A large eddy simulation (LES) model has been developed and validated for turbulent non-premixed and partially premixed combustion systems. LES based combustion modelling strategy has the ability to capture the detailed structure of turbulent flames and account for the effects of radiation heat loss. Effects of radiation heat loss is modelled by employing an enthalpy-defect based non-adiabatic flamelet model (NAFM) in conjunction with a steady non-adiabatic flamelet approach. The steady laminar flamelet model (SLFM) is used with multiple flamelet solutions through the development of pre-integrated look up tables. The performance of the non-adiabatic model is assessed against experimental measurements of turbulent CH4/H2 bluff-body stabilized and swirl stabilized jet flames carried out by the University of Sydney combustion group. Significant enhancements in the predictions of mean thermal structure have been observed with both bluff body and swirl stabilized flames by the consideration of radiation heat loss through the non-adiabatic flamelet model. In particular, mass fractions of product species like CO2 and H2O have been improved with the consideration of radiation heat loss. From the Sydney University data the HM3e flame was also investigated with SLFM using multiple flamelet strategy and reasonably fair amount of success has been achieved. In this work, unsteady flamelet/progress variable (UFPV) approach based combustion model which has the potential to describe both non-premixed and partially premixed combustion, has been developed and incorporated in an in-house LES code. The probability density function (PDF) for reaction progress variable and scalar dissipation rate is assumed to follow a delta distribution while mixture fraction takes the shape of a beta PDF. The performance of the developed model in predicting the thermal structure of a partially premixed lifted turbulent jet flame in vitiated co-flow has been evaluated. The UFPV model has been found to successfully predict the flame lift-off, in contrast SLFM results in a false attached flame. The mean lift-off height is however over-predicted by UFPV-δ function model by ~20% for methane based flame and under-predicted by ~50% for hydrogen based flame. The form of the PDF for the reaction progress variable and inclusion of a scalar dissipation rate thus seems to have a strong influence on the predictions of gross characteristics of the flame. Inclusion of scalar dissipation rate in the calculations appears to be successful in predicting the flame extinction and re-ignition phenomena. The beta PDF distribution for the reaction progress variable would be a true prospect for extending the current simulation to predict the flame characteristics to a higher degree.

Computational time to model radiative heat transfer in a cylindrical Pressurized Oxy-Coal (POC) combustor was reduced by incorporating the multi-dimensional characteristics of the combustion field. The Discrete Transfer Method (DTM) and the Discrete Ordinates Method (DOM) were modified to work with a computational mesh that transitions from 3D cells to axisymmetric and then 1D cells, also known as a dimensionally adaptive mesh. For the DTM, three methods were developed for selecting so-called transdimensional rays, the Single Unweighted Ray (SUR) technique, the Multiple Unweighted Ray (MUR) technique, and the Single Weighted Ray (SWR) technique. For the DOM, averaging methods for handling radiative intensity at dimensional boundaries were developed. Limitations of both solvers with adaptive meshes were identified by comparison with fully 3D results. For the DTM, the primary limit was numerical error associated with view factor calculations. For the DOM, treatment of dimensional boundaries led to step changes that created numerical oscillations, the severity of which was lessened by both increased angular resolution and increased optical thickness. Performance of dimensionally adaptive radiation calculations, uncoupled to any other physical calculation, was evaluated with a series of sensitivity studies including sensitivity to spatial and angular resolution, dimensional boundary placement, and reactor scaling. Runtime was most impacted by boundary layer placement. For the upstream case which had 3D cells over 40% of the reactor length, the speedup versus the fully 3D calculations were 743%, 18%, 220%, and 76% for the SUR, MUR, SWR, and DOM calculations, respectively. The downstream case which had 3D cells over the first 60% of the reactor length, had speedups of 209%, 3%, 109%, and 37%, respectively. For the DTM, accuracy was most sensitive to optical thickness, with the average percent difference in incident heat flux for SUR, MUR, and SWR calculations versus fully 3D calculations being 0.93%, 0.86%, and 1.18%, respectively, for a reactor half the size of the baseline case. The case with four times the reactor size had average percent differences of 0.28%, 0.41%, and 0.39% for the SUR, MUR, and SWR, respectively. Accuracy of the DOM was comparatively insensitive to the different changes studied. Performance of dimensionally adaptive radiation calculations coupled with thermochemistry was also investigated for both pilot and industrial scale systems. For pilot scale systems, flux and temperature differences from either solver were less than 5% and 6%, respectively, with speedups being between 200% - 600%. For industrial systems, temperature differences as high as 15% - 20% and flux differences as high as 50% - 75% were seen. In the case of the DTM, these differences between fully 3D and adaptive results come from a combination of high property gradients and comparatively few rays being drawn and could therefore be improved, at the cost of additional computation time, by using a more sophisticated ray selection method. For the DOM, these issues stem from poor performance of the 1D portion of the solver and could therefore be improved by using a more sophisticated equation to model the radiative transfer in the 1D region.