Timothy W. Tong

Catalytic combustion of hydrogen–air boundary layers involves the adsorption of hydrogen and oxygen into a platinum coated surface, chemical reactions of the adsorbed species, and the desorption of the resulting products. Re-adsorption of some produced gases is also possible. The catalytic reactions can be beneficial in porous burners and catalytic reactors that use low equivalence ratios. In this case, the porous burner flame can be stabilized at low temperatures to prevent any substantial gas emissions, such as nitrogen oxides. The present paper is concerned with the numerical computation of heat transfer and chemical reactions in hydrogen–air mixture boundary layers that flow over platinum coated hot plates and inside rectangular channels. Chemical reactions are included in the gas-phase as well as on the solid platinum surface. In the gas-phase, eight species are involved in 26 elementary reactions. On the platinum hot surface, additional surface species are included that are involved in 16 additional surface chemical reactions. The platinum surface temperature distribution is prespecified, while the properties of the reacting flow are computed. The flow configurations investigated in the present paper are those of a flat plate boundary layer and a rectangular channel reacting flow. Finite-volume equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Hybrid differencing is used to ensure that the finite-difference coefficients are always positive or equal to zero to reflect the real effect of neighboring nodes on a typical central node. The finite-volume equations are solved iteratively for the reacting gas flow properties. On the platinum surface, surface species balance equations, under steady-state conditions, are solved numerically. A nonuniform computational grid is used, concentrating most of the nodes in the boundary sub-layer adjoining the catalytic surface. For the flat plate boundary layer flow, the computed OH concentration is compared with experimental and numerical data of similar geometry. The obtained agreement is fairly good, with differences observed for the location of the peak value of OH. Surface temperature of 1170 K caused fast reactions on the catalytic surface in a very small part at the leading edge of the catalytic flat plate. The flat plate computational results for heat and mass transfer and chemical surface reactions at the gas-surface interface are correlated by nondimensional relations. The channel flow computational results are also compared with recent detailed experimental data for similar geometry. In this case, the catalytic surface temperature profile along the x-axis was measured accurately and is used in the present work as the boundary condition for the gas-phase energy equation. The present numerical results for the gas temperature, water vapor mole fraction, and hydrogen mole fraction are compared with the corresponding experimental data. In general, the agreement is very good especially in the first 105 mm. However, some differences are observed in the vicinity of the exit section of the rectangular channel.

Catalytic combustion of hydrocarbon mixtures involves the adsorption of the fuel and oxidant into a platinum surface, chemical reactions of the adsorbed species, and the desorption of the resulting products. Re-adsorption of some produced gases is also possible. The catalytic reactions can be beneficial in porous burners that use low equivalence ratios. In this case, the porous burner flame can be stabilized at low temperatures to prevent any substantial gas emissions, such as nitric oxide. The present paper is concerned with the numerical computation of heat transfer and chemical reactions in flowing methane-air mixtures over a platinum coated hot plate. Chemical reactions are included in the gas phase and in the solid platinum surface. In the gas phase, 16 species are involved in 49 elementary reactions. On the platinum hot surface, additional surface species are included that are involved in 24 additional surface chemical reactions. The platinum surface temperature is fixed, while the properties of the reacting flow are computed. The flow configuration investigated here is the parallel boundary layer reacting flow. Finite-volume equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Up-wind differencing is used to ensure that the influence coefficients are always positive to reflect the physical effect of neighboring nodes on a typical central node. The finite-volume equations are solved iteratively for the reacting gas flow properties. On the platinum surface, surface species balance equations, under steady-state conditions, are solved numerically by an under-relaxed linear algorithm. A non-uniform computational grid is used, concentrating most of the nodes near the catalytic surface. Surface temperatures, 1150 K and 1300 K, caused fast reactions on the catalytic surface, with very slow chemical reactions in the flowing gas. These slow reactions produce mainly intermediate hydrocarbons and unstable species. The computational results for the chemical reaction boundary layer thickness and mass transfer at the gas-surface interface are correlated by non-dimensional relations, taking the Reynolds number as the independent variable. Chemical kinetic relations for the reaction rate are obtained which are dependent on reactants’ concentrations and surface temperature.

Catalytic combustion of hydrogen-air boundary layers involves the adsorption of hydrogen and oxygen into a platinum coated surface, chemical reactions of the adsorbed species and the desorption of the resulting products. Re-adsorption of some produced gases is also possible. The catalytic reactions can be beneficial in porous burners and catalytic reactors that use low equivalence ratios. In this case the porous burner flame can be stabilized at low temperatures to prevent any substantial gas emissions, such as nitrogen oxides. The present paper is concerned with the numerical computation of heat transfer and chemical reactions in hydrogen-air mixture boundary layers that flow over platinum coated hot plates. Chemical reactions are included in the gas phase as well as on the solid platinum surface. In the gas phase, eight species are involved in 26 elementary reactions. On the platinum hot surface, additional surface species are included that are involved in 14 additional surface chemical reactions. The platinum surface temperature is fixed, while the properties of the reacting flow are computed. The flow configuration investigated in the present paper is that of a parallel boundary layer. Finite-volume equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Hybrid differencing is used to ensure that the finite-difference coefficients are always positive or equal to zero to reflect the real effect of neighboring nodes on a typical central node. The finite-volume equations are solved, iteratively, for the reacting gas flow properties. On the platinum surface, surface species balance equations, under steady-state conditions, are solved numerically. A non-uniform computational grid is used, concentrating most of the nodes in the boundary sub-layer adjoining the catalytic surface. The computed OH concentration is compared with experimental and numerical data of similar geometry. The obtained agreement is fairly good, with differences observed for the location of the peak value of OH. Surface temperature of 1170 K caused fast reactions on the catalytic surface in a very small part at the leading edge of the catalytic flat plate. The computational results for heat and mass transfer and chemical surface reactions at the gas-surface interface are correlated by non-dimensional relations.

The present paper is concerned with the numerical computation of flow, heat transfer and chemical reactions in porous burners. The porous solid matrix acts as a host for redistributing the thermal energy transferred to it from the hot reacting gases. Inside the porous matrix, heat is transferred down stream by conduction and radiation. This thermal energy is then transferred to the incoming cold fuel/air mixture to initiate the chemical reaction processes and thus stabilize the flame. One of the important features of porous burners is its presumed low levels of NO concentration. In the present work, the computed NOx is compared with experimental data and open premixed flames. In order to accurately compute the nitric oxide levels in porous burners, both prompt and thermal NOx mechanisms are included. In the present work, the porous burner species mass fraction source terms are computed from an ‘extended’ reaction mechanism, controlled by chemical kinetics of elementary reactions. The porous burner has mingled zones of porous/nonporous reacting flow, i.e., the porosity is not uniform over the entire domain. Finite-volume equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Up-wind differencing is used to insure that the influence coefficients are always positive. Finite-difference equations are solved, iteratively, for velocity components, pressure correction, gas enthalpy, species mass fractions and solid matrix temperature. A non-uniform (80×80) computational grid is used. The grid used to solve the solid energy equation is extended inside the solid annular wall of the porous burner, to improve its modeling. A discrete-ordinate model with S4 quadrature is used for the computation of thermal radiation emitted from the solid matrix. The porous burner uses a premixed CH4-air mixture, while its radiating characteristics are required to be studied numerically under equivalence ratios 0.6 and 0.5. Twenty-five species are included, involving 75 elementary chemical reactions. The computed solid wall temperature profiles are compared with experimental data for similar porous burners. The obtained agreement is fairly good. Some reacting species, such as H2O, CO2, H2, NO and N2O increase steadily inside the reaction zone. However, unstable products, such as HO2, H2O2 and CH3, increase in the preheating zone to be depleted afterward.

The present paper presents, numerical computations for flow, heat transfer and chemical reactions in an axisymmetric inert porous burner. The porous media re-radiate the heat absorbed from the gaseous combustion products by convection and conduction. In the present work, the porous burner species mass fraction source terms are computed from an ‘extended’ reaction mechanism, controlled by chemical kinetics of elementary reactions. The porous burner has mingled zones of porous/nonporous reacting flow, i.e. the porosity is not uniform over the entire domain. Therefore, it has to be included inside the partial derivatives of the transport governing equations. Finite-difference equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Up-wind differencing is used to insure that the influence coefficients are always positive to reflect the real effect of neighboring nodes on a typical central node. Finite-difference equations are solved, iteratively, for U, V, p’ (pressure correction), enthalpy and species mass fractions, utilizing a fine grid of (80×60) nodes. The eighty grid nodes in the axial direction are needed to resolve the detailed structure of the thin reaction zone inside the porous media. The radial grid is extended inside the annular solid wall of the porous burner, to compute the wall temperature. The porous burner uses a premixed CH4 -air mixture, while its radiating characteristics are computed numerically, using a four-flux radiation model. Sixteen species are included, namely CH4 , CH3 , CH2 , CH, CH2 O, CHO, CO, CO2 , O2 , O, OH, H2 , H, H2 O, H2 O, H2 O2 , involving 49 chemical reaction equations. It was found that 1000 iterations are sufficient for complete conversion of the computed results with errors less than 0.1%. The computed temperature profiles of the gas and the solid show that, heat is conducted from downstream to the upstream of the reaction zone. Most stable species, such as H2 O, CO2 , H2 , keep increasing inside the reaction zone staying appreciable in the combustion products. However, unstable products, such as HO2 , H2 O2 and CH3 , first increase in the preheating region of the reaction zone, they are then consumed fast in the post-reaction zone of the porous burner. Therefore, it appears that their important function is only to help the chemical reactions continue to their inevitable completion of the more stable combustion products.