11/08/2022
By Noah Van Dam

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, invites you to attend a master’s thesis defense by John Fernandez on “Spray Model Setup for Combustion Simulations in a Low-Pressure Swirl Burner Using CFD.”

Candidate Name: John Fernandez
Defense Date: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022
Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Room 345, ETIC building, North Campus
Thesis/Dissertation Title: Spray Model Setup for Combustion Simulations in a Low-Pressure Swirl Burner Using CFD

Committee:

  • Advisor Noah Van Dam, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Hunter J. Mack, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Xinfang Jin, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Fuqiang Liu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Brief Abstract:
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models are widely used to study and obtain a fundamental understanding of the complex behavior of thermo-fluid systems. A CFD model of the new low-pressure marine swirl burner developed at the University of Massachusetts Lowell was created to study the combustion performance and durability of the burner in a marine environment. To develop the high fidelity CFD model, a spray model able to predict the spray characteristics of the fuel atomizer was created. To develop the spray model, different strategies (i.e., droplet breakup model, spray cone type, droplet size initialization, and spray swirl fraction) were used to control the droplet size and velocity distribution of the spray. A total number of 18 cases were tested for this study. The results from the different cases were compared against the experimental data obtained from literature and a final spray model setup was chosen for further combustion simulations. Furthermore, some initial predictions were made using a selection of fuel surrogates to compare their combustion behavior in the CFD model.