A DRD finite element formulation for computing turbulent reacting flows in gas turbine combustors

An effective multiscale treatment of turbulent reacting flows is presented with the use of a stabilized finite element formulation. The method proposed is developed based on the streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) formulation, and includes discontinuity capturing in the form of a new generation DRD method, namely the DRDJ technique. The stabilized formulation is applied to finite-rate chemistry modelling based on mixture-fraction approaches with the so-called presumed-PDF technique. The turbulent combustion process is simulated for an aero-engine combustor configuration of RQL concept in non-premixed flame regime. The comparative analysis of the temperature and velocity fields demonstrate that the proposed SUPG+DRDJ formulation outperforms the stand-alone SUPG method. The improved accuracy is demonstrated in terms of the combustor overall performance, and the mechanisms involved in the distribution of the numerical diffusivity are also discussed.