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Ilias Konstantinou

Improving understanding of turbulent flame-wall interactions.

Email: i.konstantinou@ncl.ac.uk

Supervisors

Project description

We are improving the fundamental understanding of turbulent premixed flame-wall interaction (FWI). To do this, we are conducting high-fidelity Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS).

Turbulent combustion in enclosures has relevance to a variety of engineering applications. These include spark ignition (SI) engines, gas turbines and industrial furnaces. The treatment of near-wall turbulence for non-reacting flows is a difficult problem. It is often the limiting factor in flow prediction in practical applications.

In reacting flows, our fundamental understanding remains even more limited. Modelling such complex flows remains a challenging problem. Heat release effects due to combustion play a pivotal role in the modification of turbulence in the near wall region. As the flame approaches the wall, the probability of it interacting with the walls increases. This leads to high wall heat flux magnitude.

During this FWI phenomenon, spatial and temporal fluctuations of temperature at the wall surface induce thermal stresses. These can inhibit the lifespan of the combustion chambers. The cooled combustor walls introduce a temperature gradient between the flame and the walls. In turn, this promotes flame quenching in the vicinity of the walls. This modifies the characteristic behaviour of the flame such as the flame surface density and flame speed.

Publications

Interests

Scuba diving, basketball, playing chess, travelling.

Qualifications

  • BEng (Hons) Mechanical Design and Manufacturing Engineering
  • MSc Computational Fluid Dynamics

 

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