Numerical Simulation of Methane-Air Nozzle Burners for Aluminum Remelt Furnaces

Abstract

A turbulent nozzle-mix burner, suitable for industrial use in aluminum remelt furnaces has been numerically simulated using FLUENT software. The burner has been modeled as a vertical axisymmetric arrangement of fuel duct at the center, surrounded by a coaxial annular duct of air. The ducts discharge into a confined environment, formed by a chimney, placed coaxially with the ducts. The effects of fuel velocity and air coflow velocity ratio on the flame height have been investigated. The flame height is found to increase with increase in fuel velocity for a given air-fuel velocity ratio and with decrease in air velocity for a given fuel velocity. The different flame height definitions found in literature give nearly identical flame heights for all the cases studied.