Eulerian simulations of an iron dust Bunsen burner

Kurzfassung

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of iron powder combustion have thus far treated particles as Lagrangian objects, with implications for simulation scalability. Here, a fully-Eulerian model of iron powder combustion is presented, utilizing a sectional approach to express polydispersity. Featuring custom thermodynamics and representing phase changes as chemical reactions, the model is used to simulate an experimental iron dust Bunsen burner (Fedoryk et al., 2023) and further compared to Lagrangian simulations thereof (Hazenberg et al., 2026). Both single-phase and multiphase approaches are presented; single-phase simulations recover chemistry well, albeit with low laminar flame speeds comparable to those of iron powder combustion in microgravity. However, treatment of iron as being part of an ideal gas leads to inaccurate particle physics. Multiphase simulations recover particle physics well, displaying accurate uplift through buoyancy forces. However, the reaction rate of iron oxidation is much lower than that suggested by prior results. Outlet velocity distributions exhibit plug-like flow, with multiphase simulations doing so more strongly than single-phase simulations. Overall, reasonable agreement with prior results was obtained for single-phase simulations. Future work will involve increasing multiphase simulation accuracy, then scaling both up towards turbulent iron flames.