Unsteady coupled convection, conduction and radiation simulations on parallel architectures for combustion applications

Abstract

In the aeronautical industry, energy generation relies almost exclusively in the combustion of hydrocarbons. The best way to improve the efficiency of such systems, while controlling their environmental impact, is to optimize the combustion process. With the continuous rise of computational power, simulations of complex combustion systems have become feasible, but until recently in industrial applications radiation and heat conduction were neglected. In the present work the numerical tools necessary for the coupled resolution of the three heat transfer modes have been developed and applied to the study of an helicopter combustion chamber. It is shown that the inclusion of all heat transfer modes can influence the temperature repartition in the domain. The numerical tools and the coupling methodology developed are now opening the way to a good number of scientific and engineering applications.