Term of Award

Fall 2025

Degree Name

Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Marcel Ilie

Committee Member 1

Prakashbhai Bhoi

Committee Member 2

Mosfequr Rahman

Abstract

Advances in computational resources are making computational fluid dynamics (CFD) increasingly accessible for a variety of engineering applications. However, certain complex problems, such as simulating detailed flame kinetics, remain computationally prohibitive for many users. Developing cost-effective methods to simulate these challenges would greatly benefit applications involving flame dynamics, such as turbine engines or industrial burners. This study investigates the effect of main stage swirler intensity on near lean blow-off characteristics in a multi-staged swirl combustor using Ansys Fluent. The hybrid RANS-LES turbulence model, Stress Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) coupled with Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) combustion model was selected to model the turbulence fluctuations. A reduction in swirl intensity prevented the formation of swirl-stabilized flame while excess swirl negatively affects the emission characteristics. In the baseline (S2) and high swirl (S3) cases, liftoff height increased by an average of 21.0% and 11.96% respectively, for each 0.1 decrease in equivalence ratio. The S3 case also showed reduced combustion efficiency with 156.4% increase in CO compared to S2. Local flame extinction was also captured, with the flame exhibiting increased susceptibility to quenching in regions of droplet-flame interaction.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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