Modelling of Flow and Radiant Heat Transfer in the CAGCT Research Furnace

A three dimensional modelling of flow and radiant heat transfer in the CAGCT research furnace with sidewall complex burners and its verification with experimental data are presented. The fluid flow governing equations are solved by finite volume procedure. The radiative heat transfer, which is the predominant mode of heat transfer in this research furnace, is calculated by the discrete ordinates method (DOM) using a TN quadrature set and a single gray gas approximation for gas radiation. Flames from burners are treated as being fully reacted at burner exit. Burners are represented by a small array of control surface elements on the burner exit plane with the condition that conservation of mass and momentum must be satisfied. With these simple treatments of radiative gas properties, flames and burners, the agreement between experimental measurements, wall temperatures, total heat rate and heat flux distribution on the floor, and the computed results are fairly good.