attention must
be paid that reduction of the amount of CH2O denotes a decline in
combustion efficiency; therefore, regarding the CH2O distribution and
considering the cost of preheating hot co-flow, the author proposes
using case 1 in comparison with TMC and case 2. Additionally, by
comparing the distribution of OH for cases 1 and 2, it is evident that the
distribution of this species is similar for both cases.
Contours in Fig. 7 represent the distribution of species CH4 and H2
in the combustion chamber for TMC, case 1, and case 2. According to
these contours, placing obstacles in the combustion chamber changes
the distributions of these species. In the case of TMC, it can be observed
that the amounts of these species are higher near the inlet nozzle,
meaning that the initiation of the main reaction is in this zone, and by
gradually approaching the burner's outlet, the amounts of these species
decrease, and the MILD combustion process is limited to the burner
inlet zone. By embedding obstacles in the burner, CH4 and H2 species
are also present near the burner's outlet; therefore, combustion process
proceeds up to the combustion chamber outlet. One of the important
characteristics of Dally burner is that it follows the MILD regime at the
initial stages of combustion, and the combustion regime changes to-
wards having characteristics of conventional combustion at distances
far from this area. Therefore, it can be concluded that using hot ob-
stacles in the combustion chamber causes the MILD combustion regime
to develop in a wider area.
Furthermore, according to the figure of H2 and CH4 species dis-
tribution (Fig. 8), the amount of these two species near the inlet is much
higher for cases 1 and 2 than TMC. This figure is depicted in a direction
perpendicular to the flow and at 0.03 m from the fuel inlet. By em-
bedding hot obstacles in the flow path, the inlet fuel will impact the
obstacles, generating a reverse flow and preventing the fuel from pas-
sing through the obstacles. The preheated flow with the fuel that is
trapped behind the obstacles and in front of the inlet nozzle prepare a
heated reactive flow. This flow is ready for combustion and passes
through the obstacles and ignites rapidly; hence, the hot obstacles cause
more complete combustion to take place and consequently, lead to the
reduction of pollutants.
Additionally, Fig. 9 shows the vorticity distribution turbulent ki-
netic energy in the combustion chamber with and without obstacle. It is
obvious that both parameters has changed as a result of placing
M. Mansourian, et al.
obstacles, and the inlet flow is not uniform unlike TMC, and hence,
changes its turbulence intensity. Therefore, mixing is better accom-
plished, and its efficiency increases.
As stated above, embedding obstacles lead to a more complete
combustion process and extend the area in which MILD combustion
takes place. An increase in CO2 and H2O species is indicative of a more
complete combustion process, which is evident in Fig. 10. By placing
the hot obstacles in the burner, the amount of CO2 increases by 18.2%
with respect to TMC. The increase in the CO2 species when using hot
obstacles occurs due to various reasons including the establishment of
better conditions for mixing, the longer time period of fuel present in
the burner that extends the time period required for the reaction be-
tween the fuel and the oxidizer, and enhancement of turbulence in-
tensity.
As mentioned previously, due to the enhanced mixing, increased
settling time of the reactive mixture, increased turbulence intensity,
and interruption of inlet flow uniformity by using obstacles, more
complete combustion is accrued. Reduction of pollutants such as NOx
and CO is among the most significant factors in improving the com-
bustion process. In this regard, the contours in Fig. 11a, along with the
curve in Fig. 11b, present a comparison of CO emissions between case
1, case 2, and TMC. By observing these contours, it is obvious that the
maximum value of CO is decreased by embedding obstacles. The
amount of CO reduction at the outlet can be observed in Fig. 11b. This
figure has been drawn in the flow direction from the inlet to the outlet
and on the chamber centerline. It shows that the amount of the gen-
erated CO is reduced by placing hot obstacles. Also, comparing the CO
distribution for cases 1 and 2 shows that CO is decreased considerably
when case 2 is used. Since the temperature of the obstacles in case 2 is
equal to 1400 K and it acts as a power driver, it can be stated that the
combustive flow is exposed to a higher power and somehow helps to
decompose the species again. However, it must be noted that there is
more tendency for combustion initiation in case 1 because in this case,
the combustive mixture in front of the inlet nozzles has a higher tem-
perature rather than case 2.
When considering Fig. 12, which indicates the NOx and CO vertical
coordinate distributions at an axial distance of 0.03 m from the fuel
inlet nozzle, it is observed that NOx and CO emissions are much lower
for case 1 than case 2, and case 2 presents noticeably lower emissions
than TMC. As mentioned above, using obstacles leads to a reduction of
the combustion temperature and according to the principles that govern
NOx production, by decreasing the combustion temperature, the emis-
sions of NOx pollutants are diminished. Further, the amount of NOx
emissions is nearly zero at a majority of the area of NOx emission figure
and by considering the effects of hot obstacles such as the extended
period of fuel settling time, the combustion becomes more complete.
All things considered, on the basis of the above mentioned discus-
sions, using hot obstacle is an affordable way to reduce the temperature
for preheating hot co-flow which causes required energy to decrease up
to 17.9% through Ereq = Cp m T ; in which Ereq is the required energy,
Cp, m , and T are specific heat, mass flow rate, and temperature dif-
ference, respectively. Besides, since the required energy for increasing
the temperature of gas flow up to 1300 K is a costly process, it is a
deterrent factor to spread this technology in the practical applications.
As a consequent, using hot obstacles in the burner could help to deploy
MILD combustion.
5. Conclusions
In the present work, the CH4-H2 MILD combustion is investigated
for various working conditions. To achieve this aim, k-ε RNG turbu-
lence model with the turbulent kinetic energy of 53 m2/s2 for fuel inlet
and 3 m2/s2 for hot co-flow inlet, EDC model with the volume fraction
and time scale constants of 3 and 1, and GRI. 2.11 reaction mechanism
were used in this investigation. The results were compared with
available experimental data [48] which indicated that the current
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Acta Astronautica 162 (2019) 536–545
numerical framework is able to predict the behavior of MILD combus-
tion. After validating the obtained results, the MILD combustion is ex-
amined in a burner with hot obstacles in order to reduce the preheat co-
flow temperature. The results show that by embedding hot obstacles in
the burner, the amounts of CO2 and H2O increase, while the values of
CO and NOx emissions decrease, which means that the process tem-
perature is decreased. Furthermore, by changing the temperature of the
obstacles, the temperature distribution is affected across the burner,
and temperatures at similar points are higher for case 1. Embedding
obstacles in the burner lead to the presence of CH4 and H2 species near
the burner's outlet. Therefore, the combustion process proceeds up to
the combustion chamber outlet; consequently, the MILD combustion
regime develops in a wider area. In addition, the vorticity distribution is
changed, and the inlet flow is not uniform unlike TMC and hence,
changes its turbulence and intensity. Moreover, mixing is better ac-
complished, and its efficiency is increased; consequently, putting hot
obstacles in the burner helps combustion to become more complete.
Finally, since preheating the gaseous co-flow up to 1300 K is extremely
costly, using hot obstacle that acts as a hot-spot can be a suitable
method to achieve a MILD regime at a lower cost and it causes the
required energy to decrease by 17.9%.
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