Modeling of Reacting Flows in an Afterburner 2001-28-0025

Reacting flows in a gas turbine afterburner is a highly complex phenomenon since it is three dimensional, turbulent, having vitiated air at the inlet. Major design requirements depend to a great extent on the internal aerodynamics. Even though the afterburner configuration is basically similar to that of a gas turbine combustor, the additional components like diffuser, flame stabilizer, fuel manifold rings and variable area nozzle make the system more complex. The aim of the present investigation is to numerically predict the flow and combustion inside the afterburner using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In the present work a three-dimensional study of the afterburner system has been carried out. The configuration is modeled using unstructured grid arrangement. The numerical calculations are performed using SIMPLE (Semi Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations) based algorithm. The standard k-ε model is used for turbulence modeling. In the present work a numerical study of turbulent combustion process in afterburner has been carried out. Velocity field, temperature and concentration contours, mass fraction of species have been predicted. In order to obtain the flow field pattern, the conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy and species are solved using a control volume based finite difference method incorporating the k-ε turbulence model.