Thermodynamic analysis and large-eddy simulations of LOx-CH4 and LOx-H2 flames at high pressure

TL;DR

This paper investigates high-pressure LOx-CH4 and LOx-H2 flames using advanced thermodynamic models and large-eddy simulations, highlighting real-gas effects and phase separation phenomena validated against experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a high-fidelity thermodynamic framework incorporating real-gas and phase separation effects into CFD simulations of rocket-relevant flames, validated with experimental data.

Findings

Real-gas effects significantly influence flame behavior.

Phase separation impacts thermodynamic properties.

Model validation shows good agreement with experiments.

Abstract

Under rocket-relevant conditions, real-gas effects and thermodynamic non-idealities are prominent features of the flow field. Experimental investigations indicate that phase separation can occur depending on the operating conditions and on the involved species in the multicomponent flow. During the past decades, several research groups in the rocket combustion community have addressed this topic. In this contribution we employ a high-fidelity thermodynamic framework comprising real-gas and multicomponent phase separation effects to investigate liquid oxygen-methane and liquid oxygen-hydrogen flames at high pressure. A thorough introduction and discussion on multicomponent phase separation is conducted. The model is validated with experimental data and incorporated in a reacting flow CFD code. Thermodynamic effects are presented using one-dimensional counterflow diffusion flames. Both real-gas and phase separation effects are present and quantified in terms of derived properties. Finally, the method is applied in a three-dimensional large eddy simulation of a single-element reference test case and the results are compared to experimental data.