Quasi-DNS with chemical kinetics for near blow-out dynamics of a single multi-injection burner element for future gas turbine applications

Abstract

Gas turbine combustors increasingly operate close to lean blow-out (LBO) limits, where small changes in fuel-air mixing or flow structure can destabilize the flame and alter near-blow-out dynamics. Conventional design practice relies mainly on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations, which often overpredict turbulent mixing and cannot resolve unsteady flame anchoring and local extinction near burner hardware. We develop a Quasi-DNS workflow with detailed methane-air chemistry for a single element of a multiple-injection burner, modeled as a coaxial burner with a mixing tube and downstream combustion chamber, as a methodological basis for near-blow-out analysis. The workflow is implemented in OpenFOAM and comprises: (i) a simplified three-dimensional sector geometry with a 30-degree domain to capture circumferential vortices at the mixing tube outlet, (ii) boundary conditions and inlet profiles reproducing coaxial jet and preheated air conditions, (iii) a reduced Yang-Pope mechanism validated against GRI 3.0 using Cantera laminar flame speed, ignition delay, and counterflow diffusion flame calculations, (iv) grid generation and convergence checks based on flame structure and scalar dissipation rate, and (v) diagnostics including methane- and CO-based flame indices to classify local combustion modes. We demonstrate the workflow for a partially premixed methane flame at an overall equivalence ratio of phi = 0.45 and a perfectly premixed reference at the same phi. The Quasi-DNS results show limited mixing inside the mixing tube and strong vortical mixing at the outlet, leading to extended and structured heat-release regions that differ markedly from the smoother, more compact flames predicted by RANS. The methodology provides a reusable framework for analyzing flame structure, stabilization, and LBO-relevant dynamics in coaxial burners with mixing tubes.