Simulation of Turbulent Combustion in a Small-scale Obstructed Chamber Using Flamefoam

Dynamic overpressures achieved during the combustion are related to the acceleration experienced by the propagating flame. In the case of premixed turbulent combustion in an obstructed geometry, obstacles in the direction of flow result in a complex flame front interaction with the turbulence generated ahead of it. The interaction of flame front and vortex significantly affect the burning rate, the rate of pressure rise and achieved overpressure, the geometry of accelerating flame front and resulting structures in the flow field. Laboratory-scale premixed turbulent combustion experiments are convenient for the study of flame acceleration by obstacles in higher resolution. This paper presents numerical simulations of hydrogenair mixture combustion experiments performed in the University of Sydney small-scale combustion chamber. The simulations were performed using flameFoam – an open-source premixed turbulent combustion solver, based on OpenFOAM. The experimental and numerical pressure evolutions are compared. Furthermore, flow structures, which develop due to the interaction between the obstacles and the flow, are investigated with different obstacle configurations.