Simulation of a Multi-fuel Kerosene-Hydrogen Burner with Modified Thickened Flame Model
Lorenzo Palanti (Ergon Research)
Lorenzo Mazzei (Ergon Research)
Cosimo Bianchini (Ergon Research)
Alam G. Correa (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Kaushal A. Dave (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Arvind Gangoli Rao (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Francesca De Domenico (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
The ongoing transition towards carbon-neutral aviation has triggered extensive research and development efforts into alternative fuels, with hydrogen emerging as a promising candidate due to the absence of any direct carbon emissions. However, 100% hydrogen combustion poses several operational challenges, even in ground-based gas turbine applications, including flashback risk, thermoacoustic instabilities, and bulky storage requirements for long-haul aircraft. In response, multi-fuel combustion strategies, simultaneously burning liquid kerosene and gaseous hydrogen, are gaining traction in both industrial initiatives and European R&D projects. This approach aims at mitigating the drawbacks associated with pure hydrogen combustion while enhancing the performance of kerosene combustion through improved flame stability at reduced equivalence ratios, thereby reducing carbon dioxide, NOx, and soot production in comparison to pure kerosene combustion. This study, carried out in the context of the HOPE Horizon Europe project, presents the development and preliminary application of a novel extension of the Thickened Flame Model (TFM), tailored for simulations of multi-fuel kerosene-hydrogen combustion within a scale-resolving framework. First, the standard TFM setup available in ANSYS Fluent is validated against two 100% hydrogen turbulent swirled flames - the HYLON and HOPE experimental burners - demonstrating good predictive capabilities in pure hydrogen regimes. Subsequently, the model is modified to operate in a multi-fuel context and preliminarily assessed against experimental data from the HOPE test rig, characterized by simultaneous kerosene-hydrogen injection and combustion. The results highlight the model’s ability to capture some of the key characteristics of the studied multi-fuel system, thereby providing a step towards the CFD-based design and optimization of next-generation, low-emission aeronautical multi-fuel combustors.