Tools for the prediction of turbulent reacting flows

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A new model for turbulent combustion has recently been proposed that holds the promise of being able to simulate a very wide variety of different combustion problems and which appears to be capable of predicting pollutant emissions and performance of gas turbines, internal combustion engines, industrial furnaces and even rockets. The potential for the model is high, but it has not yet been properly validated against experimental measurements, so one important aspect of the proposed work is to provide a broad validation of the model over a diverse range of different experimental measurements of turbulent combustion, including both lab-scale burners and more industrial-oriented burners. These validation simulations will be undertaken by MASc students. At the same time, several interesting challenges have appeared in how we solve the model equations and techniques for exploring how to circumvent these need to be explored. Also, there are questions about how the model could be used to predict species with slow chemistry, such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM), which need to be addressed. These more fundamental questions will be the work of a PhD student.******The latter aspect of the PhD student's work is particularly important for predicting pollutant emissions from diesel engines (including those in the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel), where one might contemplate using an alternate fuel or adding some kind of after-treatment reactor. Both the formation and destruction of NOx and PM inside the diesel engine and the after-treatment reactor represent turbulent reacting flow processes for which the proposed model is a highly promising candidate, which, when coupled with experimental measurements for validation, would enable the design of improved engine geometries and/or improved after-treatment reactor design. As such, this proposal is related to the recent call for the DND/NSERC Discovery Grant Supplement, with respect to the goal to attain zero ship emissions in the Arctic.