• [2013-03-15]

  Combustion Simulations with Realistic Chemical Kinetics

Speaker： Zhuyin Ren, Ph.D., Assistant Professor 

Time：10:00 am

Date：March 22, 2013

Venue：Room 210, COE Building No.1

Host: Prof. Zheng Chen

Abstract:

In recent years, numerical modeling of reacting flows has become profoundly important - it is widely used, for example, in the design of combustion engines. For high-fidelity CFD modeling, it has to account for the complexity and intricate coupling of different physical processes such as turbulence and chemical reactions. In this talk, progress is reported on the continuing development of methods for handling the many-species and turbulence-chemistry interaction challenges in reacting flow simulations. Recent progress in efficient implementation of detailed chemistry, particularly the combined use of dynamic adaptive chemistry, dimension reduction, and storage-retrieval method will firstly be described. The theoretical basis, validation, and computational efficiency of these methods will be discussed and demonstrated. Then recent progresses in the probability density function (PDF) method including LES/PDF and sensitivity analysis, will be discussed. The PDF method is, so far, one of the most successful approaches in predicting both turbulence-chemistry interaction and pollutants. Results from the Cabra hydrogen flame will be discussed and analyzed. The presentation will conclude with a discussion on several CFD applications including NOx and CO predictions in low emission gas turbine systems, flame stabilization and emission formation in RQL combustors.

Biography:

Zhuyin Ren is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Connecticut. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University (2006), B.S. in Engineering Thermophysics from University of Science and Technology of China (2001). Prior to joining UConn in 2011, He has been a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Cornell (2006-2007), a Fluid Specialist at ANSYS Fluent (2008-2010), a Mechanical Engineer at GE Global Research Center (2010-2011). His primary research interests include turbulence and combustion modeling and numerical simulations of turbulent combustion with detailed chemistry. He received the Bernard Lewis Fellowship from the Combustion Institute in 2008.