Pyrolysis in porous media: Part 1. Numerical model and parametric study

Transpiration cooling of structures by means of hydrocarbon fuel is a way to sustain the large heat load encountered in combustion chambers. An European collaboration has been set up to investigate the fluid flow through porous media by means of numerical simulation in order to help analysing the experimental results obtained under pyrolysis regime (1200 K, 6 MPa). A parametric study is conducted to understand the effect of numerical modelling of velocity in the porous media, multi-component diffusion, the deployment of in situ adaptive tabulation for chemistry and the use of perfect or real fluid properties. Due to the complexity of multi-physics phenomena, this work intends to ensure the reliability of the calculations before comparing them with experiments. Two semi-detailed kinetic schemes for dodecane pyrolysis (up to 15 species and 20 reactions) are tested.

► A numerical model is established to simulate reactive fuel flow within porous media. ► A parametric study is achieved to ensure the reliability of the model. ► Semi-detailed kinetic schemes are used to simulate the fuel pyrolysis. ► This work is intended to provide further analysis of related experimental results. ► The numerical model is a first step for next computations of SCRamjet cooling.