Prediction of extinction and reignition in nonpremixed turbulent flames using a flamelet/progress variable model.2. Application in LES of Sandia flames D and E

An extension of the flamelet/progress variable (FPV) model for the prediction of extinction and reignition is applied in large-eddy simulation (LES) of flames D and E of the Sandia piloted turbulent jet flame series. This model employs a presumed probability density function (PDF), in which the marginal PDF of a reactive scalar is modeled by a statistically most likely distribution. This provides two advantages. First of all, the shape of the distribution depends on chemical and mixing time-scale information, and second, an arbitrary number of moments can be enforced. This model was analyzed in an a priori study in the first part of this work. In the present LES application, the first two moments of mixture fraction and reaction progress variable are used to constrain the shape of the presumed PDF. Transport equations for these quantities are solved, and models for the residual scalar dissipation rates, which appear as unclosed terms in the equations for the scalar variances, are provided. Statistical flow field quantities for axial velocity, mixture fraction, and temperature, obtained from the extended FPV model, are in good agreement with experimental data. Mixture-fraction-conditioned data, conditional PDFs, and burning indices are computed and compared with the delta-function flamelet closure model, which employs a Dirac distribution as a model for the marginal PDF of the reaction progress parameter. The latter model considerably underpredicts the amount of local extinction, which shows that the consideration of second-moment information in the presumed PDF of the reaction progress parameter is important for the accurate prediction of extinction and reignition. Mixture-fraction-conditioned results obtained from the extended FPV model are in good agreement with experimental data; however, the overprediction of the consumption of fuel and oxidizer on the fuel-rich side results in an overprediction of minor species. The predictions for the conditional PDFs and burning indices are in good agreement with measurements. © 2008 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.