Examination of Bluff Body Stabilized Turbulent Premixed Flames Using Direct Numerical Simulations

Samuel Whitman, Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.

Usage Details

In this project, enhanced gas turbine stability, efficiency, and emissions will be enabled through study of turbulence-flame interactions in the presence of intense coherent vortex structures. High-resolution direct numerical simulations of bluff body stabilized turbulent flames will be performed on the Blue Waters machine using a massively parallel next-generation reacting flow code that includes adaptive mesh refinement and embedded boundaries. Energy content and modal structures in the resulting data will be analyzed to address the modeling challenges that limit stability and efficiency in current designs. The results will aid in the development of future turbines and reduced order models to support a more renewable energy grid.