Large eddy simulation of the Delft Adelaide Flame III using a quadrature-based method of moments

In this work, the recently developed split-based Extended Quadrate Method of Moments (S-EQMOM) is combined with a LES/presumed PDF-based flamelet/progress variable approach to achieve the predictions of soot particle size distributions in a turbulent non-premixed jet flame. The advantage of the S-EQMOM is that a continuous soot particle number density function (NDF) is able to be reconstructed by superimposing kernel density functions (KDFs) of presumed shape (gamma or log-normal distribution) that interact through the particle coagulation. Moreover, the S-EQMOM primary nodes are determined individually for each KDF yielding improvement in the numerical robustness compared to classical EQMOM. The above numerical framework is employed to predict soot particle formation in the Delft Adelaide flame III, which is a benchmark flame of the International Sooting Flame (ISF) workshop. The target flame is featured by low/high sooting propensity/intermittency and by relatively comprehensive flow/scalar/soot data available for validating the model framework. Simulation results are compared with the experimental results and discussed for both the gas phase and the particulate phase. A satisfactory quantitative agreement has been obtained especially in terms of soot volume fraction. The ability of the S-EQMOM to provide information on particle size distribution indicates a dominant unimodal distribution along the flame centerline.