Coupling a stochastic soot population balance to gas-phase chemistry using operator splitting

The feasibility of coupling a stochastic soot algorithm to a deterministic gas-phase chemistry solver is investigated for homogeneous combusting systems. A second-order splitting technique was used to decouple the particle population and gas phase in order to solve. A numerical convergence study is presented that demonstrates convergence with splitting step size and particle count for a batch reactor and a perfectly stirred reactor. Simulation results are presented alongside experimental data for a plug flow reactor (PFR) and are compared to a method of moments simulation of a perfectly stirred reactor. Coupling of the soot and chemistry solvers is shown to converge for both systems; however, numerical instabilities present significant challenges in the PSR case. Comparison with the experimental data for a PFR showed good agreement of the soot mass and reasonable agreement of the particle size distribution. Two different soot particle models were used to simulate the PFR: a spherical particle model and a surface–volume model that takes some account of particle shape. The results for the two models are compared. Additionally, the stochastic soot solver is used to track the evolution of the C/H ratio of individual soot particles in the PFR for the first time.