Mathematical Simulation of Pulverized Coal Combustion

Abstract

: Two different computational fluid dynamic models for the combustion of species were applied for the study of the combustion of pulverized coal in a drop tube. The drop tube is available in the department of energy research of the technical university of Ostrava. The purpose of this work is to find out the main characteristics of the combustion of pulverized coal using data gathered at the laboratory where the drop tube is installed. Some characteristics studied were the total heat transfer involved in the combustion, highest temperature and pressure gradients. A 2d mesh of the drop tube was created in gambit pre-processor and the simulations were performed using the CFD program Ansys fluent. The simulations were performed with double precision (dp mode) in order to get accurate results. In order to simulate the pulverized coal combustion, it was necessary to study turbulence, turbulence models (RNG k− e ), combustion models (species transport and non-premixed model) as the modeling in gambit and the setting up of a case in Ansys Fluent. The main goal was to get similar results in the simulations using distinct approaches (different methods of studying the combustion) in Ansys Fluent and the results were satisfying. The total amount of heat transfer results, for example, was quite similar in both experiences.