The effect of turbulence on mass transfer in solid fuel combustion: RANS model

In this paper, a kinetic-diffusion surface combustion model is examined. The model is modified such that two effects of turbulence are included: 1) enhancement of the mass transfer due to relative velocity between particles and fluid and 2) reduction of the mass transfer due to turbulence-induced particle clustering. Details of the implementation are discussed and the influence of parameters such as air-fuel ratio, particle number density, particle diameter, turbulence intensity and characteristic length scales are studied theoretically. A simplified numerical model of a combustion chamber is created to explore the effects of the combustion model predictions. Finally, the model is incorporated into simulations of an industrial-scale boiler to investigate the effect of turbulence on the net surface reaction rate in a real system. The study shows that although on average this effect is rather minor, there exist regions in which the carbon conversion rate is either decreased or increased by turbulence. Keywords Combustion kineticsCombustion ratesChar oxidationDiffusion regime