M.Sc. Tien Duc Luu

Students of chemical engineering/process engineering (or similar) interested in numerical work. Knowledge of numerical flow simulation or fluid mechanics, as well as programming skills (e.g. C/C++, Python, Matlab or similar) can make it easier to get started, but are not required.

Location: CS

Motivation:

Solid fuel combustion is still one of the most widespread energy conversion technologies. Fossil fuels are still the most dominating energy source, but due to their polluting nature, limited availability, greenhouse emission and climate change impact, a need for alternative energy is inevitable. A promising emission-free technology for future energy systems is the oxidation of iron and the potential of using existing coal power plant infrastructures. When combining iron oxidation with the reverse iron oxide reduction process, based on renewable energy sources (wind and solar), a sustainable circular zerocarbon energy economy can be developed.

Project description:

In this project, the oxidation process of iron dust clouds is to be analysed. The cases are based on preliminary work on the carrier-phase direct numerical simulation (CP-DNS) with iron(see Fig.1). The three-dimensional reacting mixed layer consists of two opposed ows with "cold" air in the upper and "hot" air in the lower stream. Iron particles are initialised and randomly distributed in the upper stream. As time progresses, mixing occurs, where particles are entrained into the lower stream, where they heat up and oxidise. The ignition and combustion processes are determined by several process parameters, e.g., oxygen concentration, initial temperature, radiation, particle size, degree of turbulence, etc. The project aims to analyse the determining process parameters and the appropriate quantication of the ignition and combustion processes based on these parameters.

Figure 1: Time evolution of the three-dimensional reacting mixing layer with iron particles.

Tasks:

• Literature review to gain knowledge of turbulent reacting multiphase ows and the physical processes of iron oxidation
• Familiarise with the basics of numerical methods, computational uid dynamics and OpenFOAM
• Analyse the determining process parameters (e.g. oxygen concentration, initial temperature, radiation, particle size, degree of turbulence, etc.) by means of CP-DNS simulations of a turbulent reacting mixing layer with iron particles
• Evaluation and interpretation of the simulation results
• Documentation (Bachelor/Master thesis) and presentation of the project

Learning objectives:

• Learn the usage of the computational uid dynamics software OpenFOAM (CFD)
• Solve complex engineering problems independently
• Understanding the methodology and modelling of reactive multiphase flows
• Code and model development in the programming language C/C++
• Presentation, interpretation and evaluation of simulation results
• Writing and defence of a scientic work

Responsible:

Prof. Dr. Oliver T. Stein