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Simulation of Ethylene Wall Fires Using the Spatially-Evolving One-Dimensional Turbulence Model

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Abstract

The mechanism of flame propagation in fuel beds of wildland fires is important to understand in order to quantify fire spread rates. Fires spread by radiative and convective heating and in some cases require direct flame contact to achieve ignition. The flame in an advancing fire is unsteady and turbulent, making study of intermittent flames in complex fuels difficult. A 1.83 m tall, 0.61 m wide vertical wall fire, in which ethylene fuel is slowly fed through a porous ceramic, is modeled to investigate unsteady turbulent flames in a controlled environment. Three fuel flow rates of 235, 390, and 470 L/min are considered. Simulations of this configuration are performed using a spatial formulation of the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model which is able to resolve individual flames (a key property of this model) and has been shown to provide turbulent statistics that compare well with experimental data for a number of flow configurations including wall fires. In the ODT model diffusion–reaction equations are solved along a notional line of sight perpendicular to the wall that is advanced vertically. Turbulent advection is modeled through stochastic domain mapping processes. A new Darrieus–Landau combustion instability model is incorporated in the ODT eddy selection process. The ODT model is shown to capture the evolution of the flame and describe the intermittent properties at the flame/air interface. Simulations include radiation and soot effects and are compared to experimental temperature measurements. Simulated mean temperatures differ from the experiments by an average of 63 K over all measurement points for the three fuel flow rates. Predicted root mean square temperature fluctuations capture the trends in the experimental data, but overestimate the raw experimental values by a factor of two. This difference is discussed using thermocouple response and heat transfer correction models. Simulated velocity, soot, and radiation properties are also reported.

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Abbreviations

ODT:

One-dimensional turbulence

RANS:

Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes

LES:

Large eddy simulation

fwhm:

Full width at half maximum

RMS:

Root mean square

\(x\) :

Horizontal, wall-normal direction

\(y\) :

Vertical direction

\(t\) :

Time

\(T\) :

Temperature

\(P\) :

Pressure

\(P_a\) :

Eddy acceptance probability

\(P\) :

Probability density function

\(x_0\) :

Eddy location

\(l\) :

Eddy size

\(\tau \) :

Time scale, or momentum flux

\(\Delta t_s\) :

Eddy sample time

\(C\) :

ODT Eddy rate parameter

\(Z\) :

ODT viscous penalty parameter

\(\beta \) :

ODT large eddy suppression parameter

\(E\) :

Energy

\(K\) :

Eddy kernel function

\(\mu \) :

Viscosity

\(\rho \) :

Density

\(\rho _0\) :

Kernel averaged density

\(\Delta y_s\) :

Vertical spatial increment

\(v\) :

Velocity

\(\tilde{V}\) :

Favre mean velocity in eddy region

\(Y\) :

Mass fraction

\(X\) :

Mole fraction

\(M\) :

Soot moment

\(j\) :

Mass flux

\(\Delta x\) :

Grid cell size

\(\omega \) :

Reaction rate, or frequency

\(g\) :

Gravitational acceleration

\(S\) :

Source term

\(h\) :

Enthalpy

\(D\) :

Diffusivity

\(q\) :

Heat flux

\(\lambda \) :

Thermal conductivity

\(a\) :

Acceleration

\(\sigma \) :

Stefan Boltzmann constant

\(k\) :

Radiative absorption coefficient

\(f_v\) :

Soot volume fraction

\(\xi \) :

Mixture fraction

\(\epsilon \) :

Emissivity

\(h_c\) :

Heat transfer coefficient

\(Nu\) :

Nusselt number

\(Re\) :

Reynolds number

\(Pr\) :

Prandtl number

rms:

Root mean square

kin:

Kinetic energy

vp:

Viscous penalty

DL:

Darrieus–Landau

k:

Chemical species or soot moment \(k\)

i:

Chemical species or soot moment \(i\)

e:

East

w:

West

rad:

Radiation

g:

Gas

s:

Soot

t:

Thermocouple

\(\infty \) :

Ambient condition

\(+\) :

Positive x directed radiative flux

\(-\) :

Negative x directed radiative flux

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brigham Young University, 350 CB, BYU, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Elizabeth I. Monson, David O. Lignell, Chris Werner & Ryan S. Hintze

  2. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 5775 W US Highway 10, Missoula, MT, 59808-9361, USA

    Mark A. Finney

  3. Brandenburg University of Technology, Siemens-Halske-Ring 14, 03046, Cottbus, Germany

    Zoltan Jozefik

  4. Danville, CA, USA

    Alan R. Kerstein

Authors
  1. Elizabeth I. Monson
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  2. David O. Lignell
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  3. Mark A. Finney
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  4. Chris Werner
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  6. Alan R. Kerstein
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Correspondence to David O. Lignell.

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Monson, E.I., Lignell, D.O., Finney, M.A. et al. Simulation of Ethylene Wall Fires Using the Spatially-Evolving One-Dimensional Turbulence Model. Fire Technol 52, 167–196 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-014-0441-2

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